Nicholas Boyd

But also, we were just extremely loose with some of our switching games.

You know, Nick Boyd, one of our former players at FAU, got in our player's head.

I think we got in some personal battles that was unnecessary for a team of our caliber.

And so it was the perfect storm.

It's a different group.

There's not a Nick Boyd with that type of offensive energy.

We just play a little differently defensively.

NFL, it's the Packers and the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday night football from Lambeau Field.

Freshman class could be the worst in the Big Ten, but I think at this point what Greg Gard has done over the years at Wisconsin, it's hard for me to believe that this team finishes in 11th.

You lose John Blackwell, you lose Nick Boyd in the backcourt.

Those, that was one of the best backcourt duos in the Big Ten last year.

But to see this team finishing 11th, to see this team even outside the top half of the Big Ten, I personally don't see it.

That gives you a pretty high floor defensively, and we even saw that last year when they were going through struggles.

Like, there were match-ups that hurt them, the Nick Boyd's of the world, Jeremy Fears.

Like, I think those guards are still...

Like, how, how does Illinois defend those guards, especially without Kylan Boswell this year? I have a huge question about that.

And then the Wisconsin game.

You lose to Wisconsin 91 to 88 because Wisconsin came out with two gentlemen, Nick Boyd and Johnny Blackwell, and those two knuckleheads wouldn't miss a shot.

That's the only reason.

Like, that's it.

That's it.

If Johnny Blackwell and Nick Boyd would've played like that for the Pistons the other night in their preseason game, we'd have beat the Wizards by 100.

Those dudes didn't miss a shot.

I was sitting right there watching it, four feet from me.

And last season we saw it was really up and down, like the Nebraska game at Carver was just a tremendous defensive performance.

But then they go on the road against Wisconsin and let Nick Boyd just totally take over.

The thing that I've collected so far is that it feels like, well, one, you have more size in the interior that'll help with rebounding and rim protection and altering shots.

But I think Iowa feels like they have better point-of-the-attack guards, guards that can really blow up ball screens, can get into the other team, uh, and disrupt them getting into offense.

Now they lose Blackwell, who's at Duke, one of the most expensive players in the portal this season.

Nick Boyd, he's gone.

They lost some key pieces there.

They bring in Trey Autry in the backcourt from Washington.

I think, like, the, the top 12 on my list look like NCAA Tournament teams to me, but I admit I might be too low on, on Wisconsin.

They bring back Rap and Winner, um, in addition to what you named they bring in.

And I, I talked to Greg about, uh, Ian Elmer, like, because he had said something to me similar last year about Nick Boyd, like winning translates.

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm

... and Nick Boyd coming in, these players coming in and just kind of thriving in this system.

How big of a deal was that for you in helping decide what this stop would be?

Oh, it was a, it was a huge deal.