3-2-1: Iowa’s win total on the move?

This week in 3-2-1, we discuss the box office that is Caitlin Clark, Keegan Murray raising his game, nad other Ferentz is in college coaching. Plus we discuss the win total for Iowa football is on the move and is Wisconsin the most important conference game for both schools?

THREE THINGS WE LEARNED

CAITLIN CLARK CONTINUES TO BE BOX OFFICE

It wasn’t the basketball court, but Caitlin Clark continues to draw massive crowds wherever she does. The Iowa women’s basketball standout spent her Wednesday at the John Deere Classic playing their annual Pro-Am.

Clark played the first nine holes with rising golf star Ludvig Aberg and then in the back nine, she hit the Deere Run course with fellow Iowan Zach Johnson.

The story of the day wasn’t the golf, but the crowd that she drew. There were thousands of fans who showed up on a Wednesday morning to walk the course with Clark and watch her play golf. To Clark’s credit, she played pretty well and she signed thousands of autographs for young girls and boys.

KEEGAN MURRAY CONTINUES TO IMPRESS

In most cases, Keegan Murray wouldn’t have even played this summer. But, the Sacramento star wanted to play the Kings organization was ok with it since they were playing at home before the start of the NBA Summer League in Las Vegas.

Remember, last year, Murray was the MVP of the NBA Summer League thanks to his outstanding play. That was a precursor to his outstanding rookie year, which placed him on the first team of the All Rookie squad in the NBA.

Since their season ending playoff loss to Golden State, Murray has hit the gym and added eight to ten pounds of muscle. He’s added some new tricks to his game. Kings fan saw the result of that work this week when he dropped 29 points on the Warriors. Then two nights later, he destroyed the Miami Heat by scoring 41 points. He also grabbed five rebounds and blocked four shots.

Murray is done for the summer. He won’t be in uniform again until the start of the season. But, he will be in Las Vegas this weekend with the Kings, but he will also be watching the NBA Summer League debut of his twin brother, Kris, who will be playing Friday night for the Trailblazers.

ANOTHER FERENTZ IN COLLEGE COACHING

Coaching is in the blood of the Ferentz family. Kirk Ferentz is preparing for his 25th season leading the Iowa program. He will have his oldest son, Brian, calling plays for the Hawkeye offense once again this year. James Ferentz is still playing in the NFL for the New England Patriots.

The youngest son is continuing his growth as a coach. Steve Ferentz has worked his way around the college and NFL ranks in the past few years. First as a graduate assistant at Central Michigan and then in 2020 he became an assistant linebackers coach for the Miami Dolphins.

This week it was announced that Steve Ferentz would be joining the coaching staff at South Dakota. He is an assistant coach for them, working with the outside linebackers group. He will be joining former Hawkeye defensive back Miles Taylor on the coaching staff.

TWO QUESTIONS

IS WISCONSIN THE MOST IMPORTANT GAME FOR IOWA THIS SEASON?

There was an interesting piece written this past week by On3’s Jessie Simonton. He ran down the list of the most important conference games for everyone in the Big Ten. His selection for Iowa and Wisconsin was each other. He feels like the most important game for both programs in the contest on October 14th in Madison.

Is that the correct assessment for both programs, particularly Iowa?

Short answer…yes.

From Iowa’s perspective, it’s a huge game because of the Wisconsin schedule. If you look at it, other than a game against Ohio State, the Badgers don’t have a particularly challenging conference slate. If you think Iowa’s schedule is soft, take a look at Wisconsin.

From a Wisconsin perspective it’s probably also true. The reasoning is that it’s reasonable to assume that the winner of this game will have a tiebreaker over the other when it comes to who represents the Big Ten West in Indianapolis in early December.

DO WE STILL THINK THAT VEGAS IS WAY OFF ON IOWA’S WIN TOTAL?

The win totals for college football teams have been out for a while. Honestly, I think they were out earlier than I have ever seen them this year. Probably almost too early. The beginning number was Iowa at 7.5 wins. If you wanted to get that number, it’s probably too late. Most of the books have officially moved the Hawkeyes to eight wins. The good news is that over 8 is at -115 and under 8 is at -105. At one point, over 7.5 was at -160 or higher in most places.

Yes, I still think Vegas is off and I still believe that Iowa will win more than eight games.

ONE BOLD PREDICTION

Major League Baseball will hold their annual 20 round draft starting this weekend. Iowa will have three players picked in this year’s draft. Next year, potentially a pair of first round pitchers in Brody Brecht and Marcus Morgan.

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