Lenny Talks Sports

Blog

  • The Rise of Ben McCollum: Going Back Home

    Hawkeye Basketball: Iowa's Coaching Search Candidate Profiles - Ben McCollum - Black Heart Gold Pants

    Picture: © Ron Johnson-Imagn Images

    Following a fantastic first season coaching at the Division One level, Ben McCollum is leaving Drake to take the head coaching position at the University of Iowa. McCollum’s Bulldogs fell 77-64 to the Texas Tech Red Raiders ending Drake’s historic season in the second round of the NCAA tournament. In McCollum’s first season with the Bulldogs, he recorded the most historic season in program history where the team finished 31-4, won the Missouri Valley regular season and postseason title, and advanced to the second round of the NCAA tournament for the first time since 1970. Now McCollum leaves Des Moines to head 114 miles east along I-80 to replace Fran McCaffery as the coach of the Iowa Hawkeyes.

    For McCollum taking the job at Iowa is a homecoming, born and raised in Iowa City, McCollum looks to bring the same success he has had at each previous job to the Hawkeyes program. Before Drake, McCollum was the head coach of Northwest Missouri State where he won four national championships and five National Coaches of the Year awards; he was an unknown commodity to most when he replaced Darian Devries at Drake after Devries took the job at West Virginia, but McCollum may have been the best hire of the coaching carousel. McCollum brought his stifling defense and methodic offensive approach to Des Moines and dominated the MVC in his first year. A team that was picked fifth in the preseason poll, the Bulldogs dominated conference play going 17-3 winning both the regular season and postseason titles. McCollum would be named MVC coach of the year and led the Bulldogs in an upset of the Missouri Tigers in the first round of the NCAA tournament before being knocked out by Texas Tech.

    Now McCollum takes over an Iowa program that has struggled recently going 17-16 this past season while being just 7-13 in Big Ten play. The Hawkeyes parted ways with longtime coach Fran McCaffery as they look towards the future and getting the Hawkeyes back in the NCAA tournament. They knew exactly who they wanted in the coaching search and got their man in McCollum. A known winner and someone who will bring some help from Drake with him; McCollum will most likely bring with him MVC Player of the Year Bennett Stirtz and Tavion Banks who averaged double figures for the Bulldogs. The Hawkeyes also have some players who if they stay will give McCollum a great starting point for next season, with players such as Josh Dix and Owen Freeman who both averaged over 14 points per game this past season.

    With newly gained resources moving to a high-major program, expect McCollum to continue his success as he leads the Hawkeyes for years to come. His coaching style has proven to translate to the Division One level, a team that will methodically break you down and not give up any easy baskets will be perfect for the Big Ten. Even if they are not the most talented team on the floor, they will not take a possession off on either side of the floor, McCollum is a coach players want to play for. As he attracts more talent, expect greater success for the Hawkeyes.

  • Is Jesper Bratt the most underrated player in the NHL?

    Photo by Len Redkoles/NHL via Getty Images

    When New Jersey Devils superstar Jack Hughes slid shoulder first into the end boards against the Vegas Golden Knights, many Devils fans were holding their breath in fear of what happened. Hughes exited the game as the Devils lost the game 2-0 dropping their season record to 33-23-6 and a lowly 8-10-3 since the start of 2025.

    As the team awaited Hughes’s testing results the Devils would face one of the league’s top teams in the Dallas Stars where the Devils entered the third period trailing 3-1; this is when Jesper Bratt and the Devils offense came to life tallying two goals in 3:34 to tie the game at three. The Devils seemed content to go to overtime until a Johnny Kovacevic icing with under twenty seconds left in regulation set up a Dallas offensive faceoff. Off the faceoff, the Devils failed to clear the puck and Stars defenseman Thomas Harley ripped home a dagger with under five seconds to play giving Dallas the two points.

    Late Thursday night the news would drop of Jack Hughes undergoing season-ending shoulder surgery; the news was heartbreaking to Devils fans as going into Friday’s trade deadline the season’s outlook looked bleak. New Jersey made minor moves acquiring defenseman Brian Dumoulin, center Cody Glass, winger Daniel Sprong, and defenseman Dennis Cholowski; the Devils fans were not convinced this would help the playoff push after losing a superstar like Hughes. New Jersey played the top team in the Western Conference the Winnipeg Jets and got run out of the building losing 6-1. The Devils were now 33-25-6 and only led the Columbus Blue Jackets and New York Rangers by four points in the Metropolitan Division standings.

    Since that day New Jersey has won four out of their last five games and Jesper Bratt has recorded three goals and seven assists for ten points being named the second star in the NHL last week. Bratt hasn’t been paired with the top line with Timo Meier and Nico Hischier, instead, he has been on a line with Erik Haula and the newly acquired Cody Glass on the Devils third line. To show how impressive Bratt’s performance has been, Haula has not recorded a point since November 25th (he has three points over his last four games) and Glass had 15 points in 51 games before being traded to New Jersey (he has five points in his first five games as a Devil). Many fans outside of New Jersey had seen the stats of Bratt with Hughes early in the season where he recorded 68 points in 62 games while playing together, and thought he was the Robin to Hughes being Batman. But after his strong performance in the 4 Nations Faceoff with Sweden and his play without Hughes, Bratt has cemented himself as a star in this league.

    The smooth-skating Swede will be at the forefront of the Devils push to the playoffs as they enter the last thirteen games of the season. He currently sits at 80 points in 69 games, while also tying the Devils franchise record for assists in a season with 60 assists tying Scott Stevens’ record set in the 1993-94 season. Last year Bratt set his career high in points with 83 and is on pace to shatter that number with a projected 95 points. But at the rate he’s scoring since Hughes’ injury don’t be surprised if Bratt continues his tear and finishes with over 100 points and leads the Devils to their second playoff appearance in the last seven seasons.

  • Three Players to Watch in the NCAA Tournament on Thursday

    Marquel Sutton - Men's Basketball - Omaha Athletics

    With the bracket being unveiled on Sunday night, all college basketball fans around the nation are turning their attention to Dayton and the First Four on Tuesday night. But I am looking forward to Thursday and the First Round of the madness, and I believe three players are must-watch come Thursday night. Now these names aren’t the most household names with only one of these players coming from a single-digit seed, but when you turn on your TVs to watch the games on Thursday look out for these three to make some noise.

    Marquel Sutton, Omaha

    The Omaha Mavericks roll into their first tournament appearance led by the Summit League Player of the Year Marquel Sutton, the 6-foot-8 senior out of Tulsa is the leader of this team alongside JJ White and is the key to the Mavericks success. Sutton comes into the NCAA Tournament coming off of a career night in the Summit League Final where he recorded 22 points and 18 rebounds for his eighth double-double of the season. During the Summit League tournament, Sutton averaged 23 points per game as well as 12.3 rebounds per game, so you could say that he is playing his best ball at the right time. While not being much of a threat from outside, Sutton’s post-play is at the level of a high-major forward with his patience and shot-making in the paint being great all season. Now Sutton and the Mavericks have a tough task at hand with the Big East Champion St. Johns Red Storm. Sutton will have a tough matchup with the Johnnies All-Big East First Team forward Zuby Ejiofor down low; expect these two to battle down low for forty minutes with Sutton’s success in this matchup being the determining factor for how long the Mavericks can stay in this game.

    JT Toppin, Texas Tech

    The only player on this list from a single-digit seed is the Big 12 Newcomer and Player of the Year JT Toppin. The sophomore transfer from New Mexico has been electric since stepping foot in Lubbock, with 19 points, 8 rebounds, and 4 blocks in his first game as a Red Raider against Bethune-Cookman. From that point on Toppin dominated the Big 12 conference, averaging 18 points and 8.5 rebounds throughout conference play. Toppin can break you down in many different ways, from his post-game, to crashing the glass for putbacks, and even stretching the floor a little bit where he shoots around 32% from three. Toppin is a finalist for the Karl Malone Award for the best Power Forward in College Basketball and it’s pretty easy to see why. With the upcoming matchup against UNC Wilmington, Toppin will see a matchup against a Seahawks frontcourt that has plenty of size with 7-footer Harlan Obioha and 6-foot-9 Khamari McGriff who are two of UNCW’s best players. This could prove to be difficult early for the Red Raiders but as the game progresses expect Toppin and the Red Raiders to overwhelm UNCW en route to an opening-round victory.

    John Poulakidas, Yale

    A proven big game player already following his 28-point explosion against Auburn last year in the First Round, Poulakidas comes into the NCAA Tournament ready to lead this Yale team against an SEC foe for the second year in a row. One word to describe Poulakidas is “bucket”, and that was evident in the second half of the Ivy League final Sunday afternoon against Cornell. After struggling in the first half, Poulakidas proceeded to shoot 7-of-7 from the field, 5-of-5 from three, putting up 23 points in the second half to lead Yale to a 90-84 win over the Big Red. But this was not just a one-time event, Poulakidas put up a great campaign averaging over 19 points per game shooting 45% from the field and 40% from three, if it wasn’t for his teammate Bez Mbeng putting up three triple-doubles this year, he would’ve been conference player of the year in the Ivy League. In the first round, he will face a stingy Texas A&M Aggies defense but expect Poulakidas to come out ready to go Thursday night, no matter what matchup the Aggies might throw at him, expect Poulakidas to get his shots up, and for many of them to drop. The matchup between Poulakidas and A&M’s Wade Taylor should be one of the most entertaining matchups of the first round, so grab your popcorn and make sure to tune in.

    Bonus Player: Drake Powell, North Carolina

    Earlier I did say that my attention was turned to Thursday, but I will still be glued to my screen Tuesday night when Powell and the Tar Heels take on the San Diego State Aztecs. I am interested in watching Powell more so as an NBA prospect instead of as a college player. As a Nets fan, I am invested in Brooklyn’s rebuild and the tournament is a great place for players to stand out on the biggest stage. Powell is a very raw prospect, and although he is only averaging 7.5 points per game, I like his shooting efficiency as well as his defensive ability. Powell is shooting 47.5% from the field as well as 37.3% from three and has shown out as the Tar Heel’s best wing defender. I am intrigued by Powell’s potential as a solid 3 and D player in the NBA and look forward to seeing what he does on Tuesday night.