Join the celebration as we welcome our very own Austin, rekindling that Wisconsin sports spirit with tales of wrestling glory and athletic prowess! This episode is a treasure trove of local victories, from Nolan Hurdle's perfect season and second Division III national championship to the inspiring efforts of Bentley Schwanebeck-Osterman and Stephen Buchanan on the national stage. Feel the hometown pride surge as we honor these athletes' unwavering dedication and the impact of their triumphs on the wrestling community in our great state.
Shift gears with us to the diamond, where the Milwaukee Brewers' 2024 lineup unfurls under the strategic eye of new manager Pat Murphy. Austin and I put our heads together to unravel the roster's potential, setting sights on standout players like Willie Adames and the up-and-coming Bryce Turang. With a mix of cautious optimism and fervent hope, we forecast the Brewers' season stats, from Christian Yelich's home run tally to the team's win totals. This conversation swings for the fences—no baseball pun intended—unpacking the playoff dream that Milwaukee fans are holding onto.
The show rounds third base and heads home with a heart-to-heart about the Wisconsin Badgers' basketball program. We peer into the off-season with an analytical lens, scrutinizing the team's roster shifts and the choices facing players and coach Greg Gard alike. Austin and I don't hold back, scrutinizing the balance between regular season records and the sweet taste of postseason victory. It's a candid assessment of what it'll take for the Badgers to leap from good to great, a playbook for ramping up their game as the Big Ten battle heats up.
Join the celebration as we welcome our very own Austin, rekindling that Wisconsin sports spirit with tales of wrestling glory and athletic prowess! This episode is a treasure trove of local victories, from Nolan Hurdle's perfect season and second Division III national championship to the inspiring efforts of Bentley Schwanebeck-Osterman and Stephen Buchanan on the national stage. Feel the hometown pride surge as we honor these athletes' unwavering dedication and the impact of their triumphs on the wrestling community in our great state.
Shift gears with us to the diamond, where the Milwaukee Brewers' 2024 lineup unfurls under the strategic eye of new manager Pat Murphy. Austin and I put our heads together to unravel the roster's potential, setting sights on standout players like Willie Adames and the up-and-coming Bryce Turang. With a mix of cautious optimism and fervent hope, we forecast the Brewers' season stats, from Christian Yelich's home run tally to the team's win totals. This conversation swings for the fences—no baseball pun intended—unpacking the playoff dream that Milwaukee fans are holding onto.
The show rounds third base and heads home with a heart-to-heart about the Wisconsin Badgers' basketball program. We peer into the off-season with an analytical lens, scrutinizing the team's roster shifts and the choices facing players and coach Greg Gard alike. Austin and I don't hold back, scrutinizing the balance between regular season records and the sweet taste of postseason victory. It's a candid assessment of what it'll take for the Badgers to leap from good to great, a playbook for ramping up their game as the Big Ten battle heats up.
Thank you how we doing, everybody, and welcome to Wisconsin Sports on the go with Trage. I'm your host, trage. It is Wednesday, a fantastic Wednesday, and I got the guy back today. I got the guy back. He's going to tell you all about this day because it's a fantastic day. I got Austin back with me today. It's been a while. It's been a while, austin, but hey, how are we doing? On this Wednesday it's a good-ish. I mean, it snowed last night again, not fantastic, but it's a good day in the great state of Wisconsin here Again, not fantastic, but it's a good day in the great state of Wisconsin here.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I figured I'd pop out on this hump day, you know. I mean I basically invented the holiday, so I figured I'd come on on this Wednesday. And, like you were talking about the weather not the best, especially down here in La Crosse, slippery let me tell you it's been raining, it's been sleeting and my little car that I got down here does not fare well in the weather that we've got going down down here. But you know, survive. You know we talk. We talk about the ncaa tournament. Survive in advance. I'm surviving in advance, all right, um, so overall, not terrible. I'm doing good here on this wednesday and I'm good. I'm glad to be back here.
Speaker 1:We're happy to have you back. Hey, we've got big news coming out of lacrosse. I haven't talked about it much on the show yet here, but I believe you were there when Nolan Hurdle did win that Division III title. Right, I believe you were working that match there.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I was working that.
Speaker 2:Tell me a little bit about that. I mean, first off we had him on or you talked to him, I wasn't there, but what an amazing guy. First off, super humble out of Marshfield, wisconsin. It was quite electric. I mean, I've never been in that type of I guess you can call it place before, where you know it's just you're up against your own, like it's by yourself. That's what wrestling is Like. Yeah, you place for the team, but you're up against yourself and your opponent.
Speaker 2:And he was going to go undefeated to win another back-to-back national champion or to be a back-to-back national champion, and he ended up doing it, which I think is absolutely crazy. I don't think he lost a single match all year. I I think is absolutely crazy. I don't think he lost a single match all year. I think he was undefeated and became back-to-back national champions. Sadly, lacrosse they did not win the team national championship but they took third. But overall I feel like it's a. I'm glad that he's part of lacrosse because he really brings some light to us. I mean, lacrosse has a lot of good sports but he's been grinding. He's been grinding since you talked to him last and it's good to see that it showed for him out there on the mat there. It was pretty cool to watch, especially hosting it in lacrosse. He was able to win at home 100%.
Speaker 1:I told him during that interview. I said, hey, when you win, you got to come back on the show and I think I'm gonna have to get back on him. We're gonna have to get him back on the show here and talk about that title, because I saw some video from it. It was fantastic and, like you said, I mean this guy coming from Marshfield, I believe he won a match earlier this year. He was wrestling up a division and I believe he got a win there too, so it's been an all-around impressive season there out of nolan hurdle. So just wanted to say congratulations to him. They're back to back d3 champ there at uwl and big things to come. I can only imagine big things to come out of them in this crazy wrestling world that is nowadays and surprisingly, there was another guy from marshfield that won a Division III title.
Speaker 2:I forget his name Bentley Schwanebeck Osterman, out of Marshfield. He also wrestles at Augsburg, but he's also out of Marshfield. He won an individual title in lacrosse as well. So two guys from Marshfield, wisconsin, winning national individual titles in Division III. I think that's pretty cool for Central Wisconsin there.
Speaker 1:Putting Marshfield Wrestling on the map. I mean, that's what they're doing Two products coming out of Marshfield yeah, I mean, like you said earlier, it is at the end of the day it almost seems like an individual sport. But the guys from Marshfield that built those two up along the way, even more wrestlers have come out of Marshfield. Not just those two, but even more guys have come out of Marshfield. But just to see some of those guys coming from it's not a small town in Marshfield but it's not huge right and to see some of these guys advancing and getting up to the biggest level there and bringing home some hardware, that is all around impressive. And also, stephen Buchanan had him on the show. He did place third at nationals there in d1 for oklahoma. Sadly, I believe he lost to a penn state guy. I believe he lost to a penn state guy there early on there didn't wrestle his way back.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you know you get against those penn state guys, the iowa guys. It's tough. I mean those guys are top ranked in the country for a reason. They are very good. And I mean this guy, same with Nolan, he's worked his tail off, he's built himself back. He transferred recently to Oklahoma, so his first year wrestling at Oklahoma, and I mean he had a very impressive record too, so fantastic all the way around. Some of our former interviews getting, I mean bringing home the hardware, right, and it was impressive to see how Steven wrestled his way back to get that third place finish.
Speaker 1:So jumping out of the wrestling scene there, we got a lot to get into today. I got a lot I want to get into with Austin today here. First, brewers I want to talk about the Brewers a little bit today. Wanted to just get our projected lineups here. You know we have no idea, this might not, this might never happen, right, but we want to give our projected lineups. Then we got a little bit of over-unders, right, we want to give our over-unders, our betting lines for the season here. So, looking at our projected lineups, I'll go through mine first, then I want to hear yours, austin, and we'll see kind of where we compare there.
Speaker 1:So in my leadoff spot I really wanted Mitchell to be in there. Now he's got that fractured hand. No more Garrett Mitchell. I got Sal Frelick in there. I think Frelick now will play center field. I thought it was going to be Churro. I've heard in some articles and everything like that that they aren't overly impressed with Churro's defense. So I think Frelick does get the nod there in center field. My second spot I got William Contreras. I mean Contreras, he's a power hitter but he's not right. He hits the gaps hard and I think this is a guy you want in that two hole. Christian Yelich I think he stays in the top half of the lineup. I think he moves down to third. I think he'll be at that third spot in the order there. The guy started to produce again last year. Hopefully it continues into this year and hopefully we see more out of Christian Yelich in this season.
Speaker 1:In my four spot I got Reese Hoskins. You brought in the thump. He's got to be in your cleanup spot. I think Pat Murphy's going to go with that. I don't think he's going to give us the crazy Craig Council lineups where we got Sal Frelick Batten cleanup I think we will see will fill in that five spot. He's got some pop left right. We saw it in spring there. He had a big three home run day in spring. So I think Willie Adamas will be in that five spot. My DH right now it's going to depend on the day right. But I think Gary Sanchez is going to fit into that DH role. He brings the power, the guy gets on base. He's an all-around pretty good hitter and I think Gary Sanchez with that pop will find himself in the lineup as a DH in that sixth spot.
Speaker 1:My seventh spot, I have Jackson Churro. I believe he's going to get a start. He's going to be in the starting role and I think he'll be on right field for the Brewers. I really think that's if he does not start in center. I could see them working Frelick and Churro around. One will play center, the other one's going to play right. But I think Churro in my lineup he's playing right field batting seventh.
Speaker 1:In my eighth spot I got Bryce Terang playing second base. I really do think Bryce Terang will bat eighth. I mean we know he's going to start, it's just a matter of where you're going to hit him. I think the eighth spot's fantastic for him. And in my ninth spot, you know, with Mitchell, I was going to have Frelick there at third base but now no Mitchell here, so Frelick's going to be out of the outfield. I think that Joey Ortiz the young not prospect anymore, he had some time with the Orioles, just got him for the Orioles. I think he will take over at third base there for a majority of the time if he does hit at the big league level. Otherwise I could see guys like Andrew Monasterio getting in there at the third base spot. So that's where I'm at right now with my nine, my starting nine, right there. Austin, I mean any thoughts on your projected lineup? I mean, if it's close to mine, I'm good with that. Otherwise, if you have guys that you would switch around, what would you do with this Brewers starting lineup here?
Speaker 2:Yeah, mine's pretty close there. I like the idea of Mysterio being in there. I thought he was actually pretty good for last year, kind of just coming out of nowhere, had no idea who the guy was, and next thing you know this guy is doing pretty decent in the major league so honestly I would not be surprised if he got the nod to start there. But, kind of similar to you, you kind of sucks. Garrett Mitchell another injury there. Um, he has so much potential and we've seen that so many times, but he's just getting set back by so many injuries it's tough to see Watson, isn't it?
Speaker 2:it's like almost similar, like the same guy and so I think, like you were saying, sal Frillick, probably especially with how well he was hitting when he kind of got into the major leagues at the end of last year. I think he's a really good leadoff hitter there. Possibly William Contreras in the two following him there as well. Christian Yelich, kind of similar as you there, reese Hoskins, maybe Gary Sanchez gets in there in the five after the cleanup hitter there. Jack centurio, kind of like you were saying, struggling a little bit as they might, as they said. So, um, don't know if he's probably gonna be up there, but definitely I think he's gonna be starting. Um, what happened to, uh, the one other, the rookie from last year Forget his name Joey Weimer? Yeah, what happened to that guy? Where is he at?
Speaker 1:He got an option to AAA. He's down in AAA right now. Well, technically not yet, but he's starting the year at AAA.
Speaker 2:So we probably won't be seeing him at all. So I got Jackson Churio Probably not Jackson Churio my sixth, willie Adamas. He's a good shortstop, but I feel like he's been slowly declining, especially at the plate there. So he's towards the end. And then Bryce, terang and Mysterio. You could probably switch them at the end there. It doesn't really matter which one goes. Terang hopefully he does a lot better this year at the plate, but that's just something we're going to have to see. Overall, though, pretty similar to your starting lineup there. Batting lineup.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think it's going to be interesting to see, because we saw a lot of crazy lineups out of Craig Gounsell. I think it's going to be interesting to see how Pat Murphy, in his first season, what he kind of shakes out for a lineup if he goes with the traditional look or if we get some wild lineups like Sal Frelick in the cleanup spot or Jackson Churro in the cleanup spot, like we would have saw, possibly, with a guy like Craig Gounsell. So I I think it's going to be interesting. But I agree, I mean that's we're kind of in the same boat there, where we're looking right now with the projected lineup, and it's going to be interesting to see that third base spot I think is still up for grabs with the Brewers, whether it's Joey Ortiz, andrew Monasterio, or you know. They have rookies coming through the, through the minor league ranks right now, so potentially, at some point, seeing one of those guys make their way up there.
Speaker 1:So with that, though, we got to get to the over-unders, right, I want to get to some over-unders today. Here we're going to go first. Christian Jelic home runs on the season okay, over-under 15. Do we believe he's going to hit over 15 or under 15. I'm going to give him the over. I just feel like 15 is a low number. Even if he's not crazy with the pop numbers, I'm still going to give him over 15. What do you think there with Christian Yelich?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think overall. Now you look, Garrett Mitchell is out, Weimer's not doing too hot. So basically Yelich has to play now and we thought we had all these outfielders, but now he's going to have to play. So I definitely think he's going to get over 15 home runs there.
Speaker 1:Over 15 there. We got Sal Frelick over under 15 stolen bases Last season. I believe we just went over before he had like seven. He had seven in his, not a full season there at the big league level. I'm going to go with. He's got speed, he's got the skill to get on base. I'm going to give him the over. I'm going to give him over 15 stolen bases on the year.
Speaker 2:I'm going to give him over as as well, because, like you were just saying, um, he kind of came in a little bit, uh, halfway through the season there and he's got, he got seven. But you also look at the new base stealing rules, so making it, making a lot easier for base runners, strange. So, uh, I think he's definitely probably gonna to give it over 15 there.
Speaker 1:Over 15. I like it there. Brewer win total Now we've seen a lot of projections, usually around the 75 to 77 range on the win total on the year. We went with a little modest number right. We went 76. Over, under 76. I'm going to say over. I just believe they'll be over 76 wins. Whether that 76 wins is good or not in the NL Central I don't know, they might just get 77. But I believe this team will be over a 76 win team on the year.
Speaker 2:What do you?
Speaker 1:think Over under 76.
Speaker 2:I feel like it's so easy just to say over, just because of how used we are, used we are to winning with craig council before, and I still think I'm still gonna go over. But this might actually be. I mean, even though, even though it doesn't look like our team is really a rebuilding, um, I don't know how well our new manager is gonna be, so I'm gonna still go with over. But the question are we making to make the playoffs? I don't know. I don't know about that one. I'm glad that one's not something we're talking about, because that one might be a little bit more tough to talk about.
Speaker 1:I agree with that. I agree with that. I mean it's tough the win total. I mean if I said over under 78, I think that might change our minds, that might flip it back a little bit right 77, that's what they're getting.
Speaker 1:That's the cutoff. 77 is the cutoff. But I mean, yeah, there's a lot of question marks. Starting rotation for the Brewers, I mean guys staying healthy, you don't know. I mean you don't know if guys are going to stay healthy throughout the year. It's just a lot of intangibles right now that the Brewers are out of control of, but it's just I don't know if they got the pieces right now to really make a run like we're used to, especially the lack of starting pitching. So with that, though, I'm going to go.
Speaker 1:Total home runs for this team Now. Last year they were about 176. They were in that range. You had to think the leader in the league was the Braves with 307. I'm going to go over under 200. I'm going to take the over. I think I'm going to take the over. You think I'm going to take the over.
Speaker 1:You have Contreras, you have Hoskins, you have Sanchez now, and I believe the rest of these guys will scrape across a few home runs. Willie, adamas, he's home run or bust right at this point. So, willie, if he's not going to hit, he's going to give you 20-plus home runs, I believe, yet. So you have Adamas, hoskins, yelich, we're saying over 15 Contreras, sanchez and whoever else fills pieces in there. Right, you're gonna have guys filling in here and there. If Garrett Mitchell, when he comes back, I, garrett Mitchell, can hit. He can hit the long ball. So we know Mitchell can. Joey Weimer is a home run hitter. If he gets called up at some point this year I'm gonna give him the over. I think they will get over 200, just because last year they had a down year home run-wise and yet they still hit 176. So I'm going to give them the over on 200.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I feel like this one's actually pretty close. I think we have more home run hitters for sure, Like last year, we didn't even have a first baseman and now we got Reese Hoskins. Reese Hoskins also didn't play at all last year, so I don't really know what we're going to be getting out of him and what I've seen on Instagram and other things, he's been hitting the ball pretty well. I know he had a grand slam or something, so that one's pretty exciting. Gary Sanchez is Gary Sanchez even been playing in spring training or has he just been chilling?
Speaker 1:a little bit a little bit he's played a little bit here, as of late he had a wrist injury. He worked his way back and now it's hit or miss, but you know spring training's done now, so true, this one might be tough for me, but I might take the under.
Speaker 2:I might take the under on this one and you look at it, there's still some younger guys there, especially. I mean, you know, like you know, wilson Gutierrez or William Gutierrez is going to hit a home run. You know Reese Hoskins he definitely has potential. Gary Sanchez we've seen him when he was in New York Yankees. He's been able to hit home runs. But it's the younger guys. Are they going to be able to pull their weight as well, hitting home runs, or are they just known as getting on base? I mean, we've seen Sal Freeland hit home runs. We've seen Bryce Terang hit home runs last year, but Bryce Terang really struggled and Mr Monasterio, he barely played. I mean, he played a lot but he barely hit a home run. It seemed like he he was good at hitting doubles, I'll tell you that much. He was good at hitting like extra base hits, but I just didn't really see him hit a whole lot of home runs.
Speaker 1:So I'm gonna take the under on 200 okay, okay, I mean, yeah, I can see it both ways. Honestly, I'm taking the optimistic. Look right, you gotta take the after you gotta take that out.
Speaker 2:Take the optimistic, I take the realistic, so well that's fair.
Speaker 1:That's fair. That's fair. Somebody's got it right, somebody's got it there, so we got here. Here's one for you, willie Adamas. Batting average we gave him a modest one here, over under 240. Willie Adamas, over under 240. I've answered first every time. Now, austin, I got to hear from you Over under 240 for Willie Adamasas.
Speaker 2:I don't know what he was hitting last year, but I don't think it was that good um. Let me see once.
Speaker 1:I still might take the under on this one uh, willie Adamas, last season it wasn't high, I can tell you that much.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I know he had a very sluggish year 217. Yeah, I think he's probably going to do the same, if not maybe a little bit better, but I don't think he's going to get to 240.
Speaker 1:I might take the under on this one. You know I don't dislike Willie Adamas, so I really want to take the over. He's a good team guy. I know that's the worst part.
Speaker 2:If there was over under how many friends he had on the team, I'd take the over. But we're talking about bad in average here. We're talking about hitting the baseball.
Speaker 1:Let's take the under, but I'm going to go just under, just under.
Speaker 2:I'm not going to go too far under. I'm going to go, yeah 239.
Speaker 1:239 and a half. Right there. I think he's going to sit at. I'll leave him right there. So last one Series wins against NL Central rivals. So we're going to go with. Will they win the season series against the Reds, pirates, cardinals and Cubs? First off, austin. I'm going to give you a toughie. That's the Pirates. They do stink, but the Brewers always struggle against the pirates and the pirates were pretty decent last year, if I recall.
Speaker 2:I mean they were kind of middle of the pack there could beat you sometimes if you weren't like trying really hard. You know. Um, I think we'll still beat them over on the season series. But don't be surprised if we drop a couple against them, because I know they're a pretty good team. Like they kind of just hang around there, you sometimes you forget about them. Next thing you know you're losing uh series against them because I know they're a pretty good team. Like they kind of just hang around there Sometimes you forget about them. Next thing, you know you're losing series against them and it's like this is a team that we should not be losing against. So I think we're still going to win the series, like season series, but I wouldn't be surprised if the Pirates make a little magic against us.
Speaker 1:I agree, last season they hung out at the top of the central for the longest time and then it was like end of the year was just a tank for them. They just fell off the cliff then. So I mean, yeah, I, they always struggle with the Pirates. I'm gonna take they will win the season series against the Pirates, but it will be close. I don't think it's gonna be any wide margin. I think they're gonna hang around. So we got the Cardinals next. I'm going to take. No, I don't think they'll win this season's series against the Cardinals. Last season Cardinals were stinkers, right, they sucked, but this season, I mean they got some pitchers back. I think the Cardinals will be back. If the Brewers, if they don't lose it, I think they'll tie. I think it'll be close to a tie in this season series, but I think it's going to be a tough it's a tough matchup for the Brewers against Cardinals all the time, and I'm I'm also there with you.
Speaker 2:They were last year. Cardinals were 71 and 91, but that was probably the worst year that they've had in like the longest time I can think of. I'm pretty sure the Brewers did do good against them in their season series, but I think the Cardinals are going to be back this year, so I think the Cardinals might beat us out in the season series.
Speaker 1:Brewers Cubs season series. I think the Brewers win the season series against the Cubs. I'll be honest, I think Pat Murphy outduels Greg Gautzel. And I think the Brewers win the season series against the Cubs.
Speaker 2:I'll be honest, I think Pat Murphy outduels, greg Gautzel and I think the Brewers win the season series against the Cubbies. This one might come down to pitching Trage. Who has better pitchers? It's a great question, because all I know on our team is we got what Freddie Peralta and DL Hall and a broken Brandon Woodruff. So I don't really know what we're working with, but I think we still pull it off here. I feel like it's something personal for the Brewers. You know, like I saw, we beat the crap out of them in one of our last spring games, and if we could do that a whole lot of times, that'd be wonderful. It'd make me happy I know it'd make you happy, trace, oh yeah, and it'd make Pat Murphy happy. So I think we might. This one's going to be close because the Cubs are just always good. For some reason they're always, just always up there, even though they lose people, and then they just get Cody Bellinger. So I don't really know, but I think the Brewers are going to pull it off and win this season series.
Speaker 1:There we go, there we go. So last, there we go, there we go. So. Last but not least, we have the Cincinnati Reds. Reds are on the rise. They got some young talents. They're getting a little bit better. I do think the Brewers win the season series against the Reds. I just every year. It seems like the Reds find a way to stink it all away, and I think they will. Once again. I'm gonna give the Brewers the edge, but, like I said with the Cardinals, I think it's gonna be close. If it's not 500, the Brewers the edge, but like I said with the Cardinals, I think it's going to be close. If it's not 500, the Brewers will just win this season series against the Reds.
Speaker 2:Yeah, Reds are middle of the pack. Last year they were 82-80, so about as mid as you can get as a team, but still really dangerous. They got some fresh young guys down there in Cincinnati, like you were saying, probably going to be close in the season splits here. I don't know, Tredge. I don't know if we're going to win that season series.
Speaker 1:I mean, hey, I can see it going both ways.
Speaker 2:I can see it going both ways, but I feel like the Brewers just always collapse for some reason, Just even if it's a little bit. They just always collapse against not the best teams, and this might be the one where we don't really get the best playing against the Reds here. So I might take the Reds over the Brewers. It will probably be close, but I'm going to take the Reds.
Speaker 1:I agree, 100% I agree. I mean it's going to be close one way or another there. I think the NL Central is going to be close as a whole. So I think a lot of our predictions there could go one way, could go another way. I mean, completely honest, the Brewers might surprise us, as they do lots of times, and just start ringing off wins, right, so we have no idea. But hey, we got to get out of the Brewers here. We're running long, right, so we have no idea. But hey, we got to get out of the brewers here. We're running long, right, I got to get to a couple of our sponsors here quick before we move on.
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Speaker 1:But with that we saw the Wisconsin women's basketball team. They got the win over Southern Indiana Screaming Eagles. That is a fantastic name. I have never heard a better. There's probably better names out there for college teams. But we saw them get the win against Southern Indiana Screaming Eagles and they did it in impressive comeback fashion. This Badger team was down big. They were down 44-25 at the half and they ended up winning this game 67-62. They actually held Southern Indiana to seven points in that fourth quarter. There Scored 25 themselves to rattle off this victory and it was all around impressive. Looking at some of the stats there Williams for the Badgers had 24, porter had 19, and then we saw 12 out of Copeland in that game. So Badgers come up big.
Speaker 1:I mean a lot of people look at the WNIT and they say who cares, right, who cares? And I get it, I get it. It's not the big dance, right, it's nothing like that. But this is a Badger team who is 13 and 16 going into this game against Southern Indiana. This is a Badger program that's been struggling for years. I really do think wins like this for a team like that is a build for the future, right. I think that's it's good. I really do think it's good for a team like Wisconsin who has struggled to get extra playing time here.
Speaker 1:So they will face off Thursday night. That'll be at the Kohl Center. They'll be taking on Illinois State, the Redbirds, there at Illinois State. That should be a fantastic game there. We did see Illinois State win their first game I don't know who that Charleston. They beat Charleston there to advance to play the Badgers. And the Badgers, like I said, I mean before that Southern Indiana game. They were struggling. I mean four straight losses there leading up into that one. But bounce back was huge for the Badgers there. They moved to 14 and 16 on the year. So can't wait. That game will be on ESPN Plus for that game in the WNIT tournament. Not anything major right? Not getting big radio waves, but they will be on ESPN Plus if you have ESPN Plus there. So getting out of that Austin. We got to talk about the Badgers here, but first I'm going to mention a couple more of our sponsors quick, then we're going to get into the Badgers, because I want to just keep talking about the Badgers. Get your takes and everything like that.
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Speaker 2:You need some physical therapy.
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Speaker 1:We saw the Badgers lose to James Madison in a game that was completely ugly. Badgers were never really in that game. Then we get the aftermath of it. Right, we get this aftermath now. We saw Conor Asijian enter the transfer portal. Luke Hurdle also entered the transfer portal. Not as big of a loss, right. We didn't see much out of Luke Hurdle, but another guy. And then now we see AJ Storr is going to test the NBA waters.
Speaker 1:Now my biggest question is what's next? I mean, we've now seen one, one of. If he's not the best shooter on the badgers team. He was right there with him, right, connor, a season is one of the best shooters on the this badger team from this previous year. Maybe he had a down year, but lack of playing time will do that to a guy. Lack of confidence. I mean, did greg guard have the confidence in season. Was he instilling that in his guy? I don't know. So now, conor Cesar's out the door. I did see rumblings. Now there's mutual interest between Conor Cesar and Michigan Dusty May from Florida Atlantic. We all love Florida Atlantic, right, he's going up to Michigan now to be the head coach. Conor Cesar's in talks, the head coach, conor Seasons in talks. That's fantastic.
Speaker 1:Aj Storr, he's now testing the NBA waters. I mean, I don't think anybody else is leaving, but at this point I don't know, right, I don't know. Last time we had heard Conor Seasons made it seem like he was coming back to Madison for his would-be junior year. Now he's leaving, right, aj Storr, he's still up in the air. We don't know if AJ Storr is going to the NBA. We don't know if AJ Storr is coming back to Madison or we don't know if he's possibly going to enter his name back into the transfer portal and try to go somewhere else. We don't know any of it because he has been very non non-descriptive of what's going on. You know, after the game they asked him. He said he didn't know, he wasn't, he didn't say anything, right, and that kind of set off the alarm whistles for me.
Speaker 1:I mean, I look at AJ Storr. He's a great player. He's very athletic. The guy can create shots, but he can't hit shots. Right, he's not athletic. The guy can create shots but he can't hit shots. Right, he's not a good finisher. He's not a good finisher around the rim. He's not a good, he's not a great shooter. Right, when you think of guys who can create shots and hit shots, right, you think of Steph Curry, or I mean, you think of guys like that at the NBA level. You go back to college. You think of guys like RJ Davis. Right, that guy can create shots. He can hit shots out of North Carolina. There you have even guys like Marcus Sears with Alabama. You have great guys who can create shots and hit shots.
Speaker 1:For me, aj Stewart does not have that ability yet and I don't think the NBA is the. I mean, if he makes it, if somebody drafts him, all hats off to him. Right, that's fantastic. I'm never going to say that that's not the right thing for him, but what I'm saying is that this guy, I get that feeling that he's following. I said it when Johnny Davis left. I thought Johnny Davis was still missing a little bit, but he capitalized on a good year, right. He had to take off after a good year. I don't even know if AJ Storer had that. I mean, he had a good year. I'm not going to say he didn't have a good year, but did he have the year that's going to make NBA teams say this is a guy I need to draft in the second round? You know, that's the thing that worries me when I think about AJ Storer. So I kind of just want to get your opinion on AJ Storer. Do you believe that he is NBA?
Speaker 2:ready or does he need another year of college? Well, yeah, and I'm just thinking back to Johnny Davis, kind of like what you were saying. And Johnny Davis was first team all conference. Was he all American? I can't, I think he was all American, I can't remember, and he went in the first round. But you look at, when he got to the NBA playing for the Wizards, we kind of like don't really know a whole lot about him anymore, like he's not making rumbles in the NBA, like probably the Wizards thought he would. And now AJ Stord didn't even get first-team all-conference for the Badgers there, and so it makes you wonder. Maybe he's leaving a little bit too early. And if he isn't leaving a little bit too early, he still said he's going to remain or keep his college eligibility. So does that mean he's coming back to the Badgers? There's another question for you, trage. I don't really know. I don't know if he's coming back to the Badgers.
Speaker 1:Nobody knows.
Speaker 2:Yeah, nobody knows of and I don't blame him. I don't blame him if he does or doesn't. Um, we only know when, if we get a new coach, or if Gar's gonna be the new coach or stay the coach, I don't know. Um, the men's basketball program, we've been all right, we've been pretty good. We've won a couple and or, uh, we've won a couple of college or Big Ten championships here and there. But I saw something that we haven't made to the Sweet 16 since one of guard's first or second years and that's when we had all of Bo Ryan's guys still, and ever since then I feel like we've talked about this plenty of times. Ever since then, we've barely been looking like Kentucky out there. Trage is one in five in their past, how, like six seasons or something like that, and we're basically looking like that. We didn't even make the tournament last year, and so it does make you question. First off, uh, who's gonna replace guard? I don't think guard's coming back. And uh, after that JMU loss, I think it kind of solidified. If we would have won against Illinois in the conference championship and played good against JMU and won, then I've been like, okay, I can see them sticking with guard, but I think his reign is over and with AJ Storr, I don't think he should be going to the NBA. Personally, I think he should probably come back for one more year and if it's not to the Badgers it's going to suck, because he was kind of the highlight of the Badgers. We had a lot of good players last year, but it was pretty clear that he made a lot of explosive plays and when he was on, he was on. When he was off, he was probably a little 2k. Takeover was uh, but missing the shots a little bit there. So definitely some pros and cons, but definitely a really good player that we've got out of the transfer portal. That would suck to not be there next year if he doesn't end up going to the NBA.
Speaker 2:And then, um, what's the other guys? Connor Ceejan I mean we didn't use him. I can't blame him for leaving. We never used him. He went from how many points? He went like from 12 points per game or something last year to one or something like that. It was bad this year. But guard did not play them and I don't know if that was something in the locker room with work ethic or something, but you can't blame the kid for wanting to transfer when he's not going to play here. When he played so much last year Because AJ Starr coming in did not change a whole lot Connor Season definitely could have got some minutes over some of the other guys or whatever, if something was happening.
Speaker 2:He didn't even get a chance against JMU. I'm sure you probably talked about this, but he didn't even get a chance against JMU At that point just try anything. Yep, yep, put out Isaac Gard out there, screw it. I mean, who cares? But no, he's gone. If he goes to Michigan, heck, michigan probably needs him, but they beat Wisconsin, so can't really talk crap about Michigan. And then Lou Curl, he's probably going to Valpo or Illinois State or something like lower D1.
Speaker 1:Valpo seems to get a lot of the former Badgers coming through there.
Speaker 2:But I know Jordan Davis is in Illinois State so I wouldn't be surprised if he goes there. Valpo something smaller Overall. Hopefully this is the end of people transferring and we can move on from guard as a program and kind of look towards the future. I think that's what we kind of need. And then if guard's leaving, does it change the minds of some recruits that might be coming in? That's another question, but hopefully not.
Speaker 1:I think so. I, you know, the biggest thing with that's the only thing with guard leaving is that. What does that say to you know? How does Chucky hepburn feel about that? How does steven crowell feel about that? You know? So, is it going to cause a complete locker room turnover and is it going to be a couple years? Does you have a recruiting class right now with two pretty high and not high end right, but four star recruit, daniel free tag, and then you also have I think he's a three-star and Jack Robinson coming in. Do those guys change their mind? You also have Joe Kravinoff. He's up for the job at Southern Illinois right now, and I mean Kravinoff. He recruited free tag like he was the main guy in on free tag. He was the main guy in on Gus Buss Gus yelled in there and Chucky Hepburn and Nolan Winter, johnny Davis, crowell, tyler Wall, like Joe Kravinoff's been the recruiter for the Badgers. So how do recruits and players feel if Joe Kravinoff walks out the door? I mean, there's a lot of turnover right now with the Badgers and I don't know if he gets fired right?
Speaker 1:I saw a question out there and it really sparked my interest because it seemed like it was wrote by a person who really likes Greg Gard, but that's fine. I mean you can write the article if you like Greg Gard. What it said was is that you have a guy who has 20-plus wins a year, like this guy's, sitting around 20 wins a year, right, and he's having good regular season success. He's got two regular season titles and he's got coach of the year, big Ten coach of the year a couple years, right. So this guy, he's been in the Sweet 16 with Bo Ryan's guys. I talked about that yesterday there, so I can't really count that. But you look at the postseason success. It's been downhill. Now I saw the article and the guy was whoever it was was basically saying that postseason success doesn't outweigh, or your regular season success outweighs, what you do in the postseason, and that's all fine and dandy, right.
Speaker 1:But at what point do you get sick of we win 20? It's like the Badger football team, right, paul Chris could get us to 12 wins a year, every single year. But what is the biggest reason why Paul Chris was let go? The guy couldn't beat Ohio State. That was the big reason why he got to the big games. He got to the Big Ten Championship game. He couldn't get over the hump. Every single year Paul Chris is gone. We can get to the Big Ten Championship game right. We did it this year. We got there. We couldn't get past Illinois but we set ourselves up in such a bad spot right.
Speaker 1:Two years in a row now we've had fall aparts after the start of the year. We started 11-2 two years ago. We ended up faltering off, didn't even make the tournament right. We made the NIT After that. This year we started. I mean we were 16-4. At one point we were number six in the nation. We fell off a cliff. We ended up. I mean I believe I can't remember what the final tally was for the badges on the year, but it was just above 20 wins.
Speaker 2:I think it was nine or I thought we had 19 wins or something, but maybe that was 22 and 14 22 and 14 regular season.
Speaker 1:Yes, and then they had the big 10 tournament success and then, uh, the three wins of the big 10 tournament and then lost in the game to James Madison. So it also affected the loss total there. But you had over 20 wins, right. But it gets to the point where how many more years are we just going to make it to the tournament? Right, we're going to be just on the cusp of making it or we're going to make it and then losing the first round At some point. You got to get over the hump, right? So if you don't fire Greg Gard, I want to go off of your point. Austin's giving me the finger over there. He's like I got something to tell you. I got you One second. Let's say I want to go off your point from before If Greg Gard does come back. This is a one year, this is a prove it year. Right, you have Chucky coming back for his fourth year. You have Steven Crowell in his fourth year. You have Max Klesman now in his fourth year of college, now second year at Madison. Right, you have guys who have been together for years. Now You're going to have some good recruits coming in. Right, they have to add in the transfer portal after this year. I mean, you lost Tyler Wall. Now you've lost probably AJ Storr and Conor Esesian. You've got to add pieces in the transfer portal because that's where it's at nowadays. You have to be able to add pieces in the transfer portal. So say you bring back this really good roster right, a lot of experience, a lot of good scoring. Say AJ Storr even comes back.
Speaker 1:Greg Gard has to get them out of the first weekend, point and simple. He has to get them. I don't care if you win the Big Ten regular season title, I don't care if you win the Big Ten tournament. What I care about is if you get into the big dance. I mean, yeah, we want to see them win the Big Ten championship, right, but I want to see the Badgers out of the first weekend. That's the one thing Greg Gard hasn't been able to do with his recruits is get them out of the first weekend.
Speaker 1:So I believe if you bring them back next year, it's a very short leash. It is a very short leash on Greg Gard saying you got to prove it because next year the Big Ten gets tougher, right, you have Oregon, you have USC coming in, you have UCLA coming in, you have Washington coming in. I mean it. I mean those aren't great basketball schools, all of them, but they're still good. They're not like they're pushovers. So now the conference gets tougher. You got to be able to compete, and if you can't compete with the big schools, then you got to move on. I think you give them one year If you don't fire them. You give them one year and you say this is dude, you're on the hot seat. You have to be on the hot seat and you have to figure something out this year yeah, and if he comes back, you got to get rid of just.
Speaker 2:This is not what I was going to talk about. But if he comes back, you got to get rid of the not good players on the bench. Like why is your like, first off, no disrespect but why is your son there? I'm like I know he's not good and we all know that. Like I hate when coaches be doing that just to get their son on the team. Like go out there and actually get recruits. Like luke hurdle, my buddy played against him in high school and he says, yeah, he was good, but they're overall their team in high school was really good, so that made luke hurdle look really good, but he played Like we need to go out there and like get some good recruits, even if they're going to be on the bench.
Speaker 2:But what I was going to say is, if you, if that person thinks that post-season doesn't matter, look at NC state. Look at NC state right now, cause I think the their head coach had someone in his contract saying that if he wins the conference tournament, that he got a two-year extension onto his contract there. Well, lo and behold, buddy wins. The I mean defines all odds because they had to go through a gauntlet. They had to beat, I'm pretty sure, duke and North Carolina. I'm pretty sure I can't remember who they all beat.
Speaker 1:Yeah, they did beat Duke and North Carolina, yep.
Speaker 2:And.
Speaker 1:Virginia before that and Virginia before that.
Speaker 2:They are high on Virginia, but still good win and so definitely not easy. And now you look how, like they're doing now, post-season definitely matters. Post-season definitely matters, even more than regular season. Yes, you need the regular season wins to get into the postseason, but once you get into the postseason, anything's possible. Anything's possible. You look at some FAU last year no one even knew who they were during the regular season. They get to the postseason. They got to a Final Four before Wisconsin could with Greg Gard. So that's just. I don't know what that person's thinking if he doesn't think regular season wins are better than postseason wins. Because I've been a wisconsin badger fan long enough and I felt way better when we were making the final four than when we were beating up on ndsu or whatever and some random game, or when frank kaminsky beat up on north texas. I don't even know what the team was, but they like those games. I don't know. I don't know why he would make. I don't know why the person would make comments like that.
Speaker 1:No, I mean, I completely agree. And it's not like we're saying the Badgers have to make the final four every year. That's unrealistic, right? And it's unrealistic to even say a lead eight every single year. What we're saying is that this Badger team gets to the postseason and nine times out of 10, they don't even put up a fight Like that. Jmu game was bad, that was downright bad.
Speaker 2:And then you look at the Oregon game 16, 17 turnovers 19. 19 turnovers you see what JMU was able to do to Duke. Or you see what Duke was able to do to JMU. The next game game.
Speaker 1:Yep, jack, you did. I mean people were so high up on jmu they weren't like I said in my uh after that game. I said jmu wasn't that good. Like I mean we saw what they did against duke. Duke's not that good of a team like everybody's like so high up like oh, duke's this good. But no, they're not. They're not that good of a team. If duke was that good they wouldn't be sitting there on the four line right now with a lot of bad losses on that schedule. I mean Duke is not as great as what people think Duke is and yet they were able to route JMU. But they only had six turnovers. Badgers turned the basketball over 19 times and also off those turnovers 20 plus points. That's what happens when you get into dogfights like that and you can't figure it out and a lot of unprepared players going into that one. So I mean yeah, 100%. And like I was saying there, I mean you look at the Badgers.
Speaker 1:You're not saying Final Four. I'm not expecting Greg Gard to go to a national championship next year. Would it be fantastic? Yeah, 100%. But I'm not saying national championship, I'm not saying Final Four, I'm not even saying Elite Eight. What I'm saying is that we got. If you have this experience of a roster with players that you have developed through the years, you got to be able to take them a little bit. You have to be able to make that team go into turn. If you lose a game if that james madison game was 99 to 89, like everybody was just shooting the lights out of a building, sure then it's, you can lose games like that. I'm not saying you can't lose games. We've seen number one Purdue lose to Fairleigh Dickinson right. We've seen some good teams go down at tournament time. What I'm saying is that how bad the Badgers played in that loss. That's what I look at over the years here how bad the Badgers have played in losses. Now he has had some unfortunate things right. Chucky Hepburn got hurt before the Iowa State game. Johnny Davis, I believe, was also banged up for that game. So you had injuries going into that one. I get those. But at some point we got to stop making excuses and you got to make something happen. You have to make something happen. We can't have the fall apart years.
Speaker 1:This Badger team at one point was destined for a two seed and in the Big Ten they were winning the Big Ten. At one point they were ahead of Purdue. That was supposed to be when we went in that Purdue game. It was supposed to be like the battle of David and Goliath, with us against Zach Eady, but it was supposed to be this showdown right number six, first number two in the nation. It shows how fast that can change for the Badgers. And then it was just a downhill spiral after that and there was no change up until really the Big Ten tournament when it all flipped around and then it flipped back against JMU. So I mean, I don't know, there's a lot of things in Madison right now that there I believe we aren't. Like we saw a season enter the portal. We saw AJ Storr testing the waters. I don't think we're done getting news out of the Badgers yet. I really don't.
Speaker 2:And I'll end it on this. You look at some of the good teams. I know Kansas is out, but North Carolina, duke, they're still in there. They the good teams that have the good coaches. They'll lose. They'll lose some games, but then they'll come back and win With the Wisconsin Badgers. They lost and they kept losing. They lost to Michigan, they lost to Rutgers, they lost to.
Speaker 2:I mean, it all started with that Nebraska game Trace, when they let Nebraska come back weasel their way back down. I think it was 20. And then, ever since then, it was just downhill from there and we weren't able to recover. I think that's partially on the coach. Like you've got to like, tell them, like we get it. It's one loss, but you guys just got to come back. You guys are still the number six-ranked team in the nation and play like it. But obviously they didn't play like it. But the great teams, they're able to bounce back after those games. Wisconsin's not great, are they good? They were good, but they struggled. They definitely struggled this year. I don't want to say the season was a disappointment, but from where it started to where it ended, I could definitely call it a disappointment, because I mean it's like the military trades. They break you down and then they build you up, uh. But then they broke us back down. They kind of just left us there. They never built us back up trade.
Speaker 1:I'm still down there, so uh pretty much definitely still disappointed, but um like as all wisconsin sports, there's always next year, so I just, you know, the biggest thing and the biggest argument I hear is that the blame on the players. Right, players didn't execute, players didn't do this player and you know, okay, that's fine it. But is that going to be the same excuse five years from now with greg guard? Is that going to be the same excuse 10 years from now if greg guard's still there, right? Is it going to continuously be the excuse that the players just didn't execute right? In some games players will not execute right, but it can't be the same thing over and over and over again, because then that comes down to, like you said, coaching. That comes down to player development. That comes down to getting guys prepared for a game. You go into a game, you're prepared for the opponent JMU.
Speaker 1:The Badgers didn't look prepared, they looked lost, they looked like this was the first game of the year and they were fifth graders playing the varsity team, right, they were just all kinds of out of sorts and it never seemed to like. Nothing seemed to fix it. And then the second half they found a little bit of stride right. They played a little bit better in the second half. They found a little bit of stride right, they played a little bit better in the second half against James Madison and they fought their way back into the game, but it's the hole that they dug themselves and at one point maybe you can blame the players for decision-making, but I blame it on being unprepared for a game and it's happened too many times over and over again. So, like I've said, either Greg Gard has to advance with the times and he has to advance his coaching style to the new way of basketball. Right Transfer portal is where it's at Recruiting, not so much you got to get the most experienced team out there. That's basically what it is nowadays and Greg Gard needs to either advance with that time or fall into the past.
Speaker 1:So this Badger program needs to take a leap next year. It does If he comes back. It needs to take a leap. Otherwise I don't know if he makes it a full year next year. I'll be honest with you. If it starts to fall apart at the seams, I don't know if he makes it a full year. It's a $12 million buyout right now for his contract. I don't know if the Badgers can afford that just because they're paying Paul Crist yet and they're paying that hockey coach yet. So it would be a struggle to pay him off to, but at some point you just maybe have to. You have to, I don't know. I don't know. It's definitely going to be interesting, but with that I mean anything else, anything else you want to add here at the end.
Speaker 2:I don't got nothing. Trage, just happy to be back on. I know I'm kind of on and off, it's usually sometime in between. I'm kind of busy with spring ball just started back up. I'm kind of loaded with classes now because I had football in the fall so I kind of deloaded in the fall but now I'm picking up a little bit more classes so I can't be on as much. But I'm glad I can still come on when I can, you know.
Speaker 1:Heck yeah, we love to have you back. It gets a good laugh and it gets me new insight on what the heck's going out.
Speaker 2:You know, one of these times, me, you and Rogan, me you, rogan. We got to get back on the crew at some point because it might be mayhem if that happens.
Speaker 1:I just want to hear what Rogan has to say about the Badgers. That's what I need to hear what Rogan has to say about the Badgers, because he called me crazy midseason when I said Greggard was losing it. He called me crazy and then now we're here. Now we're here once again. So I mean I want to hear what Rogan's got to say sometime about what the heck's going on. But hey, with that, that's about all we got for today. We talked about a lot. We got the Brewers coming up tomorrow here, opening day of baseball. We're going to get into that tomorrow here on the show. But with that, this has been Wisconsin Sports on the go with Trace. Thank you guys for listening. We'll catch you guys back here tomorrow, but until then, deuces, we'll see you next time.