Latest / The Lunch Rush with Trent Condon / CyHawk Deep Dive with Nick Marovets from Locked On Cyclones, getting to know Nick & Trent's Picks presented by Circa Sports

Transcript

CyHawk Deep Dive with Nick Marovets from Locked On Cyclones, getting to know Nick & Trent's Picks presented by Circa Sports · The Lunch Rush with Trent Condon

0:04
Hour number two, welcome back. Miller and Connick continues on
0:07
the Iowa Sports Radio Network here for one more hour before
0:13
off the bench with Sean and Lucas take the airwaves
0:16
overtime. Iowa will wrap things up on your
0:18
drive home from 5:00 until 6:00. Glad to have you on board with
0:22
us. If you missed it yesterday, Ken
0:23
is on vacation. Not just for this week, he's
0:26
taken 2 weeks with retirement getting closer and closer.
0:29
He is using all that time available to him.
0:32
So he's going to be off for the next couple of weeks.
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But luckily for you, luckily for me, we got some great Co hosts
0:37
that are going to be sitting in for Ken here the next couple of
0:39
weeks. And today in the hot seat, he is
0:42
Nick Marvitz from Locked on Cyclones.
0:45
Nick, as we kick off our number 2 welcome back.
0:47
We're figuring out some technical issues here as you're
0:51
back over in Eastern Iowa. So where's the setup over there?
0:54
We, we've talked many times as we've done crossover podcast
0:57
with on the Hawkeye side and you on the Cyclone time.
1:00
Where's the setup over there? Cuz boy, you got a lot of lot of
1:03
Iowa State stuff behind you. Yeah, I do feel a little bit
1:06
like I'm in kind of an enemy territory here near Iowa City.
1:10
Not quite, and it didn't want to get too close, but definitely
1:13
near it with all this Iowa State stuff behind me.
1:16
Just doing my best to Rep the brand as best I can, you know,
1:19
Really got to be loud in this area of the state.
1:21
So no doubt, yes, I've lived in that area of the state and I
1:24
know that you are definitely the minority.
1:26
It's much different there than it is here.
1:28
So we're going to talk today here for a while just about
1:32
Seihawk and we're going to take a look at the Seihawk and the
1:35
way that it's set up. Talk football, talk basketball
1:38
talk this season, just a lot of both Iowa and Iowa State
1:41
conversations, a lot of different things.
1:43
And then a little bit later on this side, we're going to do
1:45
something a little bit different as we're going to get to know
1:47
Nick a little bit as he is new to the airwaves here.
1:50
He's joined us as a guest a couple of times.
1:52
But today we have our an opportunity to spread our wings
1:54
a little bit more. And and I got to dig into the
1:56
head head of Nick here and see how a guy from eastern Iowa ends
1:59
up in Ames and its own right. But that's a conversation for a
2:02
little bit later on. Let's start with where we began
2:05
our conversation today to kick off the show and that is Iowa
2:08
State on the men's basketball side.
2:10
An incredible season. They are now putting historic
2:13
numbers out there. I remember, of course, the great
2:16
run to the Elite 8 and what happened to that Michigan State
2:18
game. That was very far back in the
2:21
recesses, though, for a lot of younger people's mind and many
2:24
people that weren't even around for that one.
2:26
But it does have that feeling at times.
2:28
You watch this squad, it's not just that they have another
2:30
winning streak going again. It's the fashion that they're
2:33
winning. Have you not as a media guy,
2:35
just as a fan, have you allowed yourself that opportunity to
2:40
dream a little bit to get to that level?
2:42
Have you allowed yourself not hosting your daily podcast just
2:46
as a fan to do that? Or do you remember last year,
2:50
couple of the other seasons and you don't want to go that
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direction? Yeah, it's tough because I I
2:54
battle with ring culture all the time where the this concept that
2:57
if you don't win the national title, your season was a
3:00
failure. And I think growing up as an
3:02
Iowa State fan, it's a little easier to not get too sucked
3:04
into that. But with this team, I mean it's
3:07
like as soon as they started the season the way they did,
3:10
immediately my brain went to national title.
3:13
Like going into the year, I was hoping for maybe a Sweet 16
3:16
appearance. We know what TJ Altenberger is
3:17
capable of. Finally your ellipse Jefferson.
3:20
What are the fresh spring and do a lot of unanswered questions.
3:23
But then as the season got rolling and Killian Torre, I
3:25
look the way he did at the players era and we saw a guy
3:27
stepping up off the bench like Jamario Bateman.
3:30
I started to think like, OK, we might have the depth and Milan
3:32
is shooting lights out. There is no reason why this team
3:36
can't make a deep tournament run.
3:37
So as a fan, I am completely bought in on the hope that this
3:41
team will make a very deep tournament run.
3:42
But you know, as that kind of analyst, if you will put that
3:45
name in front or that title in front of my name, I definitely
3:48
have some question marks, some things that I'd like to see and
3:51
looking at the schedule and what they've done against some teams
3:53
very, you know, very promising. But then you look at a few other
3:56
games and there's some big, I don't know if I'd go so far as
3:59
problems, but definitely question marks.
4:01
They've got time though. We've we've got plenty of time
4:03
for the season wraps up. Yeah.
4:04
And I think it's something that creeps in for all fans at some
4:07
level or another. And I know there's right now,
4:10
I'm sure there's Hawkeye fans that are listening and are
4:12
rolling their eyes and saying, oh, come on, why?
4:15
Why could you possibly talk about that?
4:16
And Nick, I take away my fandom when it comes to that.
4:19
And it's something that you have to do.
4:21
And when I look at this, we know historically over the last 25
4:25
years and of the analytic era, and as you have heard, I
4:29
definitely like my analytics. I, I love my Bartorvic and my
4:32
Ken Pomeroy and Evan Maya and all the different places and,
4:35
and the numbers I think can help you paint a picture.
4:38
But in the simplest form, if you have a top 20 offense and a top
4:42
20 defense and defensive and offensive efficiency at Ken
4:46
Pomeroy, those are the only teams that can win a national
4:50
championship. Iowa State right now, 10th in
4:52
the country and offensive efficiency, 8th in the country
4:56
and defensive efficiency. And that tells us, take away
4:58
what it says on the chest, right?
5:00
Take away that it's Iowa State. What this tells us, though, is
5:04
this is one of a handful of teams that, yes, actually can do
5:07
it, can win a national championship, as crazy as I
5:10
know, as it is for some Hawkeye fans to hear that.
5:13
Well, I mean, I would point directly to how'd the Sehawk
5:15
game go, how'd the final score of that one look?
5:18
But I will say on the efficiency rating front, I was looking at
5:21
those numbers today and we've brought up Iowa State schedule
5:24
multiple times. I wonder if the last few games
5:27
with a 30 point win over UCF, a 30 point win over Colorado, a 34
5:31
point win over Kansas State, if those are slightly inflating
5:34
those offensive efficiency numbers because I hate to be
5:37
that guy, but Kansas State, I mean, you could mistake them for
5:40
a middle school JV team at times, right?
5:42
And so I don't know how much stock I'm willing to put into
5:45
that huge victory. They're going to be tested over
5:47
this last little bit of the season.
5:48
That being said, defensively, I think everything is completely
5:52
sound, right? You held a UCF team that's
5:54
averaging. I don't know what it is now, but
5:55
right around 80 points down to 57 in that game is one of the
5:59
first games that I always point to and defence travels really
6:02
well. Did not quite against Kansas or
6:04
Cincinnati, but we're willing to look look past that is for, you
6:07
know, just two games of the year.
6:08
So I'm excited about what this team looks analytically wise and
6:12
what this team looks eyeball test wise.
6:14
You know, you got Milan, you've got Joshua Jefferson, you've got
6:17
tame and let's see the kind of core older group guiding those
6:20
younger guys like Killian Torre and I like Jamar and Bateman a
6:23
lot when he's out on the floor as well.
6:25
I think there's a lot to be excited about and yes, there's
6:27
going to be the element of it's still Iowa State.
6:30
Like what have they actually done in March?
6:31
It just feels like they're really hot at the beginning of
6:34
the season and then they start to wane and fall off as the year
6:37
includes. And I remember, like for me, the
6:39
Illinois loss was one, watching it in size when I was like, I
6:43
feel like we could win this game, but they didn't get it
6:44
done. So those kind of losses stay in
6:47
the back of the mind. But this team, I do think has
6:50
something special about it. I don't know if it's the wins
6:52
that are completely fogging my vision, but there's something
6:55
really special about this team. We'll see how it plays out.
6:58
So I want to go deeper into those numbers here for a moment.
7:01
Mention it's actually top 25 is what you have to finish because
7:04
the Baylor team I think was 21st in the country in a defensive
7:07
efficiency of the year that they won the national championship.
7:10
But here's the teams, if you just play with that, that you're
7:12
crossing off right now to win a national championship.
7:15
Let's start here. Michigan State, 43rd in
7:17
offensive efficiency. That's a cross off Purdue, 26th
7:21
in defense, cross off Nebraska, 29th in offense.
7:24
That's a cross off. Kansas, 40th in the country in
7:27
offensive efficiency, They're a cross off.
7:29
We're going through a host of teams.
7:31
Louisville, as good as Louisville look last night, 28th
7:34
defensively, they're a cross off.
7:35
We're talking about some significant teams that you have
7:38
to cross off the list. And maybe the biggest of all,
7:41
the UConn Huskies, currently 27th now, we still got another
7:45
month to go before we get to the end.
7:46
And they very well could creep in there into the top 25.
7:49
And I think maybe even likely that they're going to do that.
7:52
But that just says that we're not just kind of painting with A
7:55
broad brush here. We're talking about a lot of
7:57
good teams that we're talking about that don't have the same
7:59
metrics that I was state to get there.
8:02
Now we got to go the other direction, Nick, and we got to
8:04
talk about the Hawkeyes. So you're throwing your arrows
8:07
there. What happened in Hilton?
8:08
Look, I will play it. I thought incredibly well.
8:11
I will played well in that game and this team has improved
8:15
markably. They can do it on the defensive
8:18
end of the floor. Ben McCollum, he I think has
8:21
shown right away this guy knows how to win 18 and five.
8:24
Even in the Big 10 slate here. These final six games has not
8:27
been overly daunting. Couple of Rd. wins in there, a
8:30
couple of Quad 1 victories. What do you look at this Iowa
8:33
program from your perspective? What are you seeing right now?
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And as every Hawkeye fans, they just want to see get to the
8:40
second weekend, get to the Sweet 16.
8:42
Do you see that as an attainable goal this year for the Hawkeyes?
8:46
I do and I actually would like to throw out that I think this
8:48
is a phenomenal year, first year for Ben McCollum, right?
8:51
I don't think anyone had low expectations, just seeing what
8:55
he had done at Drake and at his previous stops, like not quite a
8:58
Curt Cignetti level, but certainly success before coming
9:01
to Iowa. And that was a big question
9:02
mark. But in, you know, this first
9:04
year, I had 18 and five and on a ridiculous win streak right now.
9:07
Is this 86 games after that Purdue loss?
9:10
Like they've got things figured out to an extent.
9:12
And I would love to see obviously for the state and
9:15
obviously the more Iowa wins, the better that win for Iowa
9:17
State looks. I'd love to see them make a
9:19
deeper run. I don't know exactly the
9:22
insurance and the outs. That's more kind of your
9:24
wheelhouse. I'm going to be completely
9:25
upfront about that. But just from an outsider's
9:28
perspective, I do like what the last few weeks have looked like
9:31
for Iowa, outside of a few tough losses there.
9:34
Minnesota, Illinois, Purdue. They certainly have seen Bennett
9:37
Sturtz take a big step forward and he gone was gone from a nice
9:41
player. He's playing well.
9:43
He has looked like it all American and as he was dubbed in
9:45
the preseason, this is a guy that's going to push Braden
9:47
Smith maybe for, you know, point guard of the year in the Big 10,
9:50
that kind of thing. And he has looked like that guy
9:52
here recently during the six game-winning streak.
9:55
He scored 20 points in all of these six games, a career high
9:58
36 the last time out. The three-point shot is
10:01
improving immensely. But here's maybe the biggest
10:03
component I go back all the way to when the three-game losing
10:07
streak started against Minnesota and I talked to a coach
10:10
Williams, one of their assistant coaches for the podcast locked
10:14
on Hawkeyes. And when I was talking to him,
10:16
he said they're they're just trying to figure out the
10:19
officiating part of it. And it wasn't a complaint, but
10:21
we heard McCollum mentioned that a couple of different times.
10:24
Well, taking that hand in hand now with what we've seen from
10:27
Bennett Sturtz, 8 free throws against Northwestern, gets the
10:29
line 6 times against USC, 11 in that road victory against
10:33
Indiana. It does feel like also both
10:36
Bennett, Sturtz, the coaching staff is understanding what
10:40
buttons you have to push and the physicality that you have to
10:42
play with in the Big 10. Yeah, absolutely.
10:45
I have a question for you regarding Bennett Sturtz because
10:47
thinking back to the Iowa State game, you know, he's averaging
10:50
36.4 minutes per game on the season, which is ridiculous.
10:54
I don't know if I have that level of cardio, so I'm not
10:57
knocking that at all. But in the Iowa State game,
10:59
there were a couple of plays where it looked like he was out
11:01
there for minutes sake, not necessarily contributing a ton.
11:04
Does this Iowa team completely hinge on Bennett Sturtz?
11:07
Does he need to be out there balling out?
11:09
Can they take him off the like? I'm not exactly sure where Iowa
11:12
sits in that regard because, you know, from an out perspective,
11:15
you don't really want to rely on one single guy.
11:17
Achillian Torre shutting down Bennett Sturtz was a huge factor
11:21
in that Sidehawk game. So I'm curious, you know, what
11:23
the rest of the season has looked like as Iowa found a way
11:26
to use him without completely abusing him, if you will.
11:29
Yeah, I think that's a fairpoint.
11:31
And as the grind continues here, there's still a lot of
11:34
basketball in front of us. Eight more games left in the
11:36
regular season for Iowa, the Big 10 tournament after that, we
11:39
know with an 18 team, all 18 teams this year going to make
11:43
the bracket this year could be a lot of basketball there.
11:45
Then by the time you get to the tournament and that goes hand in
11:48
hand. What what we talked about in the
11:49
past with Iowa State is so many times by the time they get to
11:52
the tournament, it almost feels like they're just dead tired
11:54
that there's nothing left in the tank.
11:56
And that is the concern level I think you have with Bennett
11:59
Sturtz. One thing that I do notice
12:01
though is McCollum, I think he does a really good job of
12:05
finding those spots. All right, Combs is going to run
12:07
the point for a while. We're going to run the offense
12:09
through fool Garris. They like to do that a lot when
12:11
he's in the game. So it's not all dependent on
12:14
Bennett starts. He's going to be down the floor
12:16
every single time running the offense.
12:18
You know they're going to run a 10:00.
12:20
You'll see those couple of possessions where he's sitting
12:23
in the corner where they're doing some things off the ball,
12:25
getting him arrested in that way, while he's still out there,
12:28
he can still be impactful. But not having a front of it.
12:31
Yeah, it's, I don't personally love it.
12:33
I would rather see instead of those possessions, him just go
12:36
get a minute break. I would personally rather see
12:39
that. But look, Ben McCullum, he's got
12:42
a winning percentage in his career of over 800.
12:44
Mine's still 0. So I, I guess I will, I will
12:47
respect him on that front. That's me personally convinced
12:51
the I was thinking he wasn't good and he looked tired at
12:54
times. He he looked out of it.
12:55
He didn't look himself. Same thing the previous loss
12:57
that they had against Michigan State.
12:59
So I think that is fair. And that's another one I kind of
13:02
talked about that lingering doubt that starts to sit in the
13:05
back of your mind for you guys as Cyclone fans, what we've seen
13:08
in the past, what's it going to look like by the time we get to
13:11
March? I think that's still sitting
13:13
there for me also, which starts is all of a sudden it's the end
13:17
of February, it's early March. And oh boy, his legs don't look
13:21
there anymore because he's been explosive too.
13:23
Getting to the rim has been another component that has
13:25
really increased for him. So that's that lingering doubt
13:28
certainly that I have. Yeah, definitely.
13:30
And and just looking at, you know, what he brings to the
13:33
team, there's an aspect of you want him on the floor at all
13:35
times, kind of like if you take Curry off the floor for the
13:38
Warriors, how does the entire defense respond?
13:41
But I know I've had long days at work where all I want to do is
13:43
sit down, right. And so I'm curious, like, if you
13:46
could just get him seated, what kind of impact that would have
13:49
because exactly to your point, like the season is long, the
13:52
season is grueling, even if he's just standing out there.
13:54
I'm curious what kind of impact that would have on this squad.
13:57
But I wouldn't count this Iowa team out.
13:59
Like I am completely on board with giving them a small chance.
14:02
You know, obviously a little bit of fandom creeping in there, but
14:05
from an analyst perspective, you know, the Big 10 is the Big 10.
14:08
And I was absolutely a part of that conversation.
14:10
So with all 18 teams getting in, especially from that
14:13
perspective, you never know once March hits if you get hot at the
14:17
right time. There's this is a very real Iowa
14:19
squad in some aspects for sure. Nick Marvitz hanging out with us
14:22
here today, filling in for Ken as he's on vacation for the next
14:26
couple of weeks. So you can find Nick on Locked
14:28
on Cyclones, your daily Iowa Cyclone podcast, and I do Locked
14:32
on Hawkeye. So look at this synergy that we
14:33
got going on here on the daily side for both Iowa and Iowa
14:36
State. All right, Nick, we're talking
14:38
Cyhawk here and I want to get into some football.
14:41
Want to talk about Jimmy Rod, what he's assembled, what he put
14:45
together, and I'll tell you the way that the roster obviously
14:49
turned over after Campbell leaves, brings all the guys with
14:52
them. And that's just the guys he
14:53
brought with him, just the guys that entered the portal.
14:55
You know, there's going to be turnover in any coaching staff
14:57
and today's day and ages completely different than a
15:00
decade ago when Campbell took over and certainly anything
15:03
that's happened in Iowa City as we go back nearly 30 years ago
15:05
when Hayden Fryer retired and Kirk took over.
15:07
So it's been an incredibly long time.
15:10
But to have Jimmy Rogers, and probably initially I didn't give
15:13
this enough credence, a guy that just did this a season ago did
15:17
it at Washington State. Having a guy that just has that
15:20
institutional knowledge of this is the way it needs to be done.
15:23
To be able to just field a roster that at minimum is
15:26
competitive. I think that gave him a big leg
15:28
up here in year #1 for ISU. Yeah, and he talked about that
15:31
in some media. I don't remember where I exactly
15:33
I saw it, but he said that this time around was hired earlier
15:37
than he was at Washington State. So had an extra, you know,
15:39
couple of weeks there. But also there's no spring
15:42
portal, right? So there's kind of a double
15:43
headed coin there. But he said like, this is
15:46
honestly kind of charted territory for me.
15:48
I actually know a little bit what's going on.
15:50
And the roster turnover was ridiculous.
15:53
I believe Iowa State lost 54 players, second in the country,
15:56
if I'm correct, to Oklahoma State.
15:58
So certainly a lot of talent leaving, but when you look at
16:01
the transfers coming in, I think he did a phenomenal job of
16:05
structuring this roster to what he kind of wants the team to be.
16:09
And then as he molds this kind of sculptor, I guess into what
16:14
exactly it will look like, he's going to make a few adjustments.
16:16
So I don't know if he planned on a whole lot of quarterback runs,
16:19
but with Jalen Rayner coming in from Arkansas State, that's a
16:21
huge strength of his. So I would assume he'll pivot a
16:24
little bit towards that. I think that, you know, the
16:26
success he had at South Dakota State and then I would argue
16:30
pretty solid success at Washington State didn't
16:31
necessarily make the CFP or anything, but a bowl game with
16:35
AI, think he had like 70 new players is relatively
16:38
successful. I assume that he'll be able to
16:41
replicate that here. I, I, I don't know if maybe I'm
16:44
just a little too hopeful, but I, I like the way that he has
16:48
approached this offseason despite some ranking sites
16:51
putting Iowa State at like literally dead last in all of
16:55
the FBS ranked 70th. I think 2nd to 2nd to last to
16:59
Utah on there as far as what the on three index score was,
17:02
whatever you want to call it. I think when you look at the
17:04
actual personnel you brought in, the coaches, the right coach
17:06
that I'm super excited about, Jesse Bobbitt, Ross Watson on
17:09
the defensive side of the ball, Tyler Roll, the new OC coming
17:12
from Detroit, rejoining Iowa State.
17:14
I think we've got a really solid squad built up and Jimmy Rodgers
17:18
has a really good shot at having some success, especially when
17:20
you look at the schedule in his first season.
17:22
And I think that's a huge component to it as well.
17:24
I you couldn't draw up probably a much better schedule of what
17:28
they have this season, non conference games.
17:31
Southeast Missouri State are going to be a huge favor in
17:33
that. By the way, just 206 days away
17:36
from the opener September 5th against Southeast Missouri
17:38
State, Iowa State, they got a nice little calendar on there.
17:41
And the countdown clock is happening for that one.
17:44
Yeah, you go to Iowa, going to be obviously difficult over
17:46
there. But they've had success recently
17:48
in Iowa City and Bowling Green. But the conference slate is
17:51
really where it is. And do you put a realistic
17:54
benchmark here, even as the outside noise is out there and
17:57
the negativity a bowl game, if you get to 6 and six in year #1
18:01
do you consider that a success for Iowa State football?
18:05
I would, and I actually maybe unpopular opinion here, but I
18:09
think they can get to 8 wins if they get momentum early.
18:12
I legitimately think that there's a world where they get
18:15
to 8. I know that there's going to be
18:16
a lot of people out there that disagree with me, but they if
18:19
they get hot early and if they're able to snag that Iowa
18:21
game, because I'm still classifying that as the Seihawk.
18:23
You never know what's going to go down in the Seihawk.
18:26
If they can get some some wins early, go into that bye week
18:29
with, you know, maybe three or four wins, there's nothing
18:32
really stopping them, I guess from, I guess, aside from their
18:34
opponents from getting to that seven or eight win mark and six
18:37
I think is a win for the season. But I think there's a realistic
18:41
possibility they push for 7:00 or 8:00.
18:43
And I would argue this is just my perspective that's kind of
18:46
needed for this Iowa State program.
18:48
We've heard so much about where they're at financially.
18:51
Jamie Pollard has been ridiculously vocal about that.
18:54
I don't know if that's necessarily the right play or
18:56
not. That's a conversation for
18:57
another day. But if they can get some wins
18:59
and some momentum under this first year head coach, I think
19:03
that that's going to be huge for the program over the next next
19:05
3-4 years versus if they fall short of a bowl game, where do
19:08
they go from there, right? Do they end up with 2-3 years
19:10
left in the Big 12 and the Big 12's?
19:12
Like you're not really contributing.
19:13
There's a lot of question marks there.
19:14
I think this year's going to be huge.
19:16
So another component to that is the future of the side Hawk game
19:21
on the schedule for this year, next year, 2027 on the road at
19:25
Iowa State and then after that the contract is over.
19:28
Now we've seen amendments, we've seen extensions, we've seen that
19:31
happen plenty of times. It doesn't feel there's exactly
19:35
a race night right now between Jamie Pollard and Beth gets to
19:38
add an extension to it. Do you?
19:41
Are you concerned that this series is going to go away?
19:44
Well, my main concern comes from the fact, and I know this isn't
19:47
the same, but like Farmageddon is dying and, and there just
19:50
doesn't seem to be any sort of putting that high on the totem
19:53
pole as far as as fixing that. I would actually reframe the
19:56
question and ask you who needs this game more because over the
20:00
last 10-15 years it's definitely been Iowa State.
20:04
I would, I'm completely OK with saying it was kind of a lose,
20:07
lose game for Iowa for a while there.
20:08
You win the game and it's no big deal.
20:10
You lose the game and Oh my gosh, you lost to Iowa State.
20:13
What are you doing as opposed? And now I think it's much more
20:16
5050 then the coaching change happened.
20:18
So who do you think needs this game more?
20:20
Or is it just like it's for the good of the state?
20:22
I don't care who it's for. This should be re upped
20:26
essentially. You know, I certainly was on
20:29
that camp that you mentioned of what does it do for Iowa.
20:32
From my Hawkeye fan perspective, that was always there.
20:35
I also know what we do in the media, what I do here on the
20:39
radio, the importance of that week and what it matters.
20:41
And now here as we go into our second year on our network
20:45
across the state, being all across the state, just the
20:47
importance of that week and what it means both financially but
20:50
also what it means just to fans. And you can replace the Cyhawk
20:54
game from an Iowa perspective. You can replace it and take on a
20:58
great opponent, do a home and home with Florida State.
21:02
I mean, let's just let's just shoot for the boom, you know,
21:04
something like that. You could do that.
21:06
But in the end, would it be as an impactful?
21:08
So I was a long time proponent of this and this was dating back
21:11
after the Big 10 went to the 9 conference game schedule.
21:14
You have no wiggle room. You're going to play your two by
21:16
games at home and then alternating is maybe a pause in
21:19
the series. But as we get closer and closer
21:22
to it, I also don't want to see that.
21:24
I don't want to see this game go away because of the importance
21:27
that it does matter unless you had assurances that it was going
21:31
to happen. And from the Iowa State
21:32
perspective too, maybe it doesn't go that year.
21:35
Well, in year #1 maybe it it is a disappointing.
21:39
It's a four and eight type of team here.
21:40
And year number one for Jimmy Rogers, if you kind of look at
21:43
it, we're trying to get the bull rolling.
21:45
You see what Cignetti did, at least schedule wise in his early
21:48
go back to Hayden Fry. What he did after the initial
21:51
schedules were in place and they had monster matchups in the
21:54
conference, he started to ease up a little bit.
21:56
Bill Snyder did the same thing at Kansas State.
21:58
Maybe that makes more sense in the interim.
22:00
You take a two year hiatus. We'll get it back in the books
22:03
after that. That could be a potential that
22:05
happens down the road. But at least from a fan
22:08
perspective, if we do see the Seihawk game go away, I want
22:12
assurances from both sides. Not for Iowa State to go out to
22:14
Bowling Green like they're doing coming up.
22:17
The UNLV game was fun because it was Vegas, right?
22:20
And going to Tulane as they are in a couple years.
22:22
But let's have something major here, like I said, a Florida
22:25
State, my name brand. If you can make that and make
22:27
sure that that's going to happen, then I think that would
22:30
ease it. But if you're just replacing and
22:33
Iowa State's playing another game against South Dakota and I
22:36
was taking on North Northern Illinois, that's going to lead
22:40
if I think a big thud from both sides and I think a lot of
22:43
frustration from both fan bases. No, absolutely.
22:46
And I think when you're looking at it from the fan perspective,
22:49
it has to happen period. There is no ifs, ands or buts,
22:52
no ways around it. It's a mandatory the way that it
22:55
impacts the state can hardly even be measured.
22:58
But when you're looking at this from a front office perspective,
23:01
looking at this from a coaching perspective, even honestly from
23:04
a player perspective, because now with NIL, like they want all
23:06
the stats they can possibly get. Why would they want to play a
23:08
tough team? It's it is not incentivized at
23:12
all. And and you look at Indiana this
23:14
year, of course, national little champions, one of the best,
23:16
well, the best team in the country basically week in and
23:19
week out. But the the year prior when they
23:22
just made the playoff and they ended up getting quote UN quote
23:24
embarrassed. It's like, did they really
23:26
deserve to be there? Everyone's looking to their non
23:27
con. Well, how did they get in?
23:29
Because they didn't play anybody.
23:31
They were rewarded for winning those games by 80 points or
23:34
whatever it was the way that the committee is working right now.
23:37
And of course there's going to be changes basically every
23:39
single week up until the next playoff.
23:40
That's not how I love that it goes, but it's in fact the
23:43
matter. You are rewarded for playing
23:45
those lesser than teams. And of course you can't really
23:47
change your conference schedule a whole lot unless you leave the
23:50
conference. So what can you control your non
23:52
con? So you know, from a fan
23:53
perspective has to happen, but from a front office perspective,
23:57
I don't have a great argument for them other than like boost
24:00
our resume. But we've seen from the CFP
24:02
committee that doesn't really matter all that much.
24:05
Continuing our Psy Hawk conversation, something you
24:07
brought up a little bit earlier that I always were I always
24:10
think about from the Iowa State side is a financial component to
24:14
this. And as we've heard JB Pollard
24:16
talk a plenty about this in the past, the financial part, we
24:19
know the divide that there is between what Iowa gets in the
24:22
Big 10 and what Iowa State gets in the Big 12.
24:25
And we know fan base wise in comparison, I mean, there's a
24:28
lot of different studies that are out there that Iowa State in
24:30
terms of what they actually are able and what they do finance.
24:34
It's at a lower level when you look at the future of just
24:37
college athletics as a whole and the way it is.
24:39
And you know, we have the odd story of Iowa State gymnastics
24:41
canceling their season and, and what's happening there.
24:44
They're at the minimum threshold to be at the Division One level
24:47
in terms of sports that they offer at the scholarship level.
24:50
There's a lot of things overall with that that athletic
24:53
department as a fan as what you do on a daily basis.
24:56
Does does the finances concern you at all when you look towards
24:59
the future? Absolutely.
25:02
Well, actually, I'm gonna say yes and no because if nothing
25:04
changes, yes. But the way that Jimmy Pollard's
25:06
been talking about the Board of Regents and that whole
25:08
conversation, he's sounding more optimistic than he has in the
25:11
past. So there could be change coming.
25:12
Obviously the Board of Regents not allowing the university to
25:15
pay the athletic department is a huge deal not only for Iowa
25:19
State, but for Iowa or Drake or you and I any school in the
25:22
state of Iowa as compared to when Jamie Pollard was talking
25:25
on I believe it was the spotlight or whatever's been
25:28
over a year now. Arizona State pays their
25:30
athletic department $50 million a year, right?
25:32
So that's a huge deal when you just looking at the $20.5
25:35
million of Rev share. But then also where does the
25:38
rest of that money go? Like Scitown, What's going on
25:40
with that? There's a lot of other places
25:42
that athletic. Well, I guess that's not
25:44
directly tied to the athletic part, but you get what I'm
25:46
saying. There's a lot going on other
25:47
side other than just paying the athletes.
25:50
So if a change happens at some sort of congressional level, at
25:53
some sort of, you know, law making, whatever, if that's
25:57
change is coming, I feel pretty good.
25:59
I think that Jamie Pollard's been leaning into that and he's
26:01
been kind of making it sound like that's required.
26:03
But if nothing changes, yeah, I don't love where Iowa State's
26:06
at. He talked about that savings
26:08
account that they've been burning through and costs are
26:11
only going up, especially with, you know, you lose money on the
26:15
buyout between Jimmy Rogers and Matt Campbell.
26:17
There's it's not looking optimistic.
26:19
I just have to call it how it is.
26:21
And so they're going to have to get creative whether the
26:23
concerts and Jack Trice that are coming up are going to go
26:25
towards the athletic department. If you're going to change what's
26:28
sold at games. I'm not going to say
26:29
specifically people want sold. Damn, there it is.
26:32
But if we could sell something like that, maybe that would
26:34
change something. I mean, there's definitely
26:36
changes that can be made. I expect they have to be made
26:39
because I don't think anybody wants to drop down out of the
26:41
Big 12. This is the place to be in my
26:43
opinion. Absolutely.
26:44
Nick Marvitz hanging out with us locked on Cyclones.
26:46
Nick, we're due for a quick timeout.
26:48
We'll come back on the other side and it's time to get to
26:50
know you a little bit better. We know you're a Cyclone guy.
26:52
What else hits Nick? We're going to talk about that
26:55
on the other side. Nick in four KED today, it's
26:57
Miller and Condon. Stay right there.
26:59
We're back with more in a moment on the Iowa Sports Radio
27:02
Network. Welcome back.
27:03
It's Miller and Condon on the Iowa Sports Radio Network.
27:06
Nick Maravits hanging out with me today from Locked on
27:09
Cyclones. I'm Trent Condon.
27:10
Thanks for being with us. Ken on vacation for the next two
27:14
weeks. And Nick, I'm not sure if you
27:16
heard it there during the commercial break, but the final
27:19
spot there was a little Olympic update and they were talking
27:23
about Nate Heisey, sister Taylor Heisey.
27:26
I I guess the better of the two, right.
27:28
I mean, have you have you guys flipped any crap yet?
27:30
Nate? Yeah, you're a good Big 12
27:32
basketball player, but you're not an Olympian like your
27:34
sister. Yeah, certainly making some
27:36
noise in the Olympic side of things, which is good for the
27:39
the entire country. That's how I'm looking at this.
27:40
We've got greatness in the state of Iowa and greatness overseas
27:44
representing the entire country. So win, win for us.
27:46
No doubt about it, right now it's your chance to win $1000 in
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dollarkxando.com. So Nick hanging out with us here
28:03
today and this is something that I like to do when Ken's away and
28:06
have our Co host that jump in and talk with them about some
28:10
different things. It's just getting to know you a
28:12
little bit better because we know you from locked down
28:15
cyclones what you do over there. So let's kind of start in the
28:18
beginning because this is always befuddling and somebody that,
28:20
like myself, lived in Iowa City and lived in Eastern Iowa for a
28:23
big portion of my life. How do you become a Cyclone fan?
28:27
Because where I grew up in Osage aims much closer than Iowa City.
28:32
It was also a different time than when you're growing up
28:33
because I'm an old man, but nobody was a Cyclone fan.
28:36
The only Cyclone fans in our whole town at that time were
28:39
like 2 farmers. That was it.
28:41
Everybody else was a Hawkeye. But it was also the heyday of
28:44
Iowa football. The ranked #1 when I'm in
28:46
kindergarten, like it was a different era.
28:48
I get that. So for you, where you grew up
28:51
and how you became a Cyclone. Yeah, I grew up in Williamsburg,
28:54
IA. Huge shout out to the Raiders.
28:57
A lot of national or state championship, excuse me, after I
29:00
left. So I don't know what that's
29:01
about. Maybe we set the stage is kind
29:03
of how I'm choosing to look at that.
29:05
But you're right, closer to Iowa City.
29:06
So how does that all come about? Grandma, uncle, Dad, all
29:10
graduates from Iowa State just ran in the blood, like grew up,
29:14
you know, go cyclones, Boo Hawks type of thing.
29:17
And it was just embedded in our DNA.
29:19
Actually, dad ended up going to Iowa after Iowa State and had to
29:22
like force us to buy Iowa gear to support.
29:25
And we were like, I don't want anything to do with the black
29:28
and gold. So there was never a doubt in my
29:30
mind that I was going to go to Iowa State.
29:32
And once you're there and you, you feel hilt magic for the
29:35
first time or you see the Jack completely packed out and we saw
29:38
some major upsets when I was there, you know, 2020 to 2024 or
29:42
whatever, big wins. Like it's just hard to really
29:45
pick anything else. Like I, I wouldn't say that
29:48
there was a negative experience in there.
29:50
So of course I'm going to root for them forever.
29:52
And it's an it's a huge honor to get to, you know, speak on them
29:55
every day and, and give my thoughts.
29:56
So I think that's one of my favorite things that I get to do
29:59
on a daily basis for sure. So for me, our listeners
30:03
certainly know college basketball is my favorite sport.
30:05
It is the one that I became a sport fan because of basketball
30:10
and again going back to the 80s as I age myself once again with
30:13
my young gun next to be a Dick. During that time period though
30:17
during the week we didn't have cable.
30:18
In fact I didn't have cable until I was late in high school,
30:20
I think maybe my sophomore junior year.
30:22
So I had to go to friends all the time or go to grandmas house
30:24
to watch Iowa games when they be on ESPN or something.
30:27
But during that time during the winter, the only sport at all
30:31
that I could watch during the week was Iowa basketball.
30:34
Back then, they're on every Thursday night on the broadcast.
30:37
That was across the state, syndicated all across the state
30:40
got huge numbers like a 70 share, just ridiculous.
30:42
Like bigger than the Super Bowl for regular season Iowa men's
30:45
basketball. That was the importance though
30:47
of that time. And if you ever read a Lute
30:49
Olson's book for the Hawkeye fans out there listening, I'm
30:51
I'm sure that's not at the top of your list, Nick, to be
30:53
reading. But they talk about the
30:56
formation of that. And that was the biggest thing.
30:58
It was leading up up to that Thursday night game.
31:00
We talked about Iowa basketball. Then on Friday we'd recap the
31:03
game. And then what was coming up over
31:04
the weekend. That was such a huge thing.
31:06
So college basketball is #1 plus the NCAA tournament sucked me
31:10
in. How incredible just everything
31:12
about it was. What's you, what's your a kind
31:14
of #1 sport that you like to watch taking away the fandom
31:18
part of it? Just what's your favorite sport?
31:21
Yeah, so growing up, I was, you know, football, wrestling, golf
31:24
kind of guy. So football is more close to
31:26
what I, I know, I suppose. And obviously wrestler in there.
31:30
I can't shoot a piece of paper into a trash can.
31:32
So I didn't really connect directly to the basketball.
31:35
Obviously you fall in love with March Madness around the 64th,
31:38
around the 32. So there was that aspect.
31:40
But I I do enjoy watching football a lot more.
31:43
Just kind of takes me back to the glory days, if you will.
31:45
But right now, I mean, I, I was a year ago that I put out like,
31:49
is Iowa State a basketball school or a football school?
31:51
Because I would say it was having so much success last
31:53
season, right, making the Big 12 championship game and everyone
31:55
was like, it's a basketball school.
31:57
And I completely agree with that.
31:58
So it's kind of the best of both worlds for me where I can watch
32:03
the football and even if we're not that great, completely enjoy
32:05
it. You know, really breakdown.
32:07
Oh, this DB should have flipped the hips here or this this route
32:10
doesn't look quite right. I can really dive into a lot of
32:13
the nuances of football. But on the basketball side, I'm
32:16
completely coming at it from a fresh slate and seeing a lot of
32:19
success. So a lot of winning going around
32:21
for Iowa State. I will say, though, no baseball
32:25
has been very interesting. I mean, obviously program was
32:28
cut the year I was born, so I've never really known Iowa State to
32:31
have basketball or baseball program.
32:33
But you see all the other Big 12 schools talking about their
32:35
baseball, and I'm like, man, sure would be nice.
32:38
You get to at least chime in a little bit, huh?
32:39
Just win that Powerball right then you could you can bring it
32:42
back right. Give that buddy, you could bring
32:43
baseball back and and that be a good thing.
32:45
Same thing during the spring time, Nick.
32:47
You know how it is now as you've been doing this for a while with
32:49
locked on cyclones. When we get to that point and
32:51
and here on the radio, we're starved.
32:53
Spring football helps. We get that, but just even that
32:57
end of the season for Iowa baseball and it's helped that
32:59
Rick Heller's done such a good job for them.
33:01
But it's a talking point. Look, we're not going to sit
33:03
here on the radio during a 2 hour show and talk 45 minutes
33:06
about Iowa baseball, but can we get 7-8 minute conversation
33:09
about it? Absolutely.
33:10
And we certainly got that a year ago.
33:12
They had those two difficult series at the end of the year
33:14
against Oregon and Oregon State. They were right there in
33:16
contention to be a tournament team.
33:18
That would be something nice and that goes hand in hand with the
33:21
next thing is we're learning a little bit more here about Nick
33:23
Marvitz and that is who else? Who are your team?
33:26
So I'm a Bears fan. I was in kindergarten AT85I grew
33:29
up in North Iowa. Everybody up there at that time
33:31
was Vikings fans. Everybody.
33:34
I jumped aboard the bandwagon. The story goes.
33:37
I'm watching the Bears Vikings game.
33:39
I think it was a Monday night game in Minnesota.
33:41
Grandpa, as usual, is yelling at the TV, swearing, calling all
33:46
the players all kinds of names. And I said, you know what'd be
33:48
more fun? I'm just going to root for this
33:50
other team That's really cool. Refrigerator Perry, Walter
33:53
Payton, Jim McMahon. I mean, so I jumped aboard
33:55
there. Outside of that, though, it is
33:57
all Minnesota sports for me. I'm a Timberwolves fan.
34:00
I'm a Twins fan. I'm a North Stars fan and not
34:03
the Wild. It's still the North Stars to
34:04
me, and it always will be. But so it's Minnesota sports,
34:07
plus the Bears, my fandom. How about you?
34:09
Professional teams that you root for.
34:12
Yeah, I don't know. I was actually feeling like I
34:13
was gonna have to kind of go out on a limb and explain my
34:16
Football 1, but I don't know if it's quite as bad.
34:20
Story. That is pretty rough.
34:22
No, I'm gonna get a little Flack for this one, but I'm a Patriots
34:24
fan, so it comes on the left field.
34:26
Look, I didn't grow up any big sports household, right?
34:30
It was just kind of, I watched tennis because I wanted tennis
34:33
on. Mom was like, I guess we'll
34:34
throw on whatever this kid wants on the TV.
34:37
We didn't really do a whole lot of football until I knew a guy
34:40
in like 4th grade that was doing peewee football.
34:42
And I was like, oh, that looks pretty cool.
34:44
Who do you root for? I know it's a lame story.
34:46
Yeah, that's how I ended up as a Patriots fan.
34:47
And I am not turning back because we just made Super Bowl.
34:50
Yep. I'm super, I'm too totally
34:52
chilling with that team. But you know, kind of building
34:55
off of that. That was the first team I
34:56
picked. So then the Celtics, I can't, I
34:59
know this. This is maybe a hot take.
35:01
I can't root for the Bruins. Black and Gold will not wear the
35:04
jersey. So I started looking the Kraken
35:07
because they were a relatively new team when I was getting into
35:09
hockey. Basketball, I'll just watch
35:11
whatever is good on the pro level.
35:13
I love college basketball more, so whatever is good, when the
35:16
Finals roll around in those, a big seven game series turn on,
35:19
I'll just kind of pick a team and roll with them.
35:21
Not a huge NBA guy, but yeah, there's just some interesting
35:24
wrinkles in there. Won't root for the Bruins, but
35:25
everything else is Boston. But yeah, it's just a whole
35:27
mess. I just like watching good
35:29
sports. This is kind of the big, big
35:30
picture there. So the Red Sox, that's your
35:33
baseball team then? Yeah, I ride with the Red Sox,
35:35
right? I don't know a ton about
35:37
baseball, but when I do turn it on, I try to get a Red Sox game
35:39
for sure. Yeah, so, and it's so
35:42
interesting where we are and explaining to Ken, who has been
35:45
in the Des Moines market for 30 years and he knows the Des
35:49
Moines market and tried to explain to him when we started
35:51
this network, when we had these other stations, you know it.
35:54
Growing up in eastern Iowa, the Cubs are far and away the number
35:58
one team. I mean, it's not even close.
36:00
And has a Twins fan. That hurts me.
36:02
But that is the reality certainly there.
36:04
And when you're talking about the Quad Cities, when you're
36:06
talking about Davenport, Dubuque, up the river, it's even
36:10
more. But Iowa City, Cedar Rapids,
36:12
those are huge Cubs markets. The Cubs are huge here.
36:15
That's baseball and the other ones matter to a certain extent.
36:18
Cardinals are always important. Twins when they're decent,
36:21
Brewers, White Sox to a lesser degree.
36:22
Royals when they had the run that was fun and we and we saw
36:25
plenty of Royals fans. But the NFL side of it is
36:28
different though. Eastern Iowa still Bears.
36:30
You get up north, a lot of Packers, you get North Central,
36:33
you get a whole lot of Vikings here.
36:35
Kansas City, which when I was growing up, there were so few
36:38
Chiefs fans in North Central Iowa where I grew up compared to
36:42
what the first time I when I moved to Des Moines here's some
36:45
20 years ago, just how different that has been to yes, we know
36:48
the growth here recently because of Mahomes, but even before
36:50
that, I was shocked, just the sheer volume of Chief sayings
36:54
that we had in this market. So it's so interesting, the
36:56
different pockets and and that goes to a conversation kind of
36:59
full circle about the Iowa State rivalry.
37:02
And something that I've had to explain to Ken, yes, the SEI
37:04
Hawk rivalry is the most important in Des Moines.
37:07
It's not the most important though, across the whole state.
37:10
It depends where you are, because you go, my wife's from
37:13
Sioux City and you go there, it's not Iowa, Iowa State, it's
37:16
Iowa, Nebraska, that is a #1 and it's not even close.
37:19
Where I grew up, Minnesota, huge rivalry.
37:22
It is my favorite rivalry game. I also have family in
37:24
Minneapolis. That's a part of it.
37:26
You go to northeast Iowa, Wisconsin, of course, the Quad
37:28
Cities, Illinois, yes, here in central Iowa, it's Iowa, Iowa
37:31
State. But it also depends both in your
37:33
background, just as a fan and family and all those kind of
37:36
things. But it does matter where you are
37:38
in the state for so many different angles here, which we
37:40
are a very interesting state that way.
37:43
Oh, definitely, yeah. Cuz you've got like your hockey
37:45
teams are all almost equidistant from central Iowa and then you
37:48
choose like a football team, but everyone's like, well, why
37:51
didn't you like the Bears? Like why didn't you choose the
37:53
Vikings or the Packers? Like you kind of get a little
37:55
bit of freedom to choose what you want, which is nice.
37:58
I didn't think about that aspect of the Cyhawk rivalry cuz
38:02
everyone I've ever known like Williamsburg right between Iowa
38:05
City and Ames, you house divided posters, yard signs everywhere.
38:11
It's all always been about the Psyhawk for me.
38:13
I guess not from an Iowa perspective though.
38:15
That's why I would have missed on the Iowa Nebraska.
38:17
But that's what makes sports fun man.
38:19
I am a huge proponent of like the fan side of things and
38:22
rivalries are super important. Which is kind of sad to see all
38:25
that phasing out, but I'm trying to keep it around as much as I
38:27
possibly can. No doubt.
38:28
Hey Dick, we got to take one more final time out.
38:30
We're going to see if you could help me out because my gambling
38:33
picks have been awful for months and months and months.
38:35
My picks presented by Circus Sports and next picks.
38:38
That's up next here as we continue.
38:40
It's Miller and Condon back with you one final time here.
38:43
Our final minute as we wrap things up.
38:45
Trent Condon, Nick Marvitz hanging out today, Nick, my pays
38:49
plays of the day have been awful, so let's see if you can
38:52
help me out a little bit. What do you got on the betting
38:55
side of things here today? I like BYU to end their
38:58
four-game losing streak, 2 1/2 points right now against Baylor,
39:02
I think they can get that done. And then Miami a little up and
39:05
down through their last six. But taking on UNC, they're
39:08
getting a point and a half. I'm going to go ahead and take
39:10
that. Let down factor.
39:11
I like that angle. I got 4 plays.
39:13
Sure to be wrong. I got the Cyclose tonight.
39:15
I'm going to lay the 7 1/2 against the inconsistent Horned
39:18
Frogs. Going to grab Nebraska at home
39:20
against Purdue. Don't like the way that Purdue
39:22
team is playing? Grab the points with LSU at home
39:25
against Arkansas and Gonzaga after the disaster last week
39:28
against Portland. Bounce back continues.
39:30
Give me the zags -21 1/2. Nick.
39:33
It's been fun. Thanks for joining us today.
39:35
Been a pleasure. Thank you so much, Trent.
39:37
That's Nick Marvitz with Locked On Cyclones, your daily Iowa
39:41
State podcasts off the bench coming up next year on the IVA
39:45
Sports Radio Network.