Latest / The Lunch Rush with Trent Condon / Iowa SURVIVES USC, Brooks Koepka returns to the PGA Tour, Dave Ommen talks Bracketology

Transcript

Iowa SURVIVES USC, Brooks Koepka returns to the PGA Tour, Dave Ommen talks Bracketology · The Lunch Rush with Trent Condon

0:00
Hi, good afternoon. Welcome Hillary Condon.
0:02
On a Thursday, the Iowa Sports Radio Network back at it for the
0:07
next 6 hours, wherever you're listening on any of the fine
0:10
affiliates on the iheart app or right here on Des Moines Sports
0:13
Station One O 6.3 KX and O Trent and I are grateful that you are.
0:17
We will take you until 2O clock. Here's what's coming up on our
0:20
program, just one guest in our number one, our bracket guy,
0:24
Dave Holman. Back with us again this week as
0:26
I'm guessing you will be every week until Selection Sunday
0:29
comes and goes bracketville.wordpress.com
0:33
that's where his bracket is updated does a terrific job.
0:35
He joined me last week when Trent was on vacation and he was
0:39
obviously a very well buttoned up on this topic and I wouldn't
0:42
he's a bracketologist and he'll join us at 12:30.
0:46
At 1:00, Elliot Cliff from hawkeyeinsider.com will help us
0:51
look back to last night as I will hung on just get her their
0:57
chin rather just a game. Well, we'll get into that.
1:00
That certainly looks as well. We're getting drilled and then
1:03
while they're home free and then all of a sudden here they come.
1:06
But we'll talk to Elliot Clough. Then we're going to talk to Matt
1:10
Rudy as Liv Golf is back in the news.
1:13
But that you know, we can obviously not spend a ton of
1:16
time on it, but it's a pretty big topic with Liv seemingly on
1:19
the cusp of imploding, they'd better do all they can to keep
1:22
Kepka and maybe Jon ROM because who else is left?
1:26
We will talk to Matt Rudy on golf and then Stephen M simple
1:29
talk about those Huskers and the start that they have had.
1:32
I'll get into some football with SIP as well.
1:34
Just kind of catch up with our buddy Steven M on Nebraska
1:37
coming up here at 1:30. Trends, plays of the day, circus
1:40
sports sponsor those and we will turn things over the drive.
1:42
How are you? I'm doing well, yeah.
1:44
You mentioned last night surviving a few choice words at
1:48
the television late. She's unbelievable.
1:50
Trent, Jack had some wide open eyes after a couple of
1:53
performances from dad last night because that was a frustrating
1:57
one. But yeah, good night of
1:58
basketball overall, Drake, with a historic comeback.
2:02
You and I gets absolutely clubbed at Southern Illinois.
2:05
But look like maybe they had righted the ship after the win
2:08
against Murray State, right back to the same thing.
2:10
Just offensively inept. That was an ugly one.
2:13
And now we get a very rare Thursday night Iowa State game,
2:17
the Thursday, Sunday, and I love.
2:19
It it's great. Now the Big 12.
2:22
How rare are these Sunday games? I mean it feels like it is humid
2:28
far between. Normally, well, some somebody
2:30
plays Monday, it's a Tuesday or Wednesday in the middle of the
2:33
week. They seldom, I don't think play
2:35
Thursday or certainly haven't taken that real estate.
2:38
But the landscape has changed, right?
2:40
They got so many damn networks that are carrying their games
2:42
right now that maybe that is opening up new Windows and I'm
2:45
all for it. I I liked it.
2:47
I like the Thursday night at six and obviously Sunday afternoon.
2:50
There is no football to watch this coming Sunday.
2:53
So that's outstanding. And certainly some winnable
2:56
basketball game ahead for Iowa State.
2:58
And they put them, they stack them up.
3:01
And before Valentine's Day gets here, when Kansas comes to town.
3:04
I'm not saying Kansas will beat them, I don't think they will,
3:06
but the water gets a whole lot deeper in the final couple of
3:09
weeks of the regular season. Yeah, Drake's come back.
3:12
What a game. ESPN Plus had it and they needed
3:16
it because that's a team you should be.
3:18
I mean, Evansville is the the bottom feeder of Missouri Valley
3:21
Conference and the last thing you want to do is have them come
3:23
into your place and pick them off.
3:25
They didn't. So well done by Coach Henderson
3:28
and his squad as they get above 500 now in Valley play.
3:32
Let's get to Iowa. Just it was really three
3:34
different games. It was the start and the
3:36
ineptitude that Iowa had right out of the gate.
3:39
Then the comeback at the end of the first half to take a lead
3:43
briefly and then had a shot to actually go into the locker room
3:46
with the lead. But regardless of that, they
3:48
cut. There was a what, a one point
3:49
game after 20 minutes. Then to open up, it looked like,
3:52
my God, this thing is getting way out of hand and here comes
3:56
Woods and my God, what a game. The kid from Minnesota.
4:01
Charles Bugs. Charles bugs?
4:03
Yes, Charles bugs. It was a Charles Bugs game
4:05
wasn't it? Lafesta Rhodes, maybe for old
4:07
timers. Yeah but this was a bugs game
4:10
that came cuz Cam Woods is not. He's a nice player.
4:13
No, he's not a nice player. He's bad.
4:14
He's not a good. Player no, he's not a good
4:16
scorer he's OK he. Can run your offense.
4:18
That's right, but he's not, he's not known for he's not going to
4:20
score the ball. He's till yesterday. 25 points
4:23
all year? Yeah, 25 points.
4:26
Had he made a three? No, he's always 16.
4:28
Yeah, till yesterday. 16 This is historic ineptitude.
4:33
It is. And he went off.
4:37
There was nothing that they could do.
4:38
And and Cam Woods, when you talk about just a weird, weird story,
4:43
you know, he was team mates last year with Alvaro Fulgaris at
4:46
Robert. I didn't.
4:47
Know that was he really? They were team mates together in
4:49
his first senior year so he started off his career at Troy.
4:53
Then he went, what? Year. 2021, there was an off
4:57
year in there. Then 2023 he was at North
5:01
Carolina Ant he was at NC State. The final four NC State team
5:06
didn't play much. Was probably like the 11th guy
5:09
on that team went to Robert Morris a year ago.
5:11
And how he finds himself at USC. But Don finds himself like, you
5:14
know, back in June or July, September when classes start.
5:19
No, he finds himself there in December as he was still looking
5:23
for a home, still had eligibility, and there he is.
5:27
And they found a way to use them certainly last night because
5:30
Iowa couldn't play defense in the second-half.
5:33
No, not not because they couldn't play defense, because
5:37
we know this team can play defense because the officials
5:41
completely changed the way they did it.
5:43
You know my thoughts in special especially basketball
5:46
officiating. It is the easiest sport to
5:49
complain about. It is a loser mentality when
5:52
every game there are segments of every fan base.
5:55
You're not going to use butt, are you?
5:57
However. OK.
5:58
All right, Well done. However, when you have Eric
6:03
Bustleman talking to any cats at halftime, whining about the
6:07
officials and talking about over the last 10 years, our team
6:12
shoots as many free throws as anybody in the country.
6:14
And I think the Big 10 network had that graphic up at some
6:17
point or maybe before the broadcast.
6:20
And you see a team that gets into the bonus after shooting 2
6:23
free throws in the first half in the 1st 3 1/2 before you get to
6:27
the under 16 time out a team is in the bonus.
6:30
You have changed the way you're calling the game in the
6:34
second-half. At one point, Iowa had 15 fouls
6:38
called against them and there were still 6 minutes left.
6:40
They couldn't guard anymore because any kind of contact was
6:43
being called a foul. And the way that USC plays with
6:46
the great athleticism, I mean, they got dudes, right?
6:49
Those guys off the bounce, length, size, yeah, you're going
6:54
to follow those kind of guys. You're going to have to at least
6:56
have some kind of contact in order to stay in front of them.
6:59
They couldn't. And Cam Woods, Not a good score
7:01
goes off. Was it 23 straight or was it 19
7:04
straight for USC that he was? In the 20s.
7:07
I, I thought it was 23. Yeah, I I'd heard 19 at 1:00.
7:10
Point or was there a free throw that broke it?
7:12
Up. That could have been it.
7:13
Regardless, yeah, it was unbelievable.
7:15
It's absolutely. But then the the last shot of
7:18
the game, you could see Baker Mazar standing right there like
7:21
the ball was supposed to come to him that.
7:23
Weird camera angle they had in the corner.
7:25
Yes, well, they still. His his palms are facing.
7:27
I supposed to take that now What's this?
7:30
Who's feeling yes, right, to say the least.
7:33
But the his lack of three-point ability, although he wouldn't
7:36
know it yesterday, a bit him at the.
7:38
What an. Ugly shot it is.
7:41
It is. Yes, it.
7:42
Absolutely is, I told Jack. Do not shoot the ball like that.
7:45
Do not take any pointers. Oh my God, he was unbelievable.
7:48
I want to talk to you about Cooper Koch because something
7:50
had happened in late in the game that bothered me last night from
7:53
him. I thought he deferred.
7:54
He was wide open on the three-point line and I I think
8:00
his confidence level's got to be really, really low at this point
8:03
and he didn't want to take a wide open shot and found was it
8:07
Fulgaris? He threw the ball back behind
8:09
too, and did the shot clock go off He.
8:11
Had that was the shot. Clock.
8:12
That was it. The the turn around and he like
8:14
turned the wrong way. Because because that's his shot
8:17
all day long. Try.
8:18
That bothered me. That bothered me.
8:20
It concerned me that that this is where Koch is at this point.
8:24
And wide open, 3 pointer, wide open.
8:26
That's why he's out there. Top of the key.
8:28
That is a shot you have to take. There were 7 seconds left on the
8:32
shot clock. He pumped fake then even after
8:34
he pumped fake. All right, because Stephanie's
8:35
wide open. Because he saw Mazara, he was
8:37
flying in from the wing. OK, you can maybe explain that
8:40
away. But then he got the defender to
8:42
fly by him on that pump fake and he dribbles into the free throw
8:45
line and he doesn't want to go do anything.
8:47
There didn't want to shoot. Is it the freshman wall or is
8:50
this the guy that is just right now?
8:51
Confidence is shattering. He hit a three pointer but he
8:54
just doesn't look comfortable and with the guy.
8:56
Didn't he have the three at the end of the half?
8:58
Two was it? I think that's all from the
9:00
right corner, I think. He is a guy that we don't.
9:02
It's a beautiful shot. It is a good looking shot.
9:05
As a high schooler, this was a guy that was considered one of
9:08
the best shooters in his class. It's not an ability thing,
9:11
right? It's a confidence thing.
9:12
Yes, you absolutely nailed that part of it.
9:14
It is confidence. Freshman going through it for
9:18
the first time was injured last year.
9:20
We see this happen often with freshmen that they hit a wall at
9:23
some point. The question is can you pull it
9:25
out of them? Because if this team is going to
9:28
push forward, get through this easy stretch that they have,
9:30
build their two West Coast games coming up with Oregon and
9:33
Washington, get Northwestern and Maryland.
9:35
After that, 4 incredibly winnable games in front of them,
9:39
Cooper Koch needs to pull himself out of it, you know,
9:41
because if he's playing 25 minutes a game, you can't have a
9:43
guy that's not going to pull the trigger when they need.
9:45
Him Nope, I agree. You know what I do like about
9:47
this team, like a lot of things about this Iowa team that it's
9:51
been Sage a lot of nights. Last night it wasn't, but it was
9:54
somebody out. It was it was Isaiah Howard or
9:56
it was Banks. They've got you know when some
9:59
guys having an off nights, one of the Drake guys having an off
10:02
night, these other guys are there to pick him up.
10:04
Tate Sage did not have his have his game last night.
10:07
Howard, I thought was really active in the game.
10:09
I mean, Banks is is good, a lot of things to like.
10:13
Sturtz was usually he's going to give you what he gives you,
10:16
right? And yeah, Sturtz, you know, he
10:19
has 20 points in the game is just kind of ho hum.
10:21
It is in a lot. Of ways now when they were
10:23
stretching things out in the second-half, I thought early on
10:25
that first 10 minutes he was really good and probably the
10:28
best stretch of the game that he had I thought was during that a
10:30
point in that one, but. Why did he get fouled at the end
10:34
of the game? What were they doing there?
10:36
Was that it by accident? It had to have been.
10:38
I mean, it was just. I wouldn't.
10:40
You can't do that. You can't do that, I mean.
10:42
And and Speaking of that, what the hell was Iowa doing?
10:45
Because McCollum said after the game they weren't calling a time
10:48
out. I mean, because it looked like
10:49
he was going over to the sideline.
10:51
Like they don't hold a time out to call a time out.
10:53
And McComb said that. He was a no man's land,
10:55
absolutely. Bennett Sturtz, that would have
10:58
been an awful end because he probably would have got trapped
11:01
there. They would have to call a time
11:02
out with what 2 seconds left and then draw an auto bounce blade
11:05
to try to get a shot down by one.
11:07
That was not a good look. I didn't think for Sturtz.
11:09
He just got bailed out there. He did good work.
11:11
They both free throws gave it to him and then Cam Woods finally.
11:15
Finally. A shot.
11:17
The other I guess trending topic about this one is Tavion Banks
11:22
as he approaches the free throw record.
11:24
So we remember Jordan Bohan. It was one of the coolest things
11:27
I've ever seen. Missing the free throw on
11:29
purpose to keep Chris Street's name tied with Chris St.
11:35
That was a game against Northwestern that wasn't wasn't
11:38
over. They still, I think we're up
11:39
like 7, but it wasn't completely over.
11:44
But it's different. They go out to Oregon.
11:46
He gets the free throw line in the first half in a four point
11:49
game. You want him to miss it?
11:53
I don't think so. I don't think so.
11:54
And what we know about. Bohannons in Iowan.
11:57
Yes, absolutely. Right.
11:59
I think that makes a world of difference in this topic.
12:02
Look, maybe it'll just happen, right?
12:04
Maybe he'll he'll miss one. But if he doesn't, that's a
12:08
great question, Trent. I thought about it last night.
12:10
How are they going to handle this?
12:12
Obviously had USC not it made the game close like obviously
12:16
they did took a lead for God S sakes.
12:20
Then you want him on the line at that point.
12:21
Then maybe if it if it does, you know, cross his mind.
12:24
Maybe he does miss purposely, but I don't think you do.
12:26
I don't think you do because why?
12:28
What are records made to be made to be broken?
12:30
You know, and what we know about Chris St. and as we're coming on
12:34
the anniversary once again of his passing, what, a week and a
12:37
half ago, I was gone. You're gone with Chris St. what
12:40
we know about him. Just last year I reread Emotion
12:43
Emotion, Rick Brown's excellent book.
12:46
And if you're a Hawkeye basketball fan, I think a bus
12:48
read for anybody out there. Chris St. wouldn't want him to
12:51
miss a free throw. Chris St. would have given crap
12:54
if you would have missed the free throw, right?
12:56
That was who Chris St. was. That's how he was wired.
12:58
He wouldn't want that. No, you go out there, you
13:00
compete, you do your best every single time.
13:03
And I think that's the angle that you take.
13:04
That's the angle that you look at and say, no, we're not going
13:07
to wilt. We're not going to keep a guy's
13:09
name out there. What are we going to forget
13:10
about Chris St. His free throw record is broken.
13:13
Absolutely not. Go out there, make the free
13:16
throw. That's what Chris St. would
13:17
have. Wanted it was an Iowa and grew
13:19
up in an Iowa house. It was a great story, a great
13:22
story. Again, one of the things I'll
13:24
always remember is Jordan Bohannon for is because he
13:27
missed on purpose. Such a such a cool, such a cool
13:32
the way he handled it. But no, make the free throw.
13:35
Make the free throw. If that, if that's what it
13:36
takes, maybe you'll miss, maybe he'll miss.
13:39
I want to talk to you about well, watching golf on the on
13:43
the studio TV here. Are you surprised that that the
13:47
live guys are seemingly getting the pushback?
13:51
Like, like people out there that don't think Kepka should be part
13:53
of it? Or they punish me?
13:55
Why? Why do they need to be punished?
13:56
Because they took money? Yeah, but why though?
13:59
Because. Because they tried to dismantle
14:01
the PGA Tour. Well, they were a competing
14:04
tour. That was, But the live tour was
14:08
brought about because they wanted to see real change.
14:10
They wanted to see eventually that this thing fall apart.
14:13
That was the hope. I mean, it's very much like what
14:15
happened with IndyCar back in the 90s.
14:17
There's a lot of similarities to it.
14:19
And it turned out to absolutely kill that sport and what it once
14:22
was and how important the Indy 500 was and everything else.
14:25
That's what happened there. And the hope was for I think
14:27
many of these people filled Mickelson.
14:29
Among them is we want to kill the PGA Tour.
14:31
Well. Mickelson was at a point in his
14:33
career that his career, I mean, he's on the downside, right?
14:35
No doubt. But Kepka took the money.
14:38
Jon ROM took the money. I mean, the money that they
14:40
were, that they were being offered dirty money, It's OK,
14:45
I'll give you that. Yes, I'll give you that.
14:47
I'll give you that. But I don't know, I'm just
14:51
surprised at the blowback. Now some some of the upper
14:54
echelon players on the PGA like Rory, Yeah, come on back, Let's
14:59
get the competition. I think that's what it's about.
15:01
Maybe it's the middle of the pack PGA guys that know that,
15:05
you know, that their pathway to a nice check on Sunday's going
15:08
to get a little more difficult because some of these good
15:11
players are coming back. But I'm, I'm somewhat surprised,
15:13
probably in a minority, but if you get that much money thrown,
15:16
you know, waved in front of you an opportunity to, you know, to
15:21
see different parts of the country to work fewer days.
15:24
Sounds great. You know, and they did.
15:27
They came back. They're also PGA Tour golfers.
15:30
They're making, they're doing fine, they're playing golf for a
15:33
living. They're not living in a one
15:35
bedroom apartment. They're chasing a little white
15:37
ball around pristine fairways, right?
15:40
I'm not going to cry for them. I need more money and a little
15:42
time off. You're playing golf.
15:44
I can't, I can't. And the push back for Kepa Kepka
15:47
and all these guys to me is completely fair.
15:50
And then you couple it with where this money was coming
15:53
from. How do you want to punish him?
15:56
Do you not talk to him in the locker?
15:57
Room. Yeah, probably you really don't.
15:59
Yeah. I think there's more than just
16:03
the golf component to to, at least for me and what we know
16:07
about where that money came from, what we know about those
16:10
people, I think that's a component that at minimum
16:14
explain yourself. It was just a money grab.
16:16
OK. If that's all it was, so be it.
16:19
But I need to learn more. I would probably give a cold
16:22
shoulder if I was in that position.
16:25
I don't know. I mean, we'll never be in that
16:26
position. Absolutely not.
16:28
That's the way they handle things.
16:30
Well, we'll see from we'll, we'll see from there.
16:32
All right, coming up, we'll talk to our buddy Steve at M Sipple.
16:35
We'll also talk some brackets when it comes to the bracket,
16:38
when Dave Ullman's gonna join us at the bottom of the hour.
16:43
And I saw Charles Barkley say yesterday, it's the Arizona
16:46
invitation. I think that's a little bit over
16:47
the top, but I mean, obviously they're the clear favorite is,
16:51
is there a team kind of flying below the radar for you that
16:54
you're looking for? Like maybe a two or three or a
16:57
four, but one of the top 16 seeds that you think, you know
17:00
what? This is a team that I've really
17:01
got my eye on because maybe they're getting somebody back or
17:05
maybe for whatever reason they didn't have the start.
17:07
Now they're like a Houston, for example.
17:09
That's the one. That's the one that definitely
17:11
jumped to my mind. I mean, with with Houston, we
17:13
talked a little bit with postings yesterday about this
17:15
when we were talking about the Big 12.
17:18
The difference for me is Kingston Flemings.
17:20
I mean this dude is just, he's so good.
17:22
He's only going to be there a year.
17:23
He is going to be a one and done.
17:25
His ability to shoot it, shooting over 40% from the three
17:28
get to the rim. He's athletic.
17:30
He's got good size. He I know they've had good
17:32
guards recently. I mean, it's not to denigrate
17:35
what they've had here recently with guys like Sharp who's still
17:38
around and some of the great guards that they've had in the
17:40
past. Jabal Shed, boy Shed was a good,
17:42
he was a good player, but this dude just feels a little bit
17:46
different. I know he's young, I know he's a
17:48
freshman, but he feels like that difference maker to get them
17:51
over the hump and get them to winning a national championship.
17:54
When you're looking kind of in that tier of team, I think
17:56
they're number one for me. I can't trust any of the Big 10
17:58
teams. Can't.
17:59
Well, I certainly can't trust Purdue.
18:01
Purdue, Michigan, Michigan State, Illinois Know why the Big
18:05
10 doesn't win national championships.
18:07
Big 10 doesn't. They don't think Michigan's just
18:10
kind of playing with their food a little bit.
18:12
You don't think so? You.
18:13
Don't cover seven straight games.
18:15
That says something about they're not a very good 3 point
18:18
shooting team. They're careless with the
18:20
basketball. I think there are a lot of warts
18:22
on that Michigan team for the Upper.
18:23
You don't think Vegas maybe overvalues inflated their number
18:27
a little? Yeah, I think that's a part, a
18:28
component to it, too. I would take above any Big 10
18:32
team right now. Who?
18:34
Arizona, Yukon. Duke, Houston, TX Tech.
18:43
Who else? Gonzaga.
18:45
No, I can't quite get there with Gonzaga.
18:47
They. Beat Michigan.
18:48
Michigan beaten by what? 40 That handful of teams,
18:52
though, I would take over the Big 10.
18:54
We just have too much ammunition against the Big 10 of winning
18:58
the ultimate prize. But Arizona, Duke, Yukon, those
19:01
are the top 3 for me. I don't know.
19:04
We'll see where it goes. It's going to be fascinating to
19:06
watch down the stretch. Dave Omen coming up on the
19:09
brackets. I was what about an 8 or a nine
19:11
seed? Did you I did you open it?
19:13
I did. I got bracket matrix.
19:14
Up. OK, what?
19:15
Where do they kind of have them? So we got to go through the
19:18
memories again. Bracket matrix.
19:19
This is all the bracketologists need 100.
19:22
Census. Plus that are out there and it
19:24
puts them all together. They currently have the Iowa
19:27
Hawkeyes as an 8 seed as this has come all together.
19:31
Iowa State of two or three. They are the last two.
19:34
Last two. On the Matrix, so right on that
19:36
flip flop between the two and the three, not a huge difference
19:39
between them. You're gonna have to take on
19:41
maybe the top #1 if you're there.
19:43
But regardless of that, that's the component that they're at
19:46
right now. Iowa, the hope is you get up to
19:48
that six seed range. Without a doubt.
19:51
Without being ridiculous and oh, they'll just run the table and
19:55
realistically your best case scenario I think is get that six
19:58
seed. If you win your first round
19:59
game, then you're facing off against likely a three seed in
20:02
the second round, a much more winnable game.
20:04
When we look at the three seeds that are out there, mention
20:07
Gonzaga. Houston don't like that Texas
20:10
Tech, oh, don't like those 3 seeds that are currently on that
20:13
line. But that's what I think you're
20:14
looking for, for Iowa to make a path get to the second weekend
20:17
if you get up to A5. The four seeds though are
20:19
Virginia, Kansas, BYU, Vanderbilt.
20:21
It's unattainable. I wouldn't say likely, but you
20:25
got a 5545 shot. Even 6040, I'm pulling that off.
20:29
Still a long ways to go and Iowa.
20:31
Still you look at the resume, the predictive models love them.
20:36
Ken Palm, Bartorvic, all the names that you hear me talk
20:38
about all the time. The resume base, though that
20:41
resume still is not exactly shiny.
20:43
No, but did have a good win recently to help.
20:45
But yeah, they need a little more help.
20:47
I'm, I'm with you. All right, we will take a time
20:49
out. Come back.
20:49
We'll be joined by Dave Ullman. More bracket conversation on the
20:53
other side. We will let you know that right
20:56
now you can hit KX and o.com. The keyword this hour is PAY.
21:01
It's a nationwide contest. Somebody's going to win $1000
21:05
this hour for simply going to a website
21:07
andwhenthepopupboxwillappearinourcase@kx&o.com. Type the keyword PAY.
21:13
PAY, KX and o.com. Your chance to win $1000 pay at
21:17
KX and o.com. One final thing from the Iowa
21:20
USC game last night. George Raveling.
21:25
Yeah, what was that all about the the they wore?
21:27
Shoes or something? Yes, both sported the Nike Coach
21:31
Rav shoes. During the game, you saw those
21:33
bright yellow ones that the Hawkeye players were wearing.
21:35
I thought that was a really cool idea.
21:38
I've told you before, my faintest memories of Iowa
21:41
basketball was Raveling's final year.
21:43
And then learning more about him, hearing about him as a
21:47
person, how thoughtful he is, how smart that guy is.
21:52
Did a ton of media work for Nike, coached at USC, Harold
21:55
Miner, baby Jordan, that didn't quite turn up did it.
21:59
But he was a guy that is incredibly, he helped formulate
22:05
my love of Iowa basketball and college basketball of what he
22:08
built in Iowa City, getting Roy Marble, all time leading scorer.
22:13
I'm getting BJ Armstrong, Ed Horton, that group that turned
22:16
into be the team of my formative years that made me love
22:20
basketball. It was George Raveling that put
22:22
that in place in his friendship with Ed Martin certainly helped
22:24
that. Google Ed Martin, you'll see
22:26
what he did to Michigan. He also helped in Iowa City and
22:29
helped a lot of different places.
22:30
But George Raveling being honored, I thought that was a
22:33
really cool just idea. He bought a car for who?
22:36
Tractor trailer. Yes, that's right.
22:37
You're right. Good job.
22:38
Mateen Cleaves was on a visit when they got in an accident.
22:42
I don't at Michigan I. Remember the Cadillac?
22:44
I think it was a Cadillac. Mateen Cleaves obviously ended
22:46
up at Michigan State. Did won a national champions
22:49
champion. Was part of the team that beat
22:51
Iowa State. Today say OK, yeah, absolutely,
22:54
Ed Martin. He'd be living pretty.
22:55
How things change. Keyword is pay KXN, o.com, pay
23:00
KXN, o.com. We'll come back.
23:02
We will talk to Dave Oman, look forward to getting into his
23:05
bracket. Our number 2, Ellie Clefmore on
23:08
the Hawks, then Matt Rudy on golf and Stephen M Simple,
23:12
Miller and Condon. It's a Thursday.
23:14
We're glad you're with us on the Iowa Sports Radio Network.
23:18
I just passed 12:30 on a Thursday.
23:20
It's the Iowa Sports Radio Network.
23:23
Let's talk some brackets, shall we?
23:25
Dave Omen back with us again. He talked brackets with our guy
23:29
Dave omenbracketville.wordpress.com.
23:34
Hello, Dave Trenton Ken in Des Moines.
23:35
Thanks for coming on again. Good to talk to you.
23:37
How are you? I am doing well.
23:39
How are? You guys doing OK Appreciate you
23:41
coming on. Charles Barkley called it the
23:43
Arizona Invitational. They look really good.
23:46
They struggled against BYU back on.
23:48
Was it Monday, Monday, Monday night as BYU made it close at
23:52
the end there? Are you willing to go that far
23:54
that it's Arizona and then a gap even to the other one seeds?
23:57
Or is Barkley maybe a little bit over the tips of his skis?
24:02
Well, obviously, you know, to this point, Arizona has put
24:07
together, you know, a perfect season.
24:09
They're 21 to know and they've beaten a lot of really good
24:12
teams along the way, including that win at Connecticut.
24:16
They've beaten Florida and Alabama, you mentioned on the
24:18
road at BYU. So they've done it non
24:21
conference. They've done it in the
24:23
conference so far. So, you know, I think it's fair
24:25
to say they'd be the favorite, but you know, when you're
24:28
talking about a one and done tournament, we also have some
24:31
other really good teams out there on that one line and even
24:35
in the top two or three seeds. So I think I would probably say
24:38
maybe it's a little bit early to start crowning Arizona as a
24:43
national champion when we have some other really good teams.
24:46
Duke, we saw what Michigan did out in Las Vegas and you know,
24:49
they probably weren't going to duplicate that all season, but
24:52
you know, Connecticut is still, you know, someone to be
24:55
concerned about and, you know, Nebraska and some other teams in
24:58
the Big 10. So it it's going to, I think
25:01
that'll be a lot of fun when we get to March.
25:03
No doubt, and things aren't over for Arizona either because their
25:06
schedule is going to start to get a much more difficult
25:09
starting on Monday, February 9th when they make their way to the
25:12
fog to take on Kansas on big Monday.
25:15
They got Texas Tech still another time game against
25:17
Houston, two of them in fact against Kansas.
25:19
So Waters going to get a little bit deeper than their second to
25:22
last game. One that'll certainly matter
25:23
here in this state with Iowa State.
25:25
We saw an epic 1A year ago between those two teams down in
25:28
Tucson and one that went down to the wire and some crazy finishes
25:32
there, a Tommy Lloyd squad. You know, Arizona as a whole,
25:36
you think of Arizona, I think a disappointment come the NCAA
25:40
Tournament. Is that fair?
25:41
We were talking earlier about this, Dave, about the Big 10,
25:44
their lack of championships that we've seen over the last quarter
25:47
century. When we're talking about these
25:49
teams and when we actually get to the bracket, is it fair to
25:52
bring history back into it? Because obviously a lot of these
25:54
guys don't remember many of those tough losses in the
25:56
tournament. Yeah.
25:59
I mean, I think from a collective, it's fair to say,
26:03
like you mentioned, you know, the Big 10 hasn't won a national
26:05
championship in a long time. Over the years, Arizona's had
26:10
some good opportunities and seem to have, you know, gotten
26:15
bounced in the Sweet 16 or something like that.
26:19
You know, I think it is fair when you look over a course of
26:22
time to say A-Team or a conference has struggled to get
26:28
it done, particularly if you look at the number of chances.
26:32
That said, every season, as you know, is its own entity and it
26:38
sort of takes on its own life and path as the season goes
26:42
along. So just because a couple of
26:44
teams in the past may have had a hiccup in March, I don't think
26:49
that's necessarily fair to say that this Arizona team, which is
26:53
comprised of a different group of players and coaches and all
26:57
that, is going to fall into that same situation.
27:02
And that's automatically going to happen because it's happened
27:04
before. I want to ask you about Nebraska
27:07
because I came away with that loss to Michigan on the road at
27:11
Michigan without, you know, arguably their best player in
27:14
mast and frager a guy who can this is their third leading
27:17
scorer. And if it would have should have
27:20
won that basketball game. I mean, it was clearly a chart
27:23
McKinney just ran through Hoiberg no whistle basket
27:26
counts. But regardless of that, I was
27:28
more impressed with Nebraska. I saw the I saw the the winning
27:31
streak, I saw the 20, you know, and even at that, Dave, I wasn't
27:35
sure what to make of it. I'm now convinced that, you know
27:38
what, even in loss, Nebraska is for real.
27:40
They showed me more losing that I've made of them all season
27:43
long. Yeah, I think you know that What
27:48
Nebraska doesn't do maybe is overwhelm you visually.
27:52
Like, we've seen some of this, the power and the athleticism of
27:57
teams like Duke and Arizona and and teams like that.
28:02
But when you're talking about how does the team function
28:05
together, How do they play together?
28:07
Nebraska's obviously proven to be, over the course of the
28:10
season, one of the best teams in college basketball.
28:15
You know, we are coming into the start of February, We've got a
28:18
huge month ahead, both with a lot of matchups in some of these
28:22
conferences. So we may see who's playing
28:25
better and their best basketball when we get towards the latter
28:30
part of this month. But I mean, to your point,
28:33
Nebraska has been a surprise most of the season.
28:35
I think, you know, maybe what slowed a lot of us down early is
28:38
they didn't have the strongest non conference schedule.
28:41
And some of the teams that they did beat, you know, have not
28:43
panned out to what we thought they were going to be.
28:46
But that said, they have certainly put it together in the
28:49
Big 10, win a lot of Rd. games, in a lot of close games, they've
28:53
managed to find ways to win, which is also the earmark of a
28:56
quality team. So you have to give Nebraska
28:59
their due. I've had him sort of as the
29:01
number 5 team on my list for, you know, a few weeks now and,
29:07
you know, but the loss at Michigan and a close one is not
29:10
going to change that when the next bracket comes out tomorrow.
29:14
Want to ask you about a team that's off the radar.
29:16
I think for a not though they're coming on because they got
29:18
ranked in the AP top 25 and that's the Billikens, our
29:21
neighbors down to the South Down there.
29:23
I I do Robbie Avila, who we saw in the Missouri Valley a ton a
29:26
couple of years ago. He's still there.
29:28
Obviously a coach in the way that shirts does things
29:30
offensively. They're incredibly fun to watch.
29:33
They played Iowa in one of those secret scrimmages and of course
29:36
we find Dave. You know what actually happens
29:38
to those scrimmages. They blew out the Hawkeyes in
29:40
that one and won the game by like 18 points.
29:42
So that was I think an eye opener at the beginning.
29:44
They're 19 and one, just how how good is this team and are they
29:48
going to fall though into what we saw with Wichita State when
29:52
they had to? It'll be a one seed before their
29:54
undefeated seed. The you and I team that went to
29:56
the Sweet 16, they had to play in the 8-9 game.
29:59
Are the Billikens because of the down nature of the 810, are they
30:01
trending that same direction regardless of what they put
30:04
together the rest of the year? Well, it's it's a really good
30:09
question and it's a little hard to answer, as much as I hate to
30:12
say that, you know, a month out from Selection Sunday because we
30:15
don't know exactly how the field's all going to look.
30:18
I think, you know, a couple things that have helped Saint
30:21
Louis along the way is that Santa Clara is playing much
30:26
better basketball, beat Saint Mary's recently.
30:29
Now if they could sweep Saint Mary's or get one against
30:31
Gonzaga, you know, then they become, I mean, they're a viable
30:35
at large team now. So that obviously helps A-Team
30:38
like the Billigans because they beat them in a non conference.
30:42
While Stanford has not had an exceptional year, they've had a
30:45
better year than a lot of people thought.
30:46
So even though they did lose to him by a point back in November,
30:50
you know, what we thought might be sort of a bad loss is
30:52
actually turned out to be a pretty good loss.
30:55
I think the question what you get to is down the road, you
30:58
know, they have the road when it beats to you.
31:00
So coming down the stretch, it's going to be, can I get through
31:05
George Washington if I have to play VCU again, those kinds of
31:09
things to get a couple more of those quad 1, quad two wins.
31:13
I think you could see Saint Louis breakthrough and get into
31:15
like maybe, you know, a seven seed, six seed if it broke,
31:19
right? Because their metrics are pretty
31:21
good. And we know today, unlike years
31:24
past that the metrics have mattered more to the committee.
31:27
If you're looking at things like they're wins above bubble,
31:30
they're about 27 today, which puts them right along that, you
31:34
know, mid to lower part of the seven line.
31:36
So it's going to depend on who they're competing against in
31:40
those slots, like teams like Georgia, teams like Kentucky,
31:44
teams like a Louisville, perhaps teams like ASMU, teams like
31:50
maybe a Texas A&M if they win a couple of more of Villanova.
31:54
So you're going to have to compare how their resume stacks
31:57
up against those other teams when it comes to that final seed
32:01
position. You mentioned Kentucky and I
32:04
can't figure them out. I thought Mark Pope's team,
32:06
maybe it turned a little bit of a corner.
32:07
They lost a couple straight to start the year and then they
32:11
went on a nice winning streak, nice win over Tennessee, who's a
32:14
decent team, but just got absolutely destroyed on Tuesday
32:17
night against Vanderbilt. What's what's what is with this
32:21
Kentucky group and can Pope get this team?
32:24
I think you have them as a 60, a six seed right now.
32:26
Can Pope figure this team out and maybe have them peeking at
32:29
the right time? Because I think they've got a
32:31
roster to do that, although they prove, they've certainly proven
32:34
me wrong on a lot of nights, Dave.
32:37
Well, I, I think, you know, what Kentucky's dealing with this
32:40
year is what a fair number of teams deal with.
32:43
And that is just inconsistency. And some of that is Jalen Lowe
32:47
has been hurt and now he's out and they just don't have a true
32:50
point guard, I don't think, to run that team.
32:52
And so that lends itself to some inconsistencies, you know, with
32:58
how they play. So I think on a given night,
33:02
Kentucky can play with a lot of people.
33:03
But when things aren't going well, they can, you know,
33:06
particularly on the road, you can see what you know can happen
33:10
to them. And and let's also admit that
33:11
Vanderbilt's, you know, pretty good here.
33:13
So they can get, so they can get rolling.
33:16
I think too sometimes fans, we get caught up and with metrics
33:20
today, it can't have an impact to a point.
33:23
But we get caught up in margins sometimes.
33:26
And while it does matter and it has an high value, you know,
33:30
ultimately it still comes down to winning and losing games.
33:33
So we'll see what Kentucky can do the rest of the way.
33:36
I think them being a high seed is probably not going to be in
33:40
the cards, you know, barring some sort of a surprise finish
33:43
here. But somewhere between a 6-8 or
33:47
six and nine seed depending on how they finish is, is probably
33:50
where they're going to to land up.
33:52
If you made me a lock in a guess at this point.
33:56
And lows off of the year, right? I think he is.
33:58
Yeah, I believe so, yeah. Want to come to the local front?
34:01
Iowa survives last night against USC, a very interesting resume,
34:05
One and four against quad one, but they're four and one against
34:08
Quad 2. All right.
34:09
Pretty decent company there. The difference though between
34:12
them in the predictive markets, those are the Ken Palms, the
34:15
Bartorvicks of the world, where they ranked very highly.
34:17
It's a top 25 team in all those metrics as opposed to the result
34:21
based metrics. When you look at a resume like
34:23
that and not just Iowa specifically, maybe more
34:26
generally, what do you see? A pretty big gap between the
34:29
predictive markets and the result based markets
34:32
historically? What does the committee do with
34:34
the team? You know, it's varied a little
34:37
bit over the years and that's what makes this task both fun
34:41
and challenging because it is, it's been a little bit
34:46
unpredictable. What I can say is based on the
34:48
committee last year, and we did this with our new bracket bill
34:52
ratings this year. If you combine three of the
34:55
metrics of the six that are on the team sheet, the NET, which
34:59
of course is sort of more of a predictive model that the NCAA
35:04
set up, that's their new sorting tool and their ranking tool.
35:08
Then last year they introduced the new winds above bubble or
35:11
WOB, which they referenced a lot last spring.
35:15
And then the other metric that we found sort of a correlation
35:18
is the strength of record metrics.
35:20
So if you take those 3 and put them together and again, it's
35:24
not an end all be all because no mathematical formula is going to
35:27
tell you exactly what's going to happen.
35:29
But it kind of ended up being pretty close to where the
35:34
committee end up last year in in a fair number of cases.
35:37
Again, it's not absolute. So if you look at that, you
35:40
know, I was results based metric throw kind of throw out the KPI
35:45
from that and you look at the soar and the winds above bubble,
35:48
the average of that would be about a 31, which puts them
35:52
right along that 8-9 line. So if I've said this, what they
35:56
have is the predictive metric, excuse me, indicate that I was
36:02
more likely to climb than fall. So if they can continue to pile
36:05
up some wind, then you see that gap between their predictives
36:09
and their results based metrics has already lessened from what
36:13
it used to be. It's only about a 10 difference
36:16
now. So the more they win and compile
36:19
up some additional quad 2 and maybe some quad one win, then
36:22
they're going to have that chance to jump back up and get,
36:26
you know, back into that, you know, 6 feet, 7 feet or maybe
36:29
even as high as A5 depending on how the season goes out and what
36:33
else happens around them. So it's kind of up to them.
36:35
And as you well know, Iowa's got it some of its its season ending
36:40
slate here is going to really be determining for them from about
36:43
mid February on. Did you get Purdue, Nebraska,
36:46
Wisconsin, Ohio State, Michigan and Nebraska, you know, to close
36:50
the season? So I was going to have a chance
36:52
to boost itself up, kind of hold where it's at, or potentially in
36:58
a worst case scenario, get on a losing skid and find themselves
37:01
in in bubble territory before it's all said and done.
37:04
Yeah, likewise Iowa State, there are, I think they're you're 9 on
37:07
your seed list, which is 1 away from the two and they get
37:11
starting in on Valentine's Day. Kansas, Houston, BYU, Texas Tech
37:16
and Arizona still to come. The five or seven games going to
37:19
be fascinating down the stretch. Dave Ullman joins us.
37:23
Let's give the bracket the site one more time.
37:25
bracketville.wordpress.com, bracketville.wordpress.com.
37:30
Bracketville with Dave Ullman. Dave, as always, thank you for
37:33
doing this. A new bracket tomorrow.
37:36
Yes, a new brackets out tomorrow.
37:37
Good stuff. Just real quick, if Michigan
37:39
State beats Michigan, where does what?
37:42
What does that do? Does this knock Michigan off the
37:44
1:00? Well, you know, that'll be a
37:47
question to deal with over the weekend.
37:50
But yeah, you know, it'll be a it'll be a close call because
37:53
the question then is who takes their spot?
37:56
So does Michigan State jump up into, I mean, they get into that
38:00
conversation, right? It also depends if like for
38:03
example, you know, if Illinois avoids a trap game with
38:05
Washington tonight and they go on the road and beat Nebraska on
38:08
Sunday, then you know, they in that they, they start to get
38:13
into that discussion. So yeah, there's going to be a
38:16
lot of moving and fun parts. And I think, you know, right now
38:18
you got, you know, Arizona and Duke are pretty well locked in
38:21
Connecticut just by the nature of the fact that the Big East is
38:25
down, it's going to be hard for them to lose more than one or
38:27
two games. So you kind of got maybe 2 spots
38:31
open, but one for sure that's going to be a quite a race to
38:34
the finish. Notes don't.
38:35
Dave Ullman. Thanks for doing this, Dave.
38:36
Appreciate it. All right.
38:38
Thanks guys. Thank you, Dave Ullman, as we
38:40
talk bracketsbracketville.wordpress.com
38:42
time out, come back, finish up the hour.
38:44
Miller and Condon on the Iowa Sports Radio Network
38:59
my final couple of minutes of our first hour of the program.
39:03
I you know I'm going to take this time to remind you about
39:05
Centurion stone. I forgot to do that yesterday
39:08
after CAPPY was with us centurion stone of Iowa they
39:11
sponsor CAPPY on a weekly basis. If you're in the market for
39:14
manufactured or natural stone, Centurion Stones got over a 200
39:20
different style pattern coloring combinations for your every need
39:23
as well as having natural stones centurion stone of Iowa or the
39:27
showroom we encourage you to visit at 5525 NE 22nd St. in Des
39:33
Moines. So I was back and forth between
39:35
watching Drake on my iPad and watching Iowa.
39:39
What your take away on on the Bulldogs?
39:41
I mean, it's a huge win for him. Obviously with Evansville in
39:44
town, you needed to put that one in the win column.
39:47
This Jalen Quinn, just every time I watch him, I'm more
39:50
impressed by him. I know that that's, you know,
39:51
pretty easy to come up with that 'cause he's the best player on
39:54
the four, but he's not alone. I mean, Shuttler's giving him
39:56
some good minutes. There's no doubt about that.
39:58
Larson, although he didn't have maybe the numbers that he had in
40:02
the previous game, he was very effective last night.
40:04
So I'm not sure that. You know what was causing Drake
40:08
to slow start? Maybe was schedule related, but
40:10
they're seemingly, you know, peaking.
40:12
Nothing else. They're playing well, they're
40:15
playing better. And Belmont, they're really good
40:19
offensively. Are they still built in a way
40:21
that's going to be able to RIP off three in a row in the MVC
40:24
tournament? I still need to see more out of
40:26
the Bruins to think that they're a clear.
40:28
Maybe if they moved it to Iowa, the state of Iowa, the answer
40:31
would be no. And Belmont's last two years got
40:33
knocked up by Drake last year in the tournament and in Arch
40:36
Madness you and I the year previous.
40:37
Hour 2 coming up next. Miller and Condon back after
40:40
these.