Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - Where could Kathleen Doyle go in tonight's WNBA Draft? | Men's basketball is riding hype train entering next season | Picking your game-winning drive Hawkeye squad

Episode Date: April 17, 2020

The WNBA Draft takes place tonight. Where could former Iowa guard Kathleen Doyle go? We break that down before jumping on the hype train that the men's basketball team is apparently riding. We wrap up the show by picking 1 QB, 1 RB, 1 TE and 3 WR that we want us to lead a game-winning drive for the Hawks. Tweet us yours at @LockedOnIowa Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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! Oh! He got it! Smith! Decks down 85 yards! Iowa! Field for Smith. Oh, he got it. Smith. Touchdown. 85 yards. Iowa.

Touchdown, 10. Taking a shot in the end zone. 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. Welcome back to another episode of the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast, your daily podcast covering your Iowa Hawkeyes on the Locked On Sports Network every single Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. As always, I am your host, Andrew Wade, and I'm excited to be back for the third and final episode of this week. We'll be back next week as well on that Monday, Wednesday, Friday train. Maybe giving you a special Thursday episode to preview the first round of the NFL draft, but we will see. Kind of depends on what else comes up over the course of next week,

but definitely excited to get into some NFL draft talk and start talking about where some of these guys are going to see their futures kind of unfold at, right? So, I mean, just a big opportunity for guys like Tristan Wirfs, AJ Epineza, Michael Ojemudia, and the others. So I'm excited to talk about that next week. On today's show, though, have some fun things to cover. We're going to be talking about the WNBA draft. So switching focus from the NFL draft to the WNBA draft. So switching focus

from the NFL draft to the WNBA draft that is taking place tonight. And we have an Iowa basketball player, Kathleen Doyle, who is projected to be picked. So we'll be talking a bit about her draft stock and where we could expect to see her go. We'll also be covering the fact that it seems like the men's basketball team is riding a hype train right now and getting a lot of love for next year. Very much dependent on whether or not, you know, Luka Garza comes back, you know, kind of a big deal there. So if he does come back, I think it's worthwhile to ride that hype train. We're going to talk about who's been kind of hyping them up, what's been going on and whether or not I think that is that is valid. And then on our third and final segment of the show, going to do something fun.

Saw something from outside the huddle. They said if you had to pick a quarterback, a running back, a tight end, and three wide receivers to have a game-winning drive in the last 20 years of your favorite team, who would you pick? So I'm going to talk about that. I think there's going to be some surprises here. Would love to hear your team to lead you for a game-winning huddle as well. I'm going to give you my reasoning, all that stuff. Feel free to give me your reasoning as well. Happy to listen

to that and obviously debate back and forth about who would be better from an Iowa Hawkeye football perspective. Before we jump into our main content for the day, I want to quickly announce that the Iowa United is going to be announcing their team today. So make sure to follow them at Iowa TBT. They, you know, as you probably know, if you've listened to the show before, we have a good partnership with them. We're going to be getting a lot of those guys on the shows in the future to talk about their experience with TBT, their previous college and professional experience and what they're looking forward to this upcoming summer with the TBT tournament. So make sure to check that out at Iowa TBT. And then also DJ

Carton committed to Marquette. I know there was brief talks about maybe he could be going to Iowa. I think, you know, based on everything I read, that was pretty much shot down pretty quickly, but we at least entertained the idea of what it would mean for the Hawks. But he did end up committing to Marquette. And I think that's really a win-win. Hopefully that is where he can go and feel comfortable mentally, feel like he's in a good headspace and get the assistance he needs and also be able to perform at a very high level in collegiate basketball. And I'm also glad he didn't go to Iowa State for obvious reasons. Who would want him to actually go to Iowa State? So glad to see that happening. If you are tuning in for the first time, make sure to like, review, and subscribe.

And also make sure to follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Over the next couple weeks, we'll definitely be live tweeting some of these events like the WNBA draft, the NFL draft, that kind of stuff. Always just like to interact with you as well. the NFL draft, that kind of stuff. Always just like to interact with you as well. If you did participate in the kind of Twitter thing we had going on with pick your quarantine house or football players, you definitely got a chance to interact with some former Iowa football players as well. So lots of cool opportunities that we're, I guess,

opening up right here on the Locked on Hawkeyes podcast and our social media account. So make sure to check that out. But now it's time to get to the main piece of the show today. Starting with segment number one, Kathleen Doyle is going to be selected in the WNBA draft. I would say it's an 80% chance it's going to happen tonight. And I want to make sure we're talking a bit about that and where she could go. Doyle is coming off a

season where she was Big Ten Player of the Year after taking over the reins from former National Player of the Year Megan Gufferson, and she definitely did not disappoint in this season, putting up just fantastic numbers as a 5'9 guard. The Illinois native just dominated the Big Ten, and she was a big reason why Iowa was still able to potentially clinch a top 16 seed and a 4 seed in the NCAA tournament if it was to go on. Obviously it did not, which is unfortunate. We didn't get a chance to see Kathleen Doyle really go out on a high note after losing in the Big Ten tournament.

But Iowa was in it because of her. I mean, let's just be honest here. I think Iowa was a decent team this year. But when you have a player like Kathleen Doyle, that really elevates your team because of her kind of style of play and the fact that she is a do-it-all type of point guard. play and the fact that she is a do-it-all type of point guard this season alone she just like I said averaged 33.8 minutes per game playing a significant amount of minutes shot 44 percent from the field 32 percent from three hit almost 80 percent of her free throws averaged 4.6 rebounds per game 6.3 assists per game and 18.1 points per game also Also put in there 55 steals, just a little bit over one a

game. And her career high for steals is actually 66. So overall, just really impressive all around, a great guard who can really do it all. And I think her work ethic is really going to help her and her prospects of going in the WNBA draft and sticking in the WNBA. The one thing to keep in mind before we jump into where she's kind of been mocked at, I think it's important to note that with everything that's going on with the COVID pandemic, it actually kind of hurts a player like Kathleen Doyle. So right now, the WNBA, if you're not familiar with the draft process, if you didn't pay attention last year, it's a three-round draft.

the draft process if you didn't pay attention last year. It's a three-round draft. And as you know, if you have followed the NBA, there aren't a lot of spots in this league. Megan Gustafson was drafted in the second round, got cut before the season began. Now there's always chances that things will open up. There's a lot of great opportunities overseas. But especially with the WNBA, typically in past years, the WNBA season begins, or at least the training camp portion begins before a lot of veterans have arrived from playing overseas. So there's an opportunity there for some of the younger players like a Kathleen Doyle to stand out in front of coaches prior to veterans coming back. Now with this whole COVID pandemic, seasons are canceled across the world. So there's not going to be as much time to get acclimated prior to some of the better players coming back

or some of the veteran players coming back. So not as much of an opportunity to really shine for Kathleen Doyle. That being said, I have no doubt that the work ethic is going to be there. It's not going to be a matter of work effort. It's going to be a matter of is she one of the more talented players in the roster. And I think it'll be interesting to see kind of how she fits in there. But the fact that she's even in this conversation is just awesome to see. So to start off, no one has her projected to go in the first round. I think that's pretty clear. There's only one draft site that I saw that didn't have her projected at all either.

And that was The Athletic. Did not have her going anywhere in the draft but a couple places so draftsites.com one place who does a good job of covering or draftsite.com does a good job of covering the WNBA draft they have Kathleen Doyle going 22nd to the Sparks. Let me keep going with this. Fan-sided has Iowa going in the third round, and I believe ESPN actually has Kathleen Doyle going 24th to the Washington Mystics. So, again, a thing to keep in mind, when you have three picks in the draft, you're not necessarily drafting for, especially in the second and third rounds, you're not necessarily drafting for, especially in the second and third rounds, you're not necessarily drafting for team need per se.

You're drafting the most talented player you can find that might be able to get a spot. So while that could correspond to team need, not always. The thing with Kathleen Doyle, if she can go in the second round, she'll be pretty close to where Megan Gustafson landed. Gustafson landed middle second round last season. If Doyle can go in the second or even the third round, that does give her a chance, obviously, over a UDFA type of player. And if we are able to see that, that would be incredible to see two Iowa basketball players drafted in back-to-back drafts

for the WNBA. Again, a very small window or a small grouping of prospects. Only 36 are drafted every single year. So even a tighter competition than the NBA to see two players go back-to-back Big Ten Player of the Year and go on the WNBA draft would be absolutely fantastic. Wherever she does land tonight, though, we'll make sure to be tweeting out and talking a bit about what that means for her stock, what that means for her opportunities to play. Last year, for example, Gustafson landed with the Wings, and there was a little bit of a deficit of forwards, but then they traded for a couple people.

Some people came back, kind of ruined some of the opportunities there, but then she eventually latched back on with them. So we'll make sure to cover all that on the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast, but make sure to tune into the WNBA draft as Kathleen Doyle realizes her dreams for her WNBA career. Coming up on segment number two, we're going to be jumping into the men's basketball team and how they're kind of riding a hype train right now. Talk a bit about what people are saying about this team going into the 2020-2021 season. Before we do that, though, make sure if you haven't already,

check out our Locked On NFL podcast mock draft special. It is ending today. We've had episodes starting last Friday all the way through today, and there are some former Iowa players being drafted in that draft. So check out the Locked On NFL podcast and look at the mock draft special. You might even hear my voice on Friday's episode. So thank you all for tuning into that. Coming up on segment number two, how Iowa is riding that hype train.

We are back for segment number two of the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast. And as I said before we took a quick break, the Hawks are riding quite a hype train. And I think people are starting to realize the potential of this Hawkeyes podcast. And as I said, before we took a quick break, the Hawks are riding quite a hype train. And I think people are starting to realize the potential of this Hawkeye team. And there's really two things that kind of stand out about this. First, Andy Katz posted his top 36 power rankings going into next season. And he had Iowa at number five. So big, that's a pretty big, big increase. And I think it speaks volumes about what this team could bring and what people think about this team and what people thought about this team this past season.

Despite losing Tyler Cook, not having Jordan Bohannon, Nicholas Bayer being gone, this team still, and Isaiah Moss transferring to Kansas, this team still put together one of the more impressive seasons in the Fran McCaffrey era, and they were really a team that no one wanted to play against. You didn't know what you were going to get on any given night, which is scary. You have a team that could hit the three with consistency.

You have Luka Garza, who should have been the national player of the year, down low. You have a guard in Connor McCaffrey who doesn't turn the ball over. CJ Frederick was just an absolute stud. I mean, this team was a team to be reckoned with in the NCAA tournament this year. Going into next year, they return everyone besides Ryan Greener and Bakari Evelyn and Riley Till. So to me, I mean, you're losing a spot starter, a good bench guy, and a former walk-on who earned a scholarship in his final season. and a former walk-on who earned a scholarship in his final season.

Oh, and I guess Cordell Pemzel, who I'm a little bit, I don't know. I think Cordell Pemzel was a great team player. I just don't think it's a huge loss from a national title perspective, especially considering the reinforcements that Iowa is getting back in the forms of Jordan Bohannon, Patrick Nunge, those kind of guys, and even Patrick McCaffrey, if he is able to play. This team is going to be absolutely fantastic to watch next year. Based on Andy Katz, though, in his way-too-early Power 36 for this upcoming season, he had Gonzaga at one, Baylor two, Villanova three, Creighton at four, Iowa five, Wisconsin six,

Kansas seven, Michigan eight, Kentucky nine, and Virginia ten. The interesting thing about that, this was posted probably about a week ago. And since then, Michigan has lost multiple top recruits for their basketball team, which is a huge loss. Anytime you lose a five-star recruit, that is not ideal by any way, shape, or form. They lost Isaiah Todd. I'm not sure kind of where the expectation of where he's going to be landing at

as of this point. They're also close to adding Joshua Christopher, but he also decided to play elsewhere. So not a very good couple days for the Michigan basketball team. I wouldn't expect them to be in that top 10 again if that were released any time in the near future. That being said, it sounds like Iowa fans and other bettors are definitely looking at Iowa as a team to bet on going into the season. Right now, they are given 30 to 1 odds to win the NCAA tournament

and claim the college basketball title. And people are voting on them at a 31% clip, which is absolutely absurd. The next closest team is Alabama at 100-1 odds at 14%, and Michigan at 40-1 odds at 12%. If I'm a betting man, and I am, I'm putting my money on Iowa to win. Those odds are good. I think they have a great team. This is probably the best team from a talent perspective that we're going to see in the Fran McCaffrey era ever.

I think probably the best Iowa team we're going to see in the Fran McCaffrey era and ever. I mean, I think in probably the best Iowa team we're going to see in the last 20, 30 years, if they return everyone. Again, a big if they need to return Luka Garza, Joe Wieskamp hasn't declared, but need to make sure he comes back. Obviously need to have the development continue for guys like Patrick Nunja and Patrick McCaffrey, Jordan Bohannon needs to be healthy. There's a lot of ifs that obviously come with this team, but if they can put everything together, the potential is absolutely through the roof. And as an Iowa basketball fan, I'm really excited for next season. This season seemed like it was going to be a rebuilding year.

And the fact that they were able to turn it around and were in contention for a double buy in the Big Ten tournament just speaks volumes to the kind of character this team has and the perseverance this team has. And as we talked about Bakari Evil in a few weeks back, this team, he thought this team could go deep. He thought this team could make a big run in the NCAA tournament. Now fast forward a year where everyone's had even more work put in. They've had even more time in the gym to get better.

A lot of teams don't return that much experience. A lot of teams, you know, the teams that are typically up there as the top 10 ranked teams don't return a ton of experience. They typically have guys going into the NBA draft. I mean, the Big Ten alone has just seen a huge exodus of players, especially at the forward and center positions. Guys are leaving quickly. And if they all decide to stay in the NBA draft process, that's an even better opportunity for Luka Garza to put up some more dominant numbers against competition that is not going to be as good as it was last year from a big man perspective.

So fun stuff to always see Iowa kind of in those discussions as one of the top teams heading into next year. Obviously a lot of big ifs. The biggest one starting with Luka Garza and whether or not he decides to return. All signs are pointing to him returning, but you just never know until you know. You know what I'm saying? So we'll continue to keep check on that evolving situation and keep you posted on how that impacts the Iowa Hawkeyes going forward. Then I'll do it for segment number three of the Lockdown Hawkeyes podcast.

Coming up on segment number two, I'm going to be picking who I would want to have from an Iowa football team perspective from the last 20 years, what quarterback, what running back, what tight end, and what three wide receivers I want to have on my team for a game-winning drive in the final seconds. And I think you're going to be a bit surprised by my answers, but I stand by them and I would love to share them with you. We are back for segment number three of the Lockdown Hawkeyes podcast. And as I said before we took a quick break,

I'm going to be dropping to you who I would want from all the Iowa Hawkeyes in the last 20 years to win, to go and have a game-winning drive in the final seconds from a quarterback perspective I'll also pick a running back a tight end and three wide receivers and again I think you might be a bit surprised by some of these selections I think some of them make a lot of sense so let's jump right into it quarterbacks there's been a couple pretty good quarterbacks in the last 20 years you think about Brad Banks, Drew Tate, Ricky Stanzi, good quarterbacks in the last 20 years. You think about Brad Banks, Drew Tate, Ricky Stanzi,

CJ Beathard, even Nate Stanley. And I think, first of all, Nate Stanley doesn't get enough praise for what he did as an Iowa quarterback, which is unfortunate. I think Ricky Stanzi, obviously I've always enjoyed talking to him. I think he is a guy who has a very much a clutch gene in his veins. He has no problem, you know, winning in the final seconds. He doesn't seem to get hyped up, but I'm taking Drew Tate here. And the reason why is, and just in talking to Drew Tate, he fears no one and nothing. And I can only imagine, and when it comes down to having a minute and a half drive, he looks at that as an opportunity to really show that he belongs and show that you should be respecting him every single time he steps on the field. I think he plays with even a bigger chip on his shoulder, whereas Ricky Stanzi plays

very much cool, calm, and collected. And I want that guy at the chip on my shoulder. But again, it was very close between him and Ricky Stanzi at that quarterback position. Running back. Running back's been an interesting spot for the Iowa Hawkeyes. They always typically have a very good running team, but not a lot of guys who are going to be NFL players. Sean Green was really the only one who really was drafted, I think, in the first two days. Third round pick from the New York Jets about a decade ago. He was an absolute beast as a running back for the Iowa Hawkeyes, but he is not the guy that I want in a game-winning drive.

And here's why. Sean Green is a bulldozing running back, a guy who would just destroy people whenever they tried to tackle him. Yet, when you're trying to put together a game-winning drive, a 70-yard drive with a minute and 30 seconds left, You don't necessarily need a bruising tailback. You want a guy who's going to be able to make plays, be a little bit more dynamic out of the backfield, and can run the ball. And that's where I'm taking Akron Wadley. I feel like he really put Iowa on his back at times. When they needed a big play, he was the guy to give

them a big play. He didn't really test well going into the NFL draft process, but at Iowa, I thought he was usually one of the most athletic, quickest, and fastest guys on the field at any given time. I know there's some issues with Akron Wadley personally right now and some autograph issues. I know people are getting pretty pissed off, but from a pure football perspective, I'm taking Akron Wadley all day. At the tight end position, I honestly just switched my vote about 10 seconds ago. I initially had TJ Hawkinson. And the reason why I had TJ Hawkinson, it might be a little bit more recency bias. I thought when Iowa needed a play, they looked for TJ Hawkinson when he was on the team. Now that being said, I'm going to go with Dallas Clark. I feel like Dallas Clark

was one of the guys who helped turn around the program. He was one of the guys who got that tight end U program started. And if I want a guy to help me win a game winning drive, I'm going with the guy who proved that he could do it at the NFL level. And I think TJ Hawkinson has all the potential in the world and could be a all pro player at one point, but I'm going with Dallas Clark for that. Honestly, it's really between those two. I think you could argue Noah Fant because of the athleticism. You could argue CJ Fedorowicz because he had the athleticism as well, big tall guy. But I want a guy who I can trust consistently, and I'm going with the guy who did it for a very long time. who I can trust consistently, and I'm going with the guy who did it for a very long time.

Now, the three wide receivers. This one definitely got tough, and I think this one is going to come down to preference and what you want on the field when you're trying to win a game-winning drive, but I'm going to go through my three real quick and kind of talk about some of the other guys I also talked about, or thought about at least. I picked Nick Easley, Marvin McNutt, and Brandon Smith. And I also considered Khalil Hill. I considered Kevin Casper. I considered DJK. I also considered, you know, Amir Smith-Marset. I even considered Kevonte Martin-Manley. Those are the guys that were kind of all under consideration. And the reason why I went with these three is when you're trying to field a trio of wide receivers, you try to field them as if you were fielding a basketball team. And what that means is you typically, you know, you want like a point guard, you want

a shooting guard, a small forward, you want a power forward and a center. And if you have a trio of guys, you want kind of a mix of those. So you want a guy who can be a point guard. You want a guy who can be a small forward, a very athletic type of guy, and you want a center or power forward, a big man. And so Nick Easley is my point guard in this situation. Nick Easley is, you know, was a clutch slot wide receiver for the Hawks. I think, you know, he's not the guy who's going to probably score the game winning touchdown, but when you need a six yard out route to get the first down, that's the guy you're going to go to because he has sure hands, has incredible quickness, and runs fantastic routes. I picked Nick Easley as one of my wide

receivers for that reason alone. Marvin McNutt, it's hard to argue with what he did as a wide receiver at Iowa. To me, he fills that athletic wide receiver, your traditional wide receiver role as a guy who is going to be open on most plays. I also like to the clutch gene. I mean, he was the guy who caught the game winning touchdown pass from Ricky Stanzi against Michigan State back in that 2009 football season. And then Brandon Smith, I want a guy who's going to go up and grab that ball. So a lot of the receivers I'm talking about, you know, you think about Kevontae Martin-Manley, you think about Kevin Casper, Khalil Hill. To me, they fit more of the Marvin McNutt rule.

Maybe not Kevontae Martin Manley as much, but I think Nick Easley is, I'd rather have Nick Easley than Kevontae. Amir Smith-Marset was an interesting guy as well from this perspective. It was really torn between Brandon Smith and Amir Smith-Marset, whether you want that speed or that jump ball, you know, catchability. And I decided, like I said, to go with Brandon Smith because at the end of the day, if you need to chuck the ball up randomly,

you want a guy like Brandon Smith who's gonna high point that ball and come down with it over anyone else. Some of the catches he made this past season were absolutely insane. And I think he does have an NFL career ahead of him because of the fact that he is able to play bigger than his 6'2", 6'3 frame.

I want a guy like that as well. So Nick Easley is going to get you those short yards. Marvin McNutt might get you that 20-yard gain in the middle of the field. And then Brandon Smith is the guy who's going to go up and high point that ball and get you that touchdown when you need it in a game-winning situation. So those are my three wide receivers that I would pick to help win a game-winning drive for the Iowa Hawkeyes. If you have different suggestions, please send those to me.

Tweet those at me, Facebook, message me, Instagram me, whatever it may be. Let me know what your thoughts are. I would love to share those on the show as well and retweet what your thoughts are and why you picked those guys. As I said, everyone has a different opinion on these, so I would love to hear what your thoughts are from an Iowa Hawkeye fan perspective. But that will do it for our show today. That will do it for our Friday episode.

Make sure to tune into the WNBA draft tonight and see Kathleen Doyle get drafted and start her future professional career. And if you don't have the opportunity to do that and actually tune in and watch that, make sure to check out our Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram accounts. We'll make sure to be posting stuff on that

as the night goes on. Also, if you did like what you heard today, we do have some great content coming up as well. So make sure to follow us on Apple, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Himalaya Podcasts app, all those items. Make sure to like, review, and subscribe wherever you are downloading podcast app. And if you love some of our NFL draft talk that we've had, make sure to check out the Lockdown NFL Draft podcast hosted by Trevor Sykema and Benjamin Solak.

We've had Benjamin Solak on the show. Fantastic guy. I've met both of them in person down in Mobile at the Senior Bowl. Great dudes to talk to. Work very hard at perfecting their craft. And if you like the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast, you're going to love the Locked On NFL Draft podcast.

Make sure to check that out. As always, Hawkeye Nation, I hope you have a fantastic weekend. Stay safe out there in the midst of this pandemic and crisis. I hope to talk to you all on Monday. Have a great weekend, and let's go Hawks. Thank you. We'll see you next time.