If You Build It, They Will Come

 Here's my updated list for Iowa Connections on NBA teams.  Connections are sparser than the NFL, so I will only list teams with connections.  Looks like we are cheering for a Milwaukee / Sacramento Finals this year! (Shout out to Toronto, Utah and Atlanta)  Note: Coaches in  italics . Note: These players are not with NBA teams this after they were last year:  Joe Wieskamp (Iowa),    Abdel Nader (ISU), Lindell Wingginton (ISU),  Tyler Cook  (Iowa)   ,  Matt Thomas (ISU) Northern Iowa : 6 Iowa State Cyclones : 5 Iowa Hawkeyes : 4 Ames : 2 Buena Vista : 1 Iowa Energy : 1 Pella: 1 Cedar Rapids River Raiders: 1 Iowa Wolves: 1 Marion: 1 2 - Sacramento :          Harrison Barnes  (Ames),  Keegan Murray (Iowa) 2 - Milwaukee :        A.J. Green (UNI),  Mike Dunlap  (Iowa) 2 - Toronto :               Nick Nurs e (UNI),...

   Now, the NBA will tell you that the playoffs actually start after the play-in games, but this is Blog Town and I set the rules here.  NBA playoffs start now, and we can determine the teams that should win. Now let's recap the Iowa Connections from the start of the season.   Nick Nurse 3 - Toronto :               Nick Nurs e (UNI),  Trevor Gleeson  (Iowa Energy),  Nate Bjorkgren  (Buena Vista) 2 - Chicago :      Tyler Cook  (Iowa)   ,  Matt Thomas (ISU) 2 - San Antonio:        Joe Wieskamp (Iowa),    Doug McDermott (Ames) 2 - Denver :           Monte Morris (ISU),  Ryan Bowen  (Iowa) 2 - Sacramento :        Harrison Barnes  (Ames),  Tyrese Haliburton (ISU) 1 - Philadelphia :       Georges Niang (ISU) 1 - Detroit :       ...

 We have new champions in both the Men's and Women's tournaments (Congrats Kansas and South Carolina).  What began with such hope and excitement for the Iowa teams led to disappointment...but hope for next year.   Across the Iowa Connections we have 10 potential collections in the future (including 2 that already have cards on TCDB: Caitlin Clark and Keegan Murray)   Before moving on to next year, lets take a moment to celebrate this year.  We have an Iowa Connection on the National Champion Kansas team, and an Iowa Connection on the NIT Champion Xavier.  Let's start with the Women's teams. Iowa State Cyclones 28-7 (14-4) finishing 2nd in the Big 12 #3 Seed in the tournament making it to the Sweet Sixteen Potential Cards in the Future: Ashley Joens (1st Round Mock 2023 Draft) Emily Ryan (1st Round Mock 2024 Draft) Lexi Donarski (1st Round Mock 2024 Draft) Aubrey Joens (3rd Round Mock 2024 Draft) Iowa Hawkeyes 25-7 (14-4) finishing 1st in the B...

  Here's my updated list for Iowa Connections on NBA teams.  Connections are sparser than the NFL, so I will only list teams with connections.  Looks like we are cheering for a Toronto / Denver Finals this year!  (Philly vs. either Lakers or Phoenix would be acceptable as well). Note: Coaches in  italics . Note 2: Terry Stotts parted ways with Portland and did not return this year Note 3: Joe Wieskamp and Luka Garza were added Iowa State Cyclones : 7 Iowa Hawkeyes : 4 Ames : 2 Northern Iowa : 1 Buena Vista : 1 Iowa Energy : 1 3 - Toronto :               Nick Nurs e (UNI),  Trevor Gleeson  (Iowa Energy),  Nate Bjorkgren  (Buena Vista) 2 - Chicago :      Tyler Cook  (Iowa)   ,  Matt Thomas (ISU) 2 - San Antonio:        Joe Wieskamp (Iowa),    Doug McDermott (Ames) 2 - Denver :           Monte Morris (IS...

  The Arena Bowl is played every year (well, not 2009...), and every year there is a winner.  The right team doesn't always win though.  No, sometimes the universe makes a mistake and the wrong team wins.  But how do we know who these "Misplaced Winners" are?   Well, this blog circles around one thing, and that's the Iowa Connection.  So, obviously every Arena Bowl champion should have at least one Iowa Connection, but not every one does.  Either I've missed the connection (possible!), or the universe messed up.  Thanos snapped his fingers and the Tampa Bay Storm won.  So lets look at those Iowa-less Arena Bowl champions and see who it should have been. If this universe happened, here are number of titles these Iowa Connections would have gained (2+): 4 - Matt Eller, Ames 3 - Chris Spencer, Iowa State 3 - Todd Harrington, UNI 3 - Kurt Warner, UNI 3 - Larry Blue, Iowa 3 - Carlos James, Iowa 3 - Garry Howe, Spencer 3 - ...

Today we have a new collection of cards for the 2021 ICY set.  These 17 cards honor the achievements of the men and teams from the four major Iowa NCAA teams: Iowa, Iowa State, UNI and Drake.  Two teams had NCAA tournament invites, and each team also had individual awards led by Iowa's Luka Garza. Iowa Hawkeyes Iowa State Cyclones Northern Iowa Panthers Drake Bulldogs

  College Football HOF The College Football Hall of Fame is located in Atlanta, Georgia and is home to just over 1,000 college football players and over 200 coaches.  Here's the best list I can come up with of Iowa Connections in this HOF. Iowa Hawkeyes Players Duke Slater Nile Kinnick Gordan Locke Aubrey Devine Cal Jones Alex Karras Randy Duncan Chuck Long Larry Station Andre Tippett  NEW! Coaches Hayden Fry Forest Evashevski Howard Jones Eddie Anderson Slip Madigan Barry Alvarez Staff and players who made it elsewhere Earl Banks (Morgan State, player at Iowa) Frank Carideo (Notre Dame, asst. coach at Iowa) Lou Holtz (Notre Dame, asst. coach at Iowa) Bill Snyder (Kansas State, asst. coach at Iowa) Bob Stoops (Oklahoma, player/asst. coach at Iowa) NEW! Iowa State Cyclones Players Troy Davis Ed Bock Coaches Earle Bruce (Ohio State, Iowa State, Northern Iowa and Iowa Barnstormers) Pop Warner Alex Agase (Northwestern, Iowa State, Purdue) Edward Mylin (Iowa State, Lebanon Val...

        Profile David Johnson is a running back from the University of Northern Iowa, arriving there from Clinton*, Iowa.  After a successful career at UNI, David was selected in the third round of the 2015 draft by the Arizona Cardinals and was an All-Pro** by his second year in the league.  He currently plays for the Houston Texans. * Other notables from Clinton: Duke Slater (UofI CFB HOF), George Stone (MLB), Lillian Russell (Actress), George Nelson (Astronaut), Peggy Moran (actress) ** Three All-Pros from UNI: David Johnson, Kurt Warner and Bryce Paup Personal Notes This isn't a collection story, but an economics note.  It's about diversification, and how I like to spread out my pain and joy evenly.  I am a Vikings fan, and in the early 2000s they drafted a running back named Michael Bennett in the 1st round.  I was big into fantasy football by then, and drafted him onto many of my teams.  Well, he was mediocre, which is not great fo...

    CBA Draft Iowa Connections I'll be filling these in as I post in the blog.  I'll link to the players as they each get a post.  For full draft list visit NBA Hoops Online . 1985 None 1986 None 1987 None 1988 Lafester Rhodes, 1st, ISU Bill Jones , 1st, Iowa Gary Thompkins, 5th, ISU Al Lorenzen, 7th, Iowa Kevin Van Veldhuizen, 7th, Northwestern 1989 Bart Friedrick, 9th, Drake 1990 Matt Bullard, 3rd, Iowa Jason Reese, 4th, UNI Alessandro Donaldson, 6th, Drake 1991 Doug Collins, 8th, ISU 1992 James Moses, 5th, Iowa 1993 Justis Thigpen, 2nd, ISU 1994 James Winters, 6th, Iowa Randy Blocker , 6th, UNI 1995 Fred Hoiberg, 1st, ISU Loren Meyer, 7th, ISU 1996 Russ Millard, 4th, Iowa Chris Kingsbury, 6th, Iowa Kenyon Murray, 6th, Iowa 1997 Andre Woolridge, 2nd, Iowa Kenny Pratt, 6th, ISU C.J. Bruton, 6th, Indian Hills Dedric Willoughby, 7th, ISU 1998 Ryan Bowen, 2nd, Iowa Jess Settles, 10th, Iowa 1999 J.R. Koch, 4th, Iowa 2000 Cory Hightower, 5ht, Indian Hills Ernest Bro...

    Profile Davenport's own James Jones is a defensive tackle who played for Northern Iowa in the late 80s and early 90s.  Jones was drafted by the Cleveland Browns* in 1991 and played 10 years in the league amassing 3 catches for 4 yards and two touchdowns (plus 37 sacks and 432 tackles).  Jones remains the highest drafted UNI player at #57**.  * His head coach was Bill Belichek and his DC was Nick Saban  ** While Jones was 3rd rounder, he was still drafted higher than Brad Meester (2nd Round) who was #60 overall Historical Significance Northern Iowa has had a number of NFL players, including a Super Bowl MVP (Kurt Warner), DPOY (Bryce Paup) and current NFL players (David Johnson, LJ Fort).  Before James Jones, there were two UNI players that were drafted highly (Randy Schultz in the 5th in 1966, Bryce Paup in the 6th in 1990).   Neither had a Panther cards, so I think I can reasonably declare that: 🔔1991 Wild Card Draft was the first UNI P...

   NFL Draft Iowa Connections I'll be filling these in as I post in the blog.  I'll link to the players as they each get a post.   2021 NEW! Chancey Golston, 3rd, Iowa Spencer Brown, 3rd, UNI Elerson Smith, 4th, UNI Kene Nwangwu, 4th, ISU Ihmir Smith-Marsette, 5th, Iowa Daviyon Nixon, 5th, Iowa Nick Niemann, 6th, Iowa Alaric Jackson, UDFA, Iowa Mekhi Sargent, UDFA, Iowa Cole Banwart, UDFA, Iowa Brandon Smith, UDFA, Iowa Jack Heflin, UDFA, Iowa Coy Cronk, UDFA, Iowa Shaun Beyer, UDFA, Iowa Barrington Wade, UDFA, Iowa Landon Akers, UDFA, ISU Dylan Soehner, UDFA, ISU JaQuan Bailey, UDFA, ISU Lawrence White, UDFA, ISU Manny Rugamba, UDFA, Iowa Romeo McKnight, UDFA, Iowa Briley Moore, UDFA, UNI 2020 Joe Burrow , 1st, Ames Tristin Wirfs, 1st, Iowa A.J. Epenesa , 2nd Iowa Michael Ojemudia, 3rd Iowa Geno Stone, 7th Iowa Nate Stanley, 7th Iowa Steven Wirtel, UDFA ISU Ray Lima, UDFA ISU Julian Good-Jones, UDFA ISU Kristian Welch, UDFA Iowa Dominique Dafney, UDFA West Des ...