Wisconsin Sports on the go with Trag
Wisconsin Sports on the go with Trag is a podcast/radio show aiming at bringing you Wisconsin sports news and opinions! Find the show Wednesdays from 5-7 pm on Sports radio 92.3 WOSQ or here next day!
Wisconsin Sports on the go with Trag
November 5 Hour 1: Brewers, Badger Men's Hoops and Badger Football
We break down the Brewers’ option calls, make the case for keeping Freddie Peralta, and map out what a Brandon Woodruff reunion could look like. Then we dive into Badger hoops: early defensive issues, ball movement over iso, and why John Blackwell looks like the lead scorer. We close with Badger football and the quarterback plan for a brutal stretch.
• Why Freddy Peralta at $8m is smart to keep around
• Woodruff buyout dynamics and a potential return
• Hoskins and Quintana options declined for flexibility
• William Contreras arbitration path and extension logic
• Outfield depth, shortstop need, and trade thresholds
• Badger defense overhelp and rotation fixes
• Ball movement, post touches, and pace targets
• Blackwell’s scoring leap and Boyd’s speed control
• Bench roles for Garlic and Janicki
• QB packages for Carter Smith vs Danny O’Neil
• Portal strategy if Smith is not ready
• What would constitute progress against Washington
Text me: 715-990-4914. Like, subscribe, follow on X/Twitter and Facebook. Search Wisconsin Sports on the Go with Trag
This is Wisconsin Sports on the Go with Trade. Your place for all things Wisconsin Sports. Now, your host, Trage. How are we doing, everybody? And welcome into Wisconsin Sports on the Go with Trage. I'm your host, Trage, as we come back here on this Wednesday, November 5th, a fantastic Wednesday here tonight. I hope you guys are enjoying your Wednesday. I hope you guys enjoyed your weekend there. It was a, oh, we're gonna call it a subpar weekend across the sporting world since we talked last. Badger men's basketball is back, men's basketball is back in total. So that is awesome. I just saw that the first game that Dick Vitel ever called was on December 5th, 1979. DePaul defeated Wisconsin 90 to 77. So there you go. There you go. I just read that off as I was, I just saw that come across my feed there. So there you go, right? A fact to top off the show there. A fact right at the top of the show there. So we got lots we want to dive into tonight here on the show. This last weekend, we watched the Badgers, got the big win, college basketball's back, good stuff there. Lots of stuff to talk about there with the Badgers, that Campbell game. We're gonna look ahead. We got tons of stuff dive in there. Christian's gonna stop by. We have a whole boatload of things I want to dive into there. So we got that coming up. We got some Packer talk to get to because that game was ugly. There's I don't even know if we got enough showtime to cover what we saw there. So we're gonna talk Packers. Badger football, it's been ugly all season. So we're gonna keep that one short. But Kyle's gonna come on later. We're gonna talk some Bucks, and then we have to talk about a little bit of NFL trade deadline reaction with Kyle later on in the show. So a bullload of things to dive into tonight here in the show. I'm excited. We are fully loaded and ready to rock and roll here. But if you want to be involved in the show tonight here, make sure. Write this number down. Put in your phone, write it down. I'm gonna say it, write it down. 715-990-4914. That is 715-990-4914. Text me at any point in the show. Let me know what you want to talk about, what you want me to talk about. Let me know how the show is going. Everything like that. I'd love to hear your guys' opinion on the show. Everything in between. Text me, 715-990-4914. That is 715-990-4914. You can also hit us up across all social medias. Make sure you like, subscribe, follow across all social media platforms there on X or Twitter, whatever you want to call it there, on Facebook, everywhere in between. You can find us. Search Wisconsin Sports on the GoTrade. We're right there at your fingertips. You can find us. I make sure to post everything we got out there. We do some lives across all those social media platforms. Make sure you like, subscribe, follow. It helps us to keep bringing the show to you. So lots to dive into. I want to start right away with the brewer talk. Right off the top of the bat here. Because this, this, I don't know if it was like baffling news to everybody what was going on with the Brewers, but there was some the Brewers have been in the news because right now the World Series ended. So we're seeing a lot of guys being, they're either options or exercise, teams are declining, players are declining, they're becoming either becoming free agents or they're coming back to their original ball club there, right? So the Brewers, the big one in a lot of people's minds, was what were they gonna do about Freddie Peralta? He had an eight million dollar, it was it's eight million dollars. Imagine that. And I know everybody's gonna say, well, Freddie Peralta, he's he's not this, you know, great pitcher because he can't go deep into games or anything like that. Right. He's eight million dollars, and what he gives you in about five or six innings is a stuff. Now, is it a stuff to the point where he's taking you deep into ball games? No, is that the one crutch that he always has? 100% you are correct. 100%. I will agree with that. But for eight million dollars, and if I can get you have Jacob Mizarrowski, you have Logan Henderson, you have Gasser, you have Priester, you have all them guys in that rotation. If Freddie Peralta can get you six, and you have your length guys yet, I it'll be fine. And maybe, maybe in the offseason he develops a little bit. I don't know. I don't know. Who knows? They might move on from yet, they might still make that trade. Everybody's gotta wait and see what the Brewers do because Matt Arnold and this Brewers team always have something crazy up their sleeve, and you don't know. You just never know with them. So gotta be careful, gotta just keep mindful, be watchful of that. So Freddie Peralta, the option exercise, he's coming back for eight million dollars there. Some of the other ones. Brandon Woodruff officially becomes a free agent. This one, this one stinks. This one stinks for me. I know a lot of people are like, I don't care. I don't care. I I do. I Brandon Woodruff, I loved what he brought to the team. He had a workhorse mentality, he was always getting after it, banged up often. And when he came back, I I didn't know what to expect. I didn't know what to expect. I actually, if you listen back on the podcast, Scott Sports and the Go Trades, you go all the way back. I have to find the exact episode. But I found my uh predictions for the season. I did say that Brandon Woodruff was gonna come back and he was going to be pitched like an ace of the staff. He did come back and pitched pretty darn good. So, like, I'm I'm right there. He pitched pretty darn good when he came back. So, like, maybe, maybe I'm right. Maybe I was right. I don't know. And then I did say I was listening back on there, some crazy ones. I had like Sal Frelick 10 plus home runs. I predicted that he did just he did over 10 home runs. He did. I predicted the team ERA was gonna be like 3.54 and it was like uh just above. So I mean, I was pretty darn close to my predictions, people. Just so you know, listen back on the podcast there. You can hear. I got some pretty good predictions out there, so just make sure you check them out there. But Brandon Woodruff, back to Brad, back to Woody, back to Woody, off me, back to Woody. He's gonna get a$10 million buyout. We'll see what happens. I have a feeling, I just I have this feeling, I have this feeling inside of me that the Brewers and Brandon Woodruff are gonna work out a little more of a friendly deal for the both of them. I feel like they're still gonna try to get Brandon Woodruff his. But I feel like they're gonna work out a little something more friendly than a$20 million deal. Because he was gonna have a$20 million mutual option if he if the brewers didn't decline, they were going to. If they didn't, if it wasn't decline, then or well, Brandon Woodruff actually declined it. The Brewers didn't. So if he didn't decline it, they're gonna hold him 20 mil. So he might have been working with the brewers to try to help them out too, maybe try to shrink that salary because he knows that it's a little bit less. I don't know. I I don't know. But I just have that feeling that it's not Brandon Woodruff and the Brewers are just not done yet. I have that feeling. So we'll see what happens there. So Brandon Woodruff, officially, that happened there. Other options that were declined. Reese Hoskins. They declined the Brewers declined his option, and they also declined Jose Cantanas. Now, these ones a little less crazy, I guess you could say, because I believe, if I'm not mistaken, Hoskins was set to make like 18 mil in 2026, and his buyout was four mil. I that was a no-brainer for the Brewers who have Andrew Vaughn currently underneath the fold. And I'm pretty sure Jake Bowers is also back. Yes, he is back for this year, but then he becomes a free agent. So, and then Andrew Vaughn is back for until 2027 when he becomes arbitration number four, and then he becomes a free agent in 2028. So that's when they'll have to make a uh decision there. So Reese Hoskins gone. Quintana's was gonna be worth 15 million in the uh mutual option and two mil buyout. So yeah, pretty much a you this is yeah, they they made they made the right options, they made the right deals with those two. Get letting those two walk out the tour. I like those. William Contreras also his his was declined, his club option was declined by the Brewers. They're banking on his contract for 2026 being worth less than that 12 mil that they were gonna owe him. So they're hoping like in that 11.9 range. I'm pretty sure if I saw right, they set his contract. I believe their estimated, according to the site I was looking at, was like 11.1. So we'll see kind of what what that all shakes out to be. But I could see it probably being in that in that range. I could see it probably being I could see it being the 12 range. The Brewers, I think they need to either figure out what they the Brewers need to figure out what they want to do with William Contreras. Do you want, because you have William Contreras to have this year, next year's his uh last period of arbitration, and then he becomes a free agent. So I think they need to sit down and say, what are we gonna do at the catcher spot? And do we have William Contreras pegged as a future guy in this organization? If yes, if you do, try to sit down, try to come up with a contract that works out for the Brewers, works out for Contreras. Because he sounds like he wants to stay in Milwaukee. Now, what can they do to keep him here? Now you have other guys that you want to deal with, but those guys, I mean, I've seen a lot of people, right? You talk about like the Bryce Tarangs and guys like that. You want to come up with deals for those guys, but those guys are still locked up in Milwaukee for a little while yet. It's just constantly coming to deals with them, going to arbitration, right? You have Bryce Tarang, who I believe is arbitration eligible until 2029. And then you have other guys on there in the same Garrett Mitchell is like till 2028 there, I believe. Sal Freelick is kind of in that same boat. He's until 2029. They have a lot of guys until 2029 arbitration eligible. They're just gonna keep trying to deal contracts every single year. Trying to get some of these guys signed up to a set price is where they're looking. And I think that's what you have to do with Contreras because that number last season was a little bit down because of the uh broken finger. Once that gets better, you expect Contreras to get better, which that number is just going to increase. So you're gonna want to see him probably try to figure out what you're going to do moving forward at the catcher spot, which I feel like you weren't able to do because you constantly were without Jefferson Quarrow last year, who was also banged up. So seeing if he's gonna come up and be that catcher of the future for you, I think that's kind of where this Brewers team is at with that. So they have a lot of other things. There's a lot of guys who became free agents. So we're gonna see what the Brewers will start to do there. I don't, it's nothing gets real crazy yet. We're gonna see some moves happen here, some of the big name guys where you might see uh some of them, you know, some of the rumblings there. The Brewers, if you're the Brewers right now, you're looking to maybe the only guy that you're really looking to move on for him from, if it's me, would be there's a couple guys on my list. A couple guys on my list. Trevor McGill is one of my guys, he's arbitration eligible for one more, two more years this season, and then next, and then he becomes a free agent in 2028. And then you're gonna have other guys on there, like an Isaac Collins who had a good year last year, but you have a lot of depth, right? Feel like Cheurio, they're gonna be locks in your outfield. You look around the rest of it. You're gonna have Mitchell, you're gonna have Lockridge, you're gonna have those other guys. You're either gonna have Collins or Perkins, one of those two that you don't trade. So I feel like you can move on from one of them. Perkins is more of your defensive guy. Collins had a great year offensively, and they got banged up. So you're gonna talk about maybe moving on from an outfield piece. Freddy, that's still an option. It's not crazy. People say it's crazy.$8 million, very pretty when a team's looking on the market, which could bring back a lot of. I think you like I said, like I talked about last week on the show. And if you didn't hear that, we talked a little bit of brewers last week there. But I said, if you're going to give back a guy who's ready to play shortstop now, if you can make a move for a guy like that by trading a guy like Freddie, I think that's a move that you make. I do. But, but you gotta be careful. You gotta be careful because we saw what happened last season when you said, I have a lot of pitching depth, and then that pitching depth got hurt. So you gotta be careful what you wish for there when moving on from a good piece to especially a guy like Freddie Peralta, a clubhouse guy like Freddie Peralta, too. That's that's something that it's tough to play with. It's tough to play with. So make sure, make sure you have all your ducks in a row before you make a move like that if you're Matt Arnold. That's what I would have to say to moving on from a guy like Freddie. So we have lots of stuff I want to dive into yet here tonight on the show. When we come back, I want to talk a little bit more badges. We're gonna talk badger hoops, and then Christian's gonna stop by. We're gonna continue that badger hoops talk, roll into a little bit badger football. We got Amor coming up in hour number two. We got Kyle coming up in hour number two. There was some Bucks talk there. Tons to get to yet tonight here on the show. Make sure you're coming back. Wisconsin Sports on the Go with Trade hour number one of two is just getting rolling. We'll be right back here. Welcome back into Wisconsin Sports on the Go with Trade. I am your host, Trage, as we come back here on this Wednesday. And hey, this next segment here, we're gonna talk a little badger hoops. This next segment is brought to you by 1891 Winery. They celebrate history with flavors, sip on artists and wines crafted on location, or grab a cold beer and pair it with a giant pretzel or pizza. Catch football or college basketball on the big TVs, or join them for live music and special events. Planning something private, they book parties too. Check them out there. 1891 Winery in Greenwood, Wisconsin. So the Badgers open up game one against Campbell. They're the fighting camels. The fighting camels. I think they should have been Campbell, you know, like Colgate, right? Colgate's mascot should be just a giant tube of toothpaste, right? I think Campbell should just be a giant soup can. Like when I'm stuffy, like a stuffed soup can just running around. It can't look worse than the Penn State Knitly Lion line. Like that thing, I agree. Bill Michael said it one day. He's like, they look like they went to Goodwill and they got that like costume for that mascot. I agree. I agree. It it cannot be no, it can't be worse than that. It can't be worse. I think a giant soup can would be awesome to look at there. I could be the Campbell Campbell's chicken sponsored by Campbell's Chicken Ooh. There you go. There you go. Anyways, anyways, the Badgers got the win 96 to 64. It was a great, a great first game. Not a great first game out. The way that it started, a little ugly. A little ugly to start. And we've talked about this before. We talked about it in after the exhibition games. I said the defense still worries me with this team. The defense still works, and they still worry me coming off this game. I think they have, you know, you look around this defense, and it it does have a little bit to do with there's such a and it this is gonna be every team, and it's going to be every year from here on out. They have new guys, communication is still gonna be an issue, and that's where I'm kind of looking with this. Right now, when I look at it, they overhelp at times, which I saw a lot. Sometimes it bit them, sometimes it didn't. They overhelp at times, overextend. I thought that was a problem in this one because they had such quick guards, but those guys, the screener, those big guys, were quick getting downhill too. So you have such quick guards coming around. You had guys overextending like a Nolan winter, and then you'd have an open back, boom, there it was. So that had me a little bit worried. Was the overhelp, the bad rotations of this defense. Troubles with the quick guards. I thought they had some troubles with them quick guards at times, those guys getting downhill. They settled in in that second half. It looked a lot better. It's just that be where it's where it started worried me. They weren't adjusting well to the pace that Campbell wanted to run at there. Communication, like I said, that was the big issue that I think they're. I think that's the I think the key to this team, not just on the offensive end, but on the defensive end, is getting gelling together. I think we always talk about teams gelling together well. And some teams it's quicker than others. I think this team is still getting there together. I think they're a good, I think they're they're a well put together team. I think they're they're tight-knit. Like it's not like I don't think there's like this distance between them all, but I just feel like there's still some communication errors between them. And I think once they get that kind of settled on both ends of the floor, I think there's a there's a lot of good that this team can do once they get to that point. So that that's kind of where I was looking defensively. I was a little worried to start. Offensively to start this game. I wouldn't say the offensive end, I wasn't super, super worried offensively in this one. I look field goal percentage. They shot 50% on the game, 11 for 28 from three, the three-pointers. Still not falling at a massive clip yet, but I think they'll get there. I think this team's still trying to hit the ground running. Uh, I mean, getting this team when they're at their best, when they're running at their best, they're getting downhill, they're getting to the rim. That's what they need to do. They need to get downhill, get to the rim, get to the foul line. It's like we talked about last year. When they got into trouble, this Badger team, last season and this season, but we'll look at this season, right? That's where we're at. When they get when they got into trouble, when they're getting into trouble, is when they start playing this isolation basketball. They start like, it's like they're almost like splitting the floor into segments, and they're not they're not working the ball. There's a beautiful play. I saw it over on Twitter. I'll I'll make sure if I can, I will uh I will share, I will repost it on Twitter there. But that play, it showed what Wisconsin basketball can be. You saw the passing ability that they had. I believe it was Roadie drove. He kicked it to the corner, he kicked it over to Blackwell, Blackwell kicked it up top, and then all of a sudden it was down the lane. Blackwell drove, and then it was a kick to winter. He put it in. It was the quick movement of the basketball. And that's something that I think if this Badger team wants to keep progressing, keep moving, keep getting better, that's something they need to key in on and focus on is the movement of the basketball. Get away from playing that isolation basketball because when they play that, it's ugly. It looks like ugly basketball. Well, when they play this brand of basketball, the moving the ball, working to find open shooters, working without the basketball is the big thing. That's the big thing for this team is working without the basketball. And that includes in the post area. I think they get too far away from the post area. What's the point of running an offense with two bigs when neither big is in the post ever? It just seems like those guys play away from the basket more than they play at the basket. I feel like there's got to be a little bit more post presence. I it's something that I was excited to see just because of the size of this team. And I feel like they've gotten away from the post presence at times. I'd love to see a little bit more post-presence out of a rap or out of a Nolan Winter. Get them down there, get them back to the basket, let them go to work down there like a big fella's supposed to. I will I'd be okay with seeing that and working the ball inside out then, utilizing that post. The five-out offense, it works. It works when you spread them, but it's also something where I'd love to see this team be able to utilize the post presence as they have it. Because they do. They have two solid bigs, Nolan Winter, Austin Rapp. Two solid bigs. Both of them can shoot it from the outside. So you want them to be that three-level score that you want to see. It's just a question of getting, can you get them involved in that post area, in that, down in the block? That's something that I think they have to work on there. The biggest thing, like I said, this team needs to settle in. They desperately, desperately need to settle in. They are at times getting out of there. They're getting out of control at times. Nick Boyd is one of the biggest ones for this. He's one of he is the fastest guy I've ever seen dribble basketball ever. He's the fastest guy I've ever seen dribble basketball. With my own eyes. But he just gets out of control. And I feel like this team just sometimes gets out of control, especially with the passing. You see a lot of turnovers where they're anticipating guys being there and they're not. That's some things that I think they got to clean up. It's just those things of settling in, especially some of those freshmen. Will Garlic had a play where I thought he could have taken it. It ended up Blackwell, he gave it to Blackwell. He ended up taking it for an and one. It's that kind of play right there. Some of these freshmen being a little more aggressive, some guys being overly aggressive and some being a little less aggressive. You got to find that happy medium for uh between the two. So that's something I'm looking at there is guys, it's just guys settling into this offense, settling into this team. When they get to that point, I feel like there's a lot of good that's gonna be there. Last but not least, before I'm gonna I'm gonna get Christian in here, we're gonna hit a break, we're gonna come back. Christian's gonna hop on. But before I get him on here, John Blackwell is ready to be the guy. He is ready to be the guy in Madison. We saw it night one, 31 points. It just seemed like in the second half he just took off. He just took off. John Blackwell is ready to be the guy. The big four, I mean, you can call it a big four. Rap Winter, Boyd, Blackwell. The big four. They, I mean, that is a solid group right there. The question's gonna be can the pieces fill in alongside Blackwell? That's the million-dollar question right now. Because I know Blackwell can be a star. Are these guys gonna go along with them and help them get this team where we think they can be? And that is a team that's going to compete for the top of the Big Ten and to get into the big dance as a at-large bid and a pretty darn good at-large bid. So we're gonna come back here. We're gonna get Christian on here. We're gonna talk a little bit more badger hoops, and then we're gonna talk badger football here in a little bit. So we'll be right back here on Wisconsin Sports. Welcome back into Wisconsin Sports on the Go with Trage. I'm your host, Trage, as we come back here on this Wednesday. And hey, this next segment here is brought to you by Cassian Spice, the low sodium, clean label, no MSG, no fillers. This stuff is fantastic. I'm telling you what, I have been posting nonstop over the Facebook page, Twitter page, everything like that. The other night I made these chicken tenderloins, wrapped them up in bacon, and I'm gonna I'm gonna make like my stomach hurt right now. Wrapped them up in bacon, and then I threw some of that Texas twister on there, and then the other ones, because my wife doesn't like the spice, I threw on the jerk chain, but oh my goodness. Threw them on the tragger, smoked them up there for an hour, put them on just 165, smoked them, and then bam, hit them with the grill. Oh, oh, you don't even know. I had to unbutton my pants. That's where I was at. I had to unbutton my pants. That's how much chicken and bacon I was ingesting. And then the next day took it to work. The rest of my after I ate lunch, I was done for the day. I was like, you guys might as well just send me home. I'm just done. This stuff's fantastic. It it is, I'm telling you what, it can make broccoli take taste fantastic. Put it on your broccoli, give it to your kid. They're gonna be like, I love broccoli. That's all you need to know. Casa M spice, they are fantastic. And right now, if you get down to formats in Loyal Kobe or Medford, make sure you go to the specific one that you love, though, because they're having a competition right now. Get in between the stores, grab the three-pack right now. Oh my goodness, they have some great starters in there. You can grab that stuff. Fantastic. Check them out there. Casa M. Spice across all social media platforms there. So, Christian is here. Christian, how are we doing? Badger basketball's back. We got something good to talk about. How are we doing on this Wednesday?
SPEAKER_00:We're good. We're back. Some Wisconsin sports that we can actually enjoy watching for a little bit, right?
SPEAKER_01:No, it's not a therapy session for well, not yet. For once. Well, yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Hey, it's a good, it's a start.
SPEAKER_01:It's a start. It's a start there. And we love that. We love to have some good Wisconsin sports. But there's a lot, I mean, wrestling got off to a good start. Uh, women's volleyball, they did have that. Uh, that that Nebraska was just I was really hoping for something great, and it was just the first the first set was good. After that, it was downhill fast. Nebraska is really good, and they saw that in that game at the field house there. So we saw that. We saw that all transpire. The Bucks have been playing well, so there's been a lot of good to talk about in Wisconsin sports. So, I mean, oh well, I just went Bucks. Why did I go Bucks? I'm just rambling at this point. But anyways, Christian, anyways, anyways, let's get to our Casa M Spice. I'm I'm watching the Bucks right now. So I was watching and then talking and then watching, and then it just sometimes gets all crazy. You know how it goes. But anyways, let's get to our Casa M. Spice bold player of the week. Christian, who do you got for your Casa M. Spice bold player of the week?
SPEAKER_00:Uh John Blackwell. Dropping 31 points, one point shy of his uh career high. Dude, he was like every time he shot the ball, I know he went five and ten from three, but every time he shot the ball, it felt like it was going in, especially late in the second half when he just decided to take over.
SPEAKER_01:He made me feel good. I tell you that. He made me feel good in that game there. He was fantastic. I would have to agree. If I had to go elsewhere, oh man, if I had to go elsewhere, who would I go with? Who would I go with elsewhere? Well, Badget Football didn't play. The Packers all stunk. Let's go with Ryan Rollins. Let's go with Ryan. There you go. I like what Ryan Rollins has done. I know I just mentioned the Bucs before, so I might as well. You know, they're a part of the Wisconsin sports spectrum now, the University of Wisconsin. I have no idea. My brain was just going crazy there for a second. But uh anyways. Wisconsin sports. Wisconsin sports, it counts. Um, anyways, I mean, Ryan Rollins has been fantastic. Kevin Porter goes out with the injury. Ryan Rollins has stepped in and been nothing but fantastic for him so far here, and hopefully that continues. But I I love what I've seen out of him. Ryan Rollins has got to be my Cossem Spice Bold player of the week there. But like I was saying before I got confused and all sidetracked and everything, right? Wisconsin Sports have been, I mean, starting out pretty well here in the like late fall, winter season, the winter seasons, right? Hockey, both women's and men's, have started out fantastic. The wrestling team had the big win against uh North Dakota State over the weekend there. Uh, but I saw soccer. Soccer is doing pretty darn good right now. So that's that's good to see there's women's soccer team is playing well, and then like we were talking about volleyball and then men's basketball starting out pretty darn well here. Uh we're not gonna talk about football because we're gonna get to them, but yeah, we're not gonna talk about that. Let's start with your impressions coming off of this win against the fighting cambels, the reactions from the duel with the fighting cambels. Camels. I keep saying Campbells. Camels. Oh, it's the Campbell Camels. What do you got for your reactions coming off of that one?
SPEAKER_00:Oh, I mean, it's early. It's in, I mean if they man, they were the slow starts are kind of concerning, but if they can do what they did the last eight minutes of the game, I think they went on like a 29-2 and like a 31-4 overall run the last eight to ten minutes of that game. Like if they can do that, they're gonna be a really good team. And I think I could you know, here we go, game one out of 30, right? I think they could this is a team that could go to the obviously make the NCAA tournament, but also I look, I would argue could make the second weekend for the first time in a long time. You know what I mean? So we can I just they got the players. I think it obviously it's early, they'll figure they're gonna figure a lot of things out. Greg guard talked about that in his press conference, but um I I think they got the pieces, man, and they I think they have the depth um to actually do some damage this year. It's kind of like last year when they were they were uh what project predicted to finish 12th, yeah, and they ended up finishing fourth. I think I think I think we're now what projected predicted sixth or eighth or something like that. I mean it's I still think that they could finish, you know, top three, top four again, you know. I don't necessarily think they're gonna be, you know, six, seven, or eight, but I guess it all depends. It's early.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, no, I like that. And you know, you look at a lot of guys on this roster that we we like, and then that I think came in under the radar. And you would talk about a guy like Austin Rapp, high-scoring guy at Portland. But when you look at, I mean Andy Katz, right? You look at all of his like rankings of players. I saw his rankings of his top players, top 10 players in the Big Ten, and then he had like top like 20, and the number one guy wasn't the same in both, so I don't know how he did that.
SPEAKER_00:But anyway, was one of them transfers?
SPEAKER_01:It was like Laxenberg, and then he had him in the other one, but he was like sixth, so it had him first in one and sixth in the other. It was a weird list. I'd have to go back and look. But look, Andy Katz is kind of crazy sometimes with his list. But you have a guy like Austin Rapp, doesn't get any kind of note, nobody's like really noting this guy, but we see him, we're watching him right now. This is a guy we know that can shoot the lights out of a building. I think those are the guys who are gonna be your difference makers in what the the media said was gonna be the number six team in the Big Ten and what we're seeing right now. So let's talk, let's let's dive deeper into this game here. I mean, you talked a little bit about the last eight minutes of that game, the slow starts of this team. What did you see in that last eight minutes that you were like, okay, this this is a team that I believe could take that deep run? This is that team that you know, where if they can copy, paste, move this into that next game, into the start of a game, this is that team that can compete for that top four spot in the Big Ten.
SPEAKER_00:Their defense. Uh at the start of the game, dude, they couldn't, it felt like they couldn't stop anything even for Campbell. You know, so if they're having a hard time with Campbell, what's kind of I mean, I know Campbell, I think they're gonna be a good mid major team this year. I they're led by I I'm not gonna try to pronounce his last name, but he was essentially the offensive coordinator, if you want to call that, for Florida last year, who won the national. Championship, you know, got us got this job, um, brought in a few, you know, transfers. But I think we couldn't stop anything to start. Uh, but then that last, I mean, obviously they held him to two points the last eight minutes of the game, but it wasn't even just that, it was just that every every shot was tough. They grabbed defensive rebounds. Um, Andrew Roadie kind of specifically, they just they locked guys down, forced some turnovers. They kind of did it a little bit at the end of the first half, too, and Jack Janicki was a big part of that. And he had four steals at the half, Janicki did, and I saw he had two of them in back-to-back possessions, too. So I mean, just more of that. If they can do that, because we all know with this offense, they're gonna score points. Yeah, they did it last year. There looks like they're gonna do it again this year. John Blackwell's gonna. I mean, I think the thing with this offense too is it could be any number of guys that could just be the guy for the night. Last year, I think it was kind of like that, but then Tanja just kind of took over and it was always him, right? But I I think majority of the time it's gonna be Blackwell. Um, but I could easily see Rap having a game where he drops, you know, six, seven, threes or uh Ty uh boy, Nick Boyd. Dude had like the quietest debut ever just because Blackwell was going off and he had 21 points. And it's like by the time I at the end of the game I looked at the stat sheet or I was like, he had 21. Like it's just it was a quiet 21, but I guess you know I digress to get back to your original. I think it I think the defense of like if they can lock down and play defense like that paired with their offense, I think that they could make a deep run.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, no, I I completely agree there. And you so you mentioned a guy, Nick Boyd. The impact that he makes is massive. I just think, and I don't know, are you seeing the same thing? He's a guy who I think needs to learn his pace. I still he's he's a veteran, but I just feel like he's still trying to learn his pace because I he is the he is the fastest guy I've ever seen dribble a basketball down a floor. Like he gets from one end to the other end, and it's like that, he's gone. Like he is so quick to get where he wants to go, but when he gets there, I think he's sometimes a little crazy, he's out of control with it. And I think if he slows himself down, he gets within this offense, he is going to be dynamite and exactly what they wanted, like the next level Chucky Hepper and to me. So I guess are you seeing that too? Is Nick Boyd just does it seem like he's maybe just going a little too fast at times?
SPEAKER_00:Um, it's kind of funny you say that because absolutely. Um, Greg Gard even may like went out of his way to talk about that in his press conference. He said, um Boyd, because someone asked a question about him and Blackwell play well together, um, and how Boyd he he has one speed essentially, and it's fast, it's go. Yeah, so he's he said Boyd's still kind of working on his game management, he's gotta work on, you know, when to kind of know when to slow down, when to pull it out, but yeah, that's that's kind of what it is. He's one speed and it's go and get to the hoop, which I think fits well with this offense. But you know, like guard said, there's gonna be times and moments where that's not always the best thing, you know, you force things or you know, whatever. And I think obviously he's gonna have to learn that, but um, but yeah, it's that's one thing I noticed about him too. It's just he gets the ball and he is up the floor in a flash.
SPEAKER_01:I love it. I really do. I love it. It's just if it does get out of control, that's where you start to worry a little bit. That's where you get that little bit of a worry with a guy like that. He's got all the skill in the world and he can finish at the rim like Noah. That's why I compared him to a Chucky Hepburn. Is he can finish. Chucky was a great finisher at the rim. He just would rarely want to get down there because he wanted to settle. It just seemed like when he was in that offense, they were settling for shots. So you just hope that you see a guy like Nick Boyd because he doesn't seem like a he seems like a guy who wants to attack the rack. And I love that out of a guy like that. So I love what I'm seeing there. Let's talk about kind of the bench here. Any bench impression that you had off of game one there, any bench impression, some guys that you liked maybe in the minutes that they had. You talked about Janicki. I have to actually when you answer that, tell me, does Jack Janicki kind of look like a young Bronson Candy when you see that face with the shaved head? I don't know. It's either that or Pete Davidson. I don't know what I was looking at out there, but anyways, bench impressions from game one.
SPEAKER_00:Um I don't want to say underwhelming because I think it's deeper than because I think by five minutes into the game, guard already went five deep on the bench. He had 10 guys in the game at that point, which was kind of weird to me. And I don't know if I don't know if we're still trying to figure rotations out or who can do what, but I think Will Garlic is a guy that kind of caught my eyes, true freshman, seven-foot guy, and by all accounts, when he was coming in, he was a huge project, very raw. Um and then once practice came around this fall, he started kind of like apparently show the coaches a lot, and he's gonna be getting some minutes. Um, how many minutes did he have here? He had he played 10 minutes, which I mean, granted it's against Campbell, but it was not a blowout all game, you know. It was eight minutes left. I think there was a it was a five-point game, so it's not like he was you know only getting garbage time, but he's he's a big presence down there, and that's what they need. Outside of like Winter and Um Billy Elskis and uh rap. I mean, it's nice to actually have some depth with the bigs for once, rather than you know, we had Crowl and Winchell last year, and then then who, right? Kind of had to, you know, have guys like Gilmore go down there, otherwise he had to go to Ricardo Greppi, and then we're in trouble.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, no, I agree. I would say the only thing I have to say about Garlic is I wish he'd be more aggressive because there was a I I just I keep having this play in the back of my head where they kicked it down him to a post. He had a small guy on him, kicked it down to him in the post, and he had him. He was sealed him off. It was beautiful. He had him right there, could have gone up with it. He passed it off to his buddy. I think he gave it off to Blackwell.
SPEAKER_00:You know, it was Blackwell, and you know that's that's funny because that was a really I remember that that uh possession because he could have easily done it, gave it up to Blackwell. Blackwell got fouled on an and one. Yep, missed missed missed the free throw. Winter got the rebound, kicked it out the road, you hit a three. So it was a five-point possession.
SPEAKER_01:That's that well, it worked out, right? It worked out.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, we're absolutely worked out, but I remembered why is why is no, and I remember that possession, too, because I remember thinking the same thing. Like, he's got a mouse in the house. Well, why is he not just going through this guy and scoring? But yep, I mean that's but that's the thing. When he was recruited, too, he wasn't actually no, there was no ideas that he was gonna be this offensive powerhouse. He was gonna be brought in to you know get rebounds and be a defensive presence down low. So it makes sense, and maybe it's just him knowing his role, but yeah, that too. Like that was kind of a risky pass, too, if I remember right. It was a pretty close pass, and a lot of times those don't work out, you know.
SPEAKER_01:So I like, and that's you have a seven-footer like that with that kind of size, if he gets that mismatch. I agree, like he wasn't brought in to be the offensive guy, but I need him in that moment because he had a perfect seal, everything was beautiful. It worked out giving it to Blackwell, but like you said, it was a close quarters pass that doesn't always work out. Just go up with it, just go up with it, finish it at the rim. But you know, he's young, right? So he has that hesitation in him. Yeah, he doesn't want to screw up. He doesn't want he sees his buddy Blackwell there. He's like, hey, you can have it, buddy. Put it up. Like uh we just want him, I just want to see him be a little more aggressive, so I like that there. Um, so let's put a ball on that Badger game there. The Badgers will be taking on Northern Illinois. That'll be coming up Friday. So they have off until Friday. So we won't see anything until then there. But Christian, we're gonna hit a quick break. We're gonna come back. You want to we're gonna tie up a little badger football here when we wrap up hour number one. You want to hit a little badge of football on the backside of the ad break?
SPEAKER_00:Let's do it.
SPEAKER_01:Let's do it. We'll be right back here after the quick commercial break. Well, Christian's gonna stick around. We're gonna talk a little bit of badger football as we wrap up hour number one. We'll be back here with the Wisconsin Sports on the Go with Trage. I'm your host, Trage, as we come back here on this Wednesday. And hey, if you're looking to spice up the holidays, not just with the song by the nitty-gritty band, but you're looking to spice up the holidays, do it with Cossam Spice and Foreman's. They have joined together to uh to create a fantastic trio to use for your holiday cooking. Just stop in at any of your local Foreman's hardwares that is in Medford, Loyal, or Kobe, Wisconsin, there. Grab one of those trios. They got little boxes. I just grabbed mine today. I don't have it down here in the studio with me. But it's this little box. It comes in this little, like three, three stainless steel shaker cans that you get in there. I believe there was Kickstart, Jerk Chain, and Pecking Order. But I think they said that they can do some mixing and matching of spices. Just tell them I sent you down there. You can get 5% off on it and tell them do some mixing and matching of spices if you want to throw some random stuff in there. But you can also gather up some recipes while you're down there. They're gonna be doing some crazy recipes. I uh the talk was of throwing some platters together down there. We're gonna uh throw together some different things you can try. So make sure you are checking them out Foreman's Hardware there for the spice up the holidays with Casa M Spice and Foreman's Hardware there. So Christian is back here. We're gonna talk a little badger football. We were just talking badger hoops. Now we're gonna talk badger football. And if you missed any of the show tonight, make sure you check it out next day to tomorrow across all podcast platforms. You can find it out there at Wisconsin Sports on the Go with Trade. If you want to be involved in the show, have your opinion heard or your questions, make sure you text them in 715-990-4914. That is 715-990-4914. So, Christian, Badger football. Nothing really pretty to talk about, I guess. But I mean, coming off of that last game out there, they just had the bye. They didn't lose, so that's good, right? You can't lose on the bye, as Badgers twice now. We've stayed, you know, clean in the bye week. A lot of lot of surgeries, a lot of lot of surgeries happening in this bye week here. What was it? Jake Renfro had surgery. Who else went out there?
SPEAKER_00:Dylan, Dylan Jones got turf toe. Dillian Jones gone. Bam.
SPEAKER_01:Who was the other one? There was a third one, wasn't it?
SPEAKER_00:There was a third one. You're right. Three guys were up for the season.
SPEAKER_01:Um, that's gonna remember. That's gonna bite. I can't remember who had that third injury. I can't remember who had that third surgery, but it'll come to us. It'll come to us. Either way, there was some news off that coming off of the weekend there. But there's also the news of the Carter Smith thoughts? So I want to hear your thoughts. Carter Smith potentially starting first Washington. Could you see that? Do you like that idea? What are your thoughts on potentially bringing in the young guy to see what he's got here in these last four games or in the fourth to last game of the season, which wouldn't affect his redshirt, so he'd still be still be able to redshirt for the season?
SPEAKER_00:Um, I don't think we'll see him start, at least not against Washington. Do I think he'll be in the game? Absolutely. I think absolutely think he will. Um from what I've been hearing, I don't think we're gonna see it. Hunter Simmons is not gonna be starting. So by my deduction skills, I'm assuming that means Danny O'Neill. Right? I mean, I don't think Billy Edwards Jr. is gonna be back this year, even though Fickle said made some comments about if he was healthy enough.
SPEAKER_01:Um I think Fickle's calling him out. I think he is. I think he kind of is too. I like it. I like it.
SPEAKER_00:I think that's kind of it too. He goes, like, you know, look, man, whatever. Like, are you hurt or not? Like you're the ones here chomping at the pit to get back into the game, you know, and then you get hurt right away against Maryland, and now it's yours done. But I don't know, I don't know what the deal is to Danny O'Neill either. Is so I don't know what the deal is, but um, so I think we'll see Danny O'Neill, and then I think we may or may not see some Carter Smith in there, at least against Washington, and probably Indiana, just because well, I maybe we'll see a whole lot of Carter Smith because we'll probably get blown out against Indiana because they've been just dropping points on people like crazy. Um, but I don't know. I think there's a I think there's a very, very good chance we're gonna see Carter Smith in the next four games here, which is exactly what all the fans wanted, right?
SPEAKER_01:Yep. No, I like it. I like it. And you know, Indiana's the one who will actually drop 60 plus on you. Like I think everybody said Oregon and Ohio State. I just feel like Indiana, the way Singeti is kind of rolling, Signetti felt like he was kind of dissed last year after they lost that game to Ohio State. He just felt like everybody's yeah, he's proving a point. He's just burying teams. Look what they did to Illinois. Like Illinois didn't deserve what happened to Illinois. Like that was that was ugly.
SPEAKER_00:And I think I think I think Indiana still has a bone to pick with Wisconsin from when we dropped what 70 some points on him a few years ago. Even Nate, even even our third string quarterback Nate Tice was running in for touchdowns against him. So I don't know. I have a bad I have a bad feeling a couple Saturdays from now.
SPEAKER_01:I think we should all be prepared for that game to be like a record-setting loss. So it might be part of history just on the the bad side of it there. So I would be okay with uh um Carter Smith for just a little bit. Like, don't start him. I don't think you throw him to the wolves right off the bat there, but bring him in, bring him in in certain set, whatever. You know, if Luke Fickle talked about certain sets and stuff like that where we can see him, maybe he tries to do Carter Smith more on the passing downs, whereas Danny O'Neill is more of like your wildcat kind of quarterback where he can still throw it a little bit.
SPEAKER_00:But I feel like I feel like Carter Smith is probably a better running quarterback than I just don't want him, I don't want him to get clocked in the open field.
SPEAKER_01:I kind of would rather have Danny O'Neill bust up the middle than have Carter Smith try to bust up the middle because I just don't want to hurt him. I it yeah, I don't want to hurt him.
SPEAKER_00:Carter Smith's bigger too. Like I've seen Danny O'Neal is not a big guy, so it's no, he's just i will say when like at the beginning of the year this year when they did open practices to the media and stuff. I saw the first three quarterbacks do stuff, and then they all had their non-contact jerseys on and stuff. But when Carter Smith was in with the fourth team, he didn't have his non-contact jersey on, and they were running them, and he was taking some hits and doing all that stuff, and he was popping right back up. So, I mean, I don't know why they wouldn't put it, I mean, whatever, but he's I I don't know. I think you're right. I think it's gonna be Danny O'Neill for a lot of stuff, but I think they'll have some specific formations, packages, whatever you want to call it, for Carter Smith, just to kind of get his feet wet against Washington. And then I wouldn't be surprised if they just ramp him up and then by the I don't know, Minnesota. Well, definitely by the Minnesota game. Who's before Minnesota? We got Illinois, the Illinois game. I wouldn't be surprised by Illinois. He was starting.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, I feel like you gotta get hit, you gotta get him comfortable because if you feel like he gives you a shot to win, because if you end the season with a win against Minnesota, you don't feel great about the season, but you feel just a little bit better. You just you just feel a little bit of something going into the offseason.
SPEAKER_00:I feel like I feel like as long as right now that's the goal. I don't think anyone has any hope they're gonna beat Washington, Indiana, or Illinois, but if they can win the axe back, it's something if, and then that that supposed$30 million parachute coming in to buy a bunch of players and stuff, maybe, just maybe Fick can turn this thing around, or you know, some fans might actually think that.
SPEAKER_01:No, I I actually thought, you know, I remember beginning of this year, we talked about this Washington game and said that we felt like there might be a chance. And then I just watched last week when they beat Illinois the way that they did, and I was just like, nope, it ain't it, it ain't happening. I want to be confident, but it's not happening. I'm excited.
SPEAKER_00:Washington's better than I thought they would be.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, it's a pretty darn good team. This is a pretty darn good team.
SPEAKER_00:Everyone on this schedule is outside of Minnesota. Juice, they they looked not great last week. But outside of Minnesota, everyone I feel like on our schedule is just light years.
SPEAKER_01:It got better. Like, honestly, when I looked at this schedule in the off, like I know offseason, you can only you only know so much about a team coming off the offseason. But when we looked at this schedule coming off the offseason, I was you could see like there was a couple spots where it was like, oh, well, maybe they can beat this team. Oh, maybe they can beat this team. And the more I just check it out, I'm just like, where was it? Maryland. That was it. Maryland. That that was the only one where I look at them and say, man, they might they should have had that game against Maryland. Outside of that, and you know what you did though? You know what you did, honestly, when you really think about it, and this is, I guess, where I want to lean with the rest of this, because there's not much more to talk about with this game coming up. When you went okay, this is just my one thing I gotta say that I just don't understand. I think Billy Edwards is a fantastic guy, but why did the Badgers believe that he was going to be the guy to beat this schedule? Because they plucked him off a Maryland team who was last in the Big Ten last year. I don't think they got worse when he left.
SPEAKER_00:I think, well, yeah, they have a pretty good freshman came in. Yeah, but uh I think I don't know. I think they were looking for a I don't want to use the phrase lame duck quarterback, they're looking for a quarterback to bridge the gap from where they were to Carter Smith, I think.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:And I think they saw this guy's got one year of eligibility left. He actually put up some decent numbers with by far the worst offensive line in the conference. What could he do with the Wisconsin offensive line? Well, no, I think Wisconsin probably is one of the worst offensive lines in the conference. So I think my guess was they looked at him and they probably looked at, okay, it's a one-year, one-year rental kind of thing. We'll let, you know, we'll let Carter Smith learn for a year and then give him the keys to the offense. He's gonna be the guy, you know, the next year, especially with this the schedule being as brutal as it is. Are we really gonna throw a true freshman out there and try to figure it out going against Oregon, Ohio State, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan? Like, I think what did that mean? I feel like uh no. I think Billy Edwards Jr. was kind of a sacrifice, and honestly, it's it's too bad he only made it through half of the first game. Just it's a quarterback, Wisconsin quarterback curse right now, man.
SPEAKER_01:I I agree 100%. That's why I think they gotta kind of see what they have with uh with Carter Smith here, because otherwise, if you go into this offseason, you have to say, okay, my donors give me all this more money, right? They're giving me all this money. You gotta go find a quarterback, not a not a Tanner Mordecai, not a Tyler Van Dyke, not a Billy Edwards. I want a guy who's coming in off of a successful season at a success. It doesn't have to be like look where Cam Ward came from when he went to Miami. He came from Washington State. Give me a guy who's coming from a successful program, like had a successful season, like a full-on successful season. His team was a winning team. You can see those things in there. Give me that guy. That's why I kind of wish when Jeff Grimes, if he would have brought in a uh uh Jalen Daniels with him from Kansas, I maybe that would have been a little bit better. I don't know. I don't know how that would have all transpired. But, anyways, just I want to see them bring in one of those kinds of dudes. Not a lame duck quarterback, not a guy where it's like, oh, well, he had one good season, Tyler Van Dyke. Oh, he threw for 7,000 yards, Tanner Mordecai. Now, we don't know how those seasons would have gone because those guys got injured. They should honestly start, we should get Braden Lockback, start him at quarterback next year, and then when he gets hurt, then we throw in our number two quarterback, which is the guy we actually wanted the whole time.
SPEAKER_00:Maybe that'll be oh, yeah, that's a good point. It's like a decoy. We just we throw just like some guy out there. Right now, something in the mojo doesn't I heard I actually heard uh Tyler Van Dyke is somehow is going to come back for another year next year, there we go, seventh year. Let's bring let's bring him back. He can he can be our decoy quarterback that inevitably gets hurt in the first two or three games of the year, and then our guy can start.
SPEAKER_01:I'll take it. I'll take it there. So any uh any final thoughts on this game coming up here with Washington? Anything you're looking for to uh progress, any guys you're looking for, maybe?
SPEAKER_00:Dude, it's so hard just because we're A, not good, B, we're so beat up. Uh-huh. Like it's it's hard to do anything, but I mean, I want the defense to look really good to the two freshmen inside linebackers. Let's see them just be animals again. Uh, and Gideon Atuka, just watch that guy run the ball like a man possessed. So, you know, just that kind of stuff. But yeah, outside of that, the obvious I want to see Carter Smith, see what he can do, see if he's any good or not. If he's not, I think that's another thing. Let's see if he's good. If he's not, let's go spend some money in the portal and get a guy who's got more than one year of eligibility, right?
SPEAKER_01:I 100% agree. That is that is where I'm at right now. I want to see what you have in Carter Smith. Do you believe he's going to be ready to go next year, or do you need to because the early windows opening up, right? Pretty darn soon. Do you need to find a guy early and bring him into this program? That's what you need to figure out if you're Luke Fickle. Because the clock, it should have already been it should have already hit zero. But, anyways, the clock has got to be starting now going into year, it feels like forever since you showed up. What are you going to do? Yeah, it's like year 517. I don't know. I've lost it's Paul Christ. Where are you? Anyways, it need it needs to get better. Where does it start this offseason? We're already an off-season talk. That just feels depressing. So, anyways, Christian, we're wrapping up our number one. Thank you for hopping on tonight here on the show. Let people know where to find you out there across social media.
SPEAKER_00:As always, you can find me at Christian Borman on all the various social media platforms. Otherwise, check out my work at The Badger Backer.
SPEAKER_01:Make sure you guys check him out. He's got tons of great stuff coming out there. Tons of good stuff happening with Ben Men's basketball there, uh, football. There's there's got to be some good in there. Maybe he'll find it. If he's if anybody's gonna find it, Christian's gonna find it and give it to you there on The Badger Backers. Thank you as always, Christian. We'll be back here. We're gonna we're wrapping up our number one. This has been our number one. Our number two is coming at you after the quick commercial break. We'll be right back here on Wisconsin Sports on the Go It Trade.