Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - Why Iowa can beat Gonzaga | Kirk Ferentz sheds light on amazing recruiting class | Which juniors could leave the Hawks

Episode Date: December 18, 2020

We have the biggest non-conference game of the decade for the Iowa Hawkeyes this weekend against Gonzaga. We preview that game and also dive into the press conferences held by Kirk Ferentz and Tyler Barnes as they discuss this year's highly-ranked recruiting class.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors! Built BarBuilt Bar is a protein bar that tastes like a candy bar. Go to builtbar.com and use promo code “LOCKEDON,” and you’ll get 20% off your next order.BuiltGoVisit BuiltGO.com and use promo code “LOCKED,” and you’ll get 20% off your next order. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You are Locked On Hawkeyes, your daily podcast on the Iowa Hawkeyes. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. Welcome back, Hawkeye Nation, to another episode of the Locked On Hawkeyes Podcast, your daily podcast covering your Iowa Hawkeyes on the Locked On Sports Network. As always, I am your host, Andrew Wade. Excited to be back for another show today. This is our final show of the week. We'll be back on Monday. Obviously breaking out all Iowa Hawkeye news notes,

especially the Iowa versus Gonzaga basketball game, which is taking place tomorrow. I am absolutely pumped for that. We're going to be covering that on the show today, giving you a brief preview of that. We're also going to be doing a little bit more of a dive into recruiting. I know we haven't done it as much as we have in years past, and again, I do apologize for that, but Kirk Ferens did speak to the media. I want to basically give a briefing of what he spoke about

and kind of my thoughts on that. So that is going to be primarily what today's show is. We also got our special teams awards for the Big Ten. I was mostly right. There's one spot I was not, and I don't agree with it, which I will cover as well. So that's all coming up on the show today. Let's get into it though. Why waste any time? Also, before I actually do though, one last quick thing. I'm not recording in my office, which means I have two dogs running around. So you might hear a little noise occasionally. I'm going to try to keep it to a minimum as much as possible. Try to edit out as much as possible. But I do have a 55 pound pit pit bull and a 45-pound red healer, and they like to play. So I apologize there, but sometimes you got to do what you got to do.

The wife is utilizing the office for her work, and I do not have that space right now. And I want to make sure I get this episode recorded. So let's get into it. First and foremost, the Special Teams Awards. Charlie Jones took home some awards. Torrey Taylor took home the Edelman Fields Punter of the Year Award. Charlie Jones got second team All-Big Ten Coaches Award and third team All-Big Ten Media. Keith Duncan took home third in both.

And Amir Smith-Marset got honorable mention in both as well. That's about what I expected. I thought Keith Duncan would take second, but he didn't. He lost to Charles Campbell, who I did not foresee taking his spot. Charles Campbell only kicked nine field goals, made eight of them, did miss a field goal between 40 and 49 yards, and made one out of one field goal attempts over 50. I don't know.

I still think Keith Duncan deserved to at least get second team there. That, to me, is kind of garbage. Charlie Jones getting third, bull crap. He should have got second in both is my personal thought I mean the dude was a freaking phenomenal punt returner and changed the landscape of multiple games the fact the media didn't see that to me means that I think they're biased based off the game they saw Iowa versus Wisconsin and then Torrey Taylor what a phenomenal story he hasn't played in an American football stadium ever until three months ago. And then he wins puncher of the year as a true freshman. The sky is the limit with this kid. Really excited to see his future and what happens there. I do

think there's a chance he could win the rate guy, although most likely he's going to come in probably third or fourth in that award but again Tori Taylor what a phenomenal story and the fact that he won the punter of the year in the Big Ten awesome stuff all around there along those football notes Davia Nixon was listed as the number 10 prospect in this entire draft class by Mel Kiper Jr. and Mel Kiper isn't the end-all be-all of draft prospects, but it goes to show you that Davion Nixon is rising up draft boards very, very fast. He went from a guy who I called a sleeper guy who could be a really big time player this year to a guy who is talked about not just in

the first round, but early on in the first round. That's kind of the impact player he could be. And it's exciting to see him there. And that actually got me thinking, who are the underclassmen that could stay or who could go? Last year, we saw A.J. Paneza leave. We saw Geno Stone leave. We saw Tristan Wirfs leave. So those are three big-name players that left the year before that. We saw Noah Fant, T.J. Hawkinson, Imani Hooker, and Anthony Nelson, all four left. This year, I think it's going to be a little bit lighter.

And also keep in mind the fact that all these players technically have a free year. So I do think Davion Nixon's gone. I just can't imagine him staying. He had such a phenomenal year. You got to go on the stocks high there. Tyler Linderbaum, he's an interesting case. I think he would leave and probably be a second round pick. I think probably, you know, look at what James Daniel did. I would say probably second round pick. I have a weird feeling he might stay. I don't know what it is. I just feel like he might stay, have an extra year to really build his case and be a mid to top first round pick as a center. I think that would be amazing. As far as the free years go, I don't

foresee anyone really taking advantage outside of maybe Jack Heflin and maybe Zach Van Valkenburg, both players getting listed on that All-Big Ten team. I do think there's a chance either of them could stay, which would be huge for the Iowa defensive line. That's going to be likely losing Davian Nixon and definitely losing Chauncey Golston. This line could be hugely impacted if they have Jack Heflin or Zach Van Valkenburg or both stay. So that to me is a big thing to watch. As far as the recruiting goes, let's get into that because it was a phenomenal recruiting class, and it's one I want to make sure we do cover.

We're going to try to get a few of the guys on. We've had some of them on in the past, but I do want to focus on a few of the guys we have had on and some of the stuff that Tyler Barnes and Kirk Ferron said about those guys. We'll probably take a quick break after that and then go into some of the other additional comments that Kirk also had to say about recruiting in general. But two guys I really wanted to touch on.

Griffin Little. Griffin Little was offered a scholarship super early in his recruiting process, and he committed. He had a little bit of a down senior season. But overall, what you see on tape is he's going to be a big-time player on the defensive line. We actually interviewed him on the Locked on Hawkeyes podcast, a quiet, down-to-earth kid, really easy to talk to, though. And here's what Tyler Barnes said about him. He said, you have to be really special.

We have to be really sure when we offer somebody that young. At that point, it's strategic. You don't want to throw everything at a freshman or sophomore right away when they get on campus unless you absolutely have to. This might be your only shot. And Griffin Little grew up a Hawkeye fan. That's a huge advantage. He always wanted to be a Hawkeye. So that recruiting process probably wasn't as difficult as maybe they thought. But the fact that they offered an extended scholarship means they knew what they were getting with Griffin Little. And again, some of it's a projection. You see what

a player does as a freshman or sophomore. How can you project that out to be a senior who knows what happens? They still feel very confident in Griffin Little's ability. And then Jennings Dunker, that kid is hilarious. I had him on the show as well. I think it was him and Zach Tweet. They both joined in. They had me laughing the entire time. And this is what Tyler Barnes had to say, which really echoes what I kind of experienced when talking to Jennings. He said, Jennings is hilarious first and foremost. I'm not sure. I don't know if we put him out on Twitter, did some Instagrams, did some did you knows with our guys asking them five questions. One of them was asking them about top three music artists. Dunk's first response was Britney Spears. I said, no way. He actually has two Britney Spears shirts. He's doing an interview on one of those today. I'm not sure

I'm supposed to say that. We knew about that early on because we had Isaiah Bruce in the program. He said, we knew about Dunk early on. Basically, you're going to have to come into camp and earn it. We kind of knew coming into camp. We knew we were going to offer. I'm pretty sure he committed before Coach Ferns got the verbal offer out of his mouth. And those are two different soundbites. The first one I thought was hilarious. Again, Jennings is a fantastic guy.

I definitely recommend going back and listening to his interview and talking about why he decided to commit to Iowa, what drew him to the program. And that last soundb bite I think is really interesting because I think it's interesting the strategy that goes into the recruitment process. Knowing that they wanted to give him an offer, but making him earn it a little bit. Making him show that he deserved that offer, but clearly he wanted it, clearly he was excited, and then Coach Ferentz got that commit very, very quick. Jennings Dunker is going to be a blast to watch and listen to, especially now that the Iowa guys have Twitter.

I am ecstatic about that. Coming up on segment number two, we're going to continue some of our breakdown of Kirk Ferentz's press conference notes. Some really great stuff there. Talking about some opposing coaches, talking about how this class came together, and then also some of the other positions this team might be looking out for in the future in this recruiting class, because they did get 17 guys, but there is some open scholarships possibly. So what are they going to be looking for over the next couple of months

until that final signing period? Since this is the, this technically the early signing period, that'll be coming up in just a few short minutes though. If you are anything like me, you're constantly on the go that you're constantly moving around doing stuff. I'm recording this podcast after working a long day of work. My wife me, you're constantly on the go, though. You're constantly moving around, doing stuff. I'm recording this podcast after working a long day of work. My wife is doing some stuff upstairs. I cook dinner after this. It has been quite a hectic day. But when you're busy like that, sometimes you just need to take a second and chill.

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So when I want to take a second and unwind and just chill, sit on the couch, I grab myself the only beer out there that is made to chill, just like a Coors Light. So when I want to take a second and unwind and just chill, sit on the couch, I grab myself the only beer out there that is made to chill, and that's Coors Light. Coors Light is the one I choose and I need to unwind. I recommend you do it too, especially this upcoming Saturday. Tomorrow we watch this Iowa-Gonzaga game. We're probably going to be freaking out a little bit. It's a big-time game. Grab yourself a Coors Light.

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And there is no football game this weekend, so we are not doing our Monday morning recap with Matt. When we do find out the bowl game, obviously Matt will be on to talk about the recap of that. Looking to get a few couple guests on over the next couple weeks, but we will be back on Monday morning, breaking down the Iowa versus Gonzaga game, what went right, what went wrong, and hopefully talking about a W there. But let's get back into the conversation, talking about Iowa recruiting, because it was a great day. It's a program- day. One of the

best recruiting classes Kirk Ferentz has ever had. And it goes to show you that you can't teach an old dog new tricks. They struggled a little bit in the early part of this last decade, the 2010 to 2014 era. They struggled a little bit, but they knew what they needed to do. And they started building the program. And since then, they have been consistent winners. Eight, nine, ten games. Hell, I do think this team, with consistent quarterback play, could have won ten or eleven games. That's how good this team is. And it's a testament to the recruiting that Iowa does.

They're not just trying to find the best athletes. They're finding good people. Strong character, strong leadership type of people. And that's what Kirk Ferentz had to say. He would say, and here's what one of the quotes said about the leadership. He says, a couple other things about this class. We're looking for guys that are leaders, good football players, but leaders. 15 out of the 17 have been captains, multi-sport athletes. Think about Cooper DeGene. I think it's DeGene. I need to go back and look the pronunciation up.

He probably sparked our interest. The most recent commit as well sparked our interest through basketball prowess. The football part took care of itself. That's always been important to us. Something we try to identify during the recruiting process. And again, Iowa is showing a blueprint here. They want guys who play multiple sports. They want guys who just like to compete. And when you can compete in other sports at a high level, you can probably play football at a high level. Look at all the wrestlers that Iowa has recruited that come on to be fantastic offensive linemen.

Tristan Wirfs, Tyler Lindenbaum, both guys. They wrestled against each other in high school. That's a huge deal. When you have that wrestling background, it's a big deal. Basketball, when you're an athlete like a Cooper DeGene, that is a huge opportunity to showcase your athleticism. And Cooper is a guy I'm very excited about to be in our secondary. He watched his state championship game.

The dude is just an athlete, just a fun guy to watch play football. I'm really excited about it. It's also one of the things, and I don't like to always bring this up. I know it can be tiresome to some. I think it's important, though. It's a very important conversation to talk about. There was a lot of turmoil this offseason, and there was a concern that it could hurt Iowa's recruiting. We saw Jordan Oladukun. He decommitted twice from Iowa. I get it. I respect his decision. I don't necessarily say I get it. I respect his decision

to do whatever he wants, but I think what has really impressed me is how Iowa has handled that situation and made it into an opportunity to learn and grow. And it seems like they feel very much the same about how recruiting went because they basically said, we have, we have been open, honest, and transparent. And that's what Keegan Johnson also said. And I want to get to that in a second, but here's what Kirk said about that situation. He said, I think all of us do about this recruiting class. We certainly have bumps back in March, right on through. I can't say enough about the way the prospects handled it, about the way they actually delved into areas that they were concerned about or had questions about, asked good questions, both the prospects and families. Really, they were digging for facts, not headlines. I can't say

enough about that. None of them flinched. None of them wavered. I feel really good. We've already learned a lot about these guys without seeing them on campus. That's certainly exciting. And that goes back to the fact that Kirk is trying to recruit men. He's trying to recruit good leaders and good people first and foremost. And if they can play football, even freaking better. And that's what makes this Iowa program so fun to root for because they are recruiting good people. If you remember back in the early part of the Kirk Ference era, there were some guys on that roster that probably weren't very good people. They had some issues with the law. They had some other issues kind of going on. And Kirk has made it at a point of finding the right fits for his program, not just finding

the best athletes. It's a lesson that I believe Scott Frost is learning over in Nebraska. You need to be able to recruit high character men. And the fact that 16 of the 17 recruits didn't even waver from their commitment because they knew what kind of program they were joining and they wanted to be a part of that change to me speaks volumes about those kinds of players and the character of those players. And actually, going on to the Keegan Johnson news, I mean, that's huge to get a four-star wide receiver commit out of state whose dad actually played with the head coach of Nebraska, Scott Frost. And that was a really interesting statement that Kirk Ferris made about Keegan. He said, Keegan wasn't going to be pressured to staying home. That speaks volumes when your dad played with the head coach there,

two-time national champion. You're arguably the best player in the state, coming to a state where there's one of your most hated rivals. I think that tells you everything you need to know about Keegan Johnson. And it does. He doesn't just make decisions because people want him to. He makes the decision that is best for him. And it also is crazy to me how Iowa's wide receiver group has turned around. Kelton Copeland, he deserves all the money in the world because our wide receiver group has turned around. Kelton Copeland, he deserves all the money in the world because our wide receiver group has went from a weakness to a strength. Years ago, we could not have dreamt of getting a four-star wide receiver from out of state. Hell, we couldn't even get four-star wide receivers in our own state. Look at Alan Lazard or, you know, I don't want to, I'm not

even going to bring it, Oliver Martin. I don't want to say it, but Oliver Martin also. I mean, these are guys who, they were in our own state and we couldn't get them to come to Iowa because we just didn't have that propensity for developing wide receivers in a good way. So fun stuff there. I love, obviously love talking about that. He also talked a little bit about some of the recruitment process. I'll get into one quote and I have two final quotes after that to wrap up with, but he did say about, you know, the, the idea that opposing coaches could be using the stuff that happened over the summer against Iowa. He said, I know from a very good source, one of the head coaches in our conference called his staff back in the spring.

He said, if anybody even goes down that road at all, thinks about going down, they're going to be leaving. They're going to be out of here. To me, that says a lot about the caliber of some people in our conference. I'll let that remain unnamed. And I think, and I'm just speculating here, right? I'll let that remain unnamed. And I think, and I'm just speculating here, right? I don't want to say anything. In fact, I'm just speculating here. We saw a very maybe passive aggressive Kirk Ferentz. We saw him throw some shade at times. We also saw him be a very respectful coach. And I think you can clearly see the writing on the wall about

what that looked like. When I speculate who that could have been, I think of Paul Crist. I think of a Lovey Smith, Pat Fitzgerald. Those are the kind, I mean, the one thing I like about the Big Ten, I don't like the, you know, the office of the Big Ten, but the Big Ten in general is there is a mutual respect between a lot of these guys because they have really tried to build up these programs the right way, especially at Wisconsin, especially at Northwestern. And Illinois couldn't really do it from a winning games perspective, but they tried doing it from a high character perspective under Lovie Smith.

A lot of mutual respect from those guys. Now, guys who maybe, and I think when you bring that up, when you bring up specifically that one coach said that, I think what that also means is that there were coaches out there that were using it against Iowa. And there's no doubt about it. Some of the recruits have talked about the fact that as soon as that happened, they had coaches calling them saying,

you still committed, you still interested. You have to believe that there are going to be some coaches out there that are going to bring that up. And I would not put it past our neighbors to the north or our neighbors to the west. Not a single chance I'd put it past them to do that. That would not surprise me at all. Think about what Iowa did against those teams. Minnesota calling three timeouts for no freaking reason. That's hilarious. He wanted to not let them score. He was pissed.

Scott Frost in Nebraska. The clapping gate. Kirk Ferris threw so much shade in that press conference. I absolutely loved it. But I think there was some ill will towards what happened over the summer and how some of these coaches went about it and how some of them tried to use an unfortunate situation to their advantage, which again speaks volumes about the character of some of the people in the Big Ten and speaks volumes about the lack of character for some of the others in the Big Ten.

That's just my thoughts, just my speculation. The last thing I want to wrap up with in the football talk is the fact that we do have some open scholarships probably, and people talked about the fact that there's no running back in this class. Now, when you look at it though, Iowa does have a decent chunk of running backs. Chadwick Bird did transfer. We got Tyler Goodson returning. Ivory Kelly Martin's going to be returning. Gavin Williams is also still there. I think LaShawn Williams too. I'm trying to remember all the running backs in that depth chart because Iowa does have quite a bit. But he did mention it would be great to get a guy like Makai Sargent.

I mean, that was quite a random find there. But it would be great to get a guy like Makai Sargent and luck into him because Makai Sargent has been a fantastic find coming from Iowa Western and making his way in that lineup and being a very productive player. Yeah, LaShawn Williams, Gavin Williams, Keontae Luckett is also another guy to watch out for as well. But I think they are in the market for a running back. And another guy to watch out for is Eli Sanders, a Boise State commit. He's a guy that Iowa has extended an offer to. They're still hot on his trail.

Out of Chandler, Arizona. I want to say he might actually play with Kevin Casper's son, Kyler Casper. I could be wrong there. I need to actually check that to be sure. But Iowa is hot on his trail and he's committed to Boise State, but don't put that past Iowa to get him to flip to an Iowa, to commit to Iowa. I think that's a big time offer that, yeah, they do not go to the same school. Apologies there. But still down in Arizona, Eli Sanders is a guy to watch out for. I also think Iowa could be on the market for another defensive back, especially after Jordan Olandukin decommitted. I don't think I was still in the market. That's just my speculation as well,

but it'll be interesting to see what they do. Um, and then roster management is going to be tough because basically everyone gets a free transfer year. And they asked him about that and whether or not he wanted to build through the transfer market. And he said a couple things, really. He said, to your other point with the free transfer stuff looming, all that, the game has changed a lot. Roster management has changed a lot. We'll just try to be diligent. We're never going to build the team in that market.

That's just not our niche. And I agree. Iowa likes to build the team up. They like to build a roster up and have these guys in the program for a long time. You want to buy into the Iowa way. However, they have had some success lately with guys who wanted to be Iowa Hawkeyes from the beginning. And that's a very important thing. Charlie Jones wanted to be an Iowa Hawkeye. He grew up in Illinois. Jack Heflin, he wanted to be an Iowa Hawkeye. He said, think about Jack Heflin this year. What a perfect fit he was with our guys, with our team, our defense. He's done a really good job. That's part of the reason we have a good defensive team this year. Yeah, we'll always keep an eye on that. Basically saying, yeah, we're going to keep

an eye on the transfer market, but it's not our first source of talent. And again, they want to make sure they're getting the right guys in this program. And the transfer market can be a tough one. You're getting a guy who might be a sophomore, might be a junior. How do they fit into that locker room after not going through all the stuff that these other players have gone through? That's always something you want to be concerned about. With Iowa, they know that, and they want to make sure they're being very cautious about how they approach that.

That does it for segment number two. Coming up on segment number three, though, we are going to be talking about Iowa versus Gonzaga, giving you the breakdown there. Fran McCaffrey had a lot of great things to say about this Gonzaga team, and it is going to be quite a tough game. But before we get into that, Saturday's a long day. There's some NFL football. We got Gonzaga versus Iowa.

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because I followed the advice of Lee Sterling. Make sure to check that out, Locked On Bets, right now, wherever you get your podcasts at. But let's get into the talk about Iowa versus Gonzaga because it is the biggest non-conference game, I would say, in Iowa's history. Definitely in the Fran McCaffrey era, but one of the biggest non-conference games Iowa has ever had,

and it is going to be a doozy. Ken Palm has this rated as a loss for Iowa. They're projecting an 87-84 win for Gonzaga, but there's a couple things in play here that I think could make this an Iowa game. But let's get into some of the numbers first, and then I'm going to go into Fran McCaffrey's press conference and tell you why I think Iowa can win this game and why I think Iowa won't win this game.

Those are going to be my two things I'm going to tell you about coming up at the very end. First and foremost, when you look at this from a purely analytical standpoint, these teams are very even. analytical standpoint. These teams are very even. Iowa has the number one adjusted offensive efficiency rating. Gonzaga has number two. Defensively, Iowa struggles. They're 75th in adjusted defensive efficiency. Gonzaga's 14th. Where it's interesting is both these teams like to get up the court. They like to move the ball around. They like to spread the ball around and play with tempo. Gonzaga is 11th in adjusted tempo. Iowa is 14th in adjusted tempo, or sorry, 30th in adjusted tempo. Gonzaga is 11th. Gonzaga is 15th in average possession length. Iowa is 14th. So these teams like to move. They like to shoot early and they like to shoot often and they score

at free will. We saw West Virginia do a pretty good job against Gonzaga, slowing them down defensively, and that's going to be a huge thing for Iowa. They need to be able to handle Gonzaga on the defensive boards because Iowa has struggled there quite a bit this year. When you look at where Iowa is from a defensive rebounding perspective, they're one of the worst teams in the nation, but they're one of the best teams in offensive rebounding. Now, some of that can be bounces, but you cannot do that against a team like Gonzaga. You cannot

extend possessions against a team like Gonzaga, especially a team like Gonzaga that shoots so well within the perimeter. Where Gonzaga struggles a little bit is they can't shoot the ball from behind the arc very well. Their only guy that's honestly a relevant shooting threat from behind the three point line is Corey Kispert, six foot seven forward, shoots about 45% on 20 shots. He's made nine of 20 shots. No other guy is shooting above 30%. Wow, my words are not coming out in this segment. I apologize there. But that is good for Iowa because where they've gotten burned before is strong three point shooting teams. Now, if you're trading twos for threes, that is always going to favor a team like Iowa. And Gonzaga is 251th, 251st, 251st in three-point shooting percentage in the nation. So again, Iowa has

an advantage there. But where Gonzaga does do a good job at is scoring within the perimeter, within the arc, right? They score a lot of two points and they do it pretty easily and they do it very efficiently. So when they don't score though, Iowa needs to get that rebound. You cannot extend those possessions for a sharp shooting team like Gonzaga. And these teams are going to run. It's going to be a lot of fun. I do think Gonzaga has a great D, but Iowa's offense can handle that. But Iowa's defense needs to lock down. They struggle against ball screens, which is a key principle of Gonzaga. So how does Iowa handle that? They go to a zone, and you effectively close out on shooters.

I think you need to also look at the half-court press that they've been doing as well, kind of the trap they're doing on some of the guards. Patrick McCaffrey is a fantastic, phenomenal athlete for that. So is Joe Toussaint. Joe Toussaint is going to be huge in this game, especially on the defensive end as long as he is not unfortunately making unnecessary turnovers. So Joe Toussaint, Patrick McCaffrey are going to be

huge here. We might see a lot more Jack Nunji because this team is big. Gonzaga is a big team. So typically we've seen Jordan Bohannon, Connor McCaffrey, CJ Frederick, Joe Wieskamp, and Luca Garza. Gonzaga rolls out a pretty big lineup. Jalen Suggs is their true freshman point guard, 6'4".

Joel Aie, 6'5". Corey Kispert, 6'7". Anton Watson, 6'8". Drew Timmy, 6'10". Behind him, Omar Balo, 7' tall. That is going to be a tough challenge for Luka Garza, but it's going to be a tough challenge for all the wings. They have length and size.

That's also what makes them a strong defensive team, is that length and that size. So I also what makes them a strong defensive team is that length and that size. So I do think we're going to see a lot of Jack Nunji. If Luka Garza doesn't get in foul trouble, that is going to be a huge if, because that has been basically the saving grace for Iowa is when Luka gets in foul trouble or needs to take a break, we have Jack Nunji coming in. How does Iowa handle the lineup? Do they just stay small and expect a Connor McCaffrey to guard an Anton Watson or a Joe Wieskamp, that to me is going to be very interesting to watch what kind of lineup that Fran McCaffrey rolls out because

they have been playing a pretty small ball lineup. It's made up of four guards and one center and then you have Jack Nunji coming in as that backup center. So I think that's going to be interesting to watch. We're also going to really need key six to seven minutes from Keegan Murray. We saw that with Nicholas Bayer early in his career. We just need six, seven minutes, maybe hit a three, get some strong rebounds. But this game is going to be fun to watch. And Fran McCaffrey had a few things to say, a lot of good things about Gonzaga. And I will say this, I love Fran McCaffrey's press conferences. I feel like he is such a respectful guy and he really cares about the game of basketball and the teams he's playing and his own team. Here's what he had to say though,

about some of the players. I is really good and Kispert can really shoot it. They have so many good players. There are veteran guys. And when you say veteran guys, they have one freshman. Sorry, let me put this up. I have actually the notes here. They have one freshman, two sophomores, one junior, one senior.

So they're, they are a veteran squad. Fran McCaffrey is absolutely right. He said they lose nothing when they go to the bench, just like Iowa. They share it. They play it fast. They move it. There's a reason why they're ranked number one. And again, this is a matchup of two very, very similar teams.

These teams move fast. They like to speed up the tempo. They have strong starting units and just as strong, you know, depth player benches where Iowa typically has an advantage is their bench. That is not an advantage against Gonzaga. So it is going to be important for the bench to try to create an advantage there, but it's not as big of an advantage as we typically see where Iowa actually starts outscoring their opponents when they put their bench on the floor. You also have to say about Jalen Suggs, a guy who

Iowa actually recruited for football and for basketball. He said, you know, he would have been a lottery pick last year if he could have come out of high school. So it's a complete skill set. Mike, that's what it is. He can penetrate, get in the lane, find his teammates. He can play fast, play slow. He defends in his rebounds, and he can shoot it. He's a really special, delivering the ball at the absolute perfect time, which is a gift. Very much like Jason Kidd when I saw him in high school.

That's going to be the biggest matchup for me. I believe that Iowa can match up on every other guy, but Jalen Suggs is going to be tough. Who do we match up on? Do we match up CJ Frederick, who's probably one of our best on-ball defenders, and then put Jordan Bohannon on a 6'5 Joel Ayi? I think that's going to be tough.

Jordan Bohannon is going to have probably one of his toughest challenges from a defensive perspective, and I think that could lead to seeing more Joe Toussaint in this game than we have seen in the past couple games he also this about Luka and just unguarding Luka and how they're going to do it and what is what they need to realize says there's a variety of things we can run but the way he's shooting the three ball the way he's shooting the pull up his ability to make plays for other people is really critical if you're going to be playing against those kinds of defense you've got to be able to do a variety of things, and that's what he does, and that's going to be huge.

Luka against North Carolina was struggling a little bit. The balls were not rolling the way he typically sees them roll, the way he typically expects them to roll. And Iowa was hot from three-point land. We need to see both those things happen. I don't think we win this game if it's either or, right? It needs to be both. Luka Garza needs to be on the ball and he's doing a great job of kicking the ball as he has done against UNC. I thought he did a great job with that, but Iowa's three-point shooters need to come ready

and then to be able to hit shots. Jordan Bohannon has had a good game against North Carolina, but other than that, he struggled from behind the arc. He needs to be having a good game as well to keep him on the floor there. That's how Iowa wins. If Luka Garza and their three-point shooters get going, I think Iowa's offense can be enough to beat Gonzaga. Where they struggle at is if a couple of those things aren't going. They need to play a strong game and also if they allow easy possessions.

One thing to know is that Gonzaga hasn't played in two weeks. They haven't practiced in two weeks. So they might not be in as good of condition as Iowa. So I expect Iowa to get out early. I expect Iowa to definitely have a lead going into the first half and Gonzaga to kind of get their feet back under them in that second half and make it a very, very close ballgame. Again, if Iowa has Luka Garza and the three-point shooters on, I think they can overcome any defense inefficiencies.

I also believe they need to run as much as possible while playing in control, not out of control, in control to be able to beat Gonzaga. That's my takes though. I'm excited to watch this game. I'll be tweeting about it all throughout the game and probably drinking an ice cold Coors Light and after that getting a built go because I'm going to be freaking exhausted after this game

because it is going to be an emotional roller coaster that I cannot wait for. Y'all, I appreciate you tuning into today's episode of the Lockdown Hawkeyes podcast. As always, have a fantastic day out there. Please like, review, and subscribe, and follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. And as always, Hawkeye Nation, go Hawks!