Transcript
Jock 2 Jock · Fri Dec 8, 2023
Thanks for joining us for the jock to jock podcast where we get a unique look at Iowa men's basketball from a player's perspective.
We'll be joined by Patrick McCaffrey after this from I'm on communications experience the I'm on difference.
It's a jock to jock podcast here on rock108.com and wherever you get your podcast.
We're on the hardwood edition of the jock to jock podcast with my guest Patrick McCaffrey.
Welcome to the show.
Thanks for having me.
Big 10 conference play is here.
But playing away at Purdue didn't net the result that you're ultimately looking for, right?
No, and you know, when you play 20 league games, not all of them are going to go perfect.
Obviously, you want it to go better.
But at this point, like, it happened.
It is what it is.
You go back, you review it, you learn from it, and you move on.
Such a long season with so many games that can't dwell too much on when you don't play well.
Let's be fair, that seven foot four center is big for me, but even for you,
right?
Yes.
Yeah, no, he's massive.
And even for you, because you stand, what's your height?
Six, six, eight, six, nine?
Six, nine, yeah.
And so when you see a guy that is that height, how do you play against that?
Because that guy can play too.
Yeah, no, that's the thing is he's very good.
I don't like when people say like, oh, he's only good because he's tall.
No, he's very, very good.
There's obviously certain things that he might struggle with just because he's huge.
Like he's not the quickest guy, but it doesn't matter when you're that big.
And, you know, he uses
his
body really well.
He catches everything.
He finishes everything.
There's not a whole lot you can do.
You got to try to double him.
You got to, you know, be there on the weak side, try to keep it out of his hands almost.
So, the reason he's the reigning national player of the year and probably will win it again is because there's not really a way to, you know, if there was a way to stop him, people would have, people would do it by now, but there really isn't.
Why is Purdue such a magnet for players like that?
Honestly, I think it's because they've had so much success with guys like him before.
they always have like a seven four guy or somebody that's huge.
And they've got a guy on the bench that looks just like him.
You know, he's about seven two.
And I know they have a guy committed in that class, in their high school class, that's like seven foot three, seven foot four.
So, you know, it's just kind of like what they do.
So like, if you're, if you're somebody that's that big, why would you not go to Purdue?
They throw, they really play through the bigs.
They throw the bigs to ball.
And, and obviously they know what they're doing and know how to develop bigs and all that kind of stuff.
So.
Once you have success with a certain position, it becomes much easier to recruit that position.
What are some other players that you've matched up against that you know was going to be a tough night at the office?
In high school, a lot of those type of guys, I played against the last, I don't know, four or five number one picks, Zion, Kate Cunningham, you know, Anthony Edwards, like all those guys played against all of them.
So like, I mean, those guys were obviously all really good.
In college, I would assume it was really good.
Kofi was obviously provided a lot of issues.
Trish Jackson Davis was a problem.
They'd have to really kind of go back and think about it.
Cassius Winston was really, really good.
There's a lot of, luckily playing in the Big 10, you get to see a lot of those guys.
You get to play against a lot of really talented players.
The Big 10 is kind of like an older league, I would say.
There's a lot more older guys.
There's a lot of...
talent and a lot of experience.
And so you go to appreciate that throughout your time
here.
You have a great coaching staff that helps to get you guys prepared for each and every game through scouting.
We've talked about that piece.
But you internally, when you have to match up against someone, let's go back to Zach from Purdue, how do you mentally prepare for something like that?
Yeah, you know, you think is not going to score zero points.
So you have
be cognizant of that, you know, it's not going to go perfect.
And you just like, yeah, I'm a competitor.
Everybody on my team is a competitor and we want to win and we need to play better in order to do that in the future.
So just kind of figure out ways, construct ways to, you know, try to stop them.
And if it's not working, then you make adjustments.
Continuing with our introduction to the, uh, the freshmen, we had Owen Freeman last week, this week, six, eight from Newark, New Jersey, Laji Dembele.
And you mentioned in the first episode that East Coast guys play just a little bit different.
Tell me your take on Laji.
Yeah, so Logi, he was in Newark, but he was only in Newark for probably like 18 months.
So he's from Mali originally.
He did, I think he said he moved to Spain.
I think he said when he was like 13 or 14 to go to like a basketball academy.
And then he was recruited to his high school in New Jersey.
And I think he was only there for about 18 months.
He's more of like a foreign type of kid as opposed to, you know, like an East Coast kid.
but he's obviously very big and strong like you can just see that just by looking at him like he's he's enormous and he's pretty skilled he can shoot it pretty good like he's got a nice stroke I think the thing that stands out to me about Laji and I think he's still you know kind of growing and getting comfortable to be able to do this kind of in the games but in practice and all that kind of stuff he was a really good relentless offensive rebounder and he and that's something that I think throughout the season when people continue to show itself and something that he'll continue to get better at so um you know uh
I think him as a rebounder will be really good.
And I think he's going to have a really bright future.
But yeah, he kind of plays more like a foreign kid.
And those guys are very cerebral.
They really understand how to play.
They know how to play, pick the role.
They know how to move the ball.
And that's something that Lodgy's a very cerebral player and a really smart guy.
He speaks five languages, like an incredibly impressive young man.
What's he into?
In the locker room, when you guys are all hanging out, what's something that you learn from Lodgy?
Yeah, well, I'll start with the language thing.
In English, it's his fifth language.
So his English is good.
There's maybe certain things that he'll say, or maybe he won't understand you entirely, just because it's his fifth language.
And he's only been here for super long.
I would say the five language thing is a good place to start.
But he's a very sweet kid.
He always has a smile on his face.
He's always laughing and joking.
But he's just such a great guy.
always try to learn and grow and he always wants to understand more and he's great and I'm really excited for his future here.
The way that he is playing the game, you mentioned how he plays more in a foreign type of style.
Do you or the team learn anything from that style to incorporate in Iowa's game?
I would say like, I think maybe in certain situations, yes, but I would say for us specifically, we play like a very
cerebral style of basketball.
That's kind of our philosophy.
Like you have to understand, you know, moving, cutting, screening and all that kind of stuff.
So I think like that's something we try to pride ourselves on.
And I still think we're a work in progress on the offensive end in terms of our motion game and all that kind of stuff.
In theory, that's what we're trying to accomplish.
And we need to, and I think we need to execute that better.
And we will.
And so, you know, I think that's something that we really try to do all the time.
So he just kind of fits right in with that.
Thank you for that.
Off of basketball, let's go to something completely different.
Christmas is coming up.
What was one gift that you still remember opening on Christmas to this day?
That's such a great question.
You know what it's like when you're a kid?
Christmas feels like the greatest day in the history of the world.
Like like you can't sleep the night before you wake up at like 5 a.m.
And then like your parents don't want to go help you open presents yet It's too early and so you know like it was one of those things that those are like core childhood memories that I'm always incredibly fond of I would say probably I'm not gonna say phone because I got my first phone on my birthday So that wasn't a Christmas thing.
It was my 13th birthday when I got my phone.
I would say probably like um Like probably like the ps4
For the PS3, a technological thing that we could like really you know go then you go play we got 2k and we go play 2k for for hours I would say probably that and then there's always like cool stuff now you're not as excited for Christmas as you were before because like my mom gets mad at me because I'm like I don't really want anything like there's not like anything that I really need or want like you know I'm content with everything
but it's still great you know to watch everybody open presence and all that kind of stuff and you know see the joy in everything on everybody's face so um i would say probably though like a big technological thing like maybe an ipad like when you're little an ipad like all those kind of things
who is your team
um that's a good question i'm a huge lebron guy so always lebron um
We play like, I would also do like different franchises and my player and all that, those kind of things.
But if I had a 2K team, it was always like, and we got to pick them.
Like, because sometimes you do random teams too, so you don't just get to, you know, be all the best, the best teams.
So, but I would say if I got to pick my team, it would always be LeBron, like the, the heat teams with LeBron.
You did my player, so you created yourself, yes?
Yes.
Typically, yes.
Did you also create Connor?
I did not.
I would create either myself or I would do like a big, like a really big, cause it's easy
to
score
into.
Okay.
There's like
a,
not like
a glitch, but like if you're, I make them like as big as possible.
There's like a glitch.
Like if you're bigger than somebody, you're much more successful to like score.
So that's also something that I would do would just like, just have somebody be really big.
See, and one of the things that people have said is that those who play video games, obviously, they get a little bit of the hand-eye coordination that continues to go up.
But I think that, especially for yourself, who played basketball, did you learn more about how plays run, what to look for because of playing 2K?
I don't think me personally, no.
it's more about like kind of player tendencies right like you see certain guys and how they play on 2k and you're like oh like they do these certain things and you learn just like I think a lot of it too is is the competitiveness like you know you can't always simulate a game setting like you don't play basketball games all the time so you know you play 2k and it's incredibly competitive
Whether you're playing online against somebody or against your brothers or your sisters or whoever you're playing against It's it's an incredibly it's an incredibly competitive environment and you really want to win 2k They have the option to where you can like run plays and stuff, but I don't think anybody really does I think more so you just kind of do what you want to do and it doesn't flow like like a real offense in 2k It's hard when like nine people and well unless you're playing against somebody either eight or nine people
our computer generated and like they don't you have no control over them so it's just different but um yeah you definitely learn how to be competitive and maybe there's certain concepts and all this kind of stuff that you see in 2k that you might want to you know implement when you're younger and all that kind of stuff
I didn't think we were going to talk a lot about video games today but I got another question here obviously there was an NCAA version from EA sports and there was a college basketball and they haven't had one of those in a long time does it kind of burn you that that's not available now where even if you were just
Just you in the game, maybe not with your name or anything or a fake name, but you in the game, you kind of bummed out that you don't have that today?
Absolutely.
I think because of NIL, something like that is coming back, I would think.
Might take a couple years.
I don't know exactly.
Might be well past when I'm done.
But I would assume that would be on that trajectory.
But oh my gosh, that game was so fun.
I played that game all the time.
I think it was like NCAA 10.
my dad's santa teams were on there and they were and those were when they were really really good so I would always play with them and we'd be really really good and it was like John Wall like Kentucky and he was obviously really really good so like it was just such a fun time to play and obviously they didn't have any of the names it would just say shooting guard or point guard number 11 number 41 whatever but those those games were so fun I wish we we still had them yes but I understand why
people fought against them and so why and why they went away, but I hope they come back soon.
How far did Sienna go in NCAA 2010?
Oh, we won.
Cut the nets down, huh?
Oh, absolutely.
We won.
Very
often.
You kind of mentioned this here earlier, how your mom asks you what you want for Christmas, and you don't really know.
But if you're playing the game of Secret Santa or White Elephant, what kind of gifts are you throwing around inside that?
So, honestly, to this point in my life, I have not been a great gift giver.
I'm gonna be full transparency.
Typically, I'll go to the mall like two or three days before and get a bunch of random stuff that I think is cool, but it's not to the same level as my siblings, but I'm really this year, I'm really trying to step my game up.
I got my mom something that I think she'll really like already, and it's barely December.
So, you know, I'm gonna I'm gonna really try to you know come through with a lot better presence and really step my game up in that regard So stay tuned
What would your dad want for Christmas?
Oh, he never wants anything.
So usually I get him like something like stupid like I got him like a ref shirt one year Like just kind of stuff like that.
I know he doesn't he always says like don't get me anything Don't worry about me like I don't want anything
so
so
like
if I find something that
I think he would like or something that like maybe I'll get him a pair of shoes or something and step up his shoe game a little bit.
But other than that, like it's it'll be something like that'll be like funny.
Well, like if what if Springsteen played, you know, in Indy, you know, somebody that, you know, works over there.
Springsteen stuff.
That's typically on my mom thing.
Typically she'll get him something like that, like whether it's concert tickets or like some vacation or something like that.
That'll typically my mom will be my mom will be on that one.
You ready for double, double dumbass?
Yep, I got I got to get better.
You were heating up your one and eight right now
Yeah, what was Tory?
Tory ended up at what was it 30 32 34 out of 52 He got he got he ended up getting bonus points So in his particular game, he would have to figure out whether the story was from the US a dumbass or from Australia a drongo, which is essentially dumbass, but then I would give him bonus points
if he could name the state where the dumbass or the drongo came from.
It's easier for Australia because there's only, what, six, eight states in Australia?
And he's not from here.
So it made it a little bit more difficult.
He started off not so great.
So he said, look, things will get better.
This one here, your schools, and I'll say this twice, your schools are Michigan, Purdue, and Ohio State.
Here's story number one.
A 62-year-old Livingston County woman was caught trying to shoplift from a Walmart.
The problem for her was that this was during a shop with a cop event where around 75 officers were shopping with young children.
An employee notified one of the cops that she was stealing more than $700 in merchandise.
The trooper then followed her to her car, which Patrick was parked next to all of the patrol vehicles of the officers.
or howl.
That's about as much as I can give you to this point.
A 39 year old woman was sentenced to a little hard labor by a judge this week.
The woman had been jailed on assault of a Chipotle worker in the city of Champions.
According to the reports, the woman didn't like the way her food was turning out and whipped a burrito in the workers face.
She received the option to have her sentence reduced by two months if she worked at a fast food place to see what it's like.
20 hours a week for at least two months got two stories Michigan Purdue in Ohio State Patrick McCaffrey I turned to you walk me through your thoughts on this
so when I hear city of champions, I think This and this is obviously unrelated.
I think of Bill Walton when he talks about the Pac-12 and says the conference of champions So city of champions I'm thinking Cleveland
okay,
because remember they went through so much
like so many times until LeBron won one because he's obviously the goat.
So I'm thinking City of Champions, I'm thinking Ohio State for that one.
Okay, final answer.
Yeah, locked that one in.
And then the other one, so City of Champions was the burrito in the face, correct?
Correct.
Okay, so what was the other one?
What was the county called
Livingston County?
And I said I was trying to figure out the Walmart is the Hudson or Howell Walmart you're remaining schools based upon your guess Michigan and Purdue
I'm gonna go Michigan for that one.
I just feel like you know That just sounds like a Michigan thing to do like just sounds like I got a teammate from Michigan look the Keta
just sounds like something he would do.
You know, try to, he's not a shoplifter necessarily, but like, what was that lady thinking?
Like, doing that in front of, at a whole cop event.
So I'm going to say Michigan for that one.
So you're calling out Lucchetta on this one?
Yeah.
Yeah.
Final answer on both?
Yep.
Congratulations.
You got two more points.
Boom!
Let's go.
I told you you were heating up.
Yep.
Yep.
That's three in a row.
That's right.
Three in a row.
The 62-year-old woman was in Michigan, and the other one, like you said, City of Champions, that was your key.
Nicely done, sir.
Feel pretty good?
Yes, that's great.
You can't scout for these types of things, but I tell you, you've got three in a row, and things will be heating up for next week.
We'll talk about the Iowa State game and the upcoming games in Big Ten Play against Michigan.
Oh my gosh, in Florida A&M too, huh?
Mm-hmm busy week Patrick.
Thanks so much for the time.
Absolutely.
Thanks, Brad
