Latest / The Lunch Rush with Trent Condon / Rob Dauster Recaps the Weekend in College Hoops, Bill Seals talks Cyclones after the win vs. KU & thoughts on Iowa Hoops pummeled by Purdue

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Rob Dauster Recaps the Weekend in College Hoops, Bill Seals talks Cyclones after the win vs. KU & thoughts on Iowa Hoops pummeled by Purdue · The Lunch Rush with Trent Condon

0:12
Good afternoon and welcome in Miller and Condon on the air
0:15
with you kicking off a Monday Presidents Day.
0:20
We got hoops a big one tonight over at Hilton Coliseum, but we
0:24
got basketball right now on the women's side as the Iowa women
0:28
out to a 4527 lead over Nebraska.
0:31
A dominating first half from the Hawkeye women as they shoot 19
0:35
of 28 from the floor in the first half, 68% from the field
0:40
as they are out to a big lead against the Huskers.
0:43
Trying to right the ship a little bit.
0:45
Got the win against Washington on Thursday, ended losing streak
0:48
and looking for more with a road victory against the Huskers.
0:51
We'll talk women's basketball a little bit later on.
0:53
Kicking things off today, a little bit different as I run
0:56
solo here today. Rob Doster is going to join us
0:58
momentarily from the field of 68.
1:01
Deep dive into everything happening in college basketball.
1:04
On the men's side, we got Bill Seals in here.
1:06
We'll talk Cyclones with him and look back at the win against
1:09
Kansas and preview tonight's matchup against Houston.
1:12
Tommy Birch will kick off our number 2.
1:15
Some baseball talk with pitchers and catchers.
1:17
Getting ready to kick things off for the baseball season with
1:19
Birchie and then at 125, Scott, Doctor Ben from The Athletic as
1:23
a leaked document last week, the Big 10's plan for a 24 team
1:28
College Football Playoff. We'll talk about that and more
1:30
coming up here with Scott Dockerman.
1:32
But now it is time to talk with Doster.
1:35
Rob Doster Field of 68 joins us and he joins us from our fine
1:39
state. Mr. Doster, welcome to Iowa.
1:42
Well, look, first and foremost I got to say 1 The weather here is
1:47
unbelievable. I was not ready.
1:48
For this strength. I left, I left 28°.
1:52
There's a high in New Jersey and I come here and I I'm not
1:57
kidding you. Right now I'm sitting outside on
1:59
a patio at the Doors by Dublin restaurant here in Ames, Nice in
2:03
shorts. It's great in shorts.
2:05
And it feels great. The sunshine's beating on my
2:08
face. I'm getting that vitamin D.
2:09
I'm feeling really good about myself right now, Trent.
2:12
And you know what else? I'm feeling good about myself.
2:15
The the Uber drivers, the Uber drivers in Des Moines, the
2:18
airport last night at 1:30 in the morning, they tried to scam
2:20
me, but they couldn't get me. They couldn't give me the bare
2:23
warning to all of your Uber driver listeners, you're not
2:26
going to get robbed, Austin. You're not going to get in with
2:28
the scam. I I was ready for it.
2:30
I played it perfectly. I'll tell you about that off the
2:32
air. But man, I never feel felt
2:34
better about myself right now than sitting here in beautiful
2:36
Iowa with this beautiful weather coming off of a win over an Uber
2:39
driver. Middle of February and here we
2:42
are with beautiful weather. I'll take it a step further.
2:44
As I was coming in into the studio today, I was wrapping
2:47
some things up. My kids who are off school
2:49
today, 10 and six, they wanted to have a water balloon flight.
2:52
And you know what, Mom was at home, she's at work.
2:54
So dad said go for it. You guys want to have a water
2:57
balloon flight fight in February.
2:59
You go right ahead and do just that.
3:00
So that's what their morning has looked like and never would have
3:03
imagined that's the case. But Rob, we have so much to talk
3:07
about. Jerome Tank fired at Kansas
3:09
State, fired with 'cause we'll get into that.
3:12
But let's start here in the state of Iowa.
3:14
Start with Saturday. What we saw, just a dominating
3:17
performance from Iowa State. And those are the kind of games,
3:20
and I know for a lot of Cyclone fans, they don't want to dream
3:23
too big because there's so much scar tissue, right?
3:25
There's so many of those things that just haven't gone their
3:28
way. But when you see a team play at
3:30
that level, with the star power that the Cyclone's hand have,
3:34
you start to think big What CSI, what state team could do.
3:37
No, look, first and foremost, dream big.
3:40
If you are like the whole point, you dream big, right?
3:43
The whole point of being able to to do some of these have these
3:46
moments and, and be able to, you know, be a fan is the
3:49
opportunity to dream big and the opportunity to have these games
3:53
and these these these moments where you can feel like you got
3:56
a chance to do something really, really special.
3:58
Right. And that's that's what being a
4:00
fan is about. You know, I'm not going to be
4:01
the one that does. Don't drink the whole thing from
4:03
a national championship because you can you're good enough.
4:05
You got the the bodies to be able.
4:07
So yeah, I was, I was really, really impressive, man.
4:10
I thought Kansas was going to come in and get fight because I
4:13
just thought that Kansas had a level of toughness and, and
4:17
there's like a base level of defensive ability there with
4:19
that group that I did not think would allow them to get smacked
4:22
and get blown out. And lo and behold, you walk into
4:24
the Hilton Coliseum and you got to deal with that crowd.
4:28
You got to deal with that traffic defense.
4:30
You got to deal with two bodies in your face for 40 minutes.
4:34
And Kansas just wasn't ready for And when Iowa State can do that
4:37
like that, yes, Joshua Jefferson is a terrific player, and I love
4:41
Tammy Lipsky and Milan Makshilovich is probably the
4:43
best shooter in college basketball right now.
4:45
But there's just something about what they can cue defensively to
4:48
overwhelm you that is, it is not replicable in practice.
4:52
And if you got to deal with that on a 2 day scout on a 2 day turn
4:55
around, good luck and good luck. They got so much as well off the
5:00
bench and I thought, you know, Pleda came in, he was good
5:02
inside defensively. I thought he did some good
5:05
things. And of course, Bateman, what
5:07
he's been able to do, and maybe that's what makes this Iowa
5:09
State team a little bit different for me, Rob is we've
5:12
seen in the past they're really good.
5:13
They've had good regular seasons, but the depth just
5:16
isn't there. And there's been so many times
5:18
just even in the Otzel Burger era, but even you want to go
5:20
back further and go back to the Hoyburg era.
5:22
There's been those times that you feel like by the time they
5:24
get to the Big Dance, they feel a little bit tired that they've
5:28
had so much. It's just a six or seven man
5:30
rotation. With Heisei played and Bateman,
5:32
you got three guys and three guys that all can impact the
5:35
game in a different way. The depth of this team maybe
5:38
puts him in a better spot come March Madness.
5:40
Time to you divide the theory at all.
5:43
Well, yeah, I mean depth always helps.
5:44
Once you get to the tournament, it probably ends up being like a
5:46
seven or eight man rotation, but more than eight.
5:48
They depth during the season keeps you healthy.
5:51
Like I feel like that's been the biggest, the biggest crutch that
5:54
Iowa State's had to deal with is just like they get to the
5:57
tournament and they're just not who they were during the season.
6:00
And part of that is because they're banged up and part of
6:02
that is just injury luck, right? Like there's everyone's going to
6:06
have to deal with some form of injury issues throughout a
6:09
season of college basketball to the dog days of February.
6:11
And that's just what happened in sports, right?
6:13
But I feel like this year, Iowa State so far, I'm knocking on
6:17
what I'm standing in front of the fence and I'm knocking on
6:19
right now for Iowa State. So far they've been pretty lucky
6:22
when it comes to being able to stay healthy and keep their guys
6:26
ready to go. And you know, it's I really do
6:30
feel like this is the year that they can get it done.
6:32
Because you look at like last season and the season 4, there
6:35
was a very clear cut top tier of like three or four teams, right?
6:40
I think in 2024 there was it was UConn and Purdue and nobody else
6:44
was going to touch those two was it was inevitable that they were
6:46
going to pick from the national pilot game.
6:48
Last year there was a clear cut top four.
6:50
It felt pretty obvious who those four that were going to be in
6:52
the Final Four were on Selection Sunday this year.
6:56
I feel like the top tier is about 8 or 19 deep.
7:00
And none of them, all of them feel really, really good.
7:03
And none of them feel, at least to me.
7:05
So I think that this is this is a year that is setting up for
7:09
Iowa State to be able to have that kind of a run.
7:12
And if you're like, if you're an Iowa State fan, dream big man,
7:16
dream big. It's not fun to be like, yeah,
7:18
but wouldn't it be cool if we made it to the elite?
7:20
No, dream big, dream big man. That's the fun sports.
7:23
And they absolutely have that opportunity look like they have
7:26
the pieces to make that kind of run.
7:27
Let's go to the other side of the state over to Iowa City
7:30
first sell out of the Ben McCollum era and it was a no
7:33
show from this Hawkeye team. It was just a pitiful
7:36
performance of Purdue team that came in was efficient,
7:39
effective. Iowa couldn't get anything going
7:41
offensively, missed shots inside.
7:43
But just one thing after another and disappointment.
7:45
You finally get that sell out crowd.
7:47
You finally get the positive vibes even after the loss to
7:49
Maryland, the six game-winning streak that preceded that, and
7:53
then you laid that kind of egg. Definitely a difficult one
7:55
there. And maybe the hopes of this Iowa
7:57
team and you know what? Can they get up there be a 5-6
8:00
seed to the NCAA tournament, Maybe because of who they beat
8:03
during that six game win streak? We're getting a little bit ahead
8:05
of ourselves on that front. Yeah, probably.
8:09
You know, I do think that there is a ceiling to this group,
8:11
right? When you are Ben McCollum and
8:14
you're kind of scaling up from Division Two to the Missouri
8:17
Valley to the Big 10 and you're doing it kind of the same way
8:20
with some of the same pieces. If you reach a certain point
8:24
where it's like, all right, we got to get a certain different
8:26
level of athlete to be able to compete at the highest level in
8:30
the Big 10. And I think you kind of saw that
8:32
a little bit. But I would say, and this is
8:35
just me, I thought that that game said more about Purdue,
8:38
like kind of getting back to what they were at the start of
8:41
the year than anything about Iowa specifically.
8:44
Like Iowa, Like, they're they're good.
8:46
They're turning the team. You get to the dance and you win
8:48
a game. And I think even honest Iowa
8:50
fans would probably tell you that's a pretty good first year
8:52
for Ben McCollum, all things considered.
8:54
And I think that's still what they are.
8:56
Iowa. I'm sorry, Purdue.
8:57
To me, they look like Purdue. Yeah.
9:00
Like, big bad bully on the block, Purdue Boilermakers who
9:04
lost a couple of games, had an ugly one against Oregon, had
9:07
people doubting him, got pissed off about it.
9:08
And now they're like, wow, you going to doubt us?
9:11
Us you think where you think we fell off.
9:14
Well, watch this. They're going to have a chance
9:15
to prove it tomorrow night. I'll be going to that game too,
9:17
Michigan and Purdue tomorrow. So I I'm an Iowa fan.
9:21
I'm not too worried. Like that's when we're maybe
9:24
thinking about second. We can probably put the the cart
9:27
in front of the horse. Is that the saying?
9:28
Yep. I think they come up with some
9:29
of these sayings here. Now that I'm in Iowa, I need to
9:31
get like countryfied by my verbiage.
9:34
Have you found any hitching posts yet?
9:37
I don't even know what that is. That's a horse you're hitching.
9:39
Posts where you hitch. No, no, nothing yet.
9:42
I might, I might hit. I might hitch Goodman to a post
9:44
here in a second if he keeps being as annoying as he.
9:47
Well, no surprise. Well, I saw Goodman was up in
9:49
Cedar Falls yesterday. You and I gets to win against
9:52
Drake. A dominating performance.
9:54
You and I team, they're so odd to me because, you know, we go
9:57
back to middle December. Some people outside of Gonzaga,
10:00
we're talking about them as one of the best mid majors in the
10:02
country. That fell apart.
10:04
They added injury to a guy, right?
10:06
Tristan Smith went down. He's not one of their leading
10:09
scorers, but he was important. It was another big body in
10:11
there. They hit the skids, but they
10:13
bounced back. Do you consider the Panthers a
10:15
real contender to win down in Arch Madness?
10:18
I I think anybody can win an arch madness.
10:20
And if you're going to give me Ben Jacobson on the sideline,
10:22
then I'm going to say yeah, they got a chance to be able to do
10:24
whatever the hell they want to do, right.
10:26
I think, you know, the Oman is probably for my money, the best
10:31
team in the conference. I don't know if you if you
10:33
disagree. No, that's there.
10:36
Yeah, and I think Murray State is the team where you look at
10:38
them and you're like, like that's how they put it together.
10:42
If they play their a game, I don't know if anyone's running
10:44
with them just because of the level of talent that they have
10:47
on that roster. But it's it's the valley, man.
10:50
It's arch madness. Literally anything could happen.
10:53
You could tell me that Evansville was going to go down
10:55
there and win and I'd be like, you're making some pretty good
10:57
points there. So no, I'm that's one I got to
11:01
get to at some point, man. That's one of the bucket list
11:03
ones that we got that the Summit is is another one that is is
11:08
supposed to be just the absolute electric factory when you kind
11:12
of get into the the semifinals and the final game.
11:14
Yeah, and if you get like North Dakota State, South Dakota State
11:17
in the Summit, that thing is absolutely amazing.
11:19
Where they play that over there at Sanford.
11:21
Great building too. You've been there, you've been
11:23
to the building before. You know what that environment
11:25
can be, but just a small old school gym, really, really cool
11:28
place and got it. Arch Madness a little bit
11:30
different playing in the big building there, but getting some
11:32
fans out there and hopefully some Panther fans and Bulldog
11:34
fans can make their way down to Saint Louis.
11:37
Doster, before we let you go, let's jump into a couple of
11:39
national conversations here. I want to get your perspective.
11:42
Let's start with the well, a week ago, the number one team in
11:45
the country, Arizona goes down again, this time at home against
11:48
Texas Tech. You mentioned maybe it said more
11:50
about Purdue. I think that said a ton about
11:52
Texas Tech. I've loved that team.
11:54
I got a ton of futures in My Portfolio with the Red Raiders
11:57
to make the final four to win a national championship at 35 to
12:00
1. So they I think can make that
12:02
kind of run. What are your take away and how
12:04
concerned should we be about about Arizona undefeated until
12:07
last week where they go. Oh, and two.
12:10
I wouldn't be worried about them.
12:11
They were a possession away from Kansas at Kansas and they they
12:16
lost Coopete in the first half and we're winning with under 30
12:22
seconds left against the very, very good Texas Tech team.
12:25
I'm not I'm not worried in the slightest about Arizona.
12:28
Maybe the air of invincibility is probably gone from when you
12:32
play them. So maybe teams will have a
12:33
little bit more confidence going into the game and I don't I
12:35
think that that's something that is actually relevant, but it's
12:38
also a little bit of a wake up call for those guys.
12:40
Honestly, Trent, I'm with you one second because I think that
12:44
they have they have the best 1-2 punch in college basketball in
12:47
my opinion, right When it comes to Christian Anderson and JT
12:50
Topple, I think that they have the best closing lineup in
12:52
college basketball because what they do is really, really
12:55
simple. They can execute it at an
12:56
incredibly high level. And at the end of the day, they
12:58
got two guys that can go out and win in any matchup that you put
13:01
against them fighting. They're revicted against Arizona
13:04
on the road. They did it against Duke in the
13:06
Garden. And in both those games, they
13:07
came back late because they have something that they can do that
13:10
is quite literally unstoppable for teams to play against them.
13:13
Yeah, that was an issue, yes. If you're playing back-to-back
13:17
games or playing games two and three days, asking Tristan
13:22
Anderson is AC topping to go 40, whatever minutes, that's going
13:25
to be a lot on their legs. All of that stuff is true, but I
13:29
don't know if there's a team where I would pick their lineup
13:32
in the last five minutes of the game over Texas Tech.
13:35
And that's a great place to be if you're Grandma Fell.
13:38
Jerome Tang fired with cause is the verbiage that the athletic.
13:43
That's that's ridiculous. First and first and foremost,
13:46
the idea that that is for cause predictive Rome Chang's got
13:49
$18.7 million of buyout money left.
13:52
There is language in his deal that says if he brings like
13:55
disrespect and embarrassment to the university, he could be
13:58
fired for 'cause he had that press conference where he kind
14:02
of cussed out his team. And what they are basically
14:04
saying is that brings embarrassment and disrepute to
14:07
the university. One in 12 in the Big 12.
14:11
All that is, is just an attempt to try to negotiate that number
14:13
from $18.7 million to like $12 million to get it to spread out
14:18
over 8 years instead of spread out over 3 or whatever.
14:20
I don't know the exact, but they're just trying to find a
14:24
little bit of leverage to negotiate.
14:26
And if you're Jerome Tang, don't do it.
14:30
And everybody can kind of see through that nonsense, right?
14:33
I will say you got to get that language fixed in that contract
14:36
next time you get it. You signed off on that deal,
14:38
probably want to make sure you get out of the next deal for
14:40
your next client because that's a little bit too vague.
14:42
But yeah, if I'm that's that's ridiculous.
14:46
Tang got fired because he's one of 11 in the league and he's not
14:48
doing a good enough job in a place that's spending a lot of
14:50
money on the roster. That's all it was.
14:52
If you want to say that's for cause because he's not winning
14:54
games and he's paid to win games.
14:56
It is what it is. But he's getting fired because
14:58
he's one of 11 in the big promise you that.
15:01
So one final thing on that front, the K State job is open.
15:05
How good of a job is that? We've seen different successes
15:08
with different coaches. It's not a blue blood even close
15:11
to it. But today's world of college
15:13
athletics, how's the K State job kind of rank?
15:17
I, I think it's a top third job, top five or six in the Big 12.
15:22
And that's because they got money trend, they got money,
15:26
money, money. They got money to burn the, the,
15:28
the, the cattle that they sell there.
15:32
I've been to a cattle auction there like they I was, they made
15:35
like $8 billion in one night just by selling off a bunch of
15:38
cows. Like it's crazy.
15:40
When you go to you know, when you go to on three right And you
15:44
go click on a profile, prospects pages says he's a 94 speed and
15:48
he can leave a four-star athleticism, but a five star
15:52
like pocket passer. And you can do this.
15:54
It's got all these ratings. Will you go to these cattle
15:56
auctions? And I swear, I'm not even
15:59
joking. They have like rankings what
16:01
this this is he's a five star, no production, but like a three
16:04
star when it comes to fat percentage and you're not you're
16:07
going to want to burrito, but this is not going to be
16:09
something that you want to use. I don't even know.
16:11
It was completely beyond anything that I can comprehend.
16:14
All I know that they made $8 million in one night and the guy
16:17
that runs that is a huge K state booster.
16:19
They got money to perk, they get someone in there that is going
16:22
to coach them up, coach them up and make the right decisions.
16:26
At the end of the day. I think what kind of big Tang
16:28
game if you need the wrong decisions on the people, the
16:31
players to bring in and the players to spend the money on
16:35
that. It was more that than it was
16:36
necessarily coaching ability and that's going to get you fired at
16:38
this day and age. But if you could bring in
16:40
someone that can identify talent and can spend money wisely,
16:43
coach them up, you got to You got a place that can give you a
16:47
top 25 team because the Octagon, doomed when they're good, is
16:50
loud and tough to play. Well, you're talking Cyclone
16:53
fans language there, whether you're talking about cows and
16:56
the cattle and everything. Cyclone fans good egg school
16:58
there. They know a whole lot about
17:00
that. Let's finish up tonight what you
17:02
expect to see Calvin Sanson squad.
17:05
They got some dudes and they got some scoring ability and why
17:08
maybe I like the upside of this team even as a year ago, they're
17:11
a possession away from winning the national championship even
17:13
more. I love this squad.
17:15
I've been a a huge fan of Kingston Fleming since the
17:17
beginning of the year. I'm not a Johnny Johnny.
17:19
Come lately on this one. What's it going to take?
17:21
What do you think we're going to see at Hilton tonight?
17:24
We're going, this guy will say win.
17:25
I think it's going to be a close game.
17:27
I think it's going to come down to the final possession.
17:28
I think you're going to see a low scoring physical battle that
17:32
is as ugly as it is. Beautiful boom, there it is.
17:36
Enjoy your lunch and enjoy the sun out there Doster.
17:39
We'll talk to you again soon. That's Rob Doster checking in
17:43
from Ames. He is down there and having some
17:46
lunch getting ready for the match up 8 O clock tip off
17:49
tonight in Hilton. Then he's going to jump in the
17:51
car and make his way to West Lafayette tomorrow with the
17:54
Michigan Purdue match up. A happening in that one should
17:57
be a great match up with the newly minted #1 team in college
18:01
basketball is the new AP poll is out.
18:04
And of course, Michigan now up to the number one spot after we
18:08
see the fall over the weekend. The loss for Arizona coming at
18:12
the hands of that one. So your new number one Michigan
18:15
Houston #2 as they make their way to Hilton, the Cyclones up
18:19
to #6 in the pole. Arizona falls to four.
18:23
That is your top level. Purdue at #7 Kansas 8, Nebraska
18:27
9, Illinois 10. Lot of Big 10 and Big 12 flair
18:32
in the AP top 25. S did things a little bit
18:35
different there as we got Rob Doster.
18:37
Always enjoy the conversation with Rob and had to make it work
18:39
there with the timing. So a little bit different here
18:42
to kick things off. We'll get a little bit deeper
18:44
into what we saw over the weekend.
18:45
Some thoughts on Iowa and Iowa State, their games, what we saw
18:49
on both sides with a victory for the Cyclones against Kansas and
18:52
the Iowa loss against Purdue. Again, coming up here in just a
18:56
little bit, about 10 minutes away.
18:57
Bill Seals is going to join us from cyclonereport.com.
19:00
We'll dive a little bit deeper into the Cyclones with Bill.
19:03
1:00 hour will begin. Tommy Birch is going to stop by.
19:06
We'll talk with Birchy about some Major League Baseball
19:09
topics as we get ready for spring training.
19:11
Of course, a World Baseball Classic and get a deep dive into
19:14
some of the teams that we're going to see.
19:15
Then Scott Document will join us coming up here at 1:25.
19:19
You could join us as well. 5152845966515284 KX and O the
19:25
phone number jump in with us. Got any thoughts from over the
19:28
weekend? What a weekend it was.
19:30
Yeah, I got the Olympics going on.
19:32
Absolutely got pulled in. What was it Saturday night into
19:35
the curling? It sucked me in.
19:37
I think it was a play didn't matter because I didn't know
19:39
what actually happened. So watching TV, USA got pulled
19:42
into that. We got the Olympic hockey
19:44
happening. But college basketball, though,
19:46
we didn't see a ton of huge upsets outside of Arizona going
19:49
down against Texas Tech, where they're a 9 1/2 point favorite
19:52
in that one, a college basketball weekend where most of
19:55
the favorites held serve. Iowa State with the big win.
19:58
We saw Duke get a victory. Michigan pulled away from UCLA.
20:01
The big brawl that happened in the St.
20:03
John's Providence game, how wild that thing was as we saw the.
20:08
Just absolutely hideous, hideous pull down from the Providence
20:11
player. So a lot that was happening on
20:13
that front. And you and I mentioned the win
20:16
against Drake. Want to mention what they did
20:18
with AJ Green and really like the ceremony that was their All
20:21
Star break. He's off.
20:23
So he makes his way over to Cedar Falls doing it against the
20:25
rival and they did it in a ceremony that was great.
20:30
But also, they retired his jersey but not his number.
20:34
And as Trey Campbell's wearing that jersey right now, just
20:36
think a good way. You know, the limited amount of
20:38
numbers in basketball, though, that has changed as now you can
20:40
go up past the number 5. You can wear 27 like Killian
20:43
Torre does it and the like. Still thought that was a really,
20:47
really good one out there. Let's get you updated as well
20:49
over in Lincoln as they have started the second-half in that
20:52
one. On the women's basketball front,
20:54
Iowa's leads been trimmed down to 125139 is a score in that
20:59
one. Nebraska on A8 nothing run here
21:02
over the last 99 seconds of gameplay.
21:04
Iowa with three turnovers and scoring drought starting to come
21:08
down a little bit bit Eva hide. Excuse me, hided during the
21:13
first half, had a couple of just incredible reverses, one like on
21:17
a lava tip play. She was incredible during the
21:20
first half. She has 22 in the game.
21:22
Had 12 consecutive points for the Hawkeyes at one point, but
21:25
things starting to get a little bit tight there in Lincoln.
21:28
We'll keep you updated on that here throughout the afternoon.
21:31
When we come back on the other side, Cyclone talk with Bill
21:34
Seals from cyclonereport.com, the latest on that one.
21:37
We got some more Hawkeye talk coming up for you as well.
21:40
Some thoughts on that loss to Purdue and that NCAA tournament
21:43
resume for the Hawkeyes not looking quite as shiny as it
21:48
once was concerning Iowa City. We'll get to that a little bit
21:51
later on this hour, but Bill Seals joins us next.
21:53
It's Miller and Condon on a Monday on the Iowa Sports Radio
21:57
Network. Pushing up till 12:30 on a
22:10
Monday, it's Miller and Condon on the Iowa Sports Radio
22:13
network, statewide on the Iowa Sports Radio Network and our
22:16
flagship right here, one O 6.3 KXNO in Des Moines.
22:20
Glad to have you aboard with us here on this Presidents Day.
22:23
The Iowa women in a tussle with Nebraska.
22:26
They've extended the lead out though back up to 16 now for the
22:29
Hawkeyes as they lead at 5741. We'll keep you updated on that.
22:33
Let's talk some cyclones. Bill Seal joins us from
22:36
cyclonereport.com. Part of on three and good to
22:39
have Bill on on a big Monday, literally and figuratively as a
22:44
big match up against Houston. Now the number two team in the
22:47
land comes to town. We'll talk about that and more
22:50
with Bill. Bill as always, appreciate the
22:52
time, busy time of year with the basketball going on, both the
22:55
men and the women. A couple impressive
22:57
performances. Nice win for the women yesterday
22:59
against K State. But of course, we start with
23:01
what the Hot the Cycle clone mended against The Jayhawks on
23:06
Saturday. Just a dominating performance,
23:08
Bill. Yeah, it really was.
23:10
They they, it was it was kind of an interesting start to that
23:14
game, Trent. And it took a little while for
23:17
either team to get going. But I think if you're Iowa
23:20
State, you, you felt pretty good.
23:22
As bad as that offense was, the first several minutes, I think
23:25
it was 66 was the score. The defense really kept in him,
23:30
kept them in there early. I think the defense set the tone
23:34
was the more aggressive of the two teams and then eventually
23:37
the offense got started and what an impressive first half,
23:42
though. I think they had turned Kansas
23:43
over 10 times and that got back to doing what they do well.
23:48
And that's when when when they're doing well, that's
23:51
turning opponents over and and turning those into points.
23:55
So did a good job there. I think they did a pretty good
23:58
job on the offensive glass in that game too.
24:01
Overall, I had 11 offensive rebounds.
24:04
A lot of second third chance opportunities there.
24:07
And how about those guys in the post too?
24:09
I think we had talked about, well, probably we didn't talk
24:13
about it last Monday with TCU on the horizon, but I think a lot
24:17
of folks talked about, you know, what a a problem.
24:21
I I think that Flori Badunga would be in this game, but I
24:24
thought Iowa State did a pretty good job inside.
24:27
Playeda had five rebounds, three of those were on the offensive
24:31
glass and Buchanan, he had two offensive rebounds and he of
24:36
course, everyone remembers that that highlight reel dunk on the
24:40
the foot back following one of those offensive boards.
24:42
So I just think an all around well played game.
24:45
We haven't even talked about Milan Momchila Beach yet and
24:48
that that three over Badunga and the game that he had, he said
24:53
he's continued to shoot the ball well.
24:56
It's amazing though. He's four of nine from three and
24:59
his three-point shooting percentage dropped a little bit.
25:03
But yeah, it just again though, I think a well played game and
25:07
then in a very quick turn around going into Houston tonight.
25:11
Huge one there. We're going to get to that
25:12
momentarily. One thing that I noticed on the
25:15
national scene and listening to some national people is we know
25:18
Joshua Jefferson. He ranks very high, like in the
25:21
Ken Pomeroy Player of the Year ratings, and we know what a good
25:23
player Jefferson is. It feels like there's some more
25:26
buzz starting up with Manchilovich.
25:28
When you talk about All American Player of the Year, those kind
25:31
of honors that had been kind of a little bit lower certainly
25:34
than what we've heard out of Jefferson.
25:36
Did you sense that same kind of thing that a lot of people
25:38
starting to jump on the bandwagon for Milan now?
25:42
Well, I think that's the and and if they are, I think that's
25:45
certainly understandable. I everybody around here is known
25:49
about known about him for a while now.
25:51
And I, I think when you go out and you do that on ABC, as they
25:56
did on Saturday afternoon, they're going to get a, a big
25:59
Monday game against Houston tonight.
26:02
I believe they play in a couple weeks that game against Texas
26:05
Tech will be on CBS. So I think it certainly makes
26:09
sense. A lot of the national pundits
26:11
starting to take notice what Milan has done and everyone
26:14
around here, we we've seen it for a few years now, but he's
26:17
just taking it to an entirely different level as a as a
26:20
junior. Let's talk about the match up
26:22
tonight in Hilton with Houston coming to town.
26:25
Iowa State, currently a 2 1/2 point favorite in this one at
26:28
Circa Sports Houston. We know what they're going to
26:31
be. Rugged, defensive.
26:33
They got some weapons, though. And Bill, I know we've talked
26:36
about it before. I am a big king Kingston
26:38
Fleming's fan, he is really, really talented.
26:41
Of course, Sharp, who's been there for a while.
26:42
Yuzon's been there for a a couple of years now, Tuggler.
26:45
They got veterans. But maybe the young star in
26:47
Flemings might maybe be the difference maker.
26:49
If you're talking about a team that can get over the hump,
26:51
Flemings feels like the guy that can push him there.
26:54
Yeah, it's certainly I, I think a very, very impactful player
26:59
for Houston this year is Flemings, 16.4 points per game,
27:04
almost shooting 50% from the field too.
27:06
So I think he's made a very big impact and that we've known
27:09
about as you mentioned Emmanuel Sharp, he's having another big
27:12
year. He was on averaging in double
27:15
figures. And then then one, one guy you
27:18
didn't mention there is it's Chris Finak or Senak Junior.
27:23
He's almost, well, he's almost averaging 10 points a game and
27:27
he's their leading rebounder at 7.4 points.
27:30
And we all know about what Tuggler has meant meant to the
27:33
program. So yeah, again, it's just going
27:35
to be a very difficult game for Iowa State tonight.
27:38
And, and one that I think these two teams and, and how they play
27:43
mirror a lot of aspects, kind of mirror each other.
27:46
So it's going to be a very, another very physical match up I
27:51
think in, in Hilton Coliseum tonight.
27:53
And we'll we'll see how it plays out.
27:57
You'd see this Houston team, they don't turn it over.
28:00
You know they're going to be on the defensive end, they're going
28:01
to clutch and grab and hold and it's probably going to be ugly.
28:04
There's going to be some stretches, maybe some ugly
28:06
basketball tonight. What is the one key?
28:08
If you had to point at one thing, this is what Iowa State
28:10
needs to do tonight in order to win this game.
28:14
Well, I think that the TJ would tell you it's doing what they
28:17
always do when when they're doing well, the the kind of the
28:21
core tenets, I guess, if you will, of this program, they've
28:24
got to try to turn Houston over and, and get out in the
28:29
transition and, and score off of that.
28:32
I think though, Houston doing a pretty good job.
28:34
They don't they don't turn the ball over there a whole lot.
28:39
So I think that one thing Iowa State's going to have to try to
28:43
do there. And if they're not turning
28:44
Houston over, then they better get on those offensive on the
28:50
offensive glass, get as many second, third chance deal a
28:54
couple possessions there on the offensive end, especially when
28:57
they're in in the half court. And it could be a low scoring
29:00
game. And that it it's it's going to
29:04
be a battle though. But again, I think they need
29:06
that They need to get on the offensive glass thing.
29:08
I need to try to as many times as they can turn Houston over,
29:12
try to get points out of those on on the offensive end.
29:15
And and yeah, I think the inside those guys got to play well
29:18
tonight. Buchanan, Plata, he I think he's
29:22
had a really impactful run here over the last few weeks.
29:27
So they got to keep getting that out of him.
29:29
And in Buchanan, gosh, the first half of that KU game, he showed
29:33
up big and he's got to keep that up tonight and and stay out of
29:37
foul trouble too, I think as as well.
29:39
He's got to got to stay on the floor.
29:42
We see yesterday at Hilton, Iowa State gets the win against K
29:46
State, maybe a little more difficult than some people
29:49
anticipated going in, but we know this team, what they've
29:52
been able to do here recently just feels like they know how to
29:54
play together. Really like what I saw from them
29:56
on the defensive end of the floor.
29:58
They're really connected at different times and obviously
30:00
being out there playing without up Brown, it is different.
30:03
And how about the performance out of Williams?
30:04
She was tremendous once again on the offensive end of the floor.
30:08
They got some offense out of Jackson.
30:09
That always helps and and a couple of big three pointers
30:12
down the stretch. This Iowa State women's team
30:14
feels like they kind of figured it out now, finally, and putting
30:17
this together, even coming off that loss against BYU yesterday
30:20
was an important one. Yeah, I think they really
30:23
struggled without Addie Brown and Ariana Jackson and trying to
30:28
kind of find a path over there. But I I don't think it's any
30:32
mystery as to how this team's really kind of caught its stride
30:36
since Jackson returned. And as you mentioned, a good
30:39
game out of her. She had three, was three of
30:42
seven from deep. And you know, she's going to
30:45
bring it defensively as well. I think she's if not the best,
30:48
one of the best defenders and and that Jada Williams, you
30:56
know, you know what you're going to get out of her.
30:58
I think at this point, the Arizona transfer, she was 12 of
31:01
12 from the free throw line. Iowa State as a team.
31:05
I I had them at 25 out of 28. That's just an incredible gosh,
31:10
maybe some of that will rub off on the men's team tonight.
31:13
I should mention, you know, free throw shooting, another thing
31:17
they've got. They got to get to the line
31:18
anyway. Back over to the women, though.
31:20
But yeah, I mean, Audie Crooks, she had 20 points.
31:24
But yeah, Willie, Lisa Williams coming off the bench, I've been
31:29
very impressed with her. And in the time that she's out
31:32
there, I think that that when they Finley can turn to her, I
31:36
think he's comfortable there. He can give Audie some time,
31:40
some time off her feet and keep her well rested throughout the
31:44
game. And and yeah, Willie had a nice
31:46
team there. So yeah, I think they're really
31:48
they're gelling as a team. You kind of know what you kind
31:52
of they kind of know how to play together now.
31:54
It'll be interesting to see though, if if Addie Brown comes
31:58
back and before the Big 12 tournament and and how that the
32:03
team does when they add her back into the equation, because
32:06
they're already even without her that some very impressive wins,
32:10
I think of late. And they've certainly played
32:12
themselves back into I, I would, I would believe to be an TAA
32:17
tournament team. So I went over yesterday and I'm
32:20
getting the cars washed, getting the vehicles on the nice day out
32:23
there. So I'm sitting in line cuz I was
32:25
not the only one that had that idea yesterday as you could
32:27
imagine, Bill. So I flip on the radio and who
32:30
do I hear but John Walters? He was on the call for the
32:33
woman's game. Yes, yeah, he was over there.
32:36
So great to hear him on that. And they were talking to Coach
32:39
Fenley afterwards in 20 win season again, the 19th I believe
32:42
in program history since he took over that program and and the
32:46
accomplishment there. But you mentioned the free
32:48
throws, and that's why I jumped into my mind.
32:50
They mentioned they practice free throws a ton with this
32:53
women's basketball program, and it shows up on game day year in
32:56
and year out. They're one of the top teams at
32:57
the free throw line. You got to practice your free
32:59
throws, and Bill Findley absolutely does that.
33:03
And again, I think you look at the reason for that and and
33:07
Findley goes out and gets Jada Williams this year and what an
33:11
impact she's made. She's someone who's going to
33:14
get, who's aggressive with the great ball handler, aggressive
33:18
going to get into the paint and she's going to draw a lot of
33:21
fouls. I think what you saw with Emily
33:23
Ryan, she'd get into the pain as well, but it was a lot of the
33:26
times was looking for a drive and a kick out to one of the
33:30
shooters outside. But you know with Jada Williams,
33:32
when she gets inside, she's not just going in there.
33:36
She had 9 assists yesterday against K State.
33:40
But a lot of times too, when she gets in there, she's going to go
33:43
and and try and score. She's going to go get to the
33:45
free throw line. Did that 12 times yesterday,
33:49
made all 12. So I think just a very big
33:52
addition that she was from Arizona and is certainly the
33:56
rest of the team. Audie Crooks was 8 of 10.
33:59
And when you have your center that goes in, goes to the
34:02
charity stripe and goes 8 for 10, you, you know it's a good
34:06
day at the office. Bill, finally, we heard last
34:09
week an opportunity for you guys on the beat to talk to a number
34:13
of the new football coaches over there.
34:15
Jimmy Rodgers, of course, been on the job and we get to hear
34:18
from a lot of the different guys.
34:19
Give us a take away. Let's start on the defensive
34:21
side of the football. New ski moving away from John
34:24
Haycock as his retirement has hit.
34:26
And of course, the new staff there, Jesse Bobbitt moving to
34:29
the 425, What they're going to be doing on that front and just
34:31
overall your take away on the defensive side of the ball.
34:35
Well, I think it's it's the side of the ball that's got a lot of
34:38
guys that I think are going to move up in this profession.
34:41
I think you you look at Jesse Bobbitt, he was an assistant
34:45
coach at an Omaha high school. I think it was in 2019.
34:50
And here in a matter of seven years, he's now a power for
34:54
defensive coordinator and he's got head coach written all over
34:57
him. A very impressive guy.
34:59
We can talk to him for a little bit.
35:01
Got some more details kind of on that 425 and the hybrid, you
35:06
know, that strong safety guy that'll be that, that kind of
35:10
that seventh person in the box and then how they're going to
35:13
match up against opposing offenses in the Big 12.
35:18
One of the questions I asked of him, I thought was very got a
35:22
very good answer from him was how he thinks this the system is
35:27
going to match up with what a lot of Big 12 teams are doing
35:30
these days. You know, a lot of talk, I think
35:33
originally with John Haycock and I think it was year 2.
35:36
They moved to that 335 to match up with the air raid, the spread
35:40
offenses of the Big 12 at the time.
35:43
Well, I think a lot of that's going backwards and he he meant
35:46
he going the other way. I think he mentioned like adding
35:49
a Utah in into the Big 12, BYU what they what they do Colorado
35:55
think what, and then some of the teams that have left the Big 12.
35:58
Well, now it I think he made it sound like that 425 will be a
36:03
good match up for what they face in the Big 12.
36:06
And they also showed at Washington State, Ole Miss was
36:10
one of those teams they played earlier in the season.
36:14
They had to go to an odd man front to to play against that
36:18
Lane Kiffin offense. So they also have the
36:20
flexibility to go to that odd man front if they need to for a
36:24
game or two. So I was very impressed there,
36:27
kind of the adaptability. And another thing, I think
36:30
defensively, you look at this staff and all but Ross Watson,
36:34
these guys have been together for for three years now, up
36:37
upwards of three years. They came with Jimmy Rodgers
36:40
from South Dakota State to Washington State.
36:43
So these guys have worked together.
36:45
I think they've hit the ground running at Iowa State.
36:47
And it's not really necessarily like coaches all trying to get
36:51
on the same page. They know what they're going to
36:53
do in Ames and now it's kind of trying to get the players up to
36:57
speed on that leading in the spring ball.
36:59
So I think the defense probably ahead of the offense and it
37:02
makes sense. Nothing against Pyler rolling or
37:04
anything, but this is a brand new offensive staff and it's a
37:08
group of defensive coaches that have been together and work
37:10
together. Let's talk about that offense
37:13
and you mentioned Tyler Roll coming in with Jalen Rayner.
37:16
The new quarterback comes in from Arkansas State.
37:18
Give us a take away on the offensive front and what we can
37:21
expect to see offensively from the Cyclones this year.
37:24
Well, I think physical is, is going to be that that is the
37:27
name of the game. And it's how many times I don't
37:30
know that Tyler Roll mentioned that they're going to be a
37:33
physical team that that wants to run the football, wants to be
37:38
strong up front. And, and we saw it.
37:40
I think you, you, you saw it when Iowa State, when they
37:44
brought him in for the one season in the in 2024 before he
37:50
went to the Lions, they introduced a lot of that, a lot
37:53
of those run formations of kind of a power run game from North
37:57
Dakota State that we've seen all those years.
37:59
So I think probably that in a, in a larger on, on a larger,
38:05
larger scale, I would think with him coming back, you've seen
38:09
that they really hit the offensive line hard in the
38:12
transfer portal. He had a lot of good things to
38:14
say about what they've done there.
38:16
They've added a lot of veterans, I think up front.
38:19
And yeah, I mean, you, you look, you look elsewhere.
38:23
I think a lot of really good things to say about about the
38:27
the the running backs that the the wide receivers, you know,
38:31
they went out and got the Derek Sherman from Houston there and
38:34
the, and I think they've got a lot of veteran guys coming in at
38:38
wide receiver as well. And, and I haven't mentioned
38:41
Seth Hesness either. The Mason City native, He's back
38:45
in his back in his home state coaching tight ends.
38:48
So it's a good, it's a youthful group, I think on that offensive
38:52
side of the ball. So it'll be a lot of fun to see
38:55
how that unit comes together through spring ball and then
38:58
into training camp. Spring football right around the
39:00
corner and Bill Seals has he covered over at
39:03
cyclonereport.com, part of On Three.
39:05
Bill, as always, appreciate the time here on a Monday.
39:08
We'll catch you next weekend. Ken will be back in his chair as
39:11
well, so you'll be getting texts from him.
39:14
All right, looking forward to it, Trent.
39:15
Have a good rest of your day. You too Bill Seals he'll be in
39:18
Kilton tonight with Iowa State facing off against Houston and a
39:22
top five matchup should be great at Hilton.
39:24
We come back on the other side. Let's talk about the Hawkeyes,
39:28
the Iowa men, a disappointing performance against Purdue, the
39:31
women right now pulling away from the Huskers and maybe after
39:35
that Taylor McCabe injury, this team starting to figure it out,
39:38
talking some Hawks next as we continue on the Iowa Sports
39:41
Radio Network. Trent kind of back with you.
39:52
Miller and Condon on the Iowa Sports Radio Network taking up
39:56
until 2:00 today. Lucas Kanakachi covered off the
40:00
bench from 2:00 until 5:00 and then overtime Iowa from 5:00
40:04
until 6:00. The Iowa women in cruise control
40:08
as they are dominating against Nebraska 7651 as they go to the
40:12
under 5 timeout in the fourth quarter of that one.
40:15
Every time Nebraska's come back, they cut it to 11 at one point
40:18
in the third quarter, Iowa's had a response, a great performance
40:22
out of Ava Haydn talked about her a little bit earlier, a
40:25
double double. She's got 27 and 11 to go along
40:28
with three assists in the game. Taylor Stremlo, maybe her best
40:31
game this season, perfect from the field, including three of
40:35
three from behind the three-point arc.
40:37
She's got 17 points, couple assists out of her chitchat,
40:40
right, with a couple of three pointers.
40:42
She's got 14 points, 7 assists in the game and 3 turnovers
40:46
overall. It has been really some
40:48
domination from this squad. I talked about Ava Hyde, what
40:51
she was doing, also Journey, Houston, she came in and during
40:55
that run when Iowa was really stretching it out in the first
40:58
half, I thought she was tremendous.
41:00
She just knows her role. An incredibly smart player,
41:03
knows, doesn't try to do too much, goes in there.
41:05
She'll get a couple of rebounds for you.
41:07
She'll make a bucket, had a steal in the game.
41:09
Really, really impressed by her as Iowa up by 25.
41:12
And you look at this Iowa women's team, this will be their
41:15
7th Quad one victory of the season.
41:17
They'll move to seven and five now against Quad 1, coupled with
41:21
the four no record that they have in Quad 2A.
41:23
Really good resume and something that we saw when the women's
41:27
committee came out with their top 16, Iowa's number 11.
41:30
I know that might have kind of surprised to some people, but
41:33
when you just look at the depth of this resume, they stack up
41:35
incredibly well. They're straight to schedule 6
41:38
in the country. RPI straight to schedule is
41:41
second. And that will add to that
41:43
certainly with a road victory I hear today.
41:45
Over on the men's side though, things not nearly as good for
41:48
the Hawkeye men after their second consecutive loss was a
41:51
loss, this one at the hands of Purdue.
41:54
Talked about this earlier this hour with Rob Doster from field
41:57
of 68. There was a lot that was put
41:59
into this game. It was one that I know a lot of
42:01
people have been pointing to. A lot of people seeing the
42:04
building sold out for the first time in the Ben McCallum area
42:07
had that opportunity for them to make a big push forward and to
42:11
get the fans had a better way, get them sucked back in and they
42:14
just never really had anything to cheer about.
42:17
There was nothing that went their way throughout the course
42:19
of this one. They led A5 four.
42:22
That was it. Before Purdue started going, you
42:24
had the Harris kid that started to go off.
42:26
He averaged 5 points a game. He had five points within the
42:29
first minute that he was in the game, knocked down three, had a
42:32
big time dunk and I would just didn't look ready.
42:35
It can't all be Bennett Sturtz. Sturtz was fine, but just one
42:39
assist in the game. I was a team. 12 assists in the
42:43
basketball game on 20. Made free throws percentage
42:47
about 60%. Got to be better and it can't be
42:50
Bennett. Sturtz just having to rely on
42:52
him time in and time out. They got to get more and where
42:55
is that more going to come from? Cooper Koch had a three pointer.
42:58
Cale Combs really struggled and if these struggles continue for
43:01
Kale Combs at this level, and we talked about him against Purdue
43:04
the first time, he was outstanding and probably his
43:07
best game of the season came in that one.
43:09
He was four or five from three, had a couple that rolled home in
43:12
that game, had five rebounds, a couple assists.
43:15
Since then it hasn't been great. And you go through fact that was
43:19
the last time he's even scored in double figures.
43:22
And though you don't anticipate that Kale Combs is going to be a
43:25
consistent double figure score for you, that's just not a
43:28
realistic one for him, I don't believe.
43:30
And what you're going to get from him time in and time out,
43:32
still, you got to get more and they are not getting that right
43:36
now out of Kale Combs. Do you push a button if you go a
43:39
different direction and is it time to maybe go with fool
43:43
Garris in the starting lineup and see if you could get more
43:45
consistency out of him playing in that role, though he
43:48
certainly wasn't great against Purdue.
43:51
Is it another one of the guards? Do you go with Isaiah Howard?
43:53
Brendan Hassan was out there in the first half.
43:55
He's still finished though what a six from the floor and though
43:57
he's getting been getting more playing time here recently, he
44:00
hasn't been able to out there Tate Sage.
44:02
The time's been squeezed out of the lineup as they've gotten
44:05
Hassan a little bit more on the minute scale.
44:07
That one can be confounding because Tate Sage has certainly
44:10
shown an ability that he can be an impactful player.
44:14
He's good on the defensive end. He can make a bucket, good
44:16
athleticism, good size to him. He can get to the rim.
44:19
He can finish inside. Really good offensive rating
44:22
overall for Tate Sage. When you see Ben McCollum in the
44:27
first half of the game play a lineup that he'd never played
44:31
all season long, I think that said a lot.
44:33
It was when Yurok was in there. They also had Hassan in the
44:36
game. That group of five had never
44:38
played together When it's the middle February and you're still
44:41
searching for answers, points to an issue.
44:45
And maybe the biggest one. We talked about a lot about the
44:47
offense. That defense is taking a big
44:49
step back from what we were used to in the first half of the
44:52
year. Our number 2 coming up.
44:54
We're kicking it off with some baseball talk.
44:56
Tommy Birch is going to join us. We'll get you a final of the
44:59
Iowa women as they're cruising against Nebraska.
45:01
That's up next.