Wisconsin Sports on the go with Trag
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Wisconsin Sports on the go with Trag
Crying in Our Beer: The Badgers Break Our Hearts (But the Brewers Are Back!)
how we doing everybody and welcome into wisconsin sports on the go with trage. I'm your host, trage, we're coming back. It's almost. It's the end of march, march 26th, holy crap, baseball is here. We're talking baseball tomorrow already. Brewers, yankees can't wait for that to start.
Speaker 2:We got to talk about that today on the show. We got to talk about, well, the badgers. We got to talk about badgers. Men's basketball team, the collapse you can almost say the. Actually I'm gonna say the heartbreak, because this one, for me, was one of the most heartbreaking badger losses I've seen. I'm gonna explain why. We've seen a lot, but I'm gonna explain why. To me, that was one of the most heartbreaking losses. So I want to talk about that. Today we got women's hockey, we got ncaa wrestling, we got I women's basketball, wisconsin women's basketball. We want to talk about that because there is some crap that's going on with Wisconsin women. So much to get to today. It's not even funny. We're going to get to it all here. So, aaron, how are we doing on this Wednesday? I mean, it's a great Wednesday.
Speaker 1:Yeah, doing pretty well, man. Like you said, this month is. To me this month has gone faster than February and it's longer, obviously, with the days in the month. This month has flown by. I did see a I think it's a Congress like somebody with the running for office out there long story short. Out there in Wisconsin, kind of going around door-to-door type of thing. Snow was coming down Like long story short. Snow was coming down when he was out there campaigning a little bit and that was only a couple days ago. I'm like dang man, you guys, just it doesn't stop it's april it's, it's dang near april, I mean.
Speaker 2:But that's why american family field has a roof. That's the only reason why we got a roof down there. So we're gonna have baseball start up when it's supposed to, down there at american family field. So, hey, we got lots to get into today. If you want to find us across social media, make sure you do it Facebook, twitter, tik TOK, youtube and Twitch. You can find us on Twitter, twitch and Tik TOK. Just search Wisco sports on the go. You can find us on Facebook and YouTube. Search W heard here on the show. Just go WiscoSportsOnTheGo at gmailcom. That is WiscoSportsOnTheGo at gmailcom and you could text us. You want to text into the show? You definitely can 715-990-4914. That is 715-990-4914.
Speaker 2:So, aaron, over this last weekend we saw a lot of you know, I went into the weekend and actually it was on Saturday, it was on Saturday night there and my cousin's over and my uncles were over, you know, and everybody's over, and we're watching the Badger game and we're going to watch Steven Russell, steven Buchanan, here from Central Wisconsin, we're going to watch him down there at the NCAA Championships. We're going to watch, you know, for the boys there. So we're like we could go three for three tonight. Steven could win, the Badgers could win, marshfield could win, we'd have them all Bam right. Well, steven won, we got that. We got the big win out of Steve there. That was awesome, so got to watch that. That was an exciting match all the way around, so we got to see that. Um, but I mean outside of that, you know the badgers well, it didn't go so well.
Speaker 2:Marshfield, I I hate to knock on you know, I hate to knock on high school teams and everything like that. I don't want to take complete shots here, but son of a gun, just hang on to the basketball, stop turning it over. I mean, there's like a minute left and they turned the ball over twice, gave wisconsin lutheran the ball back. That you know, there's shot clock, so all they had to do was run clock and get fouled and Wisconsin Lutheran stole the ball twice. There they had the lead. Marshfield did late in that one four-point lead and they blew it. I mean they blew the lead there and it happens, it sucks, it happens. But it was just like geez, louise, just hang on to the basketball boys.
Speaker 2:I mean, goodness gracious, sucked, that sucked to watch there. I mean, but a heck of a season like. All in all. I just that's all I want to say is a heck of a season out of marshfield. They're just getting down there beating wanaki. They're one of the better teams, the number two team in the uh in the semi-finals there and then getting to that state game and leading in that state game against a very good wisconsin lutheran team. This is a team who's got guys. I mean con canoople's brothers are going to Wisconsin Lutheran. So you beat up a team like that, a team that beat Osh North who beat De Pere, one of the best teams in the state. So I mean you're talking about a pretty darn good performance by Marshfield there. Just couldn't get it done down the stretch there. So once again, congratulations to those guys there, for Marshfield Just sucks that they couldn't get it done down there at the state game.
Speaker 2:But Steve her done, got her done there against bar. That was a. That was an exciting match. I was you know it was in between we were flipping back and forth on the badger game over and we saw Steve wrestle there and I was excited. No, and then it's like I don't want to turn it back to the badger game, cause now I'm up and I'm excited watching this game or watching this match here from Steve, but that match against bar was awesome. They're won by decision there. And then watching that 285 match between gable stevenson and I believe that was hendrickson there from oklahoma state goodness, was that exciting. Because gable stevenson I know there's a lot of controversy around him, with, you know, leaving he plays at when he technically left wrestling the first time he left his shoes on the mat there and then he took off. You know, like I'm done, I'm gonna walk away. Then he went wwe, you know nxt or whatever, and then he was in the, you know, went for the bills, was in the nfl for a little bit. Then he comes back to penn or to minnesota there wrestles. This last year was fantastic. I mean, he's fantastic, he's a great wrestler. Like I don't want to, I don't want to take away from the guy. He he's fantastic, but it's just so. The story is just so. I don't know I wanted him to lose. Like I wanted him to lose. Like, watching, hearing the story, seeing all of it, understanding the story, it's just like, dude, you don't have any people. Like Minnesota people are cheering for you, but outside of that nobody's cheering for you. We want to see the upset here and Henderson want to see the upset here and henderson pulled it off. That was an exciting match. That was huge. That was awesome, awesome to watch there. So a great night of wrestling there.
Speaker 2:The women's hockey team over the weekend there, wisconsin women's hockey got a huge, huge championship win over ohio state, went into overtime there, got into overtime off a penalty shot. That was awesome. I saw mark johnson. Mark johnson I believe it's mark johnson, yes, mark Johnson there. Uh, he asked you know all that, all of them, you know. Do you want to do? You want to shoot whatever? And I, I believe who took that penalty shot there for the Badgers? I can't, I can't remember who it was there. Um, oh, who the heck took that penalty? Uh.
Speaker 1:Kristen. Uh, maybe Kristen Sims here.
Speaker 2:Was it? Yeah, it was Sims. I think it was sims. I'm pretty darn sure it was sims there, but it was cool, regardless whoever it was. I think it was sims too. But he asked he's like who wants to take it right, who wants to take the shot? And she raised her hand she's like I do. And then she took off and that, like that was awesome. That was awesome. He like put full faith in his team and said who wants to take this shot for the? You know for the way? I mean tie, this was it. They were down. This was for the tie to force it basically to go to overtime. And she's like I got it. And bam, so yeah, kristen, sims there, right there. Um, that was awesome. I mean that was awesome there for him. And then you know to go into overtime and win it there. Just a heck of a heck of a day. Heck of a day for the badgers. They're the lady bad Badgers. So great to see that. I mean, all in all, a pretty good weekend with that right Badgers get a national championship. Not a curling national championship, we already had that in the bag, but I mean national championship nonetheless there. And then we saw and I mean we got lots to get to. We got Brewers of Badger basketball men's to get to later on here.
Speaker 2:But this women's basketball hire that they had, I had to get it explained to me because I saw on social media when they made the hire right and I saw that it was what's her name there? Robin Pigeonton, whatever, however you want to say it their former Missouri coach right, and I was looking at her record and I'm like she's been at Missouri for 15 years now or 15 seasons. Basically down there 250 and 218. She's just above 500 there. Four NCAA appearances in 15 seasons. Four, four NCAA appearances, aaron, can you look up how many Wisconsin has had in total in a while? How many NCAA tournaments has Wisconsin been in in recent memory? Because it's in a while, like how many? How many national, how many ncaa tournaments has wisconsin been in in in recent memory? Because it's been a while. It's been a while for this women's basketball team. Uh, for the badgers there.
Speaker 2:But I mean I look at this hire and I was like what's the why? Like what made her stick out over? I mean I saw there was a couple other candidates in there. Uh, tamara, I can't remember. Uh, tamara moore, she was in there. She played at wisconsin, I believe, and she was in the running for it there. I mean, there was definite other coaches that were available. This was the hire that they went with. I don't know, aaron, did you find? Did you find the record over the years there?
Speaker 1:yeah, so the I mean the last time you know. Did you find a record over the years there? Yeah, so the. I mean the last time you know Wisconsin Badgers women's basketball in the in the NCAA tournament was 2010.
Speaker 2:So you're talking, you know, 14, well, 15, 15 year drought really.
Speaker 1:So before that though right, I mean before that, though I mean they were, they were pretty good. I mean you're looking back in the 90s, 92, 95, 96, 98, early 2000s. They went 2001, 2002, then the eight year gap to 2010. And then, and then, they haven't been back since no-transcript.
Speaker 2:Her career in 30 years as a head coach? She's 585 and 375. Well, one of those numbers scream off the board to you. She's a 60, 60, she's 60. Like what? What number there? I mean 20 postseason experiences in 30 years, 20 postseason appearances in 30 years as a head coach. There what screams like this is the coach that is going to take the badgers over the top there. Nothing, absolutely nothing.
Speaker 2:You listen to chris mcintosh there and he says I'm extremely pleased with robin will be joining the wisconsin athletics family. She's accomplished so much as a coach and has produced winners both on the court and in the classroom. Robin has Midwest roots in coaching experience and she and her family will fit right into local community as well as our state. She doesn't recruit Wisconsin. My biggest problem with and this is my biggest problem with Greg Gard too you want to hear my biggest problem with Greg Gard. You want to hear my biggest problem with Luke Fickle and you want to hear my biggest problem with any coach at Wisconsin If you don't get the best talent in the state, I have a problem with that. I have a problem with when your best talent always leaves. I can't tell you how many of the men's basketball players Con Canupal, who's at Duke right now, wisconsin native, johnny Davis, was the last big guy to go to Wisconsin. I mean, yeah, you got Kingingser now going there from De Pere and that's a fantastic signing. Don't get me wrong. I love that signing for the Badgers. But let's look at the years. I mean, how many guys do we see go to Virginia? Because, oh yeah, tony Bennett's there. He's got Wisconsin ties. Oh yeah, coach K is grabbing Jalen. She doesn't recruit well in the state of wisconsin.
Speaker 2:You want somebody and this is my personal opinion on it I don't care if she came from florida, atlantic, right like dusty may went up to michigan from florida, atlantic. I don't care about that if you recruit well from the state. That's what I want. I want that. I want. I want somebody whose roots aren't Midwest roots. I don't care if you got Midwest roots, I want you to have roots in the state of Wisconsin. I want you to have people in the state of Wisconsin saying I want to go play for you.
Speaker 2:Looking at this and looking at Missouri, who last season, I believe, was like 3-13 in conference play and in her last two seasons she's 25 and 37. I'm going to go with her recruiting classes aren't the greatest. It's plain and simple. I look at the numbers. I'm just looking at the numbers here. Yeah, you're in the SEC. It's a tough conference. Sure, it's a tough conference down there. The Big Ten is not going to be like a cakewalk for you and if you can't get the players up here, it's going to be even worse.
Speaker 2:So I'm looking at this hire from Wisconsin. I'm like what did you? What did you improve? They go year after year and it's like well, you know women's basketball, which isn't that important to Wisconsin. If they had a good women's basketball team, people would tune in, people would watch. They would. I loved watching Sarah Williams this last year for the Badgers. She was fantastic, but she's gone. She transferred out. Why? Why would you want to stay in a program where you're not going to win, because it's just not a winning attitude? I know a lot of people hate on Greg Gard and hate on what the men's basketball team is doing, because they can't get past the second week and this and that Guess what they have success. They make it fun to watch this team. I mean right now, looking at Wisconsin women's basketball, what do you have to look forward to at this very moment.
Speaker 2:So when I see a hire like this by Chris McIntosh, it sucks. And then I go on social media and I had to have this explained to me because I didn't really understand it. I saw somebody posted about it, but I didn't really understand it there. Basically, they used a temp agency to make this hire it's called turnkey or something like that agency basically to find coaches and ads. And if that's the truth, if that's the truth, if that's what they did and I don't know if that's what they did, but if that's what they did and that's what I'm hearing and that's what I'm seeing here and this, this guy I've, you know, follow here on twitter and everything like that. He's usually pretty reliable. He, uh, he said that that's what they did. And if they did it that way, that's a lazy look and that's McIntosh. I don't know what it's going to take to put his job on the line, right, because right now he keeps extending Luke Fickle and that ain't getting better. So if this, if this is the key, we're just going to keep going lateral with these moves, I don't get it. I don't get it there.
Speaker 2:So, wisconsin women's basketball they make their hire. Robin will be joining this wisconsin uh women's basketball team. She'll be coaching them now, but I I don't understand the move, so we're gonna reset. We got more to get to. We got badger basketball. We got brewers on the back side here, so we'll be right back here on the show. Welcome back in.
Speaker 2:This is wisconsin sports on the go with trage. I'm your host, trage. We're coming back. It's wednesday, march 26th, here on the show. We want to get to. We got to get to our dad joke of the day. We got to get to our dad joke of the day and that joke, that joke has got to be brought to you by one of our sponsors here. So we got sport and spine clinic of greenwood, wisconsin, their expert traditional physical therapy and structural integration programming. Call for flexible scheduling and evaluations. Just call 715-267-4583. That is 715-267-4583 for all your evaluations and you know physical therapy needs down there at Sport and Spine Clinic in Greenwood there. But I got two dad jokes today. One comes from my grandma. She's like she heard the dad joke last week. She's like I gotta get you a new one here. So how do cows stay up to date, aaron? How do cows stay up to date?
Speaker 1:that's. That's a trick question I I wouldn't even have the slightest clue on that one. They read the moose paper yeah, I could have sat here all night, I wouldn't have came up with that. That's a clever one.
Speaker 2:That's a clever one there. So we got ours. We got our dad joke of the day here. Why do fathers take an extra pair of socks when they go golfing? Beats me again In case they get a hole in one. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Fact of the day there. That fact, that's your fact of the day too. That's your fact of the day. Take a pair of socks with you, case you get a hole in one. So we got lots more to get to here tonight on the show. We want to get over into the badge. We want to talk about this badge again because, you know, might as well rip the band-aid off while we're here, right, might as well rip it off before we get to the brewers or anything like that. Let's let the band-aid off of this badgers men's basketball, basically season at this point here.
Speaker 2:So the badgers got the win over montana and that was, I mean that win, nothing really crazy to talk about in that one. They took care of business as they should. It was one of those kinds of games there, the one there. I said it. Going into it, I said that BYU team. They scared me and I remember I was sitting there, like I said, had some family over to watch the games there, watch the wrestling and everything like that. And I was sitting there next to my uncle and right before the Badgers versus BYU game started I said if the Badgers can't shoot, I'm nervous. I'm nervous because if the Badgers can't shoot this BYU team, I know they can shoot. I know they can shoot the lights out of a building. Well, they shot the lights out of the building, plain and simple. Byu had a great game shooting the basketball 46% from three, 49% from the field in this one and I mean 41 rebounds. They out-rebounded the Badgers there. A lot of second chances Second-chance points hurt Wisconsin in that game against BYU. I don't care what anybody says. Second-chance points hurt the Badgers. 13 offensive rebounds for BYU, 13 offensive rebounds. I know the Badgers had 11 themselves, but 13. Giving up 13 offensive rebounds? You can't do that. Can't do that and expect to win a basketball game there. Points off turnovers the Badgers, I mean they led in that. They led in that category there. But you look at points in the paint 38 points for BYU in the paint in that game. There's your difference, there's your big difference. Free throw, the free throw line. Byu they're a team that usually struggles from the free throw line. This game here 15 for 16, badgers 23 for 29. You lost by two. I mean you can keep going through the stats, you can keep looking at it all right there. There was a lot of things that went wrong for Wisconsin in this game. Here. John Tonje did everything that he possibly could, 37 points Struggled to start the game.
Speaker 2:And that's kind of where I wanted to allude to with my discrepancy, I guess, with the Badgers in the start of this game was they were settling for a lot of threes. They were settling they weren't working the ball around, it wasn't moving side to side, they were settling for a lot of threes. And when you settle for threes, especially against a team like BYU who likes to run, when they get long rebounds, they can get out and move it there. No-transcript, understand. Steven Krause shoots a little bunny there in the post, misses and then BYU is able to take it to full length of the court with like six seconds shoot a three, get three more points going into the half there. Look at your differences of your game right there. I mean that's a big swing. That's a big swing heading into the half.
Speaker 2:There was a lot of things that went wrong in this one, a lot of things that went wrong for the Wisconsin Badgers. And that last shot by John Tonje. I don't know if anybody else noticed it, but he stopped when I rewatched that play over and over and over and over again. He had his guy beat. I don't know why he didn't just take him to the rim. Everybody you know, and I understand this one because I said this, I didn't say the same thing at the time, but I look at it again. I'm like why didn't Greg Gard draw something up? He didn't draw anything up. They had 13 seconds. He got. He had a timeout. You know the Bad? He had a timeout. The Badgers had a timeout there before they got the ball. With 13 seconds, he didn't draw anything up. He basically just said and I'm at a crossroads with this one because, since it didn't work, I'm irritated by it but if John Tonje would have went and got it, I'd be like well, it's fine, I understand what Greg Gard was doing. Give it to your best player, go get it, go get me one. That's what you got to do.
Speaker 2:I would be honest with you and I had this discussion with a couple of different people. I said personally, if anybody else would have taken that last shot, I'd have been ticked. I've been ticked. John Tonje is the guy who got you there. John Tonje has been that dude for the Badgers all season long for the Badgers all season long, that dude.
Speaker 2:If anybody deserved to take that final shot, you could say Blackwell, sure, sure, that guy. If Blackwell would have shot that and missed, I don't know if I would have been like I think Blackwell should have taken that shot. I would have said why didn't John Tonje touch the basketball so putting it in his hands? I thought the play call Stephen Crowell. I mean, he sealed his guy going downhill, gave Tonjay a lane. Tonjay stopped. I don't know why. He was trying to draw a foul. I don't get why. Just finish it, dude, go to the rim. He had his guy beat. I watched that play multiple times. He had his guy beat. He was around him.
Speaker 2:But I'll be honest with you watching it, I wish you had just shot the three, because I'm going to put this in the simplest terms possible they weren't going to win that in overtime. They weren't. They had no stops, they had nothing. They gave up 91 points. I am convinced the Badgers played the one team in the tournament who could actually shoot the basketball, because I've watched the rest of the NCAA tournament so far. That has been some terrible offense across the board in a lot of these games.
Speaker 2:And then Wisconsin plays BYU and you put up 89 points and you lost. And you look at a lot of these other games here and it's like look at these final scores of some of these games that have happened so far and it's like where was that? Where's the offense in those games? The Badgers play a juggernaut team and everybody else here. I mean they got Colorado State putting up 71 points. Drake I mean Texas Tech plays Drake as a three seed there.
Speaker 2:Wisconsin, out of all the three seeds, wisconsin got screwed and this is why BYU is from out west. This was like a home game for BYU. Look how many fans they had in the crowd. This was a home game for BYU. They didn't have to go anywhere. They play in elevation. This was neutral for them. They were like this is our team, this is our place, right? So you had to play a juggernaut sixth seed who has two losses in the last. I mean their last two losses and there's not been many losses for BYU have been to Houston, who's one of the number one seeds in the entire tournament and could go to the Final Four, maybe a national championship, and that's their two losses in a while.
Speaker 2:That's a sucky draw. Wisconsin got a crappy draw and I am I'm going to tell you this now. We can say, you know, greg guard sucks. And we can say they didn't deserve to win that game. We can say all that crap, sure, but March is about where you draw it is. It is honestly where you end up and who you draw in round two. If VCU beats BYU, wisconsin has an easier game round two against VCU. Good defensive team, don't get me wrong, good defensive team, but Wisconsin doesn't have to try to put up 92 points to try to beat VCU, no way.
Speaker 2:You look at the rest of this bracket. Here, michigan State, they got New Mexico in game two. There Ole Miss played Iowa State. I would have taken Ole Miss if I was Wisconsin there. You look at a couple of these other teams that have had to play like Maryland gets Colorado State. There, texas Tech gets Drake, and I know some of these, I know some of these are Cinderella's and I get that and everything like that. But you look at the path that some of these teams have to take. I personally, if I was a Wisconsin Badger if I was a Badger player or anything like that I would have taken Illinois on again. I would have taken six seed Missouri on, I would have taken Ole Miss.
Speaker 2:Byu was the one team that Wisconsin was going to struggle to match up with, because they could shoot the lights out ofa building and if Wisconsin got cold it was going to be a tough night and that's what we saw. And Wisconsin did everything they could to try to get back in that game. They couldn't. So that's where I'm at. I mean, I'm not trying to make an excuse for the Badgers. I'm not trying to make an excuse Like you got to win with the teams in front of you. You got to beat them right. That's what I said. Going into it I was like it's going to be a tough game, but they got to beat good teams to get to the Final Four. Sometimes you get an easier path though Getting a round two game basically on the road, not a not a very good situation to be in if you're the wisconsin badgers first off.
Speaker 2:We already were saying why did you end up as a three seed in denver after and playing on thursday. After you played on sunday in the last game of the day in the big 10 championship and you have to turn around and play right away on thursday there, early in the day against a montana team we were confused by that and then they play byu basically at home. It's like that was destined to be a tough time and that's what we saw. And I don't think much less of the Badgers because of that game. All I think is dang. That was a crappy spot to be in if you're the Wisconsin Badgers. So the Badgers dropped that game to BYU. Byu now moves on to take on Alabama there. Byu now moves on to take on Alabama there.
Speaker 2:So, coming off this game, we come off this game here and we look at well, the first thing, of course, right, it's the Greg Gard. Should we fire him? Should we not fire him? Talk and everything like that. How do you come off of this? And I'm going to be completely honest with you how do you come off this season and say we should fire Greg Gard? Serious, I will say this game here. Greg Gard chose the worst moment not to coach his team Because, like I said before, that last play with 13 seconds left. Wisconsin had the ball. Why didn't he draw up a play? I will agree with that. He chose the worst time not to coach his team.
Speaker 2:The Badgers I mean the Badgers, I mean all in all 27 and 10, fourth in the Big Ten, Finished fourth in the Big Ten there. How do you look at that? How do you look at that and you say we got to fire the head coach. You would be the first team ever to fire a head coach, after going 27 and 10, probably. I can tell you that much. I don't know if there's been many others, unless there's been a scandal or something in there. But how do you go off of that and you say let's fire the head coach because that's what needs to happen here? I mean, honestly, if you want to say you don't believe Greg Gard's developing players enough, you don't believe this. You don't believe that, sure, there's enough. You don't believe this, you don't believe that, sure, you can have your own opinion. I'm not saying you can't Like, I completely like, allow, I'm not going to do. Don't have your opinion on something Like. I want you to have your opinion. If you think Greg guard stinks, think he stinks, right, but you can't come off this season and say, great, I'm going to be, greggard's going to get an extension, he's going to get an extension.
Speaker 2:Greggard took a team that was destined for 12th place in the Big Ten. That's the preseason projection. They were figured to be 12th. You lost your number one scorer from last year. You lost your point guard, chucky Hepburn. You lost one of your better players in Tyler Wall, gone Out the door and you were returning a lot of questions.
Speaker 2:Right, you had Nolan Winter coming back. It's like whoa, I don't know what Nolan Winter is really going to bring to me. You had Steven Crowell. We know what Steven Crowell was about there. You had Max Klesman coming back. What was Max Klesman going to be able to do for you? He was subpar, not a great scorer or anything, but he was a heart and soul guy. You had this random guy who's John Tonje, we don't know. Right, you had John Blackwell coming back. But what was John Blackwell going to give you year two? There? You had, I mean, carter Gilmore. Not really much to talk about with Carter Gilmore.
Speaker 2:Kamari McGee who was he? Jack Janicki, the young fellow. What is he going to bring to this team? Xavier Amos, another transfer in from a smaller program. What's he going to bring?
Speaker 2:You had a team of nobodies. I'm going to be honest with you. You had a team of nobodies that's the nicest way to put it Like this team, where were they? Like, you didn't look at this team and say, oh my God, this team is loaded. No, not a single person looked at this team and said this team is loaded. They were a three seed in the tournament. They went to the Big Ten Championship game. They were fourth in the Big Ten. They were 27-10. They beat Arizona. They went to Purdue and put up 94 points. This team put up historic numbers, historic numbers and I'm going to tell you when we come back from the break. I'm going to tell you why. This, probably, for me, was the saddest Wisconsin Badger loss that I've seen in a while. I'm going to tell you about that, why I believe that when we come back from this break, we'll be right back on Wisconsin Sports on the go with Trage.
Speaker 2:Welcome back into Wisconsin Sports on the go with Trage. I'm your host, trage. We're coming back here on the show I wanted to mention before we move on here. If you want to find us across social media, you can just find us on Facebook, twitter, tiktok, youtube and Twitch. Search us up there on Twitter, twitch and TikTok Just search Wisco Sports on the go. You can find us on Facebook and YouTube. Search Wisco Sports on the go with Trage. You can also email the show If you got some discrepancy or you want to tell us we suck. Whatever you want to tell us, I don't care. Whatever you want to tell us out there, search it up there. You can. That is wiscosportsonthegoatgmailcom. Or you can shoot us a text. Just shoot us a text there at 715-990-4914. That is 715-990-4914 there.
Speaker 2:Aaron. I mean, I went into the break and I said this was one of the saddest losses that the Badgers have taken in a while. This was saddest. I said I'd tell you why. Well, for me I'll be honest with you this loss was the worst because when I look at this team, there wasn't a single player where I looked at him and I was like I don't like you. I don't like you the way you act, I don't like the way that you are, anything like that. I mean this was one of the most likable fun, like. This was the one of the I'm going to be honest with you since probably that 2014, 2015,. You know those seasons with the badges when they went to the backpack, final fours went to national championship. I got this is the most fun I've had watching bad basketball. Like honestly, I mean, like I said before, the break historic numbers, you know, between scoring the basketball and you know their free throw percentage, their threes per game scoring, I mean 94 points at Purdue. I mean this team was just awesome to watch, just fun. It was exciting. It was just exciting basketball.
Speaker 2:And, like I said, I mean you look at the players John Tonje, I didn't know what to expect when he came. Inay, I didn't know what to expect when he came in. I didn't know what to expect out of the guy. What john tonjay did in one season as a wisconsin badger put him into like the top like five all-time wisconsin badger basketball players. Just the way that he scored it, the way that he played the game, watching him finish at the rim, watching all this, the crazy acrobatic stuff, the free throws, everything like that, you know irritating people because of the amount of free throws he shot. He was awesome In one season. He changed the way we thought about Wisconsin basketball.
Speaker 2:And then you look at some of the other guys, john Blackwell and I know a lot of people had their discrepancies with Steven Crowell and Max Klesman at times. But I tell you what those two are fun to watch and they were exciting. And those two they had some grit to them at times. Right, max Klesman definitely had the grit. Steven Crowell I wish he had a little bit more grit. Nolan Winter I think he's going to be fun to watch for years to come here. Same with John Blackwell.
Speaker 2:And then you look at the bench and just what Carter Gilmore Carter Gilmore, what he brought to this basketball team, a basketball team, a guy who, I mean, was a walk-on, not even regarded as much of a scorer or anything like this for this basketball team, and he was knocking down threes this year. That stroke looked smooth. He was just, I mean, fun to watch Kamari McGee and Jack Janicki those guys stepping up, xavier Amos stepping into his own there in the Big Ten tournament and kind of into the tournament itself there, just to see the production of these guys and where they were when they first came to Madison, to what they showed this season here and their development as a team. And I got to be honest with you I know we've said it in years past there with these Badger teams and the way that they gel, right, we said that some of these teams, they look like a team. They really gelled well together. This team gelled, they were fun, they were fun man.
Speaker 2:And this team gelled, they were fun, they were fun man, and it that's why this one sucked, because I didn't want to see this one end, just because of how much excitement it brought you to turn it on right, because there was, I mean, years for the badges where it was like 60 points a game. You're like that's kind of boring, right, that's kind of boring basketball. But you watch and that's why, again, with greg guard, you know a lot of people want to be fired. How do you fire a guy when he just reinvented? He reinvented badger basketball. You can say, yeah, he's not a great coach, that's your own opinion. But guess what?
Speaker 2:Wisconsin has now become more of a landing spot for players because the offense that they run. Why would you want to be a part? If you want to, if you want to be a scorer, right. If you want to be a really good player and get to the next level, potentially right, why would you want to go to wisconsin if you're, like you know, gonna run the shot clock out, put up about, you know, 50 shots a game as a team and then score about 60 points, why would you want to be a part of that? But if you watch this season here, where they're putting up 90 points a game and they're putting up a hundred points a game and it's like that's a different team, that's a different style that we're watching, that's an NBA style offense that that attracts.
Speaker 2:So guess what? I know we're at this point right now where we're, like, you know, greg guard, has he proven anything to us? I think next year he's got to prove that he can get past this. You know the round of 32. I agree with that because it's been a while since we've been, since the badges have been at the sweet 16. I will agree with that. He hasn't taken his guys there.
Speaker 2:But this team this season here, like I said before, sometimes it comes down to a path that you get and they ran it. They had a tough path. You got byu second round and anybody who's sitting there saying all byu wasn't that good of a team, a pretty darn good team, pretty darn good team. You can sit here and you can say, you know, oh, they weren't that good. Right, there were 16, I think they were. That was a bad seed for them and it was a bad draw for the Badgers. Be honest with you. So my opinion on that one I'm not sitting here firing Greg Gard today. I'm not, if you want to sure, but I'm going to tell you this right now you might want to have somebody next to you when you get an alert on your phone that says Greg Gard has been extended by the Wisconsin Badgers. You might want somebody next to you to give you a hug because you might be a little upset. So that's probably what's leading up to spring.
Speaker 2:So the Badgers I mean we're going to talk, we're going to talk more Badgers, because not not right now, right now, right now, but there's, there's a lot more to get into Right With this, with this Badger team, as we kind of wrap up the season here, we look forward because the transfer portal already opened. As of Monday, there was like 795 people or guys already in the transfer portal. That is utterly ridiculous. How do you open up a transfer portal when the tournament's still going on? I don't understand that. But that's a whole other argument for a whole other day. We don't even want to get into that today here, but that's just ridiculousher argument for a whole nother day. We don't even want to get into that today here, but that's just ridiculous.
Speaker 2:So when we we're going to have transfer portal news, we're going to have, you know, hopefully right across your fingers nobody leaving Wisconsin. I did see in good news John Blackwell, nolan Winter. You know those guys. Jack Janicki, I did hear, you know, I heard from the quote from John Blackwell there and he said basically, you know me, no one. Winter, jackson, nikki, we talked about it. We all want to get to work this summer, get back here, get better, whatever.
Speaker 2:So you get that core players back. You get Xavier Amos back. Hopefully. You bring back some of your young guys like Daniel free tag, the young fella who was supposed to take over that point guard role. You get a guy like free tag coming back. I think Amos is going to be huge there. But then you're going to have recruits coming in too, like Keenzer and Garlock and Hayden Jones there from overseas. You're going to have transfer portal ads coming in. So you're going to have a lot of pieces hopefully that you retain and then we're going to see the transfer portal ads. So hopefully we see some of that coming up here in the near future there for the Wisconsin Badgers. So lots more to get to there.
Speaker 2:John Tonje, though I I mean he still. He led through the through the first weekend. He led all scores in the March Madness with 52 points in total there. So that was outstanding. He had 37 points there against BYU but he led all scores in March Madness there for the first round. So I mean hats off, that was a fantastic season. I mean hats off to the guy and I mean hopefully NBA teams watch that and they're like this dude needs a shot, because watching him, watching what he can do, not just from the three-point line but finishing at the rim, everything in between the free throw, everything with John Tonje, he definitely deserves a shot there at the league and it was exciting. It was exciting to watch him there. So hopefully we got some good news coming up here with the Badgers pretty soon here transfer portal and everything else.
Speaker 2:But, aaron, we got to get over into the mellow yellow minute here tonight. Aaron, the question tonight, the question we got tonight here, is since we got MLB right around the corner, right, we got to get to this one who has the most wins by a team in the last five years. So let's go. Top five lists Give me three of them. What do you got for three of those on that list?
Speaker 1:I think two of them should be automatics. Dodgers got to be in there.
Speaker 2:Yep Dodgers number one.
Speaker 1:Yankees probably in there.
Speaker 2:Yankees are number five.
Speaker 1:Wow, houston. Give me Houston. Houston is number three. Okay, that number two. Part of me thinks the is it an NL team? Give me that.
Speaker 2:One is an NL team, the other one is an AL team, both in the East.
Speaker 1:Because the Braves won the division more than the Phillies have in recent memory. I'll go Braves there.
Speaker 2:Braves, number two on the list there.
Speaker 1:The last one is in the AL East and we already have the yankees crossed off there. Um, I mean, baltimore's been good, um, not that good, not that one that's pretty pretty, like right there all the time the race. Yes, the race number. Yeah, that's a little surprising though, because they, I mean, they're always consistent, they're always consistent, like the win loss record.
Speaker 2:if you look at it, they're 405. They're always consistent, like the win loss record. If you look at it, they're four oh five and three oh three. So it's like they're they're right there every single year, but they're above 500. They keep.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's, that's, that's, that's impressive for sure.
Speaker 2:They're always there. They're always there. Them Tampa Bay rays. So I mean cannot wait for some baseball to be back, because now you know I okay I shouldn't say that if it was not for the Badgers losing in March Madness, I would not care as much about the Brewers, you know first, but I still care. Right, I would still care. But it's like when you lose something you just want something else, you know something else back.
Speaker 2:And this is what I wanted back. And then I wanted you know, I wanted to see the Brewers and Yankees here. So we got a two o'clock first pitch there in New York on ESPN. For that one we got Joe Buck and Bill Schroeder calling that game on the radio. That should be something. That should be definitely something to listen to there. But definitely something to listen to uh there. But I mean, aaron, this looks like it's. It should be a pretty good matchup. I believe freddie is gonna go for the brewers. I don't who's the yankees opening day, uh rodon because of colby.
Speaker 1:Yeah, colby, and down for the season.
Speaker 2:They got rodon slotted in there okay, okay, well, it's gonna depend I don't know if anthony or not anthony, what the heck is carlos rodan, if carlos rodan has gone through like a uh, career retooling, like a you know re, re, getting a little bit better, right, because rodan kind of struggled last season there. So we'll see. I mean, we'll see opening day here, fastball freddie, hopefully, hopefully, right, he's gonna be you know, on his game for that first pitch there. But I wanted to do what I want to do here today. On the show I had some over-unders. I'm trying to find my over-unders here for the first. So I got bold predictions and over-unders. So what do we want to do first? Do we want to do bold predictions or do we want to do over-under stats? Let's do over-under, over-under stats here. So we're getting close to commercial break here. We'll start the over under stats. If we don't get to them all, we'll hit them on the next time, right? So over under. Brewers, over under.
Speaker 2:So I saw one of their um, one of the guesses. Right, the predictions. The predictions are always wrong. But one of the predictions for brewers wins 82 and a half was the projection over under 82 and a half wins for the milwaukee brewers. I'm gonna go over. I think they're in that 86 to 87 range. I I don't know if they're gonna like last season they got. I believe it was like what 93 is where the brewer sat last season there. I don't think they're gonna be in that same. I don't think they're gonna get to that same spot, but I think they'll be. I think 86 to 87 yeah, I, I do too.
Speaker 1:I, I was trying, I was trying to think of that myself, like I thought. For sure, like you said, they were over 90. But yeah, 82 and a, you said 82 and a half. Right, 82 and a half is what the projection was yeah, I think they get over that.
Speaker 1:I mean, we're talking about a lot of their pitching staff coming back this year that we didn't you not a lot, but a couple guys right, we didn't see last year. So, uh, that being said, you add Quintana, uh, from the Mets, like I, I, you know, I know losing Willie, that sucks, but it's I. I think they have the pitching to. To overcome that. I think they go over to. I'll hammer that. I like that.
Speaker 2:I like that there. So I got Sal Frelick, who has been hitting the absolute cover, off the ball down there in spring training so far. I got him on my list here for over under 10 home runs. Over under 10 home runs for Sal Frelick for this season here. I was just trying to see if I could find I think somebody did a stat on it there. He has 14 batted balls tracked by StatCast that have averaged exit velocity as more than 91.8. That is actually more. He's had his hardest hit ball of his entire career this spring. So over under 10 home runs I'm going to go over. I'm giving him like 13, 13 to 15. I think he sits in that range. What do you got here?
Speaker 1:I think just pulling up his stats real quick. So last season 475 at-bats, two home runs. I know it's spring training today with a grain of salt, but 41 at-bats in spring training, two home runs. So I mean the sample size is much smaller and he's got two. So yeah, I'm going to take him right. I say he hits 11.
Speaker 2:I'll say he hits just over that.
Speaker 2:I like that. I like that there. So we got more over under. We got more over under on the backside. We got bold predictions. We got all of it on the backside. It's break here, so we'll be right back here on the show. Welcome back in.
Speaker 2:This is Wisconsin Sports on the go with Trage. I'm your host, trage this next segment coming back here, about a little bit of Brewer talk here that we got going on here before the opening day tomorrow. This next segment here is brought to you by marshfield motor speedway, the half mile paved track. They're just three miles outside of marshfield. They're west of marshfield on county road age. There find upcoming events and races at marshfieldspeedwaycom. That is marshfieldspeedwaycom. Tons of family fun down there. You got to get down there this spring, summer, fall, whenever you can get down there. You got to get down there to the track there. So, aaron, we were doing over under when we went to the break there. We had over under sal frelick for 10 home runs. We went the over. We got brewers over 82 and a half wins this season here.
Speaker 2:I got team era. So the team era, I believe last season. I was looking through the stats there from last season and I had the over-under. Will they be over-under? 3.65 there For the stats coming up here. I will pull up last season's stats there for the Milwaukee Brewers, what we saw ERA-wise right here. We had a 3.65 last season. That's why I wrote it down that way 3.65. Do we believe the Brewers pitching staff goes for over or under a 3.65 last season? That's why I wrote down that way 3.65. Do we believe the brewers pitching staff goes for over or under a 3.65? I'm gonna go, I'm gonna go under. I'm gonna say they pit, I'm gonna say like a three point, because if the brewers are gonna have 90, some wins with the lineup they have, I don't think they're gonna to score as many runs. So I think they got to be under. Give me like 3.54. Give me like 3.54. Team ERA.
Speaker 1:I think I'll go over here just slightly, though I don't think it's going to be four. You know what I mean. I don't think it's going to be anything ridiculous. I'm not going to say they can't do it right, but that's a tall ask. I think, Just like mid threes on a team ERA, that's pretty darn good. Like you'll take that any day of the week and twice on Sunday.
Speaker 1:So to do that, like I said, I'm not saying they can't, I just my gut is telling me they'll be like right at like 3.7, 3.72, something like that. But even that you know you'll take that. I mean, that's a good ERA, it's pretty darn good, so 100 100.
Speaker 2:I would agree with you there. So we'll see. I mean, I just had to go under because I had to wonder just for that.
Speaker 2:Right, garrett mitchell, this is if he stays healthy, knock on wood, son of a gun. If he stays healthy there, over under 15 home runs, 20 doubles. So will he go over 15 home runs and 20 doubles? I'm going to take the over. I'm going to take the over on that one. I was looking through, I was looking through his stats. Right, he's always got a small sample size because he doesn't get a lot of that bats. Right, because he's always hurt. But I looked at his small sample size 106, 196 at bats. He had eight home runs and he had 12 doubles Full season. Yeah, I'm taking the over. I'm taking the over 15 home runs over 20 doubles, no doubt.
Speaker 1:I struggle with guys that get injured a lot. I'm always like I'm scared of them.
Speaker 2:He's got to stay healthy one year. Right, he's got to stay healthy for one season.
Speaker 1:He has to right. I just, if I'm like a betting man on this one, I, I don't like the track record of injuries. So for that, simple, I think he has the ability. We've talked about his, his ability. But you know, availability is is, you know, a big commodity, obviously. So in this case I will take the under. If he can stay, if he stays healthy, I'll take the over. But it's one of those I, I just it's a little risky for me, but he, he can. He just has to stay in there and stay on the field. That's the biggest thing.
Speaker 2:So I got we got team home runs the over under for team home runs. Now last season they had 177 and that was with Willie's 32. So we'll go team home runs over under. We'll take off about 20. We'll go 157. They had 177 with Willie. He had 32. We'll take off 20, 157. Team home runs over under 177.
Speaker 2:I'm going to be honest with you, this is going to be. You're going to be like what is he talking about? Right, I'm taking the over, I'm taking. To be honest with you, you're going to be like what is he talking about? Right, I'm taking the over, I'm taking the over. This is why Because I believe there's going to be a couple different guys who are going to start launching long balls again that we missed out on last season Christian Jelic and Reese Hoskins.
Speaker 2:I know Reese had 26, so don't like, you know he had home runs, right. I think Reese Hoskins is gonna have a huge year, so I've been watching him in spring. Right now he's launching the baseball and then I know it's spring, so don't like freak out or anything like that. But when you launch balls, like he is in spring, that's different. I think Reese Hoskins has found himself again. I think Reese is gonna get hot and I think Christian Yelich, he had 11 think about that 11 total last year.
Speaker 2:If that back's feeling good and he starts hitting balls I mean 2019, I believe the first four games of the season he launched a long ball in that season. I could see a similar season where he's like 30 home runs again. So if he gets up to 30 again, I mean between Reese and him hitting balls, you know like that. And then you add in a guy, a healthy Garrett Mitchell. Right, because he had eight home runs. With 196 at-bats there, he had eight home runs. You give me a healthy Garrett Mitchell, because part of Garrett Mitchell, too, coming back was he just jumped right into the fold. It's hard to jump in midseason and try to get your form back and start feeling it again. If he can stay healthy, if he can find his bat, if he can watch pitches and be smart with the baseball bat there, to be smart with the baseball bat there, I like him to go over that 157.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I'm going to take it over as well. I love your point on Reese. I think he I mean he knows he could get a major payday if he comes out of this season with a more productive season than last year. I mean he's still got the team option for what like $20 million or $18 million something like that in the ballpark.
Speaker 1:So still a pretty good payday for for first base and slash DH at this point, but, like you said, I mean I think they'll taper off a little bit. Obviously, replacing Willie Adamas is you can't really in this situation, but especially from a shortstop, like not many shortstops hit bombs like like Adamas, you know consistently. But I actually think, like joey ortiz, might put up 18 to 20 home runs this year.
Speaker 2:I, I liked him with the what's that in 11 last year, I mean yeah, that's what I mean.
Speaker 1:I I think, like I'm real, I was real big on joey ortiz before the orals traded him. I think he's a. He's a guy if he can just stay consistent and and fine if he finds it, I think he's a. He's a solid player. He just needs to. Like you know, he really hasn't had that many chances. I mean, in baltimore he had limited chances and then, well, you know, last season was kind of his first real you know season season long, uh year for him. So, yeah, I look for that and uh, like you said, if somebody like garrett mitchell stays healthy, sal frelick, you know, does, does more than last season. I think they taper off from the number they had last year because of Adamas leaving, but I don't think they're too far off with these guys, these other guys stepping up and I think they do take that over.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I like that. I like that there. And I do agree with the Joey Ortiz. I mean, last season he got hurt too. He was hot to start the year and then he got hurt too. He was hot to start the year and then he got hurt and then he came back and it just wasn't the same. So maybe if he stays healthy for a whole year, if he's got that consistent at bat you know everybody jacking him up there I I could see it kind of wearing off on him too there and he's gonna start launching the ball. So I agree with that one there.
Speaker 2:Uh, we do have bold predictions for the 2025. So these are my bold predictions that I came up with jack centurio will be in the 30-30 club 30 home runs, 30 stolen bases for sure, I'm with that one there. Jackson Churio 30-30 club. Christian Yelich is going to have over 30 home runs. Got that feeling. I got that feeling he's going for over 30. 31, 32, I can see him in that range. He last season was in his MVP form. He just didn't have his power so far. In spring he's got his power back. So if he can translate that into the regular season, he's definitely going over 30 home runs there. I like that one. Reese Hoskins is going to have 35 plus. Yep, that's where I'm at right now. That's my bold prediction Reese Hoskins, 35 plus there.
Speaker 2:Woodruff Brandon Woodruff just because I think he's a dog and I think he is defying logic with his injury comeback here. He is going to come back and he is going to return and be the ace of the staff. I'm with it. Brandon Woodruff's coming back. He's going to be that dog. He's going to be that guy.
Speaker 2:Craig Yoho I know we talked about him. You missed the show last week there. Make sure you go listen back to it on the podcast sites they're Apple, spotify, everywhere in between you can find podcasts. If you missed the show. But we talked about Craig Yoho. Craig Yoho is going to start the year in the minors, but I think Craig Yoho at some point is going to come up to the bigs. He's going to light it up and then he's going to be the closer for this Milwaukee Brewers team.
Speaker 2:That's where I'm at with Craig Yoho. I think he's going to be that guy, and then Joey Ortiz and Bryce Teranger going to combine to be the best middle infield in baseball. All in all, all in all, they're going to be the best middle infield in baseball Defensively, if you put. See, because it's going to be a skewed thing, because everybody's going to be like well, offensively and it's like no. No, I want to put the two together. I want to say defensively and offensively, put all the stats together. Who's your best right? I think Bryce Terang and Joy Ortiz definitely have that chance, because last season Joy Ortiz was seventh in defensive runs saved. You put him at shortstop. Now you have the best second baseman defensively in the game at second base. And Bryce Terang I don't know name a better one, name a better combo you can have defensively out there, as long as they, you know, knock on wood, don't you know, go backwards. I like where they're at this milwaukee brewer team. So we'll see what happens there.
Speaker 2:Brewers yankees coming up tomorrow there we're gonna have boatload more to talk about about baseball next week here on the show. After we see a little bit right, we gotta see a little bit get back in the mode and then we back in the baseball mode there. But uh, we did have breaking news last night there about damian lillard for the bucks there. He's out indefinitely due to a blood clot in his calf. So he had that deep uh vein thrombosis in his right calf, similar to what victor wambayama had in his right shoulder. Victor wambayama was, you know, he's sidelined for the year. Damian lillard's I mean looking like he's on according to what john horst had to say.
Speaker 2:Damian lillard's health is our number one priority. That's 100. We don't want anything bad to happen there. We will support him as he moves through his weekly process of strict criteria to ensure that he is safe for a return to play. Doctors have indicated that his situation is very unlikely to occur again. We are thankful, are thankful that this was identified and medicated quickly, which helps with the recovery. So it's out indefinitely. We don't know what's going to happen, but we're going to wait and see on that one a little bit there. So Damian Lillard right now is out indefinitely for the team there. So we'll see what happens with the Bucs moving forward who have struggled as of late here. But, aaron, we had a little bit of news. They're coming in nfl russell, wilson to the giants and the patriots scooping up stefan diggs. So now, aaron, rogers, stealers or bust is that where we're at right now?
Speaker 1:I have you heard anything out of the vikings side of the vikings said no, I think.
Speaker 2:I think it's kevin rucano keeps saying no to this. So the vikings are saying, no, they're gonna stick, I'm guessing, with jj, but nobody's indicated to jj that they're sticking with them. So it sounds like rogers isn't going there. It sounds like it's, you know, gonna be stealers or bust I.
Speaker 1:I often thought, at least in my own head, like I would be surprised but not shocked if the 49ers somehow were like last second because they didn't pay Purdy yet they're like quickly declined, like they're just not the same team and they're like OK if they brought Rodgers in on a one year. I'm not saying it's going to happen, but I wouldn't completely rule it out. But there hasn't been a lot of talk about it, so chances are probably slim. But I mean, yeah, tomlin, aaron Rodgers, dk Metcalf, george Pickens You're talking about a lot this could blow up in epic fashion. It really could. I'm not saying it will, but it has the potential to.
Speaker 2:For sure That'd be fun, that'd be funny. But you know they got the guys in the room to calm it down. They got the guys in the room to calm it down to Hayward and everything like that yeah, hayward, we'll kind of see.
Speaker 2:We'll kind of see what the NFL does here, but it's been quiet as of late, so we'll see if there's any crazy moves when we come back here next week there. So, aaron, that's about all we got for today. We got a lot of, I mean, college basketball. We got, you know, sweet 16, elite, because the Badgers are out, but I guess we'll watch. We got Brewer baseball coming up tomorrow there and over the weekend we got, oh my goodness, lots to get to next week here on the show. 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 next Wednesday, but until then, see ya.