Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - Will Jordan Bohannon actually stay and how do the Iowa Hawkeyes replace Jack Nunge

Episode Date: March 31, 2021

It is never a quiet day in Iowa Hawkeye country. Two bombshells were dropped yesterday. Jordan Bohannon might stay an Iowa Hawkeye for another year. How likely is that and what happens if the NIL bill doesn't pass? Plus, Jack Nunge has made the tough decision to transfer from the University of Iowa. We wish him the best while looking ahead to how can Iowa possibly replace the only experienced big man on their roster.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 “LOCKED15,” and you’ll get 15% off your next order.BetOnline AGThere is only 1 place that has you covered and 1 place we trust. Betonline.ag! Sign up today for a free account at betonline.ag and use that promocode: LOCKEDON for your 50% welcome bonus.Rock AutoAmazing selection. Reliably low prices. All the parts your car will ever need. Visit RockAuto.com and tell them Locked On sent you. 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 a Wednesday morning 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. And what an interesting time to be back for the show today because I was planning on talking a lot about football. But we got some interesting news across the board for the Iowa basketball team,

an unexpected transfer and an unexpected possible return. So we're going to be talking about Jordan Bohannon, Jack Nunji, and the name, image, likeness, bill, and what it all means on today's show. If we do have time, we'll get to positional previews with the running back group. But if we don't have time, we will likely cover that tomorrow, barring any other additional crazy news that might pop up in the Iowa Hawkeye athletic world. Before we get into that, though, I just want to say congratulations to Kaitlin Clark, named Co-Freshman of the year along with Paige Beckers and I also

want to tell you a little bit about Elevate we had Frank Garza on the show uh I think two weeks ago at this point talking about the program that he has put together on sportshood.net the Elevate program it's three sessions there's a multiple level multiple levels so level one level two and it goes on you know so on and so forth I actually completed level one two months ago and it goes on, you know, so on and so forth. I actually completed level one two months ago, and it was an amazing experience. I'm actually going through level two in April. Level one has sessions opened up in April as well. For $125 for three one and a half hour sessions, you can talk to Frank Garza about the Elevate program.

He's gonna go through the entire level one program with you. And it's pretty amazing how it can impact and change your life in just three one and a half hour sessions talking to him about some of the same principles that Luka Garza has used to become one of the best, if not the best basketball player in the country for the last two years. I should say the best basketball player in the country for the last two years and a future NBA draft pick. So with that all being said, though, let's get into the talk about,

let's actually start with Jordan Bohannon first, and then we'll finish up with Jack Nunji. Jordan Bohannon posted a tweet that was a little bit interesting. And here's what it said. This last week has been extremely difficult in regards to deciding what my future, and in specific, next year will look like. We have worked tremendously hard on senate file 245 which would allow college athletes in iowa to make money off their name image and likeness

the bill's deadline is this thursday to be voted on or it will die i am still undecided on what i want to do next year however if this bill were to pass i would come back to iowa next year um i want to talk about the bill and then i'll talk about the thoughts on J-Bow coming back and what that means for the team. So if you aren't familiar with the bill, here's a quick rundown of it. I've looked through the bill a little bit and put together kind of a briefing of what it is. Basically, it says, sounds like, wait, hold on. Yeah. Post-secondary educational institutional institution shall not enforce any rule requirement standard or other limitations that prevents a college athlete enrolled at the institution from fully participating in intercollegiate athletics and doing any of the following as a result of the use of the athlete's name, image, or likeness rights or athletic reputation or that otherwise penalizes such an athlete for earning compensation, receiving food, shelter, insurance coverage, or receiving payments for the cost of those things. And a college athlete's financial aid eligibility amount duration or renewal should not be impacted by their earnings either. This was a bill proposed by Brad Zahn and

Nate Bolton, and it would technically go into effect July 1st of this year. What is interesting about this bill is Florida recently passed a very similar bill for their athletes. I'm not sure what ultimately supersedes what, whether it's the state or the federal, I'm assuming the state bill would supersede the federal rights in this. But why this is very interesting is the fact that federally, they're also reviewing this as well. The U S Supreme court is set to hear arguments in a case related to college athletic compensation actually today, and a ruling is expected by the end of June. So you would think all good things, right? But it sounds like this bill actually could be dead after this week because of the momentum happening at a national level or on a federal level. Now, I don't think that I'm not into,

you know, government or politics by any means, but to me, I don't see why this would die simply because of the federal movement. I think it can only strengthen it by passing this. Um, and if, if it were to pass, it sounds like Jordan Bohannon would return because he would be able to make money off his name, image, and likeness. Now, if you are one of those folks who don't agree with the name, image, likeness concept, I'm not sure how to explain it to you in any other way than you've probably already heard, but I see no reason why student athletes should not be able to make money off themselves. If an art student goes to the University of Iowa on a full-ride art scholarship, they are able to sell their art for a price while in school and not be penalized. If a basketball

player goes to school on a full-ride scholarship to play basketball, they are unable to sell anything related to what they do and make money off it. That is a double standard that just doesn't make sense. I don't know why that would even matter. It can only benefit the athlete in my personal opinion. So I'm a big fan of the ability to have name image likeness. I'm not necessarily a fan of paying college athletes from a collegiate perspective. I think they should just be able to benefit off their name image likeness, have that ability. So people like Hawkeye Heaven cannot steal stuff from players or steal quotes from players and then make money off it. These players can make money off themselves. So that's my thought on that. Again, if this bill passes, it sounds like Jordan Bohannon could return, but it does sound like

this bill probably isn't going to pass, which means hopefully at a federal level, this can get going. Now, what does this mean for Jordan Bohannon? What does this mean for the rest of the Iowa basketball team? I think this is what we need to figure out. Personally, I feel like based off of Jordan's message, he still could come back regardless of this bill. And I don't see why he wouldn't. If this bill doesn't pass, what are his options professionally? I don't know. I don't know how many people are looking for a guard like Jordan Bohannon professionally, maybe overseas in Europe. He could play in a league for a couple of years.

But to me, this is a really good opportunity for him to earn some money that is well-deserved for how much he has done for the Iowa Hawkekeye community but he could earn a lot of money by being able to come back and make money whether it's off his podcast whether it's off of doing promotions in the city because he's an Iowa Hawkeye basketball player regardless of whether or not it passes what he's doing is a pretty selfless act in my opinion, trying to, in general, spark a movement that should have happened a long time ago. It's ridiculous that the NCAA controls these rights of these players. So regardless of what happens, the outcome, I do commend Jordan Bohannon for going about this

and trying to push this envelope. Also a shout out to Gio Baker and Isaiah Livers as well. Both have been involved in this movement along with Jordan Bohannon. Coming up on segment number two, though, we're going to talk about what happens if Jordan Bohannon actually returns. What does this lineup look like? And then on segment number three, we're going to talk about Jack Nunji because that lineup is also going to be changing with Jack Nunji announcing that he is transferring.

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I had projected there to be two open scholarship spots. like next year. I had projected there to be two open scholarship spots. And that was with the expectation that Jordan Bohannon and Joe Weiskamp and Luka Garza could leave or will leave. I should say Jordan Bohannon throughout the year said he was going to be gone. Sounds like now he's saying, yeah, that was just a ruse to basically get everyone off my back. I really wasn't sure. I always knew that if this name image likeness thing passed, I would come back to come back to school. So now we have to wonder what does the scholarship numbers look like? If Jordan Bohannon returns, that would now leave one less scholarship. But with Jack Nunji leaving, there are still two open scholarships as of right now. If Joey's camp

leaves as anticipated, Luka Garza is gone. He's already said that Joey's camp though could be out as well. Although I would, I would. He's already said that. Joe Wieskamp, though, could be out as well, although I would actually imagine that this name-image likeness build is something that Joe Wieskamp is following quite closely. Now, he could go to the NBA and make some money, but if he wants to return to Iowa, there is extra incentive if he is able to make money off of his name-image likeness. That's something to watch as well. But where does Jordan Bohannon fit in with this team? It's a team that's losing Luka. It's likely losing Joe. Jordan Bohannon, would he be the guy on this team? Seems like he also kind of struggled a bit towards the end of last season. Seems like he had a shoulder injury. And I think you also got to ask just a question,

is he coming back for the right reasons? Is Jordan Bohannon returning to make money or is Jordan Bohannon returning because he wants to be an Iowa Hawkeye? Now, I'm not here to judge. That's only up to him to know. I will say this, though, as an Iowa basketball fan, seeing Jordan Bohannon in an Iowa Hawkeye uniform would be amazing. It would give Iowa another shooter if he's healthy, if his shoulder is not hurt, if his

hips stay healthy. That is a lethal three-point shooter that will be phenomenal to have in addition to CJ Frederick with this team full of a little bit more athleticism in a sense. And I say that because I feel like this team is going to look different next year, especially now that Jack Nungi is also gone. You don't have that low post player at this time. Now we're going to talk about that on segment number three. You don't have that low post player to have as much of an inside out game. Starting with Luca, you need to have a few guys who can create off the dribble and beat defenders off the dribble, like a Joe

Toussaint, like an Aaron, like a Tony Perkins. But when you have that, you need to have guys that you can kick it out to, to hit open shots. CJ Frederick is going to be that guy. Jordan Bohannon can be that guy if he does return. And we've seen Keegan Murray be able to do it to a sense. We've seen Patrick McCaffrey be able to do it in a sense. So to me, that would be huge for the Iowa Hawkeyes. Now again, this bill is most likely dead. So will he return? It seems like he's still trying to decide that. It seems like there's also an opportunity at a federal level where this could also be resolved in a couple months too. So he would still have that opportunity regardless if the Iowa Senate does or does not proceed with this, which it sounds like they are not. Again, from a line of perspective, I think it will be

interesting though. How does Iowa handle the ability of Aaron and Joe versus Connor and Jordan from a point perspective. I think Connor's effectiveness goes down a little bit without having Luka Garza there. Connor is a fantastic post feeder. Unless Iowa gets another big who can handle some of those, or it's going to be able to receive those passes, I don't think it's an effective lineup to have a Jordan and a Connor in that starting lineup necessarily

I think Iowa needs to switch up their lineup a little bit need to utilize what they have in strengths and they have some young guys who can really be explosive off the dribble and can beat guys and that's going to be huge going into next season when you don't have a Luka Garza down low so this team is a lot more in flux than maybe we thought it was going to be huge going into next season when you don't have a Luka Garza down low. So this team is a lot more in flux than maybe we thought it was going to be.

And, you know, you look at how Iowa lost to Oregon. Oregon was a small team, but very athletic, very quick, and could shoot the ball well. Iowa was unable to keep up with them. It didn't matter that they had a 6'11 national player of the year in Luka Garza. They couldn't keep up with them. So what does that mean from a lineup perspective next year? That will be a very interesting storyline to watch. And if Jordan Bohannon returns, I personally would welcome him back with open arms. Anytime you can get such a lethal three-point shooter to be on your team, that is going to be phenomenal. But how can Iowa incorporate him into what arguably will be a new lineup,

a new look team, a team that's maybe a little bit more defensive focused or minded than we have seen in the past and a little bit less offensive minded than we have seen in the past. This is not, again, if Jordan's not there, if Joey's camp's not there, this team does not have the offensive capabilities as it has in the past. It's going to need to be able to rely on their defense to be a strong team. If Jordan Bohannon returns, if a Joe Wieskamp returns, if the name-image-likeness thing does pass at a federal level,

that could be amazing. But Joe's taking a gamble there, especially if this Iowa bill does die as we expect it to. Joe would be taking a gamble there. So a lot of things kind of happening in the Iowa basketball world that it very much influx. And that hurts some of the scholarship numbers as well. What does Fran do

when he's looking for players to come in? When he's looking for potential transfers? We haven't heard a lot of rumors about what or if Iowa's getting involved in some of these big name transfers. A lot of transfers across the Big Ten. Some guys that Iowa is very familiar with. That, to me, is interesting.

I'm surprised we're not hearing more about that. I can only imagine that Fran is looking at that. But again, those numbers are in flux, which can hurt that a little bit. How many people can he bring in? That remains to be seen when we find out what Joe Wieskamp plans on doing. I imagine he's trying to think through that right now. It depends on what Jordan Bohannon ultimately decides after this week. Does he want to wait until the federal thing goes into effect?

And obviously losing Jack Nunji is at the end of the transfers. We saw Austin Ashe leave. We've seen Jack Nunji leave. How many more scholarship players, though, outside of Jack Nunji could potentially leave this team? All these things are kind of in flux at this point. We're going to talk more about Jack Nunji, though, coming up on segment number three of the show. Before that, though, I've got to tell you about BetOnline.ag because BetOnline.ag is the fastest and the easiest way to bet on all of your sports action.

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on 2021 draft prospects with team-centric guest mocks right around the corner. Follow the Locked On NFL Draft podcast on the Odyssey app wherever you get your podcast at. So with that being said, let's get into the talk about Jack Nunji. A little bit of a surprise, although I 100% understand why he is doing it. And here's the release that kind of came out that Jack Nunji said. After long consideration, I have made the difficult decision to transfer following this semester.

This has been an incredibly emotional and difficult year for me and my family. I want to transfer to a school closer to home so I can be near my mother and siblings. I have nothing but fond memories of the University of Iowa, my teammates, coaches, and fans these past four years. I sincerely appreciate Hawkeye Nation's overwhelming support during my time in Iowa City. I wish my teammates the best of luck in the future and appreciate everything the University of Iowa has done for me. Fran McCaffrey said this, Jack and I had a heartfelt meeting today. No person should ever have to go through what Jack has endured the last 16 months, and my heart aches for him.

Jack expressed a desire to continue his education and complete his eligibility at a school closer to his family. My staff and I fully support his decision and will help every way possible with his transition. Jack is beloved and respected by everyone in our program and has been a valuable teammate these past four years. I want to first get out and say, God, I just hope he can get a full season. And I wish

Jack the absolute best. As Fran said, he has gone through so much, battled so much adversity, both on the court and off the court and to lose his father to tear his meniscus in the same year. I cannot imagine what he is personally going through. And I think the ability to get closer to his mother and his siblings makes all the sense in the world, and I support him wholeheartedly. I hope he can get some health and can get a full season under him because Jack Nunji is going to be a good player. From an Iowa basketball perspective, it 100% hurts them.

They're already losing National Player of the Year Luka Garza. Jack Nunji was supposed to be that guy. He's not necessarily going to be a Luka Garza, but he is as close as we were going to get to, Luka Garza, Jack Nundu is supposed to be that guy. He's not necessarily going to be a Luka Garza, but he is as close as we were going to get to a Luka Garza, a stretch big who can shoot the three, not necessarily the best ball handler, not necessarily the best passer, but a fantastic shooting, deep shooting guy who can also play with his back to the basket. And I really liked his defense against some of the best post players in the country this year. I thought he played really well down in the paint. So that creates a huge hole at the big. And we already thought there was a hole there, right? Josh Ogundale, he needs to step up now. It was not expected that he was going to be needed this early on. Iowa doesn't have any

bigs coming in this class. So Iowa needs to go to the transfer market. Otherwise you have no one on your team over six foot eight. Now, again, that is not necessarily a recipe for disaster, but in the big 10 conference, there are some dominant post players and you need to have a big man to be able to handle that. I also think with Iowa, they love to have a big guy down low, whether it's a Tyler Cook or a Luka Garza the last couple of years. They needed guys like that. Joshua Gundelay, he either needs to step up and be ready to put in some key minutes or Iowa needs to hit the transfer market very soon and grab a few big men. There's multiple big men from the conference

itself that they could bring in. I don't think this is a dagger to the success of Iowa next year. Again, I think we've seen teams be successful playing small ball, essentially. Ohio State's a good example of that. They moved that all the way to the number two seed, although they struggled in their first matchup, losing to a 15 seed. But Iowa has some of those post players, or some of the wings, I should say, six foot eight, six foot seven, some long length there. They have an opportunity to put together kind of a new style of offense, but it all depends on how aggressively Fran McCaffrey hits the transfer portal.

If I'm a transfer though, I don't know why you don't want to go to Iowa. Why would I know you're, I know you're losing some guys, but you got shooters like CJ Frederick there. You got some athletes there that are young. You've got some young players. You can learn from Fran McCaffrey and Dillard and Sherman. Sorry, excuse me. You have the opportunity to learn from coaches who were able to coach the best big man in the country for several years. They know what it takes to be elite. They know what it takes to be a great post player.

Now, Luka Garza does have a phenomenal work ethic and without a doubt trained on his own as well. But why wouldn't you want to go to the University of Iowa where they're going to feature you like they featured Luke Garza in that offense? That is an opportunity I don't know why more people aren't running towards. So it'll be interesting to see over the next couple of weeks, how does Iowa fit into the transfer portal? What are some of the guys they are linked to? There are several really good big men out there, especially from the Big Ten Conference. Go and get them. They need to get a big now. With Jack Nunji leaving, Iowa absolutely needs to get a big.

It was a need before. It is a massive hole for this team that still has high expectations going into next season. I truly think prior to Jack Nunji's departure, even if Joe Weiskamp left, this could be a top 25 team next year. If Joe Weiskamp stays, this could be a top three seed. Joe Weiskamp leaves top 25 team. I think, I think this team can compete defensively. I think they have the, you know, the players be able to put themselves in a good position, not necessarily like this year, but they have the ability to compete night in and night out. We saw it multiple times where their

second, you know, their bench players were outscoring first stringers of these other Big Ten schools that did make the tournament, like Maryland. Minnesota, they did a great job against, even though Minnesota didn't make the tournament. So this is a team that does have some good potential. Now if they can get a good big, that will really help solidify the potential success of the Iowa Hawkeye basketball squad next year.

Again, wish the absolute best for Jack Nunji. My heart aches for him as well about what he's had to deal through or go through and deal with this past season. Wish him nothing but the best. Now from an Iowa Hawkeye basketball perspective, we got to figure out what does this lineup look like for next year? Will Jordan Bohannon return or not? My money is on him actually returning regardless of the outcome of this national or this name image likeness thing.

I just I feel like he's been thinking about it the way he went out with a shoulder injury. The Oregon game was not good. I think he wants to go out on top or wants to go out in a better note than that. And he could add a really good presence to this lineup next year. So that'll be interesting. I also think it'll be really interesting to see if Connor McCaffrey returns after dealing with two torn labrums. Does he give it up and just focus on baseball? His career, his potential career has a better opportunity in baseball.

If he's going to sacrifice that because of basketball, is he going to keep doing that? He's been doing it, but he now misses the entire baseball season because of basketball injuries. That's got to be something he has to think about as well. Will he return? I actually wouldn't be surprised to see Connor be something he has to think about as well. Will he return? I actually wouldn't be surprised to see Connor McCaffrey not return next year as well, which opens up another spot, again, for some of our young guards to take some playing time. Iowa is in a desperate position now, though, to solidify the roster with some high-end immediate impact type of talent. As that information comes up or as more news comes up, we'll make sure to cover that right

here on the Lockdown Hawkeyes podcast. Make sure to go visit sports hood.net. Check out the elevate program as well. And I will Hawkeye nation. I appreciate you tuning in. I appreciate you listening every single day. If you like the show, make sure to subscribe so you can get every episode downloaded directly to

your smart device and follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Have a fantastic Wednesday. Hello, Hawkeye nation. We'll be back tomorrow and let's go Hawks.