Wisconsin Sports on the go with Trag
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Wisconsin Sports on the go with Trag
NBA Trade Shockwaves, Badgers' Victory Over Northwestern, and Super Bowl Anticipation – Wisconsin Sports on the Go with Trag & Aaron
This is Wisconsin Sports On the Go with Trage, your home for everything. Wisconsin sports, now your host, trage. You gotta love the trumpets, that's for darn sure. You gotta love the trumpets there. This is wisconsin sports time to go with trage. I'm your host. Rage it, trage. It is the 2nd of February. What a 2nd of February. What a 2nd of February.
Speaker 1:Had a basketball tournament today, the boys down in Nealsville there, and it was, yeah, it was one of them days. It was one of them days. I had two guards on my entire team. One of them played the first game. He looked tired. He looked tired. I knew he looked tired during the game, did not know that he threw up that morning, did not even tell his mother that he threw up that morning. And well, he threw up all over the table in the cafeteria while we were sitting there waiting for the next game. And well, yeah, that's about how well they went right there for us. So I mean it was a good day. It was a good day. It's always a good day when you get youth basketball and just see some of the up-and-coming good players that are coming up in the high school ranks here soon, soon there. So some good stuff there. We watched the Badgers get a win over the weekend there. The Pro Bowl was today. I didn't watch it, I was busy, I didn't care first off, but I didn't watch it.
Speaker 1:So that happened today here, but there was breaking news in the NBA, there was all kinds of stuff. So I got Aaron here tonight with me. Aaron, how we doing on this Sunday I mean weekend's over, sadly, I mean too fast. But hey, we're here, we're ready to talk about sports.
Speaker 3:No, absolutely. I mean, I can't lie to you. There were a couple times, you know, throughout my hours working Today I, you know, joke with my Cowboys buddy there at work and I'm like you know what's the score of this game? What's the score? And it's, like, you know, dead zone. You know, it's just weird. It's that first Sunday without any, I mean, you know, no playoff football or anything. So I'm trying to cope a little bit, but you know it could be a lot worse. And yeah, not a bad day over here. And you know, you never know, man, next season I think better results are coming your way for your coaching, your little coaching career. You got going down there.
Speaker 1:Oh, we'll be fine, we'll be just fine. You know, got to keep kids healthy and keep them out there. That's the big part. But yeah, that was a big thing Over the weekend. I mean, I went shopping. My wife she was baby shower this weekend there so I went. She sent me grocery shopping. I had the mission right, she sent me on the mission. It was a tall task, all right. I got pictures of everything I had to get, like I was invested into this. We go to Aldi and I don't know, do you got Aldi's out there in Pennsylvania?
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, actually real close to me, Real close to me.
Speaker 1:Well, and you've probably been to or seen the Aldi, there I ended up. I'm going to aldi. Right, I didn't go into target she knows I hate target, so she got a pickup order for target, so that was fine. Go to aldi and it is just booming. There's probably about 60 people in the store and, mind you, it's not that big of a town marshville, wisconsin, like that. Okay, it's big enough, but, like usually aldi isn't bustling with 60 people at a time. There's like 60 people in this store and I got my grandma with me and she's pushing the cart because she's a little crazy old lady and she's all after him and I'm there, you know, and I'm just like what is going on? Well, we got it to the register and I love the, I love the cash registers and all of these, because those guys they're checking out there's, they're on it into your cart on the other side, like a million miles probably. Thank god it didn't get eggs right and this guy, we're sitting there. We're like busy day, huh. He's like, yeah, you would think people haven't seen snow. And we're like well, what do you mean? Well, apparently a lot of people coming in said that they, they heard that there was going to be some snow, two inches of snow that we were going to get in Wisconsin and they were freaking out. So they went to the grocery store to stock up. I was like are you kidding? Like we haven't got, like I get it hasn't snowed a lot, but two inches of snow and we're out here like dang near. The apocalypse is starting.
Speaker 1:So that was the weekend right there. That was the weekend having to go to Aldi there and just deal with the chaos that was. I mean, there was no handicapped spots left. My grandma had to walk from the other side of the parking lot because the handicapped spots are all full. Shame on Aldi. Only three handicapped parking spots in Marshfield, wisconsin. That's just silly. We need four, we need four or five. Come on, just ridiculous there. But I mean, all in all, got the groceries, that's what mattered. Did not get organic popcorn, chicken, but outside of that, found it all, found everything on the list. So we're good there. So that's enough about my weekend. That's enough about my weekend there.
Speaker 1:Let's get to what happened here in the NBA, because there was a big, surprising broke in the middle of the night deal. I woke up to this this morning. I woke up to this. I looked at my phone. I was like, are you serious? Like this actually happened. So Luka Doncic, everybody really knows about Luka, right? People kind of forget about Anthony Davis. I forgot about Anthony Davis in the past. But people forget about Anthony Davis. But Luka Doncic is on his way to the Lakers just overnight.
Speaker 1:This trade just kind of happened. From what I heard, luka didn't ask out, luka didn't want out. It was more about his availability for the Mavs. They just maybe didn't want to sign him to a Supermax. They didn't want to get to that point just because of his availability, his injury proneness, I don't know. But Anthony Davis, last season he got clocked in the head and he left in a wheelchair. I mean, like I remember Shaq and Charles were making fun of him on a postgame show because he like had a concussion and he left in a wheelchair.
Speaker 1:Like that's, that's Anthony Davis in a nutshell for you and you're worried about injury, bro, and you're bringing a guy like Anthony Davis what's that doing for you? I don't know. I mean the Mavs, they maybe needed that two-way big experience forward to throw down there Kyrie's still around. I just you lose the scoring. The guy who willed you to a championship in Luka Doncic. It'd be like if I would have woke up this morning and it crossed my screen and said Giannis Antetokounmpo has been traded. Buck fans would quit on the Bucs, we'd be done with it Just because that's how much Giannis means to the Bucs. I don't understand this trade from the simple standpoint of that's how much Luca meant to the Mavs and you got relatively nothing for him. I saw the Kevin Durant trade that when he left the Nets there, and it was just utterly ridiculous how many pieces that the Brooklyn Nets received back, pick on top of pick on top of pick.
Speaker 1:And then a couple of players Cam Johnson in that one, and I can't remember who the other players off the top of my head, but they got two players there and a boatload of picks. And for luca you got anthony davis, I think max christy was that. The other one there was max crispy. Yeah, turning the deal there. And then a pick. What? What did you in all reality get out of this? If you're the maps I think you got, I don't think you've got better.
Speaker 1:I see all these people out here. They're like oh, a plus, a plus deal for the Mavs. I'm like how? Like yeah, luka hasn't played since. And even for the Lakers Luka hasn't played since. I thought they said Christmas last time I saw.
Speaker 1:But now, what the hell? What the hell was the point of bringing in Klay Thompson if you're gonna unload the? Because you brought in Klay Thompson to put around Luka, to put around Kyrie and to build that core together. Now you send out Luka and you bring in AD. It makes sense, I guess, almost in the grand scheme of things have a big, have a shooter, have a guard. I guess that makes sense in the grand scheme of things. But Luka was the heart and soul of that team. Yeah, well, you know he got people made fun of him all the time because he was slow, like he didn't seem like he. His, his moves were very slow and methodical, I'll give you that one. Like he wasn't. It wasn't like it was a fast move to the basket, but Luca was the heart and soul of that team and if I'm a Mavs fan, I'm pissed. I'm like he didn't want to leave. If he wanted to leave, sure, like I am all for. If there's a guy on my team who's like I really don't want to play, like Jimmy Butler is right now, I'm all for getting rid of a guy like that. Like that just ruins your team. Luca, from what we know and what I saw, I didn't get a full chance to read through his heartfelt goodbye letter across social media, but from what I could gather, it's a very heartfelt, very emotional, very sad. Like leaving this place. I don't know if he wanted to leave and yet we kind of just say you later, buddy, like to the wind.
Speaker 1:I hate that. I hate when you do that to a guy because of what he's meant to your organization, getting you to the finals. He took you to the finals. You didn't win, but he took you there. I don't know, aaron, I hate it. I hate it for a guy like Luka, who's put so much into this organization. They sucked. I mean they sucked when he started there. They were sucking and he stuck it out. Stuck it out Could have said, hey guys, I want out of here. Never did, and now you move on from. For Anthony Davis, I mean Anthony Davis has been irrelevant to the league since he went to the Lakers, so I don't even know what to say to this. I think this is utterly ridiculous. I think you just traded a cornerstone piece of your franchise and if I'm a Mavs fan, I'm pissed. I'm pissed today.
Speaker 3:Absolutely, I mean this one. I mean you know you follow the NBA closer than I do but obviously, like you know, I catch up and watch playoff basketball. Like you know, just this on paper is so just upside down to me for the Mavs, just kind of for the reasons that you already said. I mean, you know, bring up another Laker there like Kobe. Right, he would be calling Anthony Davis like softer than Charmin. You know what I mean. Like that was one of his things Kobe always said softer. Like you're getting a guy who is just pudding. Like this guy is, so soft he's.
Speaker 3:I don't know If I'm a Mavs fan. I'm sitting there like, yeah, we're cooked, we're sautéed. Like this team's not going anywhere. I mean, yes, you know, the injury concerns with Luka is a shame, I mean, but you're trading for an equal liability in injuries with Anthony Davis. Like he is about as banged up as anybody every single year. Like he reminds me of Stanton on the Yankees. Like you know, book him for 20. I mean NBA, obviously less games, they're 80, what 82? But it's like book him for 20 to 40 games missed every year. That's, that's per usual for him.
Speaker 3:So I I just, yeah, I don't know man, like the reasons you said. He was the heart and soul of his team. I, I had no idea. I don't. I don't know if you heard that. You know he was like a potential trade piece at all. I didn't even know that. Um, but yeah, from a Mavericks standpoint, I got to look at the GM, this and that.
Speaker 3:But what's Mark Cuban really doing Ever since Dirk Nowitzki retired? Yes, they've gotten there, but I don't think they've put together the best rosters. They just look. They counted on Hardaway to be a big piece. He didn't really do that much. Mean, poor zingas. What did he really give you when he was there, like I, just outside of luca and kairi, what have they really put together? Luca was like their. You know that was all in with luca and I I was, you know, I like I'm a big luca guy. It's hard to be now because he's going to play with lebron and I cannot stand rooting for LeBron, but it's yeah. If I'm a Mavs fan, like I'm sitting there like make it, make sense, cause it sure doesn't this could be like one of the worst. You know, they might look back three, four years from now and be like this was a colossal mistake. I just, I feel like they have no reason or they have no expectation to go anywhere now. Like they now. Now, what Like? It's just.
Speaker 1:From what I was reading. I was reading his farewell and he kind of snubbed the Mavs. So no, he had no idea. He had absolutely no idea what was going to happen in this. In this whole grand scheme of things, I think he's upset that he got traded. He wanted, like he said in his thing, he wanted to bring a championship to dallas. Never was given the opportunity.
Speaker 1:According to mark cuban, he had nothing to do with the trade. So I just saw that I was, I was just scrolling around here. Mark cuban said he had nothing to do with the mavericks. Luka, doc, jakes trades. Uh, shocker there. So they said I just saw. I don't think. I don't know if this is true, I didn't. It's from a guy on Twitter, chris Davis was his name. It said that they approached the Bucs about Giannis. First. They asked about Giannis for Donchik. So apparently Donchik, he's been on the trade block for the Mavs. The Mavs just didn't tell him that that's what was going on, so we'll see what kind of happens there. Um, what do we got here? Uh, rob, on facebook, there he says fox to the spurs, levine to sacramento.
Speaker 1:Okay, all right I like I've never hated levine, he just always seems to be out. He always seems to be injured there. They've talked about the bucks going after levine too, and I know chris middleton's still on trade block. Bobby portis has been at home so he's been pissed off, so I'm guessing he's gonna get traded here.
Speaker 1:Pretty. He hasn't played in the last couple. And then Pat Connington. But if they move on for Pat Connington I'll get over it pretty darn fast. That'll be a-okay with me. I mean, we're waiting to see what the Bucs do here. I mean they're running close to the trade deadline. We'll see what the Bucs do.
Speaker 1:Todleton I don't Bobby, maybe Pat Connington for sure I'm okay with moving on from there. But I just don't know if they blow up that core with Middleton. It's like you take the good with the bad with Middleton. Right now I like Middleton. The injuries worry you. He's getting a little bit slower. You get that with age.
Speaker 1:I think that's the Bucs in general, though right now don't. I've said it before and I'll say it again At some point. I think the Bucs have got to accept it and just kind of move on from some of these guys Brooke Lopez, et cetera. Move on from some of these guys. Trade for either you know assets or trade for picks, whatever it is. Build yourself back up from the youth up. That's what you got to do, like, I know you got yannis and you only got so many years of yannis and I get that. Now you have dame, but at some point you kind of just got to bite the bullet and move on.
Speaker 1:Tonight I'm waiting to see what the bucks do. Waiting to see what the bucks do here come towards the trade deadline. So we're at the 14 minute mark here. We got to hit an ad break. We're going to come back. We got a question about wisconsin basketball there. Well, high school wisconsin basketball, we're going to get to that. We got badger talking to later on here in the show and then a little packers here to wrap us up. So we're going to hit the ad break. Come back.
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Speaker 1:I see, rob, you mentioned that before. Sorry, rob, I thought you were just kind of throwing like a random suggestion out there. I just saw the deal happen uh, breaking news, king's finalizing deal to send, oh now. Now it doesn't load on me, but it looked like it was going to be uh, the aaron fox to the spurs there, interesting. So we got another move happening there. I I mean, wow, okay, nba free agencies, I would have free agent trade deadline getting hot, just getting hot right now. We'll see if the Bucs get involved here pretty darn soon. I think they would have to. I don't know how you watch deals like this happen if you're the Milwaukee Bucs and you're just like we just sit pat, we just don't do anything here to get better. They got to do something. They got to do something to try to improve what they got right now, to improve what they got right now. So we'll see. We'll see, kind of, what the Bucs do there. But I had a question. So I mean, aaron, you're a Philly guy but you can talk, you can talk on this. So right now, wisconsin high school basketball, they don't implement a shot clock and they don't implement a charge circle. So I I don't know if you know what the charge circle like that underneath the hoop there. They have that little half circle there and, um, they don't have either one. So I've seen a lot of people talking about across social media. I was just wondering what our thoughts were on it.
Speaker 1:I have always been a firm believer and I'd love the input, I'd love them to implement the shot clock into high school basketball. I have been a part of and I have seen games where there is like a minute, two minutes, three minutes of clock killed and I saw at one point two minutes of clock killed on one possession and those games get old fast and you're just, it's a keep away game. It's one of those kind of it's just, it's not. It's not what you want in a basketball game. You want the ball to be moving, you want guys to have to make moves, you want them to have to play basketball. You don't want them just be able to stand on the perimeter. And because I watched the guy once he uh, they had it at half court brought it across the half court and they said don't go and guard him. So he stood at three point line and that guy stood at half court and he just dribbled and he dribbled and I watched six minutes I kid you not of clock burn off, before this coach said go get him and then he sent him after him six minutes o'clock, like that's. That's ridiculous. That is ridiculous.
Speaker 1:I am all for the shot clock because it leads to what I believe makes better basketball and that is more of a high octane, getting after it kind of game not being. You know, you know you still can slow it down, but you're forced to do things. You're forced in those 30 seconds you can't just run the clock. You see a lot of these upsets and I know a lot of these upsets happen because of this, where you can just kill clock. You know this team goes up like, say, they're up 10, they can sit there and kill the clock for three minutes. I don't want that. I want them to have to take a shot in 30 seconds and then give the ball back to whoever. That's where I want to see the game get to, because I think there's too many times where, late in games or anything like that, you're just playing, keep away. It's the same thing if you get a lead with, say, you take a two-point lead or you have a two-point lead with a minute 30 left and this team comes down. They missed the shot. You still have that two-point lead. You get the ball back. They don't want to foul, they're just playing tough defense on you. But you can kill all that clock down right and they're forced to follow you early because they don't have a shot clock on their back. I'd rather see it there's a shot clock. Now you have to get a shot off in 30 seconds, so this team is guaranteed. Hey, if we get a rebound here, all we team is guaranteed. Hey, if we get a rebound here, all we got to do is play this out. If we get a rebound here, we're guaranteed that we can get the ball back one more time.
Speaker 1:I want to see the game trend in that direction because I feel like there's a lot more benefits to the shot clock than no shot clock in high school basketball. I really do. I think it would lead, like I said, to a lot better basketball, but I think it would get guys ready for the next level too. I mean there's guys look at in depeer there, jack king, uh, kaiser from depeer there. He's gonna be heading off to madison next year. I know he's gonna adjust pretty easily to a shot clock, but get these guys ready for a shot clock when they get up to, uh, to the college level, right, because right now they're not utilizing the shot clock. They got all the time in the world do whatever. Well, once you get to the college level, you got to adjust fast to that shot clock, being able to get shots off, everything like that. I wouldn't hate the shot clock. I mean, where are you at, aaron, like you hear all that? I mean, would you be opposed to a shot clock in high school basketball?
Speaker 3:No, absolutely not. I mean, I, I can't believe. I mean, to be honest, I it's been so long since I went to like a high school basketball game and you know, at my local high school, you know, like the one I attended, right, but I can't remember, like I feel like we had a shot clock though Maybe I'm mistaken. You know we could, I could be in the same situation. I just, I feel like we did. But you know, regardless of that, like yeah, I mean, it only makes sense, right, you're kind of modifying the game or like maybe dumbing it down. You know, I don't know exactly how to put it, but I wouldn't enjoy that very much aesthetically, from a fan standpoint.
Speaker 3:Like you said, imagine just the guy at the three-point line, just like dribbling back forth, back forth and then passing it to somebody, then passing back to him, back forth, back, like that's just not, that's like, you know, um, backyard basketball, right, like that's like pickup shirts versus skins, you know you're with your boys down the street at the local park type of deal. Like we can't have, uh, competitive, you know, organized basketball in that, in that way. So yeah, I'm all for it. I mean, I, I think it's I don't want to call it like stupid, like maybe that's a little little harsh, but like it's not very logical to not have it in my, in my personal opinion, just because, like you said, you know they get to the next level. Then it's like, oh, okay, now, like the, the whole rhythm of the game is different and and you're talking about better players at the next level you know faster, um, you know more athletic, everything else.
Speaker 3:And now you're like okay, now I have to adjust the shot clock. You know we baseball different story, I know, but remember how pitchers were like, oh my, like, how are we going to adjust to this? This pit? You know the clock in baseball. So the more, the the earlier you can. I mean, I wouldn't have a problem with it in middle school, right, like getting kids okay, like it's just, it's part of the game, it's part of the nba, it's part of the NBA, it's part of college. Like it's just the shock, like to me it's weird the shot clock isn't there already. You know what I mean. That's where I stand.
Speaker 1:No, I would agree, and I was just looking it up there. Apparently you can decide. It's a. From what I saw, it's a state by state thing. So the national federation of state high school associations approved a 35 second shot clock for high school basketball. But each state can decide whether to adopt it. So some states must do it, some states don't. Uh, looks like the nine to five against vote adopting it in 2022. So they didn't technically adopt it to have to at this point. So they're kind of just working it through right now. But you can if you want. I saw somebody said that they have one in California. I don't know, I don't care what California does, but they have one out in California, apparently, from what he said.
Speaker 1:But I wouldn't be opposed to it at all. I think it would be beneficial to the game and I think it would keep it moving. It keep it moving along. It keeps teams honest, keeps them on their toes and makes better basketball. I believe, at the end of the day, when you actually have to move it and you're not able to just burn the clock and burn the clock and burn the clock, that leads to a lot of problems. So I mean, yeah, I'm all in for that.
Speaker 1:The charge circle too. I saw somebody talking about the charge circle. I think they should have a charge circle. I don't understand why that. If anything, I would understand the shot clock because I think it would be. How do you get every high school team to pay to put a shot clock in above the basket because that's where you'd have to put it. So it's gonna lead to money problems. I would say with shot clock because you can't just have it up on the scoreboard. It has to be above the basket always. You have guys constantly looking up at the scoreboard to figure out which time's left. So I think they would have to. It'd be a money problem there. But the charge circle, that's just player safety. Like you, you should have a charge circle underneath there. So that way you have to have where can I stand before I am going to get a foul called on me? Where is it going to be a problem? That's what you have to have a chart circle, because I've seen too many times guys drive in and I've seen too many charges get taken with the guy standing underneath the basket.
Speaker 1:And I know you're gonna say well, referees are supposed to know that. Yeah, they're supposed to right. But we've seen our fair share of referees who get on our nerves and irritate us a little bit. And guess what? There are a lot of them in high school basketball because they get paid by the hour. It's not like they they're the best of the best. If they were the best of the best, they'd be well.
Speaker 1:No, I shouldn't say that because I've seen referees in the NFL and everything like that. It doesn't make a difference. That's fair. But I mean, end of the day, they're human right. They're going to make errors. They're not going to see it there you have legally stand or where he legally can't stand. I think it just improves the game that much more and it makes player safety 101 it. That's all that it is. You have to keep your players safe and when I think of something as simple as that, that's what I'm looking for. So I think the charge circle is definitely needed in high school sports just to protect the players yeah, I'm on board with that as well.
Speaker 3:I mean, once again, you're, you're making it like my biggest thing is. I mean I shouldn't put it above player safety, I guess. But it's like you know, you start learning, you know where am I at in development as far as the basketball career, maybe outside of the academic. You know, you're in school, you're playing ball, like what's it going to be? You know that type of thing. So, once again, like you said too, like player safety plays into that as well, it's it's just feels like it's just like Stone Age to not have it to me, like like it's just like stone age to not have it to me, like I don't know, like maybe it's like other people feel differently it's bad. It's college, you know, it's high school. Let's have a little bit more, you know, be a little bit more loose with it. But I, I don't know high school is, I mean where I went to school like everything was pretty competitive, school to school, schools.
Speaker 1:I, I imagine it's the same way, you know I think you got to keep it a little bit looser in college, but you still have to try and get down to the roots and I think the shot clock has become. It's become huge in not just college but the next level, in the pro level, after that european league, whatever it is it's becoming huge. So I think implementing that, the charge circle, that's just player safety, I mean that's. That's as simple as painting the line on the floor, like that doesn't require much money at all or anything like that. That's just keeping your guys safe. And if you are opposed to that, I don't know why, like I don't understand why. I just feel like I want to teach my kids like hey, don't undercut a kid, like that should be basketball 101. And when you're standing underneath the hoop and a guy's come driving in at you and you just stand there, you're undercutting him, you're taking away his landing zone. Right, you've got to give a guy a landing zone. I can't tell you how many times I've seen a guy dunk and he's got to hold on to the rim for even longer because there's a guy standing right below him and if he lets go he's going to land right on top of him. And then the refs are like, well, you know, don't hold on to the ball, don't hold on to the rim so long. Right, it's like what is he supposed to do? And I get you're not supposed to hold on to the rim, like that's what college? I mean you're not because it's showboating. And I get it Right, you grab the rim, you let go a guy below him and you see refs all the time. They're like hey, what go? Like, what are you doing up there? And it's like what do you want to do? Fall on top of this guy who didn't get the heck out of the way, like it's pretty easy there. So I mean that's yeah, I simply player safety. That's where I'm at with the charge circle there and the shot clock.
Speaker 1:I think the shot clock needs to be implemented just for pace to play a basketball games. Keep them competitive, keep them real. You know, like you said, get guys ready for the next level there. But I mean the biggest thing for me is just keeping the pace of the game, because when you take away that shot clock, you're allowing teams for two minutes of offense, three minutes of offense. I don't like that, I don't. I mean I like good offense where it's constantly moving. Like I love the movement of the basketball, but I mean watching a team defend for three minutes straight and watching a team just pass the ball around the perimeter for three minutes. That's I can't who. Who likes that? Somebody please tell me you like watching that? That's not good basketball.
Speaker 1:Like even Wisconsin, when they would only score 50 points a game and they would wait until one second on the shot clock to shoot every time. They still shot with one second left on the shot clock. Like they still were putting the basketball up in the shot clock. Virginia the same way, right, they were slow-paced basketball teams who were still able to shoot basketball. So there's a lot of time there in 30 seconds to be able to do that kind of stuff. So I mean, I'm all in for the shot clock, I'm all in for the charge circle there. So we'd We'd love to hear what you guys think, though, out there.
Speaker 1:If you've got an opinion on it, definitely let us know there. But we've got to hit our second ad break here. We're going to come back. We've got some badge talk. Just a little short ad break here. We've got to prepare ourselves right. We're going to be on 92.3 WOSQ pretty soon here, got to get ready for the segment, so we'll see you in just a second. I told you just a second. It's 10 science song, that's all it was there. So we are back.
Speaker 1:I want to get to a little Badger basketball here, because Badgers, well, I can't say I loved what I saw. It wasn't great, it wasn't great, but they won, right, they won, that's what matters there. 75-69 was the final there, a road win is a road win. Right End of the day, big Ten basketball, a road win is a road win. The Badgers moved to 17 and 5, 7 and 4 in conference play. Their northwestern drops, 12 and 10, 3 and 8 in conference play, didn't help the old adage that the badgers can't beat a team with a winning record in the big 10 because, well, northwestern didn't have a winning record. But end of the day, losing a game like this would be even worse. Here's our buddy. Love to see him back in the comment section there.
Speaker 1:Oh, red Shed, red Shed, I was waiting for you. I was waiting for you all weekend. I was like we talked about McGee the other day for Klezman. We talked about it and I knew the Red Shed, if Klezman had a decent enough, game was going to come back for me. You think McGee makes that full-court pass like Klesman did? Heck, nah, I agree, I do, I do. Well, we haven't seen it right, we don't know, because McGee didn't get that same opportunity to make that full-court pass. No, I will say this Red Shad there, I loved what I saw out of Max Klesman in the second half. First half not so much, I will tell you this. Before the game I saw on social media. There on Twitter, I saw somebody post something about the Badgers and I said this feels like a game where Max Klesman's going to have himself a day and I said 15-plus.
Speaker 1:Well, the first half didn't go so hot, right, didn't go so hot for the Badgers in general. Aaron, first half stats for Wisconsin Badgers. I will tell you this now it was not pretty. It was not pretty at all and without John Tonje it was even worse. So they were eight for 28 from the floor in the first half, aaron, eight for 28. Without John Tonje they were three. They had made three shots in the entire first half. Without John Tonje he went five for 10 in that first half there, four for seven from downtown.
Speaker 1:John Tonje is the only reason why the Badgers were in this game. At the half it was 31 to 25. Outside of him, badgers would have scored what Blackwell had, five and McGee had two. Oh, and we had Nolan Winter with two. So I guess without Tonje, Badgers would have had nine points in total in the first half. So yeah, that's about how good this game started for the Wisconsin Badgers. They were shooting 28% at the half and they were shooting 27% from downtown. There. A Blackwell had one, three, but again Red Shed, your boy Blackwell. Again the struggles, the struggles of John Blackwell in this one again here Got into foul trouble.
Speaker 1:It's not, it's the stupid play, it's just the stupid play of John Blackwell. Right now he drives and it irritates the crap out of me, Aaron, because he extends that arm out. Him and Tonje do the same darn thing. They drive and they stick that arm out and they get so pissed off when they're looking back at the ref and they're like, oh, how was that a foul? It's blatant rule. You could not extend the arm. And they make it so obvious. They extend that arm out. You can put a shoulder down. You know you can put a shoulder down into a guy. You can give him a little nudge right. You can't extend the arm and every single time I see black will extend the arm. I want to walk wherever he is. I want to kick him upside the head. It just drives me nuts, just drives me nuts. So blackwell struggles there.
Speaker 1:That first half again gets into some foul trouble. It's just blackwell, right now, early in games, is playing some of the worst basketball we've seen him play all year. It's some of the worst basketball. This game here. It was not his day, not his day. Honestly, we can't get both. I don't know why, but if it ever happens we're going to win the national championship. John blackwell and john tonje cannot play good on the same day. That's just how it goes, because when blackwell, when did blackwell just go for 30? Was that against USC? I'm pretty sure he went for 30 against USC there. Uh, yeah, yes, yes, 28, 28 against USC and UCLA had 23. So I guess they did both play well against UCLA. They did both have a decent enough game against UCLA there. But I mean, it's just, it's not, it's very rare, it's very rare they're out of those two to have good days together. I mean, it's just, it's not, it's very rare, it's very rare they're out of those two to have good days together.
Speaker 1:I'm watching this team right now. Aaron and they came out in this game. They missed the first 14 of 16 shots 14 of 16 shots in this game. That was a terrible start. They were lucky that and this is what it is this is point blank truth. They're lucky they were playing Northwestern. That's it. They were lucky they were playing Northwestern. If this was Michigan State, they were down 30 in the first half. If this was Illinois, they're down 30 in the first half. They were lucky that Northwestern was equally trying to miss shots in this game. From what I was watching, it was just ugly basketball starts and Barnheiser didn't play was watching. It was just ugly basketball starts, one and barnheiser didn't play. Barnheiser was out for northwestern. That's a 17 points a game scorer right there. So that's yeah.
Speaker 1:That's one of those where you bless you there that's one of those where barnheiser isn't out there and kind of I mean that didn't help northwestern out there. So Northwestern went through their own kind of slump but the Badgers just didn't come out with the spark. There was no energy. Right, you come out on the road, you have to have some juice. Right, you're playing Northwestern, you're playing on the road.
Speaker 1:In the Big Ten Sometimes the shooting doesn't travel right. We saw that, of course. We saw that in the first half Shooting didn't travel. But what can travel your energy? When you start out a basketball game, you can come with the juice, the fire. You can want it.
Speaker 1:Wisconsin didn't want it coming out of the gates. In this one, every 50 50 battle went to northwestern. All the 50 50 battles went to northwestern. Here they were lazy getting out on shooters. Again we talk about rotations of guys. Lazy the own shooters. They're going under screens, not over screens. They're getting lost in screens. They're getting lost ball watching the ball swinging around. They're not even in the area code of it. It was just again, just all around. A terrible start, and this is.
Speaker 1:The badgers have kind of been known for this this season. Are these bad starts, these slow starts, the games where they come out of the gates and it just. I don't want to compare them to the packers right now, but we compared them to the packers the other day there and I'm going to compare them back to matt laflora and the packers. Man oh man, they just they come out of the gates slow, they just do. They come out of the gates slow and I want to get uh, we got red shed here. Tanji carried, uh, carried the game. Fun to see gilmore build confidence. Clearly a seven-man rotation in march.
Speaker 1:Amos janicki haven't done enough to earn more of an opportunity, I would agree. I amos, I don't even know what to think of him. Sometimes he's like an aleem ford for me. I I never was a huge fan of aleem ford because ford was either hot or he wasn't. If he wasn't hot, if he missed the first two shots of the game, he wasn't going to hit a shot all night, like that's just how he was. Amos gets out of control and defensively, some games he's there for me and some games I just lose Amos. So I don't know with him. At times I wish, because he's athletic, like he can get after you on the defensive end. He just sometimes gets lost down there in the offensive end. He just jacks too much crap up there.
Speaker 1:And Janicki, I love Janicki, don't get me wrong. I think he's going to be a star at some point. I think they're going to be able to build him into what potentially could be a star like that, not a. I don't think he's going to be a Blackwell or a Tonje, but I think he could be a Klezman. I think he could be like a Klezman or a Ben Bruster, a, a Josh Gossard kind of guy, like a Gossard, like a defensive guy who can knock down a couple of threes. He can get to the rim for you, but he's you know Cap America more of a defensive guy there. Yep, I would agree with. This is exactly what I agree with.
Speaker 1:The red sheds said Amos and Ford really talented basketball players who haven't figured out guard system. I would agree 100%. That is exactly what I'm saying with lean forward there too. It's just they never. They had all the upside. You could see the upside, you could see the upside of what this player could be. They just it didn't seem like they could get to that point. And I really do hope that with enough work Amos could get to that point. I just think right now he's not there and I think he's going to be a piece where they're going to rotate him in. But what's the limit, right? Is it five minutes? Is it six minutes? What's his limit in a game that he can be on the floor there? So I would agree 100% with you there.
Speaker 1:I thought you know I was talking about the rotations of defense before. Big Steve helped off Nicholson too much and that has a lot to do with the guards getting beat because Steve would help off too much, leaving Nicholsonson open, and he had a couple I mean multiple dunks there early on in this one. So that was a big problem for me. Is that? Um, you did mention Gilmore there before I. I have my player of the game as Carter Gilmore. I really do.
Speaker 1:He had his career day for points, 15 points. He went three for five from downtown, five for seven from the floor in this one. But those two threes that he hit there was about 11 minutes left in the game and the Badgers, they were down big. I thought they were down like eight at that point in this ball, eight or nine. They were down eight or nine at that point in the ballgame there and Gilmore comes in hits the first one and I was like, all right, all right, that's a big-time shot, that is a big-time shot, that is a big-time shot, right? And then he hit the second one.
Speaker 1:Back-to-back, back-to-back possessions, hit back-to-back threes, a quick 6-0 scoring run by Carter Gilmore. That swung the momentum in this basketball game Because up until that point the Badgers were knocking down shots. A little bit better for the Badgers. You can't think that it wasn't a lot better than the first half there. But those back-to-back threes by Carter Gilmore, that was my play of the game, that was my changing of the game, whatever you want to call it. That completely flipped the script 12-41 to go.
Speaker 1:Gilmore knocked down his first three there, made it 46-41. It was 46-38 before that. So it was an eight-point game with about 13 minutes left and it seemed like Northwestern was just keeping it. They were keeping ahead, they weren't blowing the Badgers out, they were just keeping ahead. And then Gilmore knocks down that big-time three and then knocks down another one on the following possession there and then he went after Klesman, knocked down a couple free throws, had a big-time layup there. It says it was assisted by John. Was that the one? I'm trying to remember. If that was the one on the run out there where John Tonje missed the layup and then Gilmore cleaned it up. I think that was the one right there, or was that? Must have been later. Must have been later, either way.
Speaker 3:Either way, that must have been later must have been later either way. Either way, it did give him the lead. If you can, I can't think back, but 48, 46 at that point yeah, I mean it was a big time bucket.
Speaker 1:It was a big time bucket and you know, at that point there gilmore was on. It was, uh, him and klezman went on this little run by themselves, the two free throws by klezman there and then outside of that they went on that little run. I think that was carter. Gilmore is my player of the game. That was your momentum switcher on the road. You need a guy if he's gonna come off the bench, great, but you need a guy to knock down some big shots. Right, those were two massive threes in crunch time and I I love seeing it. Looked like his three. He had three threes. He looked athletic when he was shooting them threes. He looked like he. He was a well-known like. This guy has banged threes all his life, like that's how he looked to me when he was knocking down the shots Confident, cool, collected, caught it, chucked it up. Like it looked pretty. Like it looked pretty. Watching him out there, I loved what I was seeing out of Carter Gilmore and just to hear the crowd giving him the bed, cheering, saying Carter Gilmore, that was awesome, because this is a guy in Carter Gilmore and I saw a bunch of people were crapping on AJ Storr across social media. I'm not one who likes to crap on AJ Storr, but I've been seeing all these people crapping on AJ Storr and it's been absolutely hilarious because he took all this money to go to Kansas instead of staying at Wisconsin. And if you look at the minutes per game on the season so far, aj Storr currently is at 17.4. Carter Gilmore at Wisconsin is at 16.7. And the difference there, aj Storr makes a million dollars to play basketball. Carter Gilmore plays it for the better of it, right, and Carter Gilmore actually has the same number of made threes on the season as, uh, aj store. That's awesome. This guy gets paid millions to do it. Carter Gilmore gets paid zero.
Speaker 1:And he was a walk on, he was a build it up from the bottom up. He's been a five-year guy in Madison and I love it. I absolutely love it. This is a guy. You don't get many guys like this anymore. You don't. You don't get guys who just purely bleed red and white. You don't. They love Wisconsin, they want to be at Wisconsin. They're not at Wisconsin just because of money. They're at Wisconsin because they love the state of Wisconsin. They love playing for the Badgers. You don't get guys like that anymore. Carter Gilmore is one of them guys, and for him to have a day like this and have a moment like that just made it that much more special. And just made it that much more special where he's flipping his headband to a fan and like he's just all through the roof, like I love that. So Carter Gilmore to me that's my player of the game, because it was just great to see a guy like that, who's been up through this system, get a day like this where it's Carter Gilmore day and I see too many memes of they're like that Spider-Man where he's putting the glasses on, it's like fuzzy, and he sees LeBron James and then he puts it on the rest of the way and it's Carter Gilmore. Like I've seen a bunch Like that's awesome, like just to see they call it a ghillie day and all the stuff like that, and I want people to remember this as Gilmore's day. Like it's just awesome to see that kind of stuff. So Gilmore is my player of the game.
Speaker 1:If you had to ask me, um, the red shed said Gilmore and winter doing wonders. To crush guard Can't develop players narrative. That winter crossover was wild. Yes, it was. Yes, it was winter, aaron, aaron, I don't know if you were watching it, but Winter crossed up he was like 6'7" this guy was and crossed him up out there and took it to the basket. Like I love that. I love that. I love seeing me a 7-footer who can put a guy on his backside, so that's awesome. Yeah, I mean Winter had a three in this game when, like I was talking about with Gilmore before there, it was like an athletic three. Right, he caught it in stride, bam, knocked it down. Like you love to see those kinds of things where it's in rhythm.
Speaker 1:Right, we were talking about that going into this game where it was working around, working the ball around but working inside out and that way allowing guys to step into shots. That's what we saw with the Gilmore shots. That's what we saw with that winter big three there. He had a couple threes in this. One here was just impressive all the way around moving of the basketball there by the badgers in the second half. So we got more to get to here with the badgers. I want to get to it. We're going to come back. Red shed, love to see you there. If you got any other things or topics you want to talk about badgers. Make sure you're shooting them in there. Anybody else in the comments tonight? Make sure you're shooting them in there. I want to hit the last ad break here. We're going to come back, we'll talk a little bit more Badgers here and then we'll wrap it up for the day here. So we'll see you guys on the other side of the ad break.
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Speaker 1:Let Peggy Sue you know what I always say there aaron, buy, sell, get out of that clunker. That's what you got to do. New year, new year. No, new year, new you. That's what you got to do there. So we I mean badgers big win over northwestern on the road there. Um, I thought it was a good win. I thought it was a good win wasn't great.
Speaker 1:First half ugly right about as ugly of basketball as I've seen the badgers play all season long. Second half there it was like what mary Maryland did to the Badgers in Maryland is what the Badgers did to Northwestern. In Northwestern the threes started to fall. Everything started to look better for this Wisconsin team and they started to move the basketball around. The offense looked like something and it was just. It was flowing a lot better than second half. So I like to see that there.
Speaker 1:I thought I would say you know, my one thing that I hated was the double teams from Northwestern. It's like Wisconsin wasn't ready for him, and I talk about all the time where Crowell he's got to draw that double right, because I want him to, I want to be a passer coming out of there, and Crowell and Winter, I thought they weren't ready for that double team at times. At one point I saw Crowell get it and turn towards the baseline through a double team. Dude, there ain't nobody out there. That's the baseline, that's the crowd like there ain't nobody out there. I don't know what you're turning for. So that would be my one thing. I guess I came away where it was like I hate this right. That that was my biggest takeaway from that. Um, outside of that I saw a lot of people saying guard didn't have the badgers ready for this game. I, you can only get a team so much so so ready for a game. You can only bring so much juice at some point to players. This is a veteran led team. There's like 10 juniors and seniors on this team. You have to be able to. You have to be able to adjust. You have to be able to bring the juice yourself at some point in games there. And I thought you know I do agree that you want to say the adjustments how much time do you really have to make an adjustment? But you know I heard a good one. It was in the. I think it was in Lockdown Badgers.
Speaker 1:I was listening to Ryan Herring, good friend of the show, and he said he said it perfectly. He's like when you go into a timeout, you only have so much time that you can talk to guys, right, and if you're spending those 30 seconds telling the guys, hey, those 30 seconds telling the guys, hey, you got to get the energy up and you're jacking them up, you have no time to make adjustments. So you have to be able to make those adjustments in timeouts. So it's on the players, it's on the veterans to get this team up and get them going throughout a game. So I guess that's where I want to blame it on guard for the adjustments, because I thought the Badgers didn't adjust to the game well. But I'm looking at the vets in this one and saying they had to be better. They had to be better about getting their guys up for this game too. So it comes on the players. It comes on greg guard a little bit there.
Speaker 1:Um, looking at what the red shed said, he said obviously this team is outpacing expectations. Is this season already a success for guard? Future looks bright, with talent on the roster. He's proven he can plug holes program. Feel good, yes, yes.
Speaker 1:You would say this pay this. At this pace right now they're blowing records out of the water at this point here, the three-point record, the total points in games record. I mean they're blowing records out of the water with this team right now. This team was picked to finish 12th in the big 10 12th right now. I don't know what they're going to be ranked as of tomorrow. They did drop that game at uh, this uh game at Maryland. I think Maryland will probably jump into the rankings there. They won four in a row. The Badgers won in one of the week. They might drop. I don't know if they drop out of the top 25, but I think they probably drop into the 20 range there for sure in the rankings there. So I mean at this point it's a success. Mean you've won 17 games up until this point.
Speaker 1:The schedule doesn't get favorable. Like you, look at the schedule, the upcoming schedule for the Badgers this next game out here against Indiana on Tuesday. That's not going to be an easy one. You have that game at Iowa, but then you have at Purdue, illinois at home, oregon at home, washington at home, and then you travel to Michigan State. You have Minnesota. Yeah, that's going to be a tough game. I hate saying that Minnesota is going to be a tough game, but that's still a tough team and you're playing in the barn for that one. And then you have Penn State to wrap it up. And, aaron, I'm going to be honest with you. I know you're a Penn State guy.
Speaker 3:Penn State is not a bad team. They got dog, I think it was. Yeah, they kind of fallen out though they're not good in conference play, Like everybody was hopeful. I mean, I'm not going to say they're bad, but they're not great you know what I mean, yeah, it's a shame, but it is.
Speaker 1:you know, it is what it is right.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it is what it is. Maybe one day there will be a basketball school. It's going to take like $100 million, just to be relevant, I think. But no, I mean all the things. You, that second half, though, watching that back, bits and pieces of that throughout. I mean the way Tonja heated up. Obviously we talk about the collection of guys, right, and you know it's I don't know how you look at it. Is it? Is it good they can flip the switch and just boom, bang them from three to to come back and like yes, absolutely. But do you think they're I'm not going to say, are they like one dimensional that way, but I know they favor shooting, like you know we talked about it at you know nauseam, they love to shoot from outside, outside, like, and that's kind of like, well, if you don't have that going, can you? Can you pound the paint and still be competitive against good teams?
Speaker 1:that's, that's no, no, because not to be negative.
Speaker 3:I'm just saying like that's a way in which they get points, you know that's no, I agree.
Speaker 1:Um, what I would say is you're gonna have games where the three point is not falling and you got to find other ways that you can score the basketball. So you don't want to get away. And that's why we say always utilize the post, keep the post involved in the basketball game, whether it's passing, whether it's scoring. You got to keep the post area involved a little bit. It helps with cutters, it helps with everything. You got to keep cutting the lane. You got to keep moving the basketball. You got to keep moving it side to side, getting cutting lanes, getting driving lanes open. I think where the Badgers run into most of their problems is the ball sticks to one side of the floor and when that ball sticks to one side of the floor you don't have that ability to get guys open cutting whatever it is. So I think that's where the Badgers kind of get themselves into trouble. I think you can survive with the outside shot. I think right now Tonjay needs to fill into the role where Tonjay is a closer Like. He needs to know that he's the closer right. I love John Blackwell, but Blackwell is not my closer, john Tonjay is my closer. When I need a big time shot. I'm going to that guy, I'm going to John Tonjay to get the job done. So I think with Tonjay, where I run into a problem with him is is he gets so hot to start a game but then all of a sudden he goes away and you're like John Tonje hasn't scored in 12 minutes and then all of a sudden he's coming back. I want John Tonje to stay consistent throughout a basketball game where we can go to him, we can go away, we can go to him, we can go away, and then at the end of the game I can say John, you've been hot for this entire game, let's get you going again. Right? I think that's where I'm at with John Tonje at this point. He's my closer. I need him involved in the game, whatever it is.
Speaker 1:I don't want to hear the excuse of oh well, they made defensive adjustments on us and they took Tonje away. No, no, because if they made the adjustment, you can make the adjustment to get Tanjay open, to find ways to get Tanjay involved. I hate that when they say well, you know, we just couldn't get him involved because you know they made these adjustments. Well, make the adjustment, then Make the adjustment coming out of the half to switch things up and get your guys going, because they should not be able to take away guys just that easy right. But that's where I think having guys like and we talked about the other day I know Redshed was mentioning it there with Max Glesman just being a defender, that's why I think you need guys like Glesman where he still is a threat, because when he's a threat you can't just focus on a guy like Tonje, you can't just focus on a guy like Blackwell. And that's why I'm saying you've got to have some kind of post presence, because if you don't have a post presence, they don't care about Steven Kral down there, they don't care about Nolan Winter, they're able to just key in on John Tonje, the Johns right, john Tonje and John Blackwell, and everybody else is kind of irrelevant to them out there. That's why I think Carter Gilmore is instrumental right now coming off the bench, same with Kamari McGee. I know Kamari, he's got his moments right. But both those guys they can score the basketball and I think that's what is a different kind of element for this Badger team is they can score it in many different ways and they got to continue with that.
Speaker 1:If they don't. I think you get too complacent, right? And the problem with the Badgers is when they get against some of these teams like Oregon, like Michigan State, like a Purdue and Illinois again is the big guys. The Badgers struggle with big guys. They have to be able to adjust to big guys in games here, because otherwise you could face some craptastic team. I was watching liberty the other day. They're not craptastic, they're a good team, but they're a mid-major, right, they're a mid-major team and you're gonna get against a mid-major team with a big guy. That could lead to problems, right? Yeah, I'm played well against big guys all year. That's gonna lead to problems.
Speaker 1:So I definitely think that they have to find some kind of post presence and some kind of defensive scheme. Guards got to work on some kind of defensive scheme where either he's helping down with big guys whatever it is right crashing down, where maybe he's doubling the post I don't know rotationally. You watch nebraska do it all the time and I'm watching him tonight here. They're playing oregon, they're up by six right now. But nebraska does it. Where they have the baseline guy, he traps down and he'll help with the big guy, and that it's different. It's different than what a lot of other teams will do. Where there's trap with random, they always trap with opposite baseline, you know. Then you have to skip pass to get it back. So you have guys rotate down. So we'll kind of see what the badgers do to adjust to some of these big guys. They're going to have a v6 when they take on illinois.
Speaker 1:There purdue has got the big fella. They always purdue always has a big fella there. So you got to watch out for Purdue there, iowa there. But Indiana, who they got coming up next year, has got Balo on the inside. And if you remember Arizona from last year, there Balo can be a nuisance on the inside. There he's averaging 14.5 points per game and 10 rebounds. So that's a guy you got to keep in check there. So the Badgers will be tested again on the inside against Indiana. So I'm interested to see how Greg guard kind of schemes up for that one.
Speaker 1:But to continue on what the red shed said there uh, future looks bright with this roster. He's proven he can plug holes program. Feel good, yes, yes, because I like what he does. He. He makes depth at each position, right, you think behind the point guard spot you have Kamari McGee. You think, behind your big guys you have gilmore. You have amos right now, behind like a max klesman or a tanji, you have janicki, and then you can go a little bit deeper. You have ilvers. Down there you're gonna have greppy. I think greppy is gonna be a fantastic big guy. He's got some size. That dude's got some size to him already, but he's just not fully developed there, so we're waiting on him yet. But I think he could be a good big guy on the inside there. So I like what they have talent wise.
Speaker 1:And then you got, you know, uh, king azur coming in from to peer there in this next class. He's a fantastic shooter. I was watching him the other night. He was in madison memorial playing and he had a fantastic night for them there. So I love what he's been able to do uh for to peer there. I can't wait to get him on the campus here and see what he's got. But the badgers have a decent enough recruiting class coming in. They can still add transfer. So I'm interested there.
Speaker 1:The thing with it is is, you know, like a john tonjay greg guard finds guys who are going to fit his system and he sees john tonjay wasn't a great. You didn't see the greatness until he came into the system. Before that, I mean, he had a banged up year the year before but he wasn't as fine tuned. And then he came in and Greg Gard saw that potential and just let him just run with it, just run with it there. So I think a lot of it has to do is the way that Greg Gard allows these guys to just be themselves within the offense, and that's huge. That's a big difference from what we saw in the past there with Wisconsin. Kirk Penny came in. He kind of switched it up.
Speaker 1:They're more running this, run and gun, european dribble drive offense here, a lot of nail stuff and I like it. I like what they got there. But, like I said before, I think they have to avoid staying too stagnant with it. I think they have to avoid keeping it on one side of the floor. They have to keep transitioning side to side across the court there, because if you stay just staying on the one side, you're kind of limiting yourself. You got to be able to move basketball around. So they stick to that. This badge team is going to be just fine. I am excited about the future of this team. I think Greg guard has proven year after year that there's a lot of people out there and hate them and he goes through some crappy games. Right, but end of the day, if he has a good February, I think he shuts up a lot of haters, because most of his teams do collapse when it comes to February. If he has a good February and this is what I want people to understand In this month of February, right, you're going to play Indiana, iowa, purdue, and then you have Illinois, oregon and then Washington in the month of February.
Speaker 1:Right, if you go, if you win your home games, you'd be four and two. Right, you beat Indiana, you beat Illinois, you beat Oregon, you beat Washington. You're four and two. You drop one of those games to a ranked opponent in Illinois or Oregon on your home floor. You go three and three in the month of February. I don't see that as like we need to three in the month of February. I don't see that as like we need to blow up the town, like. I don't see that as we need to fire Greg guard.
Speaker 1:You're still 20 and eight at the end of that. Right, if you go three and three in the month of February, you're still 20 and eight. You picked up a couple of good wins there. You'd have that win over Indiana, you'd have that win against Illinois and then, whoever there, you'd have that win against Illinois, and then whoever there, you'd still be 20 and eight. You'd still be solid heading into the month of March where you take on Michigan state, minnesota and Penn state. You'd be pretty darn. I mean, you'd be what? Fourth in the big 10 there. What is the big 10 standings? I think they're what? Seven and four, seven and four in the big 10. So you'd be sitting at 10 and seven in big 10 play. You're most definitely into the big 10 tournament. I know the like last three teams or whatever in the big 10 don't make the tournament. So you'd be definitely squarely in the big 10 tournament.
Speaker 1:I feel like a three and three February. Like I'm not saying like knock on wood, I want him to go six and old in February, but like I don't think at this point, as long as Greg guard doesn't have a colossal blow up where you drop all six games in the month of February, I don't think that you count like this season is by so much past success. This is, this is utterly like amazing what Greg guard has been able to do two years in a row being picked to finish what 12th in the big 10 and ends up near the top two years in a row. That's ridiculous. But now, now, what do we draw past? Success? Right, because now you've got to get to March and you got to win a couple of games, because the the the talk of the town is right now.
Speaker 1:The biggest thing that they have against Greg guard is he has not been able to take his team past the second weekend with his guys. He took both guys right Br team past the second weekend with his guys. He took Bo's guys right Bronson Gaining, nigel Hayes he took them to the sweet 16. He hasn't taken his guys to the sweet 16. So now that's the next step you got to make. This is a team where you should be able to do something like that. We'll see what happens.
Speaker 1:So that's kind of. That's kind of where we're at right now. So I mean, yeah, I'm excited about the future of this team right now, but now it's about Greg Gard taking his team to the next level and proving that, hey, I'm a darn good coach who can get my team deep into March. That's what we got to seek it now. So definitely some great, great question there. Great question there from the Red Shed Aaron. I mean we're at the end. We're at the end of the show here. Anything else we got to wrap us up here for the day. Anything else you're seeing across the interwebs right now.
Speaker 3:There was something. Let me see if I can. Oh well, you know a little bit, I did watch. I don't know if you know, you probably do. The nfl went completely to flag football for the pro bowl now, which I mean yes basically what you know.
Speaker 3:I guess this happened a couple years ago really. But like, watching it, just like bits and pieces, man, that is like I, I don't know, I I'd be hard-pressed to find watching something more boring than that. Um, that was just I don't know. And, like you know, even with the pass right, like I saw him coming out to burrow and they just like throw his flags off his, off, his you know his midsection there, and I'm just like dude, what, like what are we doing? Like what? I think I don't know. I'm not saying that they need to go out there and, you know, do jacked up like they used to do on espn, and people get their you know heads taken off in the middle of the field. But man, like I, just what's the point? Like I, I just don't I don't think that.
Speaker 1:That's why I just I, I don't see the pro bowl as being as prestigious as what it once was. Maybe it's, it's cool to get to selection, but after that, being in the game itself is like, yeah, yeah, you made it, but you're playing flag football. So I mean yeah, yeah, I mean I I did not get a chance to watch any of it, so I couldn't really speak on it from this year. But from what I've seen in the past, it's if you like entertainment, I guess if you like football not so much like it's just completely different to watch there. So I mean, yeah, it was one of those kinds of things there. But hey, we got to get.
Speaker 1:We got Superbowl talk coming up this week. We got lots getting into a Superbowl. We're going to have the Badger recap. They're going to play Indiana on Tuesday there. We're going to have the recap of that game coming up here on Wednesday on the show. We got lots to get into this week. So make sure you guys are tuning into the show this week here. So with that, for Aaron and myself this has been Wisconsin Sports on the Go with Trage. Thank you all for tuning in. We'll catch you guys back here on Wednesday, but until then see ya.