Latest / The Lunch Rush with Trent Condon / Bill Capaldo Joins Trent after Iowa State's big win over Houston, Bracket talk with Dave Ommen & a look at the MVC with Adam Emmenecker

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Bill Capaldo Joins Trent after Iowa State's big win over Houston, Bracket talk with Dave Ommen & a look at the MVC with Adam Emmenecker · The Lunch Rush with Trent Condon

0:00
Good afternoon, welcome in Miller and Condon on the air
0:03
with you here on a Tuesday as we take talk the world of sports.
0:07
Take it up until 2O clock this afternoon as we have a lot of
0:12
basketball on the agenda today coming up on the guest list.
0:15
We'll kick things off here at about 12:25.
0:17
Take a look at the brackets. Iowa State with the big win last
0:21
night as we'll get into against Houston.
0:23
What does that do for their seating?
0:25
Iowa clinging to a tournament berth, in good shape right now,
0:29
but down in that 8-9 type of matchup.
0:32
We'll talk about that and more coming up with Dave Oman.
0:34
He's as he will join us here at about 12:25.
0:37
Then 12:45, a weekly conversation on the Missouri
0:40
Valley. Both Adam Emenecker, the former
0:43
Larry Bird Award winner in the Missouri Valley with the Drake
0:45
Bulldogs. He will join us here at about
0:47
12:45. Big win for you and I as they
0:50
dominated Drake on Sunday and the Panthers playing some good
0:53
basketball. What's it going to take for the
0:55
Bulldogs to turn things around? We'll talk about that more with
0:57
Adam Meminecker AT1245125 Wall Talk Hawkeyes with David Eichel
1:03
from 24/7 Sports hawkeyeinsider.com.
1:06
But joining me today, Bill Capaldo in the hot seat as he
1:11
joins us here today. Bill, good to see you.
1:14
Good to talk with you. How are you?
1:17
And he's not hearing me. Oh, this is a problem.
1:19
The headsets are not working. OK, we got a little bit of an
1:22
issue here. All right, let's see what we can
1:24
do with the headsets aren't working.
1:26
That is a problem. So Bill's not hearing anything.
1:29
How about now? Now he's got me.
1:31
OK, Now we're good to go. There we go.
1:33
Hey, Bill. Still nothing.
1:35
I think that headset might be rotten.
1:37
So if the headset is rotten, in fact, we got to figure something
1:42
out because I got to keep talking.
1:43
It's radio. We're not doing anything there.
1:45
The headsets are not doing anything.
1:47
Bill's not able to hear me. He can hear me through the
1:49
headsets up there while that's going on, but the headset isn't
1:52
going well. Bill, take the headset off for a
1:55
moment and I'm going to ask you just a little bit, you Hawkeye
2:01
fan. You're a North Pole guy, so fill
2:04
us in a little bit for the listeners out there details as I
2:07
try to find a headset that works for you and get you going on
2:11
that front. But fill us in a little bit
2:13
about you, Bill, hanging out with us here today.
2:21
Oh, that was a great game last night again, you said I'm from
2:25
up at North Polk. I coach high school football,
2:29
varsity football and the head boys track.
2:32
My family has lived in Polk City for about 38 years, moved here
2:37
in 1987. My teacher, my dad, was a
2:40
teacher and a coach in Corning, where I grew up and graduated
2:45
from high school. So being a coach's kid kind of
2:51
led me to continue to get into coaching.
2:57
Think that's probably where I got started there with my dad
3:01
hanging around practices, doing those kind of things, hanging
3:04
out with guys when I was a little kid back in the 70s and
3:08
80s. And so ended up being in Polk
3:12
City for a while, moved around, went to college, kind of took a
3:15
different path, was into a turf management there for a while.
3:19
Did that, those type of things. Loved being outside.
3:22
Knew I was going to probably be a teacher or coach at some
3:26
point, but I ended up getting started a little bit later than
3:29
normal. Helped out in the community
3:31
doing the youth stuff and that kind of thing.
3:33
But now 2 decades later at North Polk, spend a little time in
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Southeast Warren before that. But that's where we landed N
3:43
Polk, my wife Julie and I, and we raised a family there and
3:47
it's a great community. We love it and boy has it grown
3:50
since 1987 when my folks move. There, I, I can only imagine,
3:55
Yeah, the changes that you've seen there at North Pokken, I
3:58
did a, a sub state baseball game there.
4:00
I don't know, 5-6 years ago, something like that.
4:03
Des Moines Christian was in town trying to punch their ticket to
4:05
the state tournament. And what I saw at that time, I
4:09
was shocked because still even up there, the community that
4:12
have been building, you saw the enrollment numbers going up and
4:14
those kind of things. It certainly wasn't at the level
4:17
I anticipated when I went to the baseball field because up there,
4:19
there wasn't a whole lot around it.
4:21
But it's a a community of those outlying towns and outside of
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where the school is in like that's where a lot of that
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growth is happening in North Polk.
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It is. And you know, when you think
4:29
about North Polk, you got to think N Polk County.
4:32
Yeah. And so it stretches a long ways
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from east to West with almond being in the center.
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Polk City ended up taking the most growth up to this point.
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Obviously almonds still grow. There's a little bit here and
4:46
there, Elkhart shell doll, little little bits of Slater and
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then we're getting that north, northeast side of Ankeny that's
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kind of growing into our district now too.
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And so the growth is amazingly it.
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I just, they're building houses in Polk City where I never
5:05
thought they'd build them. And so, yeah, it's gone from
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about 20-2 hundred 2500 almost to 6500 now.
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So are lots of growth in the district.
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We build a new school in 2013, my one of the second year 2008 I
5:24
believe we we're coaching 1A football and we're going up
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against Mount Air and some sort of Decatur in those schools.
5:32
And now look at us, you know, we're up in the 4A and and you
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know, of course when in the 24 state championship and football
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got to throw that little oh. Absolutely.
5:43
That was big. It was huge and that was a fun
5:45
time, but a lot of excitement, a lot of things going on in North
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Pole, not just in the sports world, but our activities in
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general. Our community support is
5:53
wonderful. Our parents, our administration
5:56
has done wonders for us. And of course, you know the in
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room educators, Our teachers are great.
6:03
We'll talk a little bit more about what you do, football,
6:06
track coach, those kind of things a little bit later on.
6:08
Have some questions on that front.
6:09
Always interesting to get that perspective from what we do on
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the broadcast side, what you guys do.
6:15
Certainly being with those kids day in and day out.
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We'll do that a little bit later with Bill.
6:19
But we kicked things off today with what we saw last night and
6:21
what a night it was, Iowa State, Houston.
6:24
And you know, the crazy thing afterwards is we know on Big
6:27
Monday there's going to be obviously a lot of talk.
6:30
Scott Van Pelt comes on right after the game and TJ
6:32
Outzelberger, I mean, 2 minutes after the game goes final.
6:35
He's putting on the headset, he's on Sports Center and seeing
6:38
because there wasn't a ton happening in the world of
6:40
sports. There's not a whole lot going on
6:41
outside of that. The Duke Syracuse game was a
6:43
blowout, A dominating win there. There's not a whole lot more to
6:46
be said about that as they get ready for their match up against
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Michigan coming up this weekend. It was all about Iowa State,
6:52
Houston and see the national notoriety and we've known about
6:56
hilt magic for decades and decades, but to see it on a
6:59
national scale, to see it after a game like that, what they did
7:02
over the course of three days, the crowd was absolutely
7:05
incredible. Saw people that were mentioning
7:08
one of the loudest crowds that they can remember.
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I know Travis Hines of the registers register said it was
7:12
as loud as he's heard since the big comeback against Oklahoma
7:15
about a decade ago. That's the kind of level that
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we're talking about. The crowd was into it.
7:20
The team was ready. They come roaring back down
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double digits and the second-half get the victory and
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end the game on a 17 to 4 run. That Iowa State team, I've
7:29
mentioned it a lot here. This is a time to believe.
7:32
Enjoy this run, Cyclone fans. You've had a lot of great teams,
7:35
a lot of really good teams that have been able to do noise in
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March. This one feels like it's even a
7:40
step above that. I agree.
7:44
You know, I watch a lot of college basketball and there's
7:48
some really good teams out there.
7:49
But I'll tell you what, when you can put a team that Iowa State
7:53
has on the floor, whether it's at home, neutral or away, which
7:58
we saw earlier in the year when they just dominated Purdue and
8:02
then go to Kansas and dominate them when the chips fall, they
8:06
just know how to win games. And that's great buy in by their
8:11
players. They know their roles.
8:14
You know, looking at the stats you're at points in the paint
8:17
were 28 to 16 I believe. You know, they shot double the
8:22
free throws. All the you know, the 50% free
8:25
throw shooting I'm sure was probably brought up and wrote on
8:28
the whiteboard. But they are really tough and
8:33
and when it comes down to it, they're going to be a tough out.
8:37
As long you just got to stay healthy.
8:39
You got to stay healthy and get through this grind because the
8:42
schedule doesn't look isn't helping them anyway as we get
8:45
down the road here. It's going to certainly continue
8:48
to be an incredibly difficult one.
8:49
We've talked about it. The first two legs are over now,
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both of those at home. They had the big road trip
8:54
heading out to Utah, taking on both the utes and BYUBYU game
8:58
coming up over the weekend, likely going to stay over and
9:01
then play that game against Utah before having to come home.
9:04
Texas Tech, who's playing great basketball, the ball just went
9:06
on the road to beat Arizona and then Arizona after that back on
9:09
the road against the Wildcats. It's a difficult schedule, but
9:12
there is opportunity in front of them or we're going to talk
9:15
about that more later with Dave Oman.
9:17
What's it going to take for the Cyclones to earn a number one
9:20
seed? Let's get out to the phone lines
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right now. You can join us. 284-5966 is the
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phone number 515284 KXNO. Let's get Jeff on the line.
9:29
He wants to talk some Cyclones. Hello, Jeff.
9:32
Hey Trent, a couple quick facts before I kind of go into the
9:35
game. TJ has five and three versus
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ranked one and two teams that leads the nation.
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The coach that's in second has 2.
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It is second. Fun fact, Iowa State was Owen 10
9:52
down double digits at home until last night.
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So they broke that lead. I think they were down 10 or 11
9:57
with the seven minute mark to make a comeback there.
10:01
You know, you keep talking believing that I'm a Cyclone
10:04
fan. I'm not scared.
10:08
I'm terrified of their free throw shooting.
10:11
Now. I heard whoever was talking, I
10:14
didn't catch his name. Bill shooting.
10:16
Bill shooting 50% from the free throw line at home.
10:20
That's tragic. And this just isn't A1 game
10:23
thing. This has been going on for a
10:24
long time. And then if you want to sprinkle
10:26
in when they get into March and they get into these big arenas
10:29
and these backdrops, you can lose.
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You could easily lose as all three of us and the listeners
10:34
and cycle things, you could easily lose a game shooting 50%
10:37
from the free throw line. They're very lucky to have it at
10:39
home. They're very lucky to have the
10:41
crowd behind them once again on a short, short rest, just like
10:44
Houston was to figure out a way to win the game.
10:47
And you know, you could talk about the crowd.
10:50
You can you can talk about the free throws.
10:52
What I thought a couple of big things.
10:54
Their bench was unbelievable, even with big shots, Heisey with
10:57
big shots, Heisey catching the ball at his shoelaces.
11:00
Usually you just kick it, he grabs it, he just chucks it up
11:03
in the short corner. It was it was awesome to see and
11:07
another huge thing that I didn't catch.
11:09
If you said this at the start of the show or not, Manzilovich was
11:13
on the bench for that a huge part of that down the stretch
11:15
and for them to win the game and figure out with him on the
11:18
bench. And I believe he scored zero
11:20
points in the second-half. He had eight at half.
11:22
I don't think he scored in the second-half.
11:25
OK, he averages 1617 a game for him to get eight points.
11:29
I think lips he had nine. What a big what a big lips he
11:32
play missing a free throw him diving on a ball to you know to
11:35
get fouled. They figure out ways to win the
11:39
game. It could be it could be nasty.
11:41
It could be this or that home or not.
11:43
But when you start thinking about dreaming big, Trent, when
11:45
you talk about bringing up a one seed, they got to beat, they got
11:49
to beat somebody on the road. They got to take care of
11:51
business with BYU. Saunders is out for the season.
11:54
They're going to be a little bit short handed and then you're
11:56
going to have that Arizona game looming.
11:58
So when you talk about a one seat, if you talk about like if
12:01
you're asking me believing I've got to see them went on the road
12:05
when then I'm really, really believing I'm already I'm there
12:09
now. But they got to show me on the
12:10
road because yes, we know what they can do.
12:12
I think they're 48 two at home. We got that.
12:15
I got to see it on the road, Trent.
12:17
You bring up a very pertinent point and right when you said
12:21
it, it brought me back to the 2008 Memphis team, a great team.
12:24
I mean, just incredibly skilled team with Derrick Rose and Chris
12:27
Douglas Roberts and and Robert Dozier, who was just a load
12:31
inside. That team was loaded.
12:33
The one bugaboo for them was free throw shooting.
12:36
They were 300 and 29th in the country that year, 300 and 29th
12:39
in free throw shooting. And what happened?
12:41
Chance to salt the game away against Kansas at the national
12:44
championship game. I miss free throw a three
12:46
pointer overtime. Kansas is your national champion
12:50
now. I'll tell you this, Jeff, if I
12:52
tell you right now that Iowa State is going to the national
12:54
championship game, I think everybody would sign up for that
12:57
right now, even if it is heartbreaking fashion that they
13:00
do lose it. But it is a very pertinent point
13:03
that free throw shooting. So I mentioned 329th for Memphis
13:06
that year. Iowa State this season, 300 and
13:09
45th in the country in free throw shooting, though the
13:12
percentage better that that's that is a big one, no doubt.
13:16
It's huge. And and then when you we talked
13:18
and yes, I think every Cyclone thing would sign up.
13:20
They've been to a final four since 1944.
13:23
They've been to Elite 8 since you stay or yeah, you stay.
13:25
She I think in 2001, 2002, 1001. So yeah, I think every Cyclone
13:30
fan, I think any Iowan would sign up if they got to the
13:33
national title game. But I think it all starts for me
13:36
yet. Frequent shooting without a
13:37
doubt, but winning on the road, showing people, showing national
13:42
pundits, showing everybody that this team is for real, but
13:45
they're for real because they can win on the road.
13:47
And yes, you could say that was early in the season.
13:49
I want to see them win on the road in conference.
13:52
Last time they played on the road, let's not forget it was
13:55
TCU. They had 17 turnovers and they
13:57
couldn't shoot from the freezing line as well.
13:59
So that's still that's a little bothersome to me.
14:02
But they got still, they got opportunities to do it.
14:04
What a what a what a day to be a Cyclone fan.
14:06
Hawks take care of business, beat Nebraska today.
14:09
Let's go. We're going to get into that,
14:11
Jeff, appreciate the phone call and Iowa, Nebraska tonight as
14:14
important of a game, certainly I think as we've seen in the Ben
14:17
McCollum era early, but there's a lot of importance to this one.
14:20
We'll talk about that a little bit later on 7067.
14:23
The final is Iowa State gets the win against Houston.
14:27
It was a team effort. Mention that run down the
14:30
stretch. All right, so you're down.
14:31
You come back out scoring 17 to 4.
14:34
That was over 7 minutes though. This Houston team with the
14:37
offensive skill set that they have, we know Kelvin Sampson's
14:40
teams are going to score. The pace was a lot faster than I
14:43
thought it would be at the beginning of the game.
14:44
Both teams were playing at a really high level there.
14:46
Iowa State, just three turnovers in the game.
14:49
That is a program record for what they were able to do.
14:52
But that free throw thing, Bill, your coach got to make your free
14:56
throws. Got to make free throws those
14:59
especially when you're down and even when you're trying to hold
15:03
on to a lead, you know, because teams that are behind want to
15:07
stop that clock and score while the clock stopped.
15:10
I mean, you're gaining an advantage there.
15:12
And when you get an opportunity to put people away at the line
15:15
because they continue to foul, you know, you have to make those
15:19
free throws if you want to continue to win.
15:22
You know, that is something like Jeff said, it's going to I it
15:25
could come back to haunt them. I bet you they're in there
15:28
shooting. I guarantee it.
15:31
You know, I also as on a coaching perspective, we don't
15:35
know what gets said and we're all armchair quarterbacks.
15:39
Sometimes we sit, you know, let's let coaches coach those
15:45
guys. TJ Smart, he's a good coach and
15:49
those guys know. The guys know that hey, we
15:52
sucked at the line. You know they know that.
15:55
So they'll get it turned around. Jeff's also right.
15:58
These next few games are tough. I mean, yeah, you're going on
16:00
the road at BYU. One thing's nice, they don't
16:02
play till Saturday and then they get another week or sorry, they
16:06
play Utah, they're going to stay out there like you said, and
16:09
then they come back home against Texas Tech, another good team.
16:12
So you know, you win those three and then all of a sudden you get
16:16
that Big Rd. game out of Arizona.
16:19
Who knows who's ranked where at the time.
16:22
That would be a huge one. I that's probably the one and
16:27
maybe a championship look in the Big 12 tournament to get that
16:31
number one seeder. I really look into that.
16:35
I think by that point, the Big 12, so tough, those committee
16:39
members know who's on those first 8 lines, 1-2 and each.
16:43
So that's what would be the outlook for me, Iowa State to
16:47
try to get that secure that one. It's going to take a lot.
16:50
That means at minimum, you can't lose to an Arizona State or
16:55
Utah. That that goes without saying.
16:56
You can't lose those. And you probably got to go in
16:58
those other three games, at minimum two and one with that at
17:03
minimum get to the championship game of the Big 12 and probably
17:06
have to win it too. You know, it's not like the Big
17:08
10 that ends on Sunday afternoon and the brackets already done.
17:11
And God forbid this committee actually does the work and
17:14
actually has that game matter, which drives me crazy.
17:16
Regardless of who's it in the Big 10 championship game, they
17:19
don't. It doesn't take that much more
17:21
work to have two different brackets.
17:22
What if one team wins one? If the other team wins, they
17:25
refuse to do it. OK, it's a reality.
17:27
That's the way it is not the case with the Big 12.
17:30
They finish up on Saturday. They'll have plenty of time to
17:32
actually get the bracket right. So you win that thing.
17:35
Well, let's say that they go four and one down the stretch
17:37
here. Four and one win the conference
17:40
tournament. They're going to be a number one
17:41
seed. They.
17:42
You can't take them out out of there.
17:44
You just can't. The subjectivity is so you
17:49
wonder sometimes that you look at these metrics, you look at
17:52
these metrics. These committee members, I know
17:55
they say that they look at the games and they watch the games,
17:58
but there's still subjectivity sometimes.
18:01
And I hate to say it, but the hopefully there's no alliance to
18:06
conferences and stuff, you know, but it makes you wonder.
18:11
But a coach is always going to tell those guys, you know what,
18:13
take care of the things you can control.
18:15
Go for in one, like you said, get to the championship game and
18:19
maybe win it. Make them take you off the one
18:22
line. Right now they are 7.
18:24
Three against quad one We're talking about at that point
18:26
they'd be 10 and four against quad one.
18:29
Then at least two more victories in the conference tournament.
18:32
You're talking about 12 quad 1 victories coupled with an
18:34
undefeated mark against quad 2. At that point they'd probably be
18:37
12/13 and O in quad 2. That's the number one resume.
18:40
It is. And you did how many of those 12
18:43
on the road, they meet Purdue by 20.
18:46
That's huge. It's huge.
18:48
And so and you know, Purdue may win the Big 10 title.
18:51
They're they're there. So yeah, you can't take them off
18:54
off the one line. Go in 12 and 4.
18:56
If they make that happen, they're going to be in really,
18:59
really good shape. It's not just in a vacuum,
19:01
though. It depends also what happens
19:02
across the country and what's happening in other spots.
19:04
Like if Michigan continues to run the table, Michigan and Duke
19:07
go do the same thing. They're going to be in great
19:09
shape. You have other teams that are
19:10
contending, of course, the other Big 12 teams with Arizona and
19:13
Houston, what that's going to look like.
19:15
I don't think Gonzaga can get there even if they run the table
19:17
the rest of the way. Just not enough depth of their
19:19
resume. Florida is playing as well as
19:21
anybody in the country. The Gators do have 6 losses
19:24
though. I mean, if you're putting up
19:25
even a a Florida team that would finish the year 28 and six, if
19:29
they run the table against Iowa State and what they've done this
19:31
year, who would finish in the scenario We laid out 30 and
19:34
four? I don't think you could put
19:36
Florida in front of them. That's the path, though.
19:38
I think we've figured out the path.
19:39
We'll talk more with Dave Oban coming up about that in just a
19:42
little bit. We're going to talk Bill a
19:44
little bit more about the Iowa Nebraska matchup coming up on
19:47
Tuesday. David Eichold's going to join us
19:48
in our number 2. We'll recap what we saw
19:50
yesterday over in Lincoln and preview the matchup against
19:54
Nebraska coming up for the men's team in a little while.
19:57
But a quick hit on this. I mentioned it feels like this
20:00
might be one of the most, I think this is the most important
20:03
game of the Ben McCollum era to this .2 game losing streak.
20:07
A lot of concerns starting to trickle in.
20:09
You just had that sell out crowd.
20:11
You got our neighbors to the West, chirpin, chirpin, chirpin
20:14
over there. They got a lot to say because
20:15
they have a basketball team that's actually good for the
20:17
first time in a long, long time. Still never won an NCAA
20:20
tournament game. But that aside, they're happy
20:23
over there. The negativity is starting to
20:26
seep through. Here we go with Iowa basketball
20:28
again. Just a lot of importance in this
20:30
game tonight. There is you don't want to say
20:34
it's a must win, but it it kind of is.
20:37
It's got that importance as you put to it.
20:40
Put it, you know your two game losing streak, one that you
20:44
shouldn't have probably lost at Maryland.
20:47
You come home big game, sell out crowd.
20:51
You know this team is promising, there's no doubt and they just
20:55
need one signature win. They need that one win, whether
20:59
it's home that extra quad 1, you know, is Washington that quad
21:03
one win still, you know, and if Indiana continues to play
21:07
decent, that's still maybe a quad one win.
21:10
But you're not talking about the type of teams that Iowa State
21:14
has beaten the Purdue, the Purdue one was huge.
21:18
The one earlier in the year against Illinois, that it was a
21:20
big one. Illinois now is scrambling a
21:23
little bit. But yeah, the Nebraska game and
21:27
we really just need to show up first.
21:30
Let's play. Let's get started right away.
21:32
I said we I'm a Hawkeye. OK, OK.
21:35
The Hawks need to get started right away and keep yourselves
21:40
in the game. Bennett Sturtz is an outstanding
21:42
talent. Matter of fact, I was going to
21:44
mention we may have two of the best point guards in the state
21:47
right here, Lipsey and Sturtz, but our role players, you know,
21:52
the Banks and Cooper, Koch and Sage, these guys got to start
21:59
playing at a higher level for us to be relevant to get those big
22:04
wins. And tonight's a better match up
22:06
for us. I think we don't play well down
22:09
inside. We don't rebound very well, so I
22:12
think we can match up a little bit better.
22:15
Keeping Sanford down is going to be tough.
22:18
We've all seen him. He's a great.
22:19
He's a great player. Imagine if he was playing with
22:23
Iowa. Right now it'd be nice one.
22:25
Because that's been the struggle here the last few games, at
22:28
least the last two losses is kick out threes.
22:31
We're just, I don't know what the percentage is, but I bet,
22:34
I'll bet the three-point percentage is lower than 30%.
22:37
It's got to be really low. And those are ones you got to
22:41
have wide open kick out threes. It opens up things in the middle
22:44
where Banks and and some of those guys can get some points
22:48
in the paint. You nailed it.
22:50
They are 13 of 50 from behind the arc the last two games, 7 to
22:54
28 against Maryland, including losing the missing their final
22:57
twelve shots of that one. And then Purdue, it was just a
23:00
train wreck all over the place and couldn't get it done.
23:03
We'll talk more about that game a little bit later on, but let's
23:05
take a look at the brackets. Our bracketologist Dave Omen is
23:08
going to join us next from bracket guy Dave.
23:11
He's going to break down Iowa, Iowa State.
23:14
What does AC look like for the NBC champion?
23:17
If it's one of the top level teams or let's say and the
23:19
Panthers get hot, we'll get into that.
23:21
Also talk some National College basketball as well.
23:23
Dave Omen joins us next year. It's Miller and Condon on the
23:26
Iowa Sports Radio Network. Welcome back.
23:29
It's a Tuesday edition of Miller and Condon on the Iowa Sports
23:32
Radio Network. Flip Ship, Ship One O 6.3, KX&O,
23:36
along with our affiliates in Sioux City, IA City, Cedar
23:39
Rapids, and the Quad Cities statewide here on the Iowa
23:41
Sports Radio Network. Our bracketologist throughout
23:44
the course of this season, he has been Dave Ullman.
23:46
He's been very kind with this time, helping us out and trying
23:49
to figure out these brackets as they sit now, what it's going to
23:52
look like going forward. And we got a lot to talk about
23:54
here in the great state of Iowa. Dave, as always, appreciate the
23:57
time. How are things for you?
23:59
I am doing well. How are you?
24:01
Doing great and certainly Cyclone fans are feeling great
24:04
after what we saw from them last night, the comeback victory
24:07
against Houston as the Cyclones get another quality victory,
24:10
their second big time quad one win both at home against Kansas
24:14
on Saturday and then what they did of course last night against
24:17
Houston. What are the conversations that
24:18
we've been having and and this is where we kind of when we look
24:22
forward, not where they are right now, but trying to carve
24:25
that path forward. What's it going to take for Iowa
24:27
State to get a number one seed? The way that I think I
24:30
handicapped and I looked at it, the remaining five games, you go
24:33
four and one. That means one loss against a
24:36
BYU on the road coming up this weekend at Texas, Texas Tech at
24:40
home or even at Arizona. But if they go 4:00 and 1:00 and
24:43
then win the conference tournament, that would put them
24:45
at 30 and four. You're talking about a lot more
24:48
quality victories on that resume.
24:50
Is that enough in your mind knowing that it also depends on
24:53
what else happens across the country?
24:55
Should Iowa State fans say that's the most realistic path
24:58
for a number one seed? Well, I think you put it
25:02
together pretty well to be honest with you.
25:05
You know, there's a scenario where there could even lose
25:07
twice potentially given what might happen around them.
25:12
But I think going four and one, you know, particularly if that
25:16
loss was to say, you know, at Arizona, which is, you know, not
25:19
going to be an easy place to go in and then even maybe get to
25:24
the at least get to the championship game of the Big 12
25:27
or get to that to win the Big 12 tournament.
25:30
Iowa State would definitely be in that conversation for one of
25:35
those #1 seeds. I do think there is still a
25:39
pretty decent chance that two Big 12 teams could end up on the
25:44
one line if Arizona finishes strong, they're likely going to
25:47
be there. And then it's going to come down
25:50
to what happens with like, maybe you know, a Connecticut who has,
25:55
you know, had such a great non conference season, But the Big
25:57
East has not been as strong this year again as we thought it
26:01
might be. And they've had some kind of
26:03
close encounters in games. So if they're predictive metrics
26:07
kind of stay where they are or fall a little bit further, I
26:10
think there's a chance they could get overtaken.
26:13
And or if Arizona loses a couple more, it could be a team like
26:16
Iowa State or then quote even Houston maybe gets also in that
26:20
conversation as a team that could, you know, either be one
26:24
or even up to two number one seeds from the Big 12.
26:27
Bracket Brackaville is where you can find Dave's work as he has
26:31
the latest for you. And I see right at the top of
26:33
your bracket. Of course, Duke and Michigan,
26:35
who will collide coming up Now, Michigan's got a big one
26:38
themselves against Purdue coming up this evening before we get to
26:41
that game. But if Michigan Hold Serve gets
26:43
the win against the Boilermakers, is it likely that
26:46
we're talking about the winner of that Michigan Duke game
26:48
having the inside track for the overall overall number one seed?
26:54
I think it's possible, yes. I mean, again, we've got games
26:59
to be played. And so, you know, one game, if
27:02
it ends up at the end of the year that like, let's say
27:05
Michigan loses to Purdue on the road tonight or they lose at
27:10
Illinois, and both them and Duke have like basically very similar
27:16
records and almost identical resumes coming in, then that
27:20
head to But there are some advantages I
27:41
suppose of being the number one overall seed.
27:44
You don't get the highest two seed matched against you in your
27:47
region. And there may be some other
27:50
things that you get benefited down the line with how the rest
27:53
of the bracket, particularly the top 4 seeds, come together.
27:56
Lot of basketball as you mentioned in front, but a big
27:58
one tonight as we go from Michigan in the Big 10 to the
28:01
Iowa Hawkeyes here on the local front.
28:04
Back-to-back losses, one in ugly fashion against Purdue and other
28:08
one, their first ugly loss on that resume, the first quad
28:11
three loss as they fall on the road against Maryland.
28:13
Maryland team that does lose this to Rutgers over the
28:16
weekend, 3rd, 3 and 11 now in the Big 10.
28:19
Where do you look at this Iowa team when you take a look at
28:21
their resume? I know we talked a couple of
28:23
weeks ago that gap between the result based metrics and the
28:26
predictive metrics, Pretty big gap between those two things
28:29
still at this point in time. There are a couple of Quad 1
28:32
victories, but they're Indiana, a bubble team.
28:35
Washington not close to the bubble currently for the
28:38
Huskies. Is it just the lack of that big
28:41
time resume building Quad 1A? One kind of victory that they
28:45
they don't have currently on the resume is that's the knock and
28:47
why we see them sitting on the 8-9 line for most everybody.
28:52
Yeah, I think that's a big reason why because, you know,
28:54
the their predictive metrics have also slipped a little bit.
28:58
You know, their their net was in the low 20s.
29:01
It's up to 27 today, partly because of that two game losing
29:05
streak and just the margin, you know, in metrics today,
29:08
sometimes if it's a margin above a certain point, it, you know,
29:10
it affects that a little bit more.
29:12
And then the loss to Maryland was really the surprise in
29:16
there. I think, again, you hit it
29:18
pretty close on the head. What's lacking from Iowa is a
29:23
victory over what you would say is a surefire tournament team
29:28
and or a team that is going to be in the top half of the
29:31
bracket. And if they don't get one of
29:34
those, I, I think, you know, they're, they're more likely to
29:38
look at a, you know, somewhere between A9 to A10 seed, assuming
29:42
they went enough to to get to the finish line and, and the
29:47
team is talent enough to do that.
29:48
It's just they've got to, they've got to finish this thing
29:52
off and it's not going to be easy.
29:54
You know, for them, their schedule was kind of backloaded.
29:56
You know, they get Nebraska at home, which is not going to be
30:00
an easy game at Wisconsin. The Badgers are playing a lot
30:03
better now than they were a month ago.
30:07
So really what it comes down to me is, you know, you're going to
30:09
have to win the Ohio State game. You got to win the Penn State
30:12
game. I think for Iowa to not really
30:17
be getting a little bit nervous unless, you know, Indiana goes
30:20
on a run or UCLA or USC improves a lot, they need to get at least
30:25
one of those other games between Nebraska, Wisconsin and Michigan
30:30
and then they play Nebraska again.
30:32
So none of those are going to be easy.
30:34
But I think if, you know, if they were to go oh, and four and
30:38
those, I think they're probably they could well end up being in
30:41
that bubble conversation. And then it comes down to then
30:45
you almost feel like you have to beat Ohio State and Penn State
30:48
and and maybe not bow out early in the Big 10 tournament.
30:52
A lot of work still to be done, certainly for the Hawkeyes, the
30:55
Missouri Valley Conference also batters here in our state, Dave,
30:57
and we see in Belmont, they're a fun team to watch.
31:00
Really good offensively. They can score with anybody and
31:03
put a points there. But EU and I, Panthers, they had
31:05
an injury. One of their better players,
31:07
Tristan Smith, he was out for a while and that's when they hit
31:10
the skids and had a long losing streak.
31:12
He's come back. Panthers are playing some really
31:14
good basketball. We know the only path for them
31:16
to get into the tournament is with the automatic bid and
31:20
winning Arch Madness down in Saint Louis.
31:22
If that happens, I I know it's going to matter and depend upon,
31:25
you know, do a bunch of the favorites of other mid major
31:28
conferences win? You know, do we see Liberty and
31:30
Steven F Austin, UNC Wilmington, why all those teams win?
31:34
That's going to keep probably the Panthers down a little bit.
31:36
But taking away that part of it, what kind of seed would the
31:39
Panthers be looking at if they do win Arch Madness?
31:42
Are we talking about down at a 14?
31:44
Could they be on that 12 or 13 line?
31:48
Well, I think best case scenario is it probably the low end of
31:51
the 12 line. You know, if things break right,
31:55
The more likely scenario is that they end up somewhere along the,
31:59
you know, the bottom of the 13, top of the 14 line.
32:03
To your point, depending upon who else wins those conference
32:06
tournaments, if it's McNeese or Stephen F Austin in the
32:10
Southland, they're, you know, they're a borderline 12 to the
32:13
very top of the 13. You know, Liberty's probably
32:16
right in that same boat. Yale out of the Ivy, Belmont,
32:20
South Florida and the American and then a team like, you know,
32:24
does Miami and the mid American go ahead and win their
32:27
conference tournament or, you know, did they bow out and then
32:31
they end up being in the at large pool, but they wouldn't
32:33
drop that far. But anyway, those all things,
32:36
but you add another team into the mix that would be below
32:39
Northern Iowa that could bump them up.
32:41
You know, unless it's Akron, like Akron would be very similar
32:45
kind of a scenario with Northern Iowa might actually be a little
32:48
bit ahead of them. So how those variables all go
32:51
in. But if you're asking me today, I
32:53
would think probably a low 13 to high 14 with a 13.
32:59
If you had to pin me down and say if they win Arch Madness,
33:01
that's probably where they would end up.
33:04
Talk with Dave Holman as we take a look at the brackets here on
33:07
Miller and Condon on the Iowa Sports Radio Network.
33:09
Dave, one final thing for you, as you're grouping these teams,
33:12
you're coming up with the seed list.
33:14
Is there an area either towards the top, the middle, whatever it
33:17
is? Is there an area right now that
33:19
is incredibly difficult to differentiate, to kind of figure
33:22
out how different these resumes are?
33:24
And where does it become the most difficult for you as you're
33:27
working with your seed list in getting these teams and your
33:29
mind in the correct order? Well, I, I think the, the
33:33
biggest area right now is from there's a small variant between
33:38
right at the bottom of the four line through the very top of the
33:42
sixth, where there's a lot of teams that are somewhat similar
33:44
in there. When you talk about, you know,
33:46
Vanderbilt, Virginia, Alabama, Arkansas, Louisville, TN, St.
33:52
John's may be in that group. Kentucky, if they, you know, win
33:55
a couple more games. The there's some very fine lines
33:59
between a lot of those teams depending on what you're looking
34:01
at. But the biggest and hardest area
34:03
right now to be honest is really from about spot 31 down through,
34:12
you know, about 4041, you know, the end of the eight line
34:17
through the middle, the lower end of the ten line.
34:21
I mean, if you, you could spend hours don't looking through
34:24
those things and you could come up with almost a different order
34:27
every single time. So that right now we always say
34:30
there's not a lot of difference between, you know, 8 feet and a
34:33
10 feet or even A7 and A10. And right now, about a month
34:38
away from Selection Sunday, that's that's what it's looking
34:41
like. There's not a lot of difference
34:42
in those teams. So there's could be some wiggle
34:44
room from a team going from, you know, a 10 to an 8 or even A7 or
34:50
that eight line could fall back into a 10 or even an 11 line
34:55
without a whole lot happening. It's just kind of one of those
34:58
is these teams play each other out.
34:59
It'll be interesting to see how that unfolds.
35:02
Brackenville.wordpress.com, that's where you can find the
35:04
latest from Dave Omen as he joins us here on Miller and Con.
35:08
And Dave, as always, thanks for the time.
35:10
I appreciate it. Thanks for having me.
35:12
Dave Omen as he joins us here basically on a weekly basis as
35:15
we make our way through the brackets.
35:17
Currently, he has Iowa as an 8 seed taking on SMU in the first
35:21
round. Who is waiting if they make it
35:23
to the round of 32? Take a guess.
35:26
Yeah, Duke. And for us old timers, we saw
35:27
that plenty of times back in the early 90s with Doctor Tom win a
35:31
game and they get bounced by Duke in the second round.
35:33
And that's how it plays out there.
35:35
Dave currently has Iowa State as a two seed in Saint Louis in the
35:39
South region where they would take on Wright State than the
35:42
winner of Indiana, the 10 seed or Utah State, the seven also
35:46
waiting over there. How about this Sweet 16 matchup?
35:48
Nebraska, the three seed in Dave's bracket, Iowa State,
35:52
Nebraska in a Sweet 16. Now the problem for the Huskers
35:55
though, we got to figure out a way to win a game in the NCAA
35:58
turban, not just two. Find the first one first in
36:01
order to to get there. Coming up on the other side,
36:03
Adam Eminecker is going to join us.
36:05
We're going to talk some MVC hoops.
36:07
The Panthers playing well. What's wrong with Drake?
36:09
That's next. It's Miller and Condon on the
36:11
Iowa Sports Radio Network. Back with you on the Tuesday.
36:14
Miller and Condon continues on the Iowa Sports Radio Network.
36:16
Let's get into it, Time to talk Missouri Valley.
36:19
Adam Eminecker joins us. The former Larry Bird Award
36:23
winner for the player of the year in the MVC and the Drake
36:26
alum. As we talk a little MVC hoops
36:28
here today, Adam, a dominating performance you and I over the
36:32
weekend as they run past the Bulldogs and get the win there.
36:36
We've talked about this Panther team at times.
36:38
Go back to December, they were considered one of the better
36:40
men, major teams out there. The Tristan Smith injury at the
36:44
time, I'll be honest, I thought what's the big deal?
36:48
OK, he's another big body, but they've just played completely
36:51
different when he's been out there and helping that squad
36:53
out. It looks like a different you
36:55
and I team and probably that team we saw in December.
36:58
Yeah, trying. I mean, I think that's a great
37:00
point. And and part of what it what's
37:02
hard to say. And this has been true for the
37:04
Panthers for years, too, under Coach Jacobson, right?
37:07
There's always more than is that appears to kind of the common
37:12
eye as you watch the game. And I think Tristan Smith is a
37:15
big part of that. His spirit, his toughness, his
37:17
athleticism and his ability to score in the paint.
37:20
You know, you mentioned that the Panthers had that stretch of
37:23
five straight losses. And even though their defense is
37:26
good, they're still one of the the top defense scoring defense
37:29
teams in the country. In those five losses, they
37:32
averaged 58.6 points per game. It's going to be hard to win no
37:37
matter how good your defense is when you're averaging under 60 a
37:40
game. If you think about the seven
37:42
games since, 75 points per game in that stretch and four times
37:47
this team has been over 80. So the defense has been a
37:50
constant, but the offense has picked back up.
37:52
This team is winners of four out of five.
37:54
They're getting healthier. We'll see if they've closed out
37:58
these last five games or the last four games of Valley play.
38:01
Can the offense stay as efficient?
38:04
But the Panthers are putting themselves in a position to be
38:06
in a Friday game rather than a Thursday game as we get to arch
38:09
man. And the two remaining games on
38:12
the road. Indiana State coming up tomorrow
38:14
and then at the end of the season against Drake.
38:16
Those don't look unwittable, certainly for you and I from
38:19
their perspective. And you get both SIU and
38:21
Illinois State at home. There's a realistic path here
38:24
for this team to run the table and set themselves.
38:27
At minimum, you want to be on the opposite side of the bracket
38:29
of Belmont, get that two or three seed.
38:31
That's the goal, I think, for the Panthers.
38:34
Yeah, well, 100%. And I think if you're so for you
38:37
and I, you control your own destiny, right?
38:40
The team you're tied with right now is Illinois State.
38:42
You have that direct match up with them.
38:44
Everybody else is below you in the standing.
38:46
So you got to feel pretty good based on what you just read
38:50
through in the schedule. But I think if you're the rest
38:53
of the Valley foes, Belmont probably being the one that
38:56
feels best about the basketball they're playing and the ability
39:00
to potentially win three games in three days, get that
39:02
automatic bid. But what the team no one wants
39:05
to see could be Belmont, Bradley, Murray State, UIC, ETC.
39:09
You don't want to see the Panthers because you know
39:11
they're going to be well coached.
39:13
You know they're going to come out and be ready to play after a
39:16
disappointing outing last year, losing in their first game to
39:19
Valpo. This group is going to be
39:21
hungry. They're going to be ready and no
39:23
doubt Coach Jacobson's going to have them have them playing
39:27
their best basketball come March, which seems to be what we
39:30
say every year. On the other side, Drake now has
39:33
lost six in a row and there have been different fashions that
39:35
they've lost them. But it is not going well.
39:38
The defense down to 271st in the country now in defensive
39:42
efficiency. You're number one of Eric
39:43
Henderson. It has been a struggle at times.
39:46
What is what's the one thing you point to?
39:48
What's gone the most wrong here over these last couple of weeks?
39:52
You know, I, I, I think you look at, there's been a couple of
39:54
games that I would consider let down and the Northern Iowa game
39:58
is a let down game. But other than that, this team
40:02
is mostly competed and they've had their opportunities.
40:05
I mean, you think about the home games against Balpo, the home
40:07
games against UIC. Each of those Drake was leading
40:11
in the final few minutes and had an opportunity to be able to win
40:14
that game and just couldn't close.
40:15
You know, I think one of the things that has stuck with me as
40:20
UIC, Belmont and Murray State moved into the Valley, each of
40:25
those coaches say, you know, what we had to learn coming from
40:28
the OVC, Not only is the conference deeper than the OVC
40:33
as a comparison, meaning you can lose to anybody if you play AB
40:36
minus game, but I think the other thing is getting older and
40:40
stronger, a little bit beefier up front and at the guard
40:44
position. So having to get longer, having
40:46
to get stronger and being more physical.
40:49
I think one of the places where this team has had some of those
40:52
let downs is just in in physicality.
40:54
And some of that is having Wilkins junior exact out, right?
40:57
Like he's a guy who brought some of that punch and the foot
41:00
injury he's been out now for it seems like a couple months
41:04
anyway. And so every team goes through
41:07
injuries and has to recover, right?
41:08
This team has had those opportunities, but as they've
41:11
struggled down the stretch, I think some of it has been
41:13
mentality and that lack of physicality that no doubt the
41:17
coaching staff, as they try to push through the end of this
41:20
year and start to think about the offseason, will be top of
41:23
mind thinking about the future. I mentioned it to you before.
41:26
I know, Adam, I cannot still wrap my mind around this
41:29
Illinois Chicago team. You see, I thought it was a
41:31
disaster. Why they bring him in.
41:32
They're trying to replicate Loyola.
41:34
It's not going to work. I also didn't think Loyola was
41:36
going to work. And of course, they went to a
41:37
Final Four, So what do I know? But here they are.
41:40
You look at their path going forward.
41:42
They got a real chance of them earning a #2 or #3 seed in the
41:45
conference tournament. What do I miss when I watch this
41:48
Illinois Chicago team? I never walk away impressed.
41:50
But they just find ways to win. They've won ten of their last
41:53
12. Yeah, yeah.
41:55
And and you know, I think we talked about you and I and their
41:58
schedule coming down the stretch.
41:59
I think UIC is similar at Evansville, host Malco, host
42:03
Bradley at Indiana State, everybody other than Bradley
42:06
that they're playing will be below them in the standings.
42:08
So I think that puts UIC in a position where they could
42:10
potentially get the two seat. To your point, you know, I think
42:14
for the Flames, the reason there's the reason there's a
42:18
little bit more than what exists to the naked eye is because of
42:21
the way they defend. They are so stinking physical
42:25
and versatile. When you think about guys like
42:27
do a Momo, you think about guys like Makai Lowry, they're really
42:31
good athletes. They're very switchable on the
42:32
defensive end and they are just so tough.
42:35
This is one of the best offensive rebounding teams in
42:38
the conference. And so, you know, we watching
42:40
that, you saw that Iowa State Houston game last night, right?
42:44
Those are both high level defenses.
42:46
UIC is not that same level. But what UIC does try to do is
42:51
mimic some of the same principles as the Cyclones.
42:54
And so that level of physicality, that toughness,
42:57
sometimes they play line UPS where the smallest guy on the
43:00
floor is 6 foot, 5-6, foot 6 and you go five guys that are all
43:04
very switchable. They work really hard to get
43:06
offensive rebounds. They don't give you anything
43:08
easy on the defensive end. That's been their recipes for
43:11
success. And we just talked about Drake
43:13
has trouble closing game. UIC has been really good down
43:16
the stretch, closing plays out. And it's been Elijah Crawford
43:20
primarily the guy with the ball in his hand who's just such a
43:23
good playmaker and passer since he's been healthy the last 10
43:27
games or so. So they've been really good.
43:28
Finally at the top of the league, it is Belmont and this
43:32
team is playing very well. And it also sounds like they're
43:35
potentially going to get Nick McLean maybe back this weekend
43:37
for them, a guy that can definitely score it and just
43:40
what they need, right? More scoring for the Bruins.
43:43
Well, you know, so back to like talking to Casey Alexander in
43:47
the last couple of years, Belmont's always been really
43:49
good offensively and they've always had a few guys that can
43:52
go for 15/20/30, especially guys that can make threes.
43:55
They spread the floor, they're great, They're very efficient on
43:58
the offense. Bend, they are that this year as
44:00
well. What makes this group different.
44:02
One is the depth. You look at that game against
44:05
Murray State where they're down double digits at halftime.
44:08
That's their OBC rival, right? Many, many games historically at
44:13
the end, at the top of that conference, those two playing
44:16
and and you Belmont after being down, they don't even flinch.
44:19
You have guys like Owen Dillon coming off and making five
44:22
threes off the bench. You have guys like Jack Smiley,
44:24
the freshman who is phenomenal over 20 points in that game.
44:28
The depth of this group, the ability to play multiple
44:31
different ways and the physicality that they've added
44:34
to their roster over time to be able to compliment that
44:37
efficient offense and the three-point shooting.
44:39
This is a more versatile Belmont team than we've seen in the
44:42
past. This team's really stinking
44:44
good. Adam Eminecker weekly here on
44:45
Miller and kind of presented by Doko Pizza.
44:48
Adam, enjoy the week. We'll talk to you again next
44:50
Tuesday. Sounds good.
44:52
Thanks Tron. Adam and Manekar, former player
44:54
of the year in the Missouri Valley and also broadcasting
44:56
games. You can hear them across the MVC
44:59
Doco Pizza 2 locations. Drake and Ankeny for great
45:03
pizza. Stop on out.
45:04
Our number 2 comes up next. Bill hanging out with me here
45:07
today. It's Miller and Condon on the
45:09
Iowa Sports Radio Network.