Brewers season opener, Marquette Sweet 16 preview, Bucks weekend preview

Gear up to catch the fever of Milwaukee's sports world as we break down the Brewers' thrilling season opener against the Mets. Feel the pulse of the game with a special focus on ace Freddie Peralta and explore how his elevated role could spell success for the team. We're not just playing ball; we're also sizing up the strategic batting lineups, and of course, giving a nod to Marquette's basketball prowess. Plus, find out why former Brewer Tyrone Taylor's move to the Mets might just be the fresh start he needs.

Turning our attention to the diamond, we scrutinize the Brewers' MLB roster from top to bottom. Newcomers DL Hall and Brian Hudson are on our radar as they don their Milwaukee jerseys for the first time. Discover why the catching choices came as a surprise and join us in weighing the impact of injuries on our team's synergy. And let's not overlook the outfield, where Jackson Churro's first major league steps are sure to be a game-changer. We're laying out the strategic plays and predicting how they'll shape the Brewers' fate this season.

Finally, we're dishing out a smorgasbord of Wisconsin sports updates that'll leave you hungry for more. Get the lowdown on Marshfield Motor Speedway's race season, celebrate the Wisconsin women's basketball team's victory, and dissect the Bucks' performance as they vie for dominance. College hoops fans aren't left out either, as we dissect Marquette's match against NC State with insights that'll have you feeling like a bracketology expert. Tune in, and get your fill of all things Wisconsin sports – no cheese hat required!

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:10

Thank you. How are we doing everybody? And welcome to wisconsin sports on the go with trage. I'm your host, trage.

Speaker 1: 0:40

It is friday, a brewer friday, an opening day of baseball for the state of Wisconsin, and I'm excited we got the Brewers back today. Marquette's in action today. They're going to be taking on NC State. That's a huge matchup. Lots to get into today. Lots to get into. We're going to jump into right away the Brewers.

Speaker 1: 0:59

I want to jump into the Brewers here because we're going to see the Brewers facing off with the New York Mets here coming up 1240 today. Massive game, massive opening series for the Brewers there. We're going to see a lot of what this team is going to have here for this upcoming year. Right, we're going to see Freddie Peralta in game one, but then you're going to get DO Hall game two and then game three you're going to see Colin Ray. So we're gonna see, I mean, in this first couple games here, what this. This is a decent team in the Mets. They're not great, right, they're not fantastic, but this is a test for the Brewers heading on the road, right off the bat here, to start the regular season. So Brewers, like I said, freddy Peralta starting this game first opening day start as the ace of the staff here for the Brewers.

Speaker 1: 1:43

And you know, my biggest question is is Freddie Peralta going to pitch like the ace of the staff? And we've heard lots of people talking on Freddie. We've seen him pitch in the past. We know Freddie can be dominant. We know he can be a number. You know he pitches at times like a number one guy. Is he a number one? That's what we got to see. Right, we've always seen Freddy Peralta as a two, as a three in the rotation. Now we're sitting here and we're like this is our number one, this is our guy, this is our ride or die. Right, this is our guy now and I'm okay with it. I, you know, I've thought about it, pondered it, had to ponder it a little bit. Right, not really for sure on the whole situation losing Burns Woody's on the IL for the year. You don't know how it's going to go. Freddie's a guy who's grown up in this organization and at some point he was going to have to take the reins. Right, we had to see this guy take the reins here a little bit. He's been pitching solid for this team over the years and now we get to see it all all on center stage.

Speaker 1: 2:45

Opening day. Hopefully the opening day curse for the Brewers doesn't hold true because we've had a lot of years with our opening day starter who ends up tanking them the rest of the year. So hopefully that changes here in this season. But off of Freddie there looking at this game as a whole. So I mean you look at the Mets. They're gonna have Jose Quintana on the mound them.

Speaker 1: 3:06

We've seen Quintana a lot in the past and the Brewers I would like to say they've had a lot of success. They've had. I mean you look at the batting averages for some of these guys going up against Quintana there over the years. Willie Adamas 10 at-bats, two RBIs, 1 home run. He's hitting about 400. You look at even guys like Jake Bowers he's had 1 at-bat against him. He's hitting 1,000. William Contreras in 4 at-bats has got a home run. I mean.

Speaker 1: 3:31

So you look down the line up here. Reese Hoskins he's had success against Quintana in the past 10 at-bats against him, 2 RBIs, 1 home run. Yelich has got the most action and it's been a struggle for him going up against Quintana. In about 32 at-bats he's got four RBIs, no home runs and a .219 average. I mean his OPS isn't bad, not great, not terrible 5.86,. You know right there in the middle where you, I guess, would want to stay there. But the Brewers have faced Quintana in the past and I think that's going to help them a little bit in this matchup. They've had success against Quintana in the

Speaker 1: 4:09

past. Looking at the Mets, on the flip side of that, these guys have seen Peralta. I mean you look at guys like Alonzo and four at-bats. He's hitting about 250. Harrison Bader 250 and 16 at-bats against him. Lindor 250 and 4 at-bats. And I mean you keep going down the line. They got Starling Marte. They got McNeil Omar Narvaez out

Speaker 1: 4:30

there. Yet I forgot about Omar Narvaez. I forgot about him. I really did think that his career in Milwaukee was going to go a lot better than it did. I mean he developed a lot defensively, I thought, with the Brewers more than I thought he was going to, and his offense kind of took a dip and he was a solid catcher, just never really got to the point that I wish he would have in Milwaukee. So Omar Narvaez in there too. And then Brandon Nimmo we all know about Brandon Nimmo out there. And then we got Tyrone Taylor. Tyrone Taylor is still hanging out there with the Mets now. I think that's pretty

Speaker 1: 5:10

cool. It's a good opportunity for Tyrone Taylor right With the Brewers. He was never going to get the playing time. I mean, you just had to look at it Last year. I thought he snuck out some playing time there. Did he deserve it? I don't know. And then I mean you look at injuries. That was a big part of it. But then, and well, joey williams struggling now going to the mets maybe gets a little bit more playing time. Maybe switching cities helps him bolster that hitting. I mean he was a solid hitter for the brewers. I'm not saying he wasn't good at all, but he just I mean he was hit or miss. Right, he was a hit or miss guy, nothing crazy crazy, not an all-star, but solid. And I think you know a change of scenery might be good for Tyrone Taylor there. So that's going to be a fantastic matchup there for the

Speaker 1: 5:53

Brewers. And then, looking at game two of that series, 1240 start there again on Saturday. For that one we're going to see Luis Severino for the Mets, take on DL Hall for the Brewers. Nobody from the Mets has really faced DL Hall except for Short, second baseman there for the Mets he has. Zach Short has faced DL Hall twice and he is batting a thousand against him. He's got one home run and one RBI. And those at bats For the Brewers they've seen Luis Severino Lots of guys have seen him in this lineup. Not a ton of success. Terang Jelic and Adamas and Bowers all hitting decent above 250 there, adamas hitting 250 in total. He played a little bit more in the AL, got a little bit more action against him there in the AL when he was with the Yankees. But Luis Severino going up against DL Hall in Game

Speaker 1: 6:44

2. And then Game 3 of the series we will see Colin Ray taking on McGill for the Mets in that one, tyler McGill for the Mets there. So looking at the lineups in that one I mean a lot of guys in that Mets lineup have faced Colin Ray, Basically everybody. And then looking at the Brewers, there a little bit of action against McGill. Yelich has got the most success there. He's actually got two home runs and six at-bats. So Yelich has got to be out there on Sunday. That's all I know, because this guy's had success against him in the past. Looking at Hoskins, he's got four at-bats, bats nothing to show for it there. Same with Contreras and Sanchez. But Adamas has got eight at bats and he's hitting about 250 against him there, one home run and two RBIs. So you know, relatively, you look at these two, uh, you look at these pitching matchups and they're familiar with the matchups there. So it's going to be interesting to see how this season starts here for the Brewers taking on the Mets before they will come back home to American Family Field for that quick two-game series against the Twins there. That'll be coming up on April

Speaker 1: 7:51

2nd. But I want to talk. You know new manager carrying this team into his first season here and thoughts on it, first season here and thoughts on it. And from what I've heard, from what I've seen so far, I'm relatively excited to see what Pat Murphy brings to the Brewers. He's not a big new age of baseball guy, if you ask me. He's going to do the little things. We're going to bunt with guys in position, the little things throughout a game. And I think he's going to bunt with guys in position, you know the little things throughout a game, and I think he's going to be a little bit harder on players, like not let guys get away with much, hold them accountable and I think that's going to make this team even that much more better. That much more better. That words sometimes you know what I'm saying. Words sometimes get to you, though they just get to you. He's going to make the Brewers, he's going to help them reach a different level. I really do believe, because, working with young guys, he's going to hold them accountable day in and day out to be the best that they possibly can. So I, like the Pat Murphy leading this team, I can't wait to see him in his first season here with the

Speaker 1: 9:01

Brewers. Looking at the roster I know a lot of people out there probably saw the roster come out yesterday, but if you didn't, I'm just going to go through it here and kind of look at it, see what I thought coming out of it. So you look at the pitchers for the Brewers. We saw DL Hall. Like I said, he's going to be making his first career opening day for the Brewers. Brian Hudson, another guy making his first career opening day, along with Trevor McGill. He'll also be on the opening day roster for the first time. Jacob Junis also made the roster for the Brewers there. Hobie Milner, yoel Pajamps we're going to have Elvis Paguero in there. Freddy Peralta, colin Ray, joe Ross, abner Uribe, diego Vieira is going to make his first opening day. So was I I forgot about Uribe there and Paguero all making their opening day debuts

Speaker 1: 9:50

there. Not Major League, but opening day. Diego Vieira pitched decent last year for the Brewers there in his short little stints. He's coming back here. He's going to get the opening day roster nod there for the Brewers and then also Bryce Wilson will be in there for another option there. You know, looking at starters coming out of there, you're going to have Freddie, you're going to have Colin Ray, you're going to have DO Hall and then I don't know if the Brewers have announced yet who will be the pitcher for the Twins series. Nope, not yet. No decision yet for who's going to come after that. I could see a combination of Joe Ross in there. Maybe Bryce Wilson possibly gets a spot start in one of those positions. I think that might end up being what happens, unless if it's Jacob Junis. I could see a guy like Jacob Junis potentially getting into that starting spot there for that series against the Twins. So I'm seeing maybe a Joe Ross, bryce Wilson or a Jacob Junis in there in that Twins series there. But we'll get into that more next week

Speaker 1: 10:54

there. But looking at the catchers for the, this is kind of the interesting one for me. We saw, you know, I talked about it there a little bit yesterday and I really thought we would see Eric Hayes make the starting or get the nod for the opening day roster. That was not the case. We're going to see William Contreras and Gary Sanchez get in there. You look at Hayes there in spring. I mean you're talking about a guy with a 395 average, 465 on base, five home runs, 14bis in 18 games. That's solid. That that's solid. I mean this guy hit, he hit well for the brewers. But you just looked at the roster and you said you know, we kind of need another

Speaker 1: 11:35

infielder. So you look at the infielders for the brewers willie adamas, like we said you're gonna have guys in there, reese hoskins and then also Bryce Terang, andrew Monasterio also in there, and then you got guys making their opening day debuts there. Joey Ortiz is going to be in there, and then you have Oliver Dunn is going to be making his major league debut. He got that final spot. I think that was between him and Hayes and they decided they needed an extra infielder in there. So Oliver Dunn gets a nod there. Also Jake Bowers I think Bowers sits in there as your option at first base but also potentially to an outfield spot because he can also play the outfield there. So Jake Bowers kind of gives you that versatility there, along with Sal Frelick. We're going to talk about the outfielders here. You got Jackson Churro making his major league debut. You have a couple of guys making their opening day roster debuts there in Sal Frelick and Blake Perkins, and then you also have Christian Yelich out there in the outfield. I mean not his first rodeo, right, christian Yelich rounded out there and I mean you have versatility with Sal being able to play that third base position now and then also a guy like Jake Bowers who can potentially put the outfield for you. So you got all kinds of mix and matching that you can

Speaker 1: 12:51

do. Looking at the injured list to open up the year, the injury list there you're going to have Wade Miley on there. Garrett Mitchell, wade Miley's on the 15 day. Taylor Clark is is on the 15-day. Robert Gasser is out. I just looked at the injury report there. He is out as of right now. His estimated return date looking at about April 17th. Garrett Mitchell they have him on the 10-day aisle right now. That could be I mean, they're talking. It could be a month, they're talking it could be two months almost. I mean we don't know the timeline really. For Garrett Mitchell depends on all heels there, and also Christian Arroyo right now is day-to-day as of late, so interesting right there. We know Brandon Woodruff's out for this season so, and Devin Williams also on that injury report. So interesting stuff there, with the Brewers here to start out this young season. Getting into it right, getting excited for some

Speaker 1: 13:45

baseball. Looking at some of the scores coming out of yesterday, I just wanted to look possibly at some NL Central teams that were in action. The Pirates got the win, the opening day win over the Marlins, 6-5 there. Nine hits for the Pirates in that one. And then just flashing around, the Cardinals, myles Michaelis, told us that they were going to stick it to the big money Dodgers, and 7-1 was the final score there between the Cardinals and Dodgers. Tyler Glasnow got the win for the Dodgers. Myles Michaelis took the loss for the Cardinals in that one. Cardinals mustered up three hits in there, dodgers with 10. Not a good start for the birds there. Reds got the win over the Nationals 8-2 there. Montes Frankie Montes got the win for the Reds in that one and Montes 1-0. You didn't give up anything across the board there against the Nats. 10 hits for the Reds in that

Speaker 1: 14:41

game. And then, looking at the one that I wanted to talk about the most, that was seeing the Cubs lose to the Rangers. They're on a walk-off by the Rangers in that one. They out-hit the Cubs 8-6 in that game. A couple errors here and there. That thing went. Extras went to 10, and the Rangers were able to walk it

Speaker 1: 15:00

off. Only two games postponed. Yesterday it was the Braves and the Phillies That'll be postponed and also the Brewers and the Mets will face off today here and well, we'll see the Braves and the Phillies officially start there. That'll be tomorrow. 2-0-5 start for that one. I don't know, I don't think it's a doubleheader. Nope, they're just going to. They just moved that game back

Speaker 1: 15:26

there. So we will see the Braves and Phillies in action for the first time tomorrow, expecting to see one of the best pitching matchups of tomorrow. I would say you're going to see Spencer Strider taking on Zach Wheeler there in that game. Two dominant pitchers, two of the best in the NL, squaring off there between the Phillies and the Braves, so a hot series there to start it out in the NL East. That'll be fantastic. So baseball just getting underway. It's exciting we're back and I can't wait to watch me some baseball here. It's a mix right now. I got March Madness going on, I got baseball going on. It's hard to keep up in these multiple sports

Speaker 1: 15:58

right. So with that, before we go move on here, I just wanted to mention a couple of sponsors here. First, game day supply in on alaska. Do you have a sports club or team? Are you looking for some sweet custom uniforms or apparel? Check out the awesome crew at game day supply in on alaska to help your team get the sweetest gear. Find them on facebook at game day supply or online at game day supplynet. Also, pittsville farm and home center. At the store they serve you anything from hydraulic hoses to red roses. Stop in and see the awesome crew at pittsville farm and home center in pittsville,

Speaker 1: 16:28

wisconsin. And also marshfield motor speedways, located just three miles out of marshfield there on county road h. Stop in there. This summer summer fall we're getting close right. Snow is going away. We're going to be close to race season there and you got to get down to the track there for some fun summer and summer days and nights down there at the track. So get down there. Marshville motor speedways. Find the schedule for all the races on facebook, at their facebook page or online. Just search marshville motor

Speaker 1: 16:57

speedways. But with that badger women, they're advance. They got the win last night. Fantastic game by this Wisconsin women's team, impressive fashion. Actually, 86-61 was the final score in that game against Illinois State. Looking at that one we talked about Williams there 18 points in that one. She was 8-for for 12 from the field. Fantastic game there. And then, looking down the line, copeland had 18 for him, 3 for 4 from downtown, porter 13 points and then Luzinger had 12 for the Badgers there. Jimenez comes off the bench 10 points for the Badgers and Douglas also had 7 for the Badgers in that one. 86 points there, 38 rebounds Out-rebounded Illinois State in that game and 22 assists. I think that's a fantastic number to look at there 22 assists on the game, shot just over 50%, 51% on the game from the field, 32 for 62 from the field and 9 for 19 from downtown. You can't get much better than that stat line right there. The Badgers absolutely take care of business there against Illinois State and I just wanted to look up quick what the bracket looks like now, because we just saw Wisconsin win that game against illinois

Speaker 1: 18:25

state. So I just gotta check out where that advances them to here. I just had the bracket pulled up here, now I lost it. It was here, now she's gone. So we just you know, technology these days kills you but we look at this badger team. I mean, the way that this season started, it's was another one of those years, right, and that was their first postseason win. Uh, the other night in I oh man, it was from what I saw. It's been a while since we've seen this badger team pick up some wins in tournament play and now we're watching them and you know it's the nit. It's nothing, nothing crazy, but a win's a win, right. And they and they will face the winner of Purdue, fort Wayne and St Louis. That'll be in the not semifinal. Yet they must be just about to their version. Right now they're going to be in the Elite Eight of their bracket there, so of their bracket there. So should be a fantastic match up there for the badgers coming up. We will report. I don't know if that game actually went through yet I was just trying to find it here Purdue, fort Wayne and St Louis. That game will tip off today here. That'll be a six o'clock game there on ESPN plus, so Badgers will not know yet who they're gonna be taking on. It'll be either be St Louis or Purdue, fort Wayne, but we'll keep you up to date there on the Facebook page or on Instagram, wherever of what goes on there with Wisconsin women's basketball. But fantastic win by the women's team there and they will move on there to face the winner of Purdue, fort Wayne and St

Speaker 1: 20:29

Louis. But getting out of Wisconsin women's basketball, jumping over to the Bucs here we did see the Bucs lose another heartbreak game to the Pelicans there on the road to open up this road trip. Looking at this one for the Bucs, it was a struggle fast for them offensively here to start this one 20 points there in that second quarter, that was a big difference allowing. I mean Pelicans went off for 35 in that second quarter there and that was the big difference in this game. Bucs held true the rest of the way but it was a struggle. Looking at this one Giannis goes for 35 for the Bucs. Middleton with seven there in 33 minutes. Brooke Lopez with seven points there to add. And then also we look at Damian Lillard and Beasley, both adding 20 in this

Speaker 1: 21:15

one. Bobby, five points off the bench in 16 minutes, jay Crowder with three points and Pat Cunnington with three points in this one. Bobby, five points off the bench in 16 minutes, jay Crowder with three points and Pat Cunnington with three points in this game. Bucs offensively struggle in this game. I mean, you look at the likes of Middleton in this one, brooke Lopez, and then you add Bobby off the bench not producing a lot, and then Pat Cunnington. And well, you're going to have games like this and that's what we saw in this one. 107 to 100 was the final there for the pelicans. In this one, zion had 28, 25 for mccullum. In this game, murphy had 15, 17 for valachunas and jones goes for 11 in this game. Here. No ingram in this game for the pelicans and they still pull off the win. Here they advance to 45 and 28 on the year. The Bucs drop to 46 and 27 on the year right

Speaker 1: 22:09

now. Now, I'm not saying that the Bucs are in a free fall, right. I don't want to say the Bucs are in a free fall right now. But man I, this Bucs team, is. It's so hot and cold, hit or miss right now in Milwaukee. Right now they still hold a one-and-a-half game lead over the New York Knicks and they have a two-game lead over the Cavs, but both teams just on the outside the Knicks have won three in a row. Now the Bucs have lost two in a row. I'd hate to get jumped and dropped into that three spot. I'd hate to get jumped twice and dropped down into that four

Speaker 1: 22:43

spot. You have the Magic twice yet this year and you have a three and a half game lead on the Magic yet and you have a three and a half game lead on that Magic team. I mean, push comes to shove. Those two games against the Magic late here could be something to watch, because this Bucs team right now, I mean no game is a safe game for Milwaukee the way that it's going right now. They got to get right. Right, this team can get right. They're a solid team. The Bucs, just I. Is it team chemistry, what is it? What is it in Milwaukee that's causing the struggle? I'm not sure on that one, to be honest. Honest with you, but right now there isn't a lot going right and hopefully you're going to have a game

Speaker 1: 23:25

here. If you are the Bucs, next game up, next game on the docket, will be at Atlanta. They're going to be taking on the Hawks there in that game. That game will be coming up on Saturday. A 6.30 tip for that one on NBA TV. You're on the road yet the Hawks I mean. You look at the standings here and the Hawks are, I mean, a play-in team yet, but they're just, I mean the Nets. They're six games back of the Hawks. So the Hawks aren't playing for their playoff lives, but I guarantee you they'd love to not have to be a 10 seed. So they're going to be playing hard. This is still a decent team in Atlanta. The Bucs can't take it lightly and, man, they got to get a win on the road and a team against Atlanta is where you got to start it. So Bucs Atlanta, that'll be coming up there on Saturday. Hopefully we see a Bucs win there and some good things moving

Speaker 1: 24:21

forward. But with that, before we move on here, I want to mention a couple more of our sponsors here. First, your hometown team, century 21 Gold Key Realty. Call Peggy Sue or Anna to find your dream home or, if you're looking to sell, find them on Facebook at your hometown team, century 21 Gold Key Realty, or stop in and see them at their location in Marshfield. Also, sports Scene, sports Cards and Memorabilia. Stop in there in the Marshfield Mall and see Al. He's got everything you need, from sporting cards to memorabilia, to jerseys, model stock cars he's got it all down there. So stop in there in the Marshfield Mall and see Al at Sports Scene. Also, sport and Spying Clinic in Greenwood, wisconsin. If you've been injured lately whether it was shoveling snow, whether it was walking to your car, whatever it was and you need some physical therapy, stop in there and see Chad at Sport and Spine Clinic in Greenwood. He'll get you right. He'll get you back out there, back on your feet ready to rock and roll. He'll get you out there. Sport and Spine Clinic in Greenwood,

Speaker 1: 25:16

wisconsin. But it's march, it's still march. So what would we be if we weren't talking about march madness a little bit more? Today we saw I mean, I talked about it yesterday uconn. San diego state didn't think it was gonna be close. We saw it once again 82 to 52 was the final there. We saw other teams in action clemson and arizona. Clemson got the win over Arizona. That burst in my bubble

Speaker 1: 25:42

there. But looking over at the opposite side now we have a lot of games coming up today. Here we're going to get into the Marquette game. I'm going to dissect that game here and do a little preview. But on the outside of that, looking at a game with Houston and Duke, this could end up being a fantastic game. Now I've talked about Duke and I've said you know they're not as good as what people played them off to be, and I still hold true to that. But this is a Duke team. I mean, you saw it against James Madison. They can hit shots right. They can hit big shot after big shot. Mccain had a fantastic game there for Duke. In that one Flip hasn't been playing his greatest, but you get Flip going in this game against Houston. This could be a tough matchup for the Cougars and I really do think this could be a toss-up. I think this is going to be one of the better games of the day between Duke and Houston there. I really do think that is going to be a fantastic

Speaker 1: 26:39

matchup. Looking at other games on the docket, we're going to see Purdue and Gonzaga in action. And well, purdue, you wanted a test. Here's your test. This is a good team at Gonzaga. I'm not going to say they're great. This is a team who I think was a little overlooked heading into the tournament here, but they got good pieces. I mean, you look at Nembhard. Nembhard has played fantastic for Gonzaga and then you look at a guy like Ike for him there. Ike, he's averaging 16 a game for him right now and he's also got about seven rebounds per game. So this guy is your big man matchup with Zach Geady. You keep Ike out of foul trouble in this

Speaker 1: 27:20

one. This could be a fantastic matchup between Gonzaga and Purdue. How do they control the paint? That's a big thing I'm going to watch in this game is how does Gonzaga? Because Mark Fuel is a fantastic coach year after year after year I mean it's been like nine straight years of Sweet 16 matchups for Gonzaga. This team is ridiculous at getting back there. He knows how to get them there. And I just this game right here. I could see Gonzaga knocking off Purdue here. I really could. I think it's going to be a great game, but I think I really do think Gonzaga could pull off the win

Speaker 1: 27:54

here. And then the last matchup I want to look at Creighton and Tennessee Creighton's a team that, to be honest, if they play their best game, if Shireman plays his best game, alexander's rolling for them this Creighton team can beat just about anybody. I really do think they can. Tennessee, on the flip side you get to March. You need X factors right. Don't connect 21 a game. You look at Adu he's averaging seven rebounds per game for him. Ziggler, fantastic

Speaker 1: 28:28

guard. You look at this team as a whole, they are fantastic and the only thing that might lack them is depth. At times I think they do have depth. Scoring depth is the question. And, creighton, they get after you. They get after you defensively. They can hit shots. They have the complete package if they're

Speaker 1: 28:49

rolling. I picked Tennessee to win this game. I could see Creighton coming out of it. I really could, just because, creighton, they play tough. They've played some of the better teams in the country, because now we're seeing them in March here, right, marquette and UConn, and they hung in both games and they won against both teams. So they know how to win big games and this is a big game for Creighton. I really do think Creighton could pull off the upset here. It's in Detroit too. I mean this game's in detroit, not really home court advantage for either team. But it could be one of those games where neutral site creighton finds a way to pull off a very uh upset win over a very highly praised tennessee volunteer team. So this is gonna be a fantastic game here between creighton and Tennessee

Speaker 1: 29:41

there. But now to get into the game that I want to talk about, no-transcript. So I want to look at Marquette Marquette taking on this NC State team. I mean, you, look at this Marquette team. The offense runs through Tyler Kolick. We know that Leads the nation in assists per game and he is actually in this tournament. He's averaging about 11 assists each game, tying Dwayne Wade's team record. So that's I mean Tyler Kolick fantastic player. We saw it in the regular season. He's kicked it up a notch here in the postseason. Looking at him here he has a

Speaker 1: 30:19

perfect. Looking at his shooting guard in Cam Jones. Cam Jones really feeds off of Tyler Kolick and I think you know we didn't see the two out there together. I think that really did. Cam Jones played well, but I think it took away a little bit more of what Cam Jones can do because he leads the team in scoring. I mean, look at him, he shoots about 41% from three. He's had 30 or more points four times this season. So this Cam Jones can go off. You know about Tyler Kolek. This guy's going to feed the basketball over the place. That's a perfect pairing, if you ask me. Also, iguodaro four double-doubles on the year, and I mean this guy can pass the basketball. He's not looking to score all the time, he's going to facilitate the basketball, which also benefits Tyler Kolick, because this guy can hit shots too, along with Cam Jones, along with

Speaker 1: 31:10

you. Look at other pieces on this team even a guy like Gold, right Coming off the bench there, gold could be a factor in this game at the three-point arc. So that's definitely something to watch out for. As a team, they attempt about 25 threes per game, shooting about 36%. So this is a fantastic three-point shooting team. In Marquette, four of their top seven players average better than 36 percent per game and have each taken over 103 or 100 threes on this season. So you put that into perspective. It's not like it's a small sample size. These guys are putting up a lot of threes and they're hitting a lot, so this is an impressive shooting

Speaker 1: 31:46

team. Looking at some of the ken palm rankings the Eagles. Looking at Marquette, they actually played seven teams in the Ken Palm top 30 in adjusted defensive efficiency and they were 8-4 in those games. They lost to UConn three times and also lost to Purdue. Outside of that, they picked up wins against very good defensive teams. That is something you got to watch here is that, even if NC State plays some phenomenal defense, this Marquette team knows how to play against those styles of teams there, and while they played good games against UConn I mean you look at that last matchup with UConn there was no Tyler Kolek and they still played well in there. So this is a game where I'm watching. I'm watching Tyler Kolek and the way that he can facilitate the basketball and I think it's going to be huge in this game

Speaker 1: 32:36

here. So, looking on the outside of that, looking at Marquette's defense, they force about 14.7 turnovers per game. Five of their players actually average about more than one steal per game. That's crazy. That's a crazy stat. I mean I'm just jumping. You know, you guys know me, I'm a big Badger fan, right, I don't jump into a lot of Marquette stats. So I'm just looking at Marquette stats here and they got some phenomenal stats across the

Speaker 1: 33:01

board. So you look at this team. They're going to try to force turnovers. And you look at NC State, this is a team that you can rattle right. This is a team on the year they're averaging about nine turnovers per game. So about 10, 9.6 turnovers per game. So this is a team that you can turn over if you are Marquette. So you got to get after some of these guards here for NC State. Try to keep that baby out of the paint because you don't want DJ Burns to get the ball. Dj Burns is a different kind of animal. Right now in March, you don't want DJ Burns. You want to keep post-touches limited with DJ Burns out

Speaker 1: 33:38

there. So, looking at a couple of the matchups that you've had this year for Marquette, looking at the game against Colorado round of 32 there, marquette had one of their best halves of the season there 67.9% before the half there and they had a 45-34 lead over Colorado in that game. Second half, colorado was able to come back, made it close there, 4-0-2 to go. They actually tied it up. Marquette ended up taking the lead there, got the win by four. You look at the difference in that game was you look at this Marquette team they shot 61% from the floor in that game. That's huge. And they also had 42% from downtown there in that game. Tyler Kolek had 21. He was 10 for 14 from the floor in that game with 11 assists. So I mean you look at the differences between the first half, second half, outside

Speaker 1: 34:35

games. Looking at Marquette, this Marquette team that showed up in that last outing against Colorado fantastic. So Colorado I mean Marquette heading into this game, looking great, I mean defense is rolling, the offense is playing hot. This could be a team that could make even deeper run into March. Yet we're at Sweet 16. This is a team that you could potentially see into a lead eight, into a final four, if they keep humming along like this, especially on the offensive

Speaker 1: 35:03

end. Looking at NC State, they come in ranked about 53rd in Ken Palm's adjusted efficiency rankings. This year they are ranked 42nd in adjusted offensive while sitting 75th in defensive. So the defense isn't fantastic for this team and I think that's something Marquette's going to take advantage of. They're not a bad defensive team, right, but they're not great and I think Marquette will take advantage of that, especially with some of their better shooters out there. They are 70th in the nation in points per game right now. Our NC State and, like I said before, they turn it over about 10 a game. That's not bad. They take care of the ball well. So how does Marquette force turnovers? Because that's what Marquette loves to do. They love to force you into turnover situations and get some of that going. So that's going to be something you got to watch out

Speaker 1: 35:52

for. You look at this NC State team that, like I said, 14th in the nation in turnovers. Dj leads that team. I mean, you look at him. He is crazy 16.7 per game this year while also having about two assists. So not just a great score but a great passer there. Jaydenden Taylor and DJ Burns scoring well together on the year. Taylor's averaging about 11.5 points per game this year, shooting about 41% on the year. Michael O'Connell leads the team in assists 3.2 per game on the

Speaker 1: 36:27

year. Nc State not a great rebounding team 148th in the league this year. De'ara leads the team in rebounds 7.7 per game. Right there, also scoring about 6.4 for this team. You look at Middlebrooks for him, another big man, he gets them both 4.2. But Burns, he's about four rebounds per game. So getting after the glass in this one is going to be big for

Speaker 1: 36:50

Marquette. In this one it's going to be big for Marquette. Don't let this team in NC State get the easy balls, get the 50-50 balls. Controlling that in this game will be huge. Like I said on defense, nc State is 179th in opponent points per game this year, but they do rank 78th in steals per game, so they're going to get after you. But some of that is going to lead to easy buckets, so Marquette's going to have to take advantage of that in this game. But Marquette I mean I picked them to win this game against NC State. I think they will. This is going to be a fantastic game, though I really wish it was Oakland. I got to be honest heading into this game. I really wish it was Oakland taking on Marquette, but we got NC State. Still going to be a good game. Lots of good games coming up on the college docket for the day

Speaker 1: 37:42

here. Before we get into some Elite Eight action, a little bit of Badger men's basketball news. Just to wrap it up here, aj Storer officially entered the transfer portal. We did see Gus Yelding go in there. Not massive news. I mean, a guy that we were high up on coming in had his struggle. Maybe the parties aren't good enough in Madison, so he's going to move on there. Aj Storr officially enters the transfer portal. That sucks to see, but it's NIL, it's money, whatever you want to call it nowadays. Aj Storr on his way out, most likely of

Speaker 1: 38:12

Madison. Also, in other Badger news, it does look like Joe Kravinoff will not be leaving the team. I got an article across social media today. It looks like Scott Nagy has been hired as the next head coach of SIU there. So that's good news for the Badgers, right. They will get to see Joe Kravinoff, probably on the sideline next year, not guaranteed, but most likely, right. So fantastic stuff there big weekend coming up, college hoops. We got the Brewers coming up this weekend. Lots of good stuff coming up. But with that this has been Wisconsin Sports on the Go with Trage. Thank you guys for listening. We'll catch you guys back here on Monday, but until then, deuces, thank you.