Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - URGENT: Hawkeyes' Portal FRENZY Intensifies | Is McCollum's Strategy GENIUS or RISKY?

Starting point is 00:00:00 Are you disappointed in the portal hall for Iowa basketball to this point under coach McCollum? Don't be coach has this thing figured out today locked on Hawkeye You are locked on Hawkeye's your daily podcast on the Iowa Hawkeye's Part of the locked on On Podcast Network. Your team every day. Hey welcome in I'm Trent Condon and this is the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast. I have been with you for the last couple of years on the Hawkeye beat for Locked On and I have been following the Iowa Hawkeyes well since my infancy myself and Ben McCullum basically the same age and when you hear him talk about those halcyon days of Iowa basketball, I am right there with him.

Starting point is 00:00:48 And we are going to get into that. Thanks for making Lockdown Hawkeyes your first listen every day. We're available wherever you find podcasts. You can also watch us on YouTube. Just takes you a moment and helps us get in front of more Hawkeye fans. Well, we are going to talk about the transfer portal.

Starting point is 00:01:03 It's hot. I was getting commits. And yet, some people going to talk about the transfer portal. It's hot. I was getting commits. And yet some people are still complaining about it. I'm going to tell you why. That is a little disappointed here in the first week of the Ben McCullough era. We'll talk about the portal also as it pertains to women's basketball. We got some wrestling conversation coming up for you as well. John Bowencamp is going to stop by from the Associated Press and Iowa going full throttle. $20.5 million to spend on athletes in this new world of college athletics. There is a lot going on. The transfer portal, boy it feels like it can shift, it can

Starting point is 00:01:38 change seemingly at any moment. And we go back to yesterday on Tuesday, but throughout the course of most of the day, it felt like Price Sanford was going to be in a Brassica Cornhusker. There were some reports out there from reputable places that a commitment was going to happen, that we were going to see. He was going to make that commitment and suddenly he was going to be with the enemy. And then it didn't happen. Here we are. Now, this is not breaking news. These are just conversations. This is not trying to condone a newsmaker because that's for the most part not what I am. But I have talked to a few people and people in the Waukee community. he's very torn. This was something that there were probably moments, it felt like it was almost inevitable that he was going to go to Nebraska. There's other times and he's made his commitment. But this is difficult. And this has been a very difficult process. I think that Ben McCollum has made this more difficult, which is a good thing.

Starting point is 00:02:54 We know he wants him back. We know that Ben McCollum wants him to be part of this program. And you look at him as a player, the growth that he made during his sophomore campaign. I told the listeners that this is when Price came in that he was a more well-rounded basketball player than Peyton was. Certainly in the high school level, there was more versatility to his game. I don't want to say that Peyton Sanford was a one trick pony, but it's about the shooting. And that was basically it. There's more versatility.

Starting point is 00:03:27 He's played in the post. He's played inside more. I think there's a different kind of skill set and maybe ultimately with it, a higher upside for Price Samford. And for a guy that has two years of eligibility left, a guy that you believe that you feel is really going to have an opportunity to

Starting point is 00:03:47 grow in his final two seasons, you could understand why Ben McCollum wants him there, back and forth. That's what I continue to hear from people. I thought it was a done deal personally, Nebraska and people that I believe, but there are other people that say that this is going to be still that tough decision. Again, this could change in a moment. And all it takes is one word, one commitment, and suddenly it's done with that. So that's what we have on that front with Price-Sampford. So Iowa picked up a couple more commitments. Well, we start, and we start with, of course,

Starting point is 00:04:19 the biggest news. Now, it was news that we got right away when Ben McCollum got the job. And that was the decision of who's coming with me, right? Who's going to come and who's going to join the fray as we make the jump up to the Big Ten? And to get Bennett Sturtz is incredible. So Bennett Sturtz made it official. And the crazy thing is, now if he would have went through the process, if he would have gone on visits, if he would have been taking phone calls, he would have had the who's who

Starting point is 00:04:54 of college basketball after him. That's how good Bennett Sturtz is. That's how highly regarded he was. And for a certain segment of the Hawkeye fan base, because we didn't get that, I think they're missing how good Sturtz is, how coveted Sturtz is. It's crazy. We kind of pull ourselves back sometimes, and we have to exactly think of where we are and how we got here and how we're seeing Bennett Sturtz, who's going to have an opportunity to be a preseason all big 10 guy, is going to be maybe honorable mention to all American going into the year.

Starting point is 00:05:32 That's what you have. And yet people are freaking out while Indiana's only got a couple of commitments and during the freeze had a weak head start. Minnesota has just got one commitment with their new coaching staff with Nico Medved. Let the guy do his work. Ben McCollum is not going to race to be first, a race to fill up his roster. He's gonna do it right and he's gonna pick and choose. So Cale Combs comes in, nice bench piece. Is Cale Combs gonna be a a guy that is going to light the world on fire?

Starting point is 00:06:08 No, but he knows the system. And go back and remember the success that McCollum had in year number one at Drake, bringing in a completely new roster, bringing in guys moving from the Division II level up to the Missouri Valley. And people thought he was nuts. This is never going to work. And people thought he was nuts. This is never gonna work. You can't make that jump.

Starting point is 00:06:27 You can't do it with that volume. Yeah, maybe a guy, maybe a couple of guys, not four or five. They did. Is Kale Combs gonna be a starter? No. Is Kale Combs even gonna be a rotation piece? We'll see.

Starting point is 00:06:43 But when you're looking to change the culture, when you're looking to impose your culture and impose your will, you need these kind of guys. You need the guys that know exactly what you're going to do. And maybe it's just in practice. But showing everybody what the standard is going to be. What happened in the previous regime, the standard is going to be. What happened to the previous regime? It's not going to work.

Starting point is 00:07:08 What happened before is not going to be here. And even if that guy's not an All-American or even a starter or a rotation piece, those kind of people are important. And he'll get the opportunity to earn minutes. Now the bigger of the pieces though, is when they get the commitment of Ken Akamanyau. So, Manow comes in from Wyoming, as did Combs, after playing season out there, went to Drake. And this dude is an absolute behemoth on the boards.

Starting point is 00:07:45 Again, because of pace of play, you have to take some of the numbers with a grain of salt that you see. If you're just looking points, rebounds alone, that doesn't tell the whole story. So this comes from our guy, Iowa Hoops Dave on Twitter. And if you're on Twitter, he is an absolute must-follow. Dave is, I've never met Dave.

Starting point is 00:08:03 I would love to. I would love to have a beer and talk hoops with Dave because this guy gets it. He goes more than just surface level, which I enjoy. And speaking about Cam Manuel, here's what you get. Last season, he finished 18th nationally in offensive rebound percentage, first in the Missouri Valley.

Starting point is 00:08:23 57th nationally in offensive rebound percentage, first in the Missouri Valley. 57th nationally in defensive rebound position, uh, percentage, excuse me, averaging 11.6 rebounds per 40 minutes in his career. Yeah, looking for some toughness, some physicality, a guy on the boards. We've been begging for a great rebounder for how long? You got one now. Yes, he followed from Drake.

Starting point is 00:08:51 People didn't think it could happen going from Northwest Missouri State to Drake and they did. And the same people are saying probably the same thing. It's not going to work going from the Missouri Valley to the Big Ten. It can't be these guys alone. It can't be strictly those players. You still have to fill out this roster with more. But don't freak out on these commitments. These are good pieces. But more importantly than the good pieces that they are, it is what Iowa basketball now is going to become. What Ben McCollum is building. He's said it so many times already.

Starting point is 00:09:24 Listening to the numerous interviews that he has done. By the way, gonna have a chance to talk with him next week. And we'll have that for you also here on the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast. But hearing Coach McCollum, he says we need everybody. Fans, students, support, coaches, on and on and on. Need everybody. I think that says something. There's a method to the madness here. Iowa is doing just fine, but there's still a lot more that needs to be done.

Starting point is 00:09:57 We continue on the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast. Jon Bowencamp's been following Iowa basketball for nearly four decades now on the Iowa beat. We'll talk basketball with him. He's also a writer for Blue Ribbon Magazine, the gold standard of preview magazines in college basketball, and the writer for the Associated Press. We'll talk with John Bowencamp, some Hawkeye talk with Bowencamp when we come back. Plus, we got some basketball transfer news to talk

Starting point is 00:10:23 about on the women's side of things. A little good, some question marks and addy deal playing in the McDonald's All American game and looking pretty darn good. We'll do that as we continue. This is Locked on Hawkeyes. Get the supplies you need from the site made for the skilled trades. Supply house. Whether in plumbing, HVAC, or electrical work, Supplyhouse is the reliable way to order products online. Their easy to use website is packed with helpful resources and the latest product info to help you get the job done right. Plus, with the complete inventory of over, how about this,

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Starting point is 00:12:18 They're slowly starting to come on board with him. But what else? What else are you hearing? And the return of priceyford or Josh Dix? How would you categorize each of those guys in a possible return to Iowa City? You know, I really don't think Josh Dix is coming back. And I really am not, I'm not quite as sure on Price Sanford as maybe I would have been maybe a week ago. And you know, when you started seeing where they're looking at what they're looking at, it's hard to see them coming back and

Starting point is 00:12:50 I understand I get it. You know, I understand is new coach, you don't know what you're gonna get. You know, and and so I get that they're looking but is either way if I would I mean, of the two Sanford would be a little more likely in my mind. Connor Enright, former Drake Bull I mean, of the two Sanford would be a little more likely in my mind. Conor Enright, former Drake Bulldog, followed formerly of the Paul. He is now a Hoosier. That's what I figured that one was going to be. Yeah, because obviously the reason the connection there, Drake, that one would make some sense. I'll say this, and maybe it's always this early in the year.

Starting point is 00:13:24 I don't remember the case, but yesterday you could put down your deposit for Hawkeye Men's And maybe it's always this early in the year. I don't remember the case, but yesterday you could put down your deposit for Hawkeye men's basketball tickets this year. Apparently some people did. I mean, Doc Fuller was first in line for us. We'll give tickets away next basketball season, but he couldn't wait.

Starting point is 00:13:40 So I guess where I'm going, John, is there is a little bit of buzz around this McCollum team, even though we don't know what it's going to look like. Sure. There is. And I mean, you know, I don't mean obviously with the portal being what it is and the guys that you figure are going to follow him from Drake, the, you know, the, the guys who may stay or are going to save miles, he's going to have a

Starting point is 00:14:00 competitive roster in my mind and he knows how to win and he knows that he's going to put together a good staff kind of see it right now. There's a lot to be positive about. So I do think by them putting tickets on sale now, it's kind of capitalizing on that. And again, we'll kind of see how this roster builds out here in the next couple of weeks. But clearly with as many players as there are in the portal right now, and you can see they're casting a pretty wide net Yeah, this point and so they're they're looking for I mean, obviously they're gonna have to get the size inside You know, he's going to have to build a little bit of a different roster than what he had at Drake

Starting point is 00:14:37 just different obviously different conferences, but I'm not too concerned about that I I'm I'm sure by the time this is over with, by the time you get into the summertime, he's going to have a pretty good roster in my mind. Yeah, he'll find a way. And he's proven that. He did it to Drake.

Starting point is 00:14:55 And you kind of looked at him. These couple of guys from Wyoming, all these guys from D2, how's this going to work? And they win 31 games. So yeah, you have to definitely give him the benefit of the doubt John There's a lot of talk about Matt Gaetans and the doors not completely closed But I guess it appears more likely than not that he's not gonna be part of this coaching staff What are your thoughts on that Gaetan good coach? Good guys been around the block was down with Pearl at Auburn

Starting point is 00:15:20 He's been around but sure from McCollum's perspective, I can understand too. We're just ripping the bandaid off here and we're completely reinventing. Where are you on the Gatins front? I would like to see them come back and I, and I, and I don't, I, like I said, I don't think the door is closed, but I do think if that was going to be something that got, it was going to get done, it would have been done by now. Um, you know, so I, again, I So again, I think he'll find something somewhere if he doesn't come back to Iowa. He's a really good assistant coach. He's been a really good coach. Period. He may find a head coaching job somewhere else. At a smaller

Starting point is 00:15:59 level, some of those jobs are still open, which I think he needs to do. And I think that would be really good for him to lead his own program and run his own program and kind of run in this world now that there is, you know, in terms of finding players. And so I think it would be really good for him to find something like that if that's where it goes. But he'll find something one way, whether it is at Iowa, whether it's somewhere else, he'll be somewhere next year on the side. find something one way, whether it is at Iowa, whether it's somewhere else, he'll be somewhere next year on the side. To the women's program, Jan Jensen, how's she doing trying to replenish her roster? I know Jada Williams, McDonald's All-American, had her in, finally she's going to stay in

Starting point is 00:16:35 the state of Iowa play, and Iowa State. How's Jan Jensen's class coming together? Well, I think she's got a really good group coming in. I think that look was, can we improve at certain areas? And when you look at that portal, you know, there's more than a thousand players in that portal. So I do think you're going to try to find a wing. You're going to try to find, you know, maybe another point.

Starting point is 00:17:02 I don't know what you want to do with it. But she will look. I mean, obviously what you want to do it what you want But she will look at me not clearly there's an opening there. Yeah, what about right now? What happened there any any guys got any Intel? I? You know, I don't know I For some reason somebody said this the other day on social media They did when they said it it did kind of make sense just felt like she just didn't fit one way or the other, you know, and it just by, I mean, during this year, and I mean, clearly she struggled with the beginning of the year, still coming back from that knee injury, but you know, her playing time, you know,

Starting point is 00:17:35 fluctuated, especially late in the year, and it just felt like, you know, sometimes they're just really good players that just for whatever reason, it just doesn't work. And I think that's kind of what happened here. And we do see that a lot, not just in women's basketball bands, it just sometimes fit just doesn't work for whatever reason. And that happens. I mean, we've heard stories for years and years and years Bowen camp about guys that come on visits and it doesn't happen. Or maybe something happens on those visits.

Starting point is 00:18:02 There's so many stories that are out there and he just done or no. Or I remember talking to one of my buddies that was on one of the teams back and they said guy came in really talented. This didn't like him. Thought he was an a-hole. They told the coaches and they stopped recruiting. Those kinds of things happen all the time that it's not just about what you can do on the court.

Starting point is 00:18:20 Remember, these are not robots out there and bone camp. Maybe sometimes we forget that. No, and I will say this more about college basketball than any other college sport. Chemistry is important. I have seen very talented teams that have fallen apart in January through March because they didn't get along. And I've seen teams that weren't quite as talented go a long way because they did like each other and they worked together and did something. Chemistry means so much in this game right now. And if there is just that one player that doesn't fit, you know, okay, that person probably can go somewhere else. And that's, and I think when you look

Starting point is 00:19:00 at the portal, I think- One final thing for you back on the Hawkeye front, Iowa baseball. All right. Got to win against a bad Bradley team in a midweek game, but they're starting to hit the ball a little bit. Still a lot of work to be done to become an NCAA tournament team. But what do you see out of this baseball team? Not a lot of expectations coming into the year and they sit in first place in the big

Starting point is 00:19:18 10. Yeah. And I mean, they've gotten really good starting pitch. I mean, again, the bullpen has been kind of shaky at times, but they can hit the ball. And I mean, they've got guys, I mean, there's a couple of guys from Southeast Iowa, a couple of guys I've seen play here in Burlington, Cooper Schulte and Caleb Wolf, very good hitters. And I mean, there's that up and down that lineup. That's a really good offensive lineup.

Starting point is 00:19:42 And you're where you want to be right now. You know, you're at the top of the big 10 and that's, you know, you've taken care of the business, you need to take care of now. The schedule is probably gonna get a little bit tougher, but they've kind of put themselves in a position right now and that's where you wanna be at this time of the year, especially as the weather gets warmer.

Starting point is 00:19:58 John Bowencamp, Associated Press, iowacollegehoops.com amongst the places you can read our friend John Bowencamp. John, thanks for jumping on. Appreciate it. Have you got your plane ticket to Las Vegas for Big Ten Media Days yet? Probably gonna be one I'm gonna miss. Unless somebody wants to pay for me to go, it's probably gonna be one I miss. Well, we'll work on that. John Bowencamp. Thanks John. Good to see you. Good to talk to you. See you buddy. John Bow on campus. We check in on Iowa

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Starting point is 00:22:11 Watch studio shows featuring former players and Locked On's local experts as they guide you through every upset, buzzer beater, and bracket matchup. Stream it all for free on Amazon Fire TV channels. Search bracket breakdown to see it all for free. It's your team every day. Trincona back with you one final time on the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast. Happy to have you aboard with us here as we talk all things Hawkeyes. Wrapping things up and a couple of other news and notes

Starting point is 00:22:40 that we need to get into. We talked a little bit there with John Bowencamp about it. Jada Williams, who took a visit to Iowa and ended up committing to Iowa State. So Jeff Linder who's been on the Iowa beat for a long time, very well connected on the women's basketball front. He mentioned, I think it was Tuesday evening, I think we talked about this maybe on yesterday's show, but regardless. When he tweeted out, don't think it's going to happen, it wasn't going to happen. Fit, moving on, maybe a different prospect

Starting point is 00:23:11 that they like better. Who knows the reason? I don't right now. But what I can tell you is, with whatever coaching staff, when you have a coaching staff and when they make that kind of move, when you see that kind of proclamation from a news generator like a Jeff Linner, a guy that doesn't throw

Starting point is 00:23:25 inflammatory things out there, he's not a message board guy, that's not what this is. This is a true journalist reporting things like that. I think it should tell you something. They're still involved. They're still shopping. And they're still going to target, I believe, a lead guard, as we see Guyton obviously moving on. Okay. We can see

Starting point is 00:23:48 the writing on the wall on that front. But then you throw in the fact that at a deal you're watching her in the McDonald's All-American game a little slow start and didn't look overly confident early on really settled in though and especially in the second half of the game and and how about that we're talking about a McDonald's All-American again with Iowa basketball. That is great to see, and she's going to be tremendous. One thing that I've warned about, and she's going to be good, it's not a talent problem, is there's very few people that can hit the ground running like Caitlin Clark did. You know, the ascension that we saw in doing it, that was a completely different time, right? We're coming on the heels of COVID. It was the 2020-21 season. There were

Starting point is 00:24:29 limited people in the stands. It was just, it was such a weird and completely different environment than what we're used to and certainly what has been created on that front. But we talked about earlier in the week, you can go back and check out that podcast. Some other names that Iowa is involved with. Kyle Heusman is another name to keep an eye on. He does a great job of tracking all that with Hawkeye Report. So that's what's happening on the women's

Starting point is 00:24:51 basketball front. One final thing I wanted to mention here today, and that is coming in the report that Iowa is going to be fully vested in what they're going to be able to offer in terms of scholarship money, excuse me, NIL money, and the way that they're going to be able to divvy that up, the full $20.5 million that's going to be allotted. So all college programs can do this, and I believe all from the Big Ten, from the SEC, are going to be able to do that. The question becomes what's going to happen after that. And from the Iowa perspective, how do you fund this? So we've been talking a lot about

Starting point is 00:25:30 funding, right? With the hire of Ben McCollum, what they're going to be able to spend, what they have with NIL, what they're going to get from the athletic department out of that $20.5 million. So it's going to be about 75% is going to go to football. That's across the board what basically everybody is going to do. And then it's figuring what you do with that remaining 25%. We know that there are sports that matter a lot in Iowa. A sport that doesn't generate a positive return but generates money, wrestling, women's basketball. How you go that route? For Iowa wrestling they're trying to track down one, right, it's Penn State. It's not about finishing second, it's not about outlasting Oklahoma State or Ohio State or Nebraska or Minnesota to finish second. No, it's about chasing down Penn

Starting point is 00:26:21 State. Well, does an extra million dollars help that when you already have a very well-funded NIL program away from the athletic department? Probably not. I don't think a million dollars is going to make much of a difference. It's not going to change things and not going to change the equation with Penn State. With women's basketball, with Penn State, with women's basketball. Now Iowa is not at the upper levels of things. They are not at the level that we see South Carolina, LSU. They're not funded NIL-wise at the same level, but they're also not chopped liver. They're in good shape in compared to a majority, certainly of the country and at the power structure.

Starting point is 00:27:06 You invest a little bit more there. But finally, you get back to men's basketball. And to get this program back to a competitive level and get the Sweet 16 Monkey off their back, you have to invest and invest a little bit more. And ultimately, men's basketball is the second most generating sport that is available. Now it hasn't happened and certainly didn't happen this past season. But you can get back there. It's probably my love of Iowa men's basketball tainting this a little bit. But I think that's where the money needs to go. If

Starting point is 00:27:44 there's a question, go to the place that can generate interest, can generate dollars, and ultimately can generate a whole lot more for the university. There's a lot there. It's tough, and this is what Beth gets. This is going to be a huge component of the way that this athletic department looks going forward because you don't want to shortchange anybody. But you have to make some tough decisions. Not an easy spot. No doubt. We're out of time for today. We will be back with you tomorrow. Speaking of wrestling, we're gonna have a breakdown of what is happening in the transfer portal and the wrestling program. A lot going on as we'll talk with Zach Zacco from Lockdown Nittany Lions. We'll have a crossover edition on the wrestling front and the wild, wacky, and weird transfer portal in the sport of wrestling.

Starting point is 00:28:35 Again, thanks for being with us here on Lockdown Hawkeyes. If you're watching, hit subscribe on YouTube. If you're listening on the audio side, five star reviews really does help us and helps us get in front of more Hawkeye fans. And don't forget we got a lot going on here on Locked On. Of course not just what's happening inside Locked On Hawkeyes, Locked On Big Ten. We got Locked On College Basketball for you. Isaac Shoddy and Andy Patten doing great work over here as we flip the calendar into April and get set for the final couple of games of the year. They got you covered with Lockdown College basketball, which you can also find on YouTube. And wherever you listen to podcasts, you can also find whatever your favorite MLB team, NBA, NHL, NFL, all right here on the Lockdown Network. I'm Trent Cotter. This is Lockdown Hawkeyes.

Starting point is 00:29:21 We'll talk to you again tomorrow. Until then, go Hawks.

Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - URGENT: Hawkeyes' Portal FRENZY Intensifies | Is McCollum's Strategy GENIUS or RISKY?

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