Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - Two MBB players receive medical redshirts | How NCAA recruiting dead period impacts Hawks | What if Ricky Stanzi doesn't get injured in 2009

Episode Date: May 15, 2020

The men's basketball team got great news when both Jordan Bohannon and Patrick Nunge received medical hardship waivers for this past season. Here's how their extra seasons of eligibility will impact t...he Hawks. We also break down how the NCAA's dead period extension impacts the Hawks during a crucial recruiting period and we jump back in to our "what-if" series analyzing a situation we all wonder: What if Ricky Stanzi doesn't get injured vs NW? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Starting point is 00:00:00 I thank God I was born on the good arms of the Midwest, and not on the battlefields of the U.S. It's a time of panic, and it's intercepted! It's picked off right away! Intercepted by Marty Hooker! Pick six! Eight seconds into the game! Buffen sets up deep in the pocket, goes down the field for Smith!
Starting point is 00:00:21 Oh! He's got it! Smith! Touchdown. 85 yards. High on. Touchdown, 10. Taking a shot in the end zone.
Starting point is 00:00:32 It is caught. No offense. Touchdown. That's either one or you have it. Go ahead and three. Yes. Two-point lead for the Hawkeyes podcast. Your daily podcast covering your Iowa Hawkeyes on the Locked On Sports Network.
Starting point is 00:01:18 As always, I am your host, Andrew Wade, and I'm excited to be back hosting another episode of the show today. We have a fun and exciting episode coming at you today. On today's show, we're going to be breaking down the NCAA's decision to grant Patrick Nunge and Jordan Bohannon medical red shirts. They are going to be able to be coming back next season. Patrick gets three more years with the Hawks, so very exciting stuff for him. Obviously having Bohannon back was something everyone was anticipating, but still not completely sure, so great to have him back as well.
Starting point is 00:01:50 We're going to be breaking that down and what it means for the Iowa Hawkeyes going forward. We're also going to be talking about the NCAA's decision to extend the dead period through June 30th, basically eliminating the opportunity for Iowa to host one of its camps in June, which is a huge opportunity for recruitment. So we're going to be talking about that as well. And then finally, we are going to be continuing our What If series as we break down one of the bigger What Ifs in the history of Iowa football, at least in the recent history of Iowa football. And I want to give a shout out to Twitter for kind of sparking this one.
Starting point is 00:02:26 Iowa Cub, it's I-A underscore Cub, posted this, and he said, it was, what is the hottest personal sports take that you will never back down from? And he said, if Stansy doesn't get hurt, the 2009 Iowa Hawkeyes go 13-0. DJK responded, these are the facts. And I thought that was actually a really cool thing to explore as a what-if scenario. What if Ricky Stansy doesn't get injured and we don't have James Vandenberg coming in to fill in for two games? What does that look like for the Iowa Hawkeyes? So we're going to continue our what-if series that we've been doing on the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast
Starting point is 00:02:59 and across the Locked On Sports Network today and talk through the Ricky Stansy injury. Before we jump into that, though, just a quick reminder that today's episode is brought to you by the great folks over at Built Bar. They have the best tasting protein bar on the market. My favorite to use before, during, and after my workouts if I can. I actually just bought another box today. I basically got the mint chocolate chip, the peanut butter, and I believe the chocolate mousse were the three I chose for my flavors of the create your own box. They have 16
Starting point is 00:03:30 great flavors and plenty of them are nut free in case you do have nut allergies. And we have a fantastic code that you can use to get $10 off your first box of built bars at built bar.com. Use the code locked on for $10 off. They are our sponsors of the show today, so make sure to give them a shout out and check out their website and buy yourself some protein bars that are fantastic tasting. Also, if you are tuning in for the first time, make sure to like, review, and subscribe wherever you downloaded this podcast at. And give us a follow on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. And I hope you've been enjoying our TBT Tuesdays, our interviews that we've been bringing courtesy of the Iowa United as they prepare for the 2020 TBT tournament, the $2 million winner take all tournament. Make sure to give those guys a shout out as well. Follow them on Twitter at Iowa TBT. We have another great TBT interview coming up this upcoming Tuesday. Not going to spoil it. He is not a Hawkeye, but he is quite
Starting point is 00:04:25 a fun guy to talk to. I'm really excited to give you this interview as well. So that does it for our housekeeping items. Let's jump into the content of the show today. And you know what? I'm going to switch it up. We are going to actually start with the dead period piece. And then we're going to do the what if and then break down the medical red shirt. So the dead period extension through June 30th, as I said, when we were kind of doing the roundup to start the show. This is big for Iowa from a recruiting standpoint. And the reason why is Iowa really likes to get kids on campus. That is one of their big MOs is to have kids visit the campus and really enjoy the campus. We saw it happen with Jordan Oladukun.
Starting point is 00:05:04 You know, he did actually he did not actually visit the campus. He did not happen with Jordan Oladukun. He did not actually visit the campus. He did not take an official visit to Iowa, and he decided to commit to Iowa. And Iowa typically doesn't like recruits to do that. They want them to experience all that is Iowa and really make sure that they are going to be a good fit with the program. They go about it, in my opinion, a much better way than some programs do. They really want kids to want to be there. They don't want to get kids who aren't going to buy into the program and end up leaving after a year or two years. That does no one any good.
Starting point is 00:05:32 That doesn't do the player any good. That doesn't do the program any good. So they really want to make sure they're getting guys who want to be at Iowa. I'm not saying that was part of the case for Jordan decommitting, but he decided to commit to Iowa, hadn't taken an official visit yet, ultimately decided to decommit. Who knows what the situation surrounding that is. I wish him the best of luck. But this kind of jumps to my point of, again, Iowa wants players
Starting point is 00:05:56 to visit the campus before they commit. And the June month is a huge month for summer camps for Iowa where they get these kids on campus doing official visits and actually visiting the campus, seeing what Iowa City is about, seeing what the University of Iowa is about. And that really has sparked some great recruiting periods over the last couple years. Look back to last year. It sounds like, and I think we talked a bit about this with Deuce Hogan on the show,
Starting point is 00:06:19 he gave a speech at the camp and basically, you know, he was a big guy who was a really big catalyst for last year's recruiting class, talking guys up and talking to them about why they should be Hawkeyes and whatnot. I know he doesn't like to take credit for that. You'll definitely understand that if you listen to our two interviews we've done with him. But he's a big part of that. And another big part of that is the fact they are on campus working out with guys who could be their teammates. Part of that is the fact they are on campus working out with guys who could be their teammates.
Starting point is 00:06:45 They build that camaraderie. They build that relationship with guys who could be their teammates for the next four to five seasons. Or three to five seasons, I guess I should say, with all the Hawks that have been declaring early as of recently. That's a big deal. So to have the dead period extended, I do think that hurts Iowa a little bit. I think it actually hurts them more going into the 2022 class. Getting some of those guys on for junior days and whatnot potentially hurts them a little bit. I think it actually hurts them more going into the 2022 class. Getting some of those guys on for junior days and whatnot potentially hurts them a little bit, but the 2020 class at least is off to a very strong start. They already have 14 guys in this recruiting class, so they're not hurting for commitments right now. They have 14 guys hard committed.
Starting point is 00:07:21 They're ranked eighth in the nation, third in the Big 10. That is not something to look away from. This team is already building a very strong recruiting class and it's going to continue to get stronger. They already have built great relationships with a few other players that we're looking to get some commitments from, hopefully in the coming weeks. I'm thinking specifically of Skyler Bell, the wide receiver out of Taft. Talked a lot about him.
Starting point is 00:07:45 We got the tight end that is getting recruited by Nebraska and by Iowa, Thomas Fedone. So there's definitely a few guys who we could still see commit. Hopefully in the next couple weeks, I think Thomas Fedone probably wants to take his time, but sounds like he's very interested in Iowa as well. But these are guys that we could be getting on campus, other guys that could be getting on campus, seeing these guys who are already committed and really buying into the program. So definitely a big loss for the Hawks not having that. Now that being said, this is across the country. Programs are not able to have really a lot of recruiting, have any in-person recruiting visits across the country.
Starting point is 00:08:23 So this doesn't just hurt Iowa. This hurts a lot of programs. I just feel like Iowa, especially with how they like to recruit people, this does hurt their general strategy. Whereas some schools are big on just kind of offering up scholarships after one conversation, not doing as much digging into the character of the person and making sure there'll be a right community fit as opposed to just the right football fit. So I do think it hurts Iowa more than other programs.
Starting point is 00:08:47 Now, that being said, Iowa's smart. They're obviously a good program for a reason. They're going to figure out ways to continue to build on this recruiting class. I know Tyler Barnes is hard at work doing that right now. And considering the fact that the NCAA and the world is kind of adapting to this COVID issue so rapidly, I mean, who knows what it's going to look like in two months. Maybe they extend the dead period further. Maybe we don't have college football.
Starting point is 00:09:11 I don't know what that looks like, but I'm sure Iowa is going to be at the forefront of figuring out a way to make sure that they are still building their program for success in future years, whether that's through Zoom, however that may be. They're going to be continuing to work on that and building a great program with the Hawks. And obviously we'll have all the updates here and kind of break down what that means for the Hawks from a recruiting standpoint going forward. Hopefully we'll get some more information. It sounds like the NCAA could be extending that deadline in a couple weeks.
Starting point is 00:09:38 So they're still kind of monitoring the situation, looking forward to seeing kind of what happens. And obviously Iowa will reopen the state. I think how Iowa does from a testing standpoint, from a virus standpoint, from a sickness standpoint, death standpoint, all those things are going to be, you know, things to watch out for. And so hopefully we can get past this and we can get recruiting back and going. We can get practices going. We can get Hawkeye football at the forefront of our minds. We can look forward to that in September. Just a little bit of rant there on what it means.
Starting point is 00:10:08 Going into segment number two, we are going to be talking about the what-if situation. What if Ricky Stansy does not get injured? What if he doesn't get injured? Does Iowa make the national championship game? I think they can, but let's talk about that on segment number
Starting point is 00:10:24 two. Before we jump into segment number two though, just a reminder that today's episode is brought to you by the great folks at Built Bar. Built Bar is the best tasting protein bar on the market today. I absolutely love eating my Built Bars. They sent me a nice, awesome package full of delicious Built Bars, and I had a chance to try all of them. All the flavors were absolutely amazing. All covered in chocolate, low in calories, high in protein, low in sugars. Those are the things you want when you're trying to get a great protein bar. And like I said, the best thing about it, the taste. I've tried so many protein bars at the gyms, you know, when I'm training for my Ironman, that kind of stuff. And I have not found a good tasting protein bar until I tried the Built Bar.
Starting point is 00:11:05 So make sure you try that out. I already repurchased a new box where I customized my box with three unique flavors of Built Bars. There are 16 total flavors. They have new flavors they're adding throughout the time. I know they just put in an older one
Starting point is 00:11:20 that they really liked and thought people really enjoyed. So make sure to check out Built Bars at BuiltBar.com and you get a special $10 off promo code. Use the promo code LOCKEDON today to get $10 off your box of Built Bars right now so you can start training like an Ironman and get that protein you need after any great workout you do. We are back for segment number two of the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast. And as I teased, we're going to be breaking down the big what-if situation for Iowa Hawkeyes.
Starting point is 00:11:51 What if the great Ricky Stanzi doesn't get injured in that 2009 season? What if Ricky Stanzi doesn't go down against Northwestern? Does Iowa go to the national championship game? What happens to Iowa if Ricky Stanzi doesn't get injured? And that is the million-dollar question. I mean, you look at that. I remember him getting injured in the end zone, spraining his ankle. Iowa was up at that time.
Starting point is 00:12:14 They were up 10-0, and then Ricky Stanzi gets injured. And, I mean, he fumbles the ball, obviously, gets injured. They score. Northwestern gets a 7-10, and then Northwestern scores another 10 more points to win 17-10 following a 4-yard pass later on in the second quarter and a 47-yard field goal in the fourth quarter. James Vandenberg came in and absolutely struggled.
Starting point is 00:12:39 9-27 for 82 yards. He averaged 1.4 yards per attempt, Had a 51.4 rating on the day. Not ideal. Iowa's running attack, not really getting going either. Brandon Wager, 19 attempts for 63 yards out of 3.3 yard clip. Not exactly ideal. So what happens then? What happens if Ricky Stanzi doesn't get injured?
Starting point is 00:13:03 I do think the momentum changed in that game that day at Carver. I think Iowa wins that game. I really do. I think Iowa beats Northwestern. Obviously, if he doesn't get injured, if he doesn't fumble that ball, Northwestern doesn't score that touchdown, that's a big momentum changer right there. I do think Iowa wins that game, like I said.
Starting point is 00:13:23 And then the big question is, do they beat Ohio State the following week? Ohio State was ranked 10th in the nation at that time. They had to go to Columbus. And James Vandenberg, you know what he did? He actually put on a pretty nice performance. With Ricky Stanzi out, James Vandenberg stepped up after a pretty wretched game. And I mean, he did throw a couple interceptions, but went 20 of 33, had a 60.6% completion percentage, 233 yards, two touchdowns and three interceptions. Obviously the three interceptions, not ideal. Adam Robinson added 74 yards on the ground. But Ohio State really didn't have the best game from a passing perspective. really didn't have the best game from a passing perspective. Terrell Pryor, former third round draft pick, a five-star quarterback, went 14-17 for only 93 yards.
Starting point is 00:14:12 No touchdowns, no interceptions. On the ground, Ohio State did do a little bit better. They had, let me see, counting it up, a little over 200 yards rushing on the day. Excuse me, 229 yards rushing on 51 attempts for three touchdowns obviously one of the sore spots there but I do think Iowa's offense can put more points on the board with Ricky Stanzi in the game and that game went into overtime where Iowa eventually lost on a Ohio State field goal I mean but the fact Iowa was down 24 to10 midway through the fourth quarter, and then DJK breaks a 99-yard kickoff return for a touchdown. Eight minutes later, James Vandenberg leads a drive down the field,
Starting point is 00:14:52 connects with Marvin McNutt for a 10-yard pass to tie the game up. Ricky Sanji, I think, would have had them in a position to win already. I think Ricky Sanji could have won in overtime for the Hawks. That would have let them be undefeated going into college football bowl season. And if you're undefeated going into college football bowl season, let's look at the AP poll. I'll kind of pull that up right now and talk through a few of these teams and where Iowa possibly could have slotted at. But Iowa would have been ahead of Ohio State. They would have been ahead of TCU is my guess. Let me check. TCU would have been a
Starting point is 00:15:25 tough one just because they were undefeated, but playing in the Mountain West, I believe, at that time. And let me check when their loss was. Yes, they lost to Boise State in the Fiesta Bowl. I do think Iowa would have jumped TCU easy. The question is whether they could have jumped Florida or not. Florida went 13-1 on the season. Had one loss, though, in the SEC Championship game against Alabama. They were ranked one. That would have been the tough one. Can Iowa jump Florida? Can Iowa jump undefeated Texas?
Starting point is 00:16:00 And I will say this. I think a talented Iowa team could have beat those teams, but I don't think Iowa would have jumped those teams. So when you look at whether or not Iowa could have won the national championship, I don't think they would have made it. There were too many good teams in the NCAA that year. Alabama was undefeated. Texas, undefeated.
Starting point is 00:16:22 Florida, undefeated until playing Alabama. TCU, undefeated Texas undefeated Florida undefeated till playing Alabama TCU undefeated so I just I do think it'd be really tough to imagine Iowa would have been able to jump Alabama or Texas to make the national championship game considering those two teams were ranked ahead of Iowa throughout the season that being said Iowa definitely would have made the Rose Bowl at that point they would have had the win over Ohio State they would have been the front runners to make the Rose Bowl and they would have the opportunity to take on Oregon in the Rose Bowl at that point. They would have had the win over Ohio State. They would have been the frontrunners to make the Rose Bowl, and they would have had the opportunity to take on Oregon in the Rose Bowl. And that Oregon team was not exactly a team that you should really be concerned about.
Starting point is 00:16:54 I mean, obviously a very talented team under Chip Kelly, I believe. Let me confirm that. But Ohio State did a good job of dismantling Oregon, number seven 7 Oregon, beating them 26-17 on that day. I think Iowa could have done something similar. I'm looking at the team. Yeah, it was Chip Kelly's first season as head coach. They went 10-3 that year. Not bad. Not bad for the team.
Starting point is 00:17:15 They finished 11th in the nation. But that team was just not a team that you would be scared about if you're Iowa. That's a team that Iowa could beat up on. Just like we saw Iowa do that against USC, I think Iowa could have done that against Oregon. And you look at this team, there wasn't a ton of pro talent on this team. I'm looking through the roster right now.
Starting point is 00:17:35 At quarterback, we had Darren Thomas, Jeremiah Masoli, Nate Costa. None of those guys did anything in the pros. Running backs, LeGarrette Blount, after punching the guy, obviously still made it pretty far. Michael James didn't do anything in the pros. Running backs, LeGarrette Blount, after punching the guy, obviously still made it pretty far. Michael James didn't do much in the pros. Deion Jordan played tight end for a bit. TJ Ward was with the Broncos for a while, been bouncing around now. Kiko Alonso, I believe, was a first-round pick by the Eagles,
Starting point is 00:17:58 but a second-round pick, excuse me, by the Bills, and then traded to the Eagles. Nothing exactly special there. Casey Matthews, a fourth-round draft pick. Let me see, anyone else here? Walter Thurman, a fourth round draft pick. So just the talent on this team actually wasn't that great. They did a great job of spreading the ball out and running a very fast, quick attack. But Iowa could have easily beaten this Oregon team, and I'll stand by that. And so Iowa would have been undefeated, 13-0, Rose Bowl champions. Let's look at where ultimately Ohio State fell in this ranking at the end of the season.
Starting point is 00:18:30 Ohio State bumped up to fifth. I do think that Iowa would have finished either third or fourth in the nation after the final polls. Alabama, obviously, finishing one. Texas, two. After Case Keenum, or not Case Keenum, excuse me, blanking Colt McCoy went down with an injury. I think Florida goes three and Iowa goes four.
Starting point is 00:18:50 So I think had Ricky Stanzi not been injured, I do believe Iowa goes undefeated. I believe they win a Rose Bowl, which would have been huge for Iowa fans. And I think some would argue that they had actually, you know, almost just rather win the Rose Bowl. That's fine for Iowa fans. I'm okay with that too. And that would have dropped them into that top four finish, which would have been huge for the program.
Starting point is 00:19:09 And I mean, that Iowa team was just stupid talented. When you look at that roster, it was loaded with NFL talent across the board. And you've got to remember, that was actually the class, that senior class was the class that had a couple different five-star recruits coming in, including Tony Moyeke. Let's look at this roster. I mean, hell, Ricky Stanzi got drafted in the third round. Christian Ballard, NFL player. Adrian Claiborne, first rounder. Mike Daniels, still chugging along. Great player. Carl Klug, great player for the Titans. Pat Anger, second round draft pick.
Starting point is 00:19:39 Jordan Bernstein managed to jump on in the seventh round. Micah Hyde, still playing right now with the Bills, third round draft pick. Sean Prater, fifth rounder. Tyler Sash, sixth rounder. Amari Spivey, third rounder. Let's look at this offensive line. Hell, James Ferentz, freshman but has been bouncing on the league. Riley Reif,
Starting point is 00:19:58 first round draft pick. Brian Belaga, first round draft pick. Julian Vanderbilt, a fifth round draft pick who kept in the league for a while. DJK, fantastic wide receiver who probably would have been drafted had he not had all the issues. Marvin McNutt, sixth-round draft pick. I mean, this team was just stocked. What a talented team Iowa had at that time.
Starting point is 00:20:17 I think the big what-if is if Ricky Sanchez doesn't get injured, I think this team goes undefeated, finishes top four ranked, and wins the Rose Bowl. Let me know what your thoughts are. Let me know if you truly think that Iowa could have jumped Texas to get into the national championship game. I do not, but I do think they could have won the Rose Bowl. Would love to hear your thoughts on the situation, though. But that'll do it for segment number two.
Starting point is 00:20:38 Coming up on segment number three, we're going to wrap up the show by talking about the two medical redshirts that were granted and how that impacts the Iowa Hawkeye basketball team going forward. All right, we are back for our third and final segment of today's episode of the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast. And the big news, big news in Iowa Hawkeye Nation. Jordan Bohannon and Jack Nunge have been granted their medical hardship waivers, which is absolutely huge for the men's basketball team. Obviously, the Jordan Bohannon thing was kind of expected.
Starting point is 00:21:15 The Pat Nunge thing, definitely something we were kind of expecting. With the injury happening so early, you kind of expected him to get that medical red shirt. This is going to be a guy who ends up playing six years for the Iowa Hawkeyes, most likely. I'm excited to see how he performs. I know Jordan Bohannon is the guy that everyone's talking about, but Pat is a guy who had a lot of high expectations coming into the season. A lot of folks were pretty excited about him after redshirting for a year, gaining some strength, building up his game a little bit more.
Starting point is 00:21:45 So don't underestimate that return. And also, I just realized I've been saying Jack Nunji wrong the entire time. I said Jack Nunj is Jack Nunji. Just made sure I checked the verbal pronunciation on the Hawkeye Sports website. Jack Nunji, though, big, big time for that. He'll be in Iowa City for another three years playing basketball. Jordan Bohannon is going to be a huge asset to the Hawks, as we all know, next season. This team, if Luka Garza does return, and it sounds like that, you know, still delayed because the decision to return
Starting point is 00:22:14 for basketball players to not, you know, basically come back from the NBA draft has been moved back again indefinitely. So we're not sure when Luka Garza will potentially return to Iowa if he decides to return to Iowa. But at this time, if we're assuming that Luka Garza is back, this team is going to be loaded. It's going to be interesting to see how Fran McCaffrey actually balances out these minutes. But this team will likely, to me, be starting in the top 10. And so if they're not a top 10 team, then I'm shocked. I'm truly shocked they're not a top 10 team then I'm shocked I'm truly shocked they're not a top 10 team to begin the season this is also a team that actually doesn't concern me as much from a battle tested perspective last year they were tested every single game the Big 10 was a tough conference to play in and they persevered through a lot of different issues but I think this
Starting point is 00:23:02 team could really do something special next year you You're returning Luka Garza, arguably the best player in the nation at center. You're returning Jordan Bohannon, arguably one of the most clutch shooters in the NCAA and in Iowa Hawkeye history, one of the best three-point shooting guards. You have Joe Toussaint, that's his backup at this point, who is a phenomenal athlete, great defense, a guy you want coming off the bench to bring that energy. Connor McCaffrey, a guy who can play four different spots, is phenomenal with the ball in his hands and distributing it and getting it to whoever needs it and is open.
Starting point is 00:23:35 CJ Frederick, a guy, man, that guy was special last year when he was not injured or sick. Basically a great 3 and D kind of guy who is going to be able to knock down a shot almost any time. He had a fantastic season for the Hawks. And then you think about, you know, Patrick McCaffrey is also returning. Is he healthy? If he's healthy, holy hell. I mean, this team is just loaded from 1 to 10. I would say Iowa has the best 6 through 10 team in the nation. And what's interesting about this is none of these guys,
Starting point is 00:24:05 save for maybe Luka Garza, Joe Wieskamp, could probably spend any time in the NBA. Maybe Patrick McCaffrey, depending on his development. But at this point, you can't really look at these guys and say, wow, this is full of NBA players. This is just a good team that can play Iowa basketball, a great shooting team. And my guess, if I had to pick at this time,
Starting point is 00:24:25 you have Jordan Bohannon likely coming. Oh, man, that's tough. I would say you probably have Jordan Bohannon as the point guard. I just think you don't have Jordan Bohannon coming off the bench. I think you have C.J. Frederick as the shooting guard. You have Joe Wieskamp as the small forward. I think you have Patrick Nunji as the power forward and Luka Garza as the center,
Starting point is 00:24:46 which gives you a reserve lineup of Joe Toussaint at the one, Connor McCaffrey at the two, Patrick McCaffrey at the three, Josh Ogundali likely at the five, and a mix of someone else in there to kind of spell this team. I do think this is a team that could really, really go off next year. And I'm really excited about the fact that Patrick Nunji and Jordan Mohannon have been granted their medical red shirts. This will be huge for the team. And honestly, the sky's the limit with this team. I think this could be the best Iowa team
Starting point is 00:25:18 the Hawks have assembled in the last 30 years. And I'm not kidding. I do think this is a Final Four contending team. I think this is better than that 2016 team that had some of the great players for the Hawks, like a Jared Uthoff, like an Aaron White, Peter Jock, those guys for those couple of years. Those guys, I mean, they were great players, but this team could be a better team. So I'm really excited about the addition and the assurance that those two are playing. If Luka Garza can come back, this is a lot for a top 10 team throughout the season next year, and they should be favorites to win the Big Ten Conference title. So I'm really excited about next year. Hopefully we do have basketball.
Starting point is 00:25:58 I will absolutely be going to the NCAA tournament to watch them play when they make it and watch them go very far in the tournament. But that'll do it, though, for segment number three. Wanted to end on a good note, an exciting note for Iowa basketball. This team just keeps building, and Fran McCaffrey is putting together a team that can contend for a few years, not just a one-year wonder type of team. This team is talented across the board and has a significant amount of young depth that can step into those starter roles once guys leave. I mean, I think Luka Garza, when he is eventually gone, is going
Starting point is 00:26:28 to be a huge loss. Jordan Mohan in a huge loss. But you have guys like Josh Ogundali who's kind of coming in and could be that guy who could step right in for Luka Garza. Iowa's doing a good job of recruiting a few big men right now who can shoot the ball pretty well. Don't forget about the Murray Twins, Aaron Ullis, Tony Perkins. I mean, Iowa's also bringing in a pretty great freshman class, an underrated freshman class that can really continue the development of this Iowa basketball program to be a perennial contender in the NCAA. But again, that'll do it though for segment number three. I hope you all have a fantastic weekend out there. Be safe. I know a lot of places are opening up. Just make sure you're being safe out there. I want everyone to be as healthy as possible.
Starting point is 00:27:06 And obviously, if you did like what you heard today, make sure to like, review, and subscribe wherever you downloaded this podcast at. And if you have liked some of our NFL Draft Talks in the past, make sure to go follow the guys at the Lockdown NFL Draft Podcast hosted by Benjamin Solak and Trevor Sikma, some great guys who did some great work covering the NFL draft year-round. Again, thank you all for tuning in. Make sure to like, review, and subscribe. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
Starting point is 00:27:30 And we'll be back next week with shows on Monday, Tuesday, and Friday. Have a fantastic day and weekend, Hawkeye Nation. And let's go Hawks! We'll see you next time.

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