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
Jan 14, 2026 Hour 1: Matt Lafluer on Hot Seat? Badgers MBB Win Streak
We unpack a split-screen week in Wisconsin: Badger hoops find a backbone on the road while the Packers stumble into old habits and hard truths. We press on coaching, culture, and why rivalry energy can either sharpen or expose a team.
• LaFleur’s role tension between head coach and play caller
• Fourth-quarter collapse as a systems and situational failure
• Special teams emphasis and staffing shortcomings
• Personnel decisions, effort lapses, and accountability
• Ben Johnson’s rivalry spark and how Green Bay should respond
• Veteran presence versus being the youngest team again
• Badgers’ upset at Michigan built on transition defense
• Braden Carrington’s emergence as a high-impact sixth man
• Shot profile, rotation discipline, and late-game free throws
• Minnesota buzzer beater momentum and portal notes
Make sure you like, subscribe, follow across all the social media platforms, Wisconsin Sports on the Go with Trage
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're coming in here on this Wednesday. I hope you guys are enjoying your Wednesday so far. I hope you guys have enjoyed your week off that weekend. That was, well, depends. Are you a Packer fan? Are you a Badger fan? Are you both? Because if you're both, you're kind of in the middle right now. If you're just a Packer fan and you don't really care for the Badgers, you're having a really rough week so far here. So we have a lot to dive into today here on the show. We're going to talk Badger hoops because what a performance against Michigan over the weekend there. A huge upset. Three in a row now. They got the big buzzer beater win against Minnesota last night there. That's a decent Minnesota team. I mean, they're not a pushover. That is a good team. So beating Minnesota, that was a good win right there. So definitely some good things to talk about there. Men's Badgers, Badgers hoops right now. There's some wow, I got where this team was to where they are now, definite change from what we've seen. So we're gonna get into that. Christian's gonna stop by where I talk about that. We definitely have to talk about the Packers today. I know you've heard it across every radio station in Wisconsin at this point here, and from every radio uh voice that you've heard that they're talking about Matt LaFleur, they're talking about the job he's done, they're talking about would you bring him back, would you not? We're gonna talk about that. We're gonna get our opinions then on Matt LaFleur's situation. Would you bring him back? Would you not bring him back? What needs to change? Everything in between. We're gonna get into all that today here on the show. I've been seeing a lot across social media. A lot of people talking about so Ben Johnson after the game, we saw the handshake, right? We saw the handshake weeks ago with him and Matt LaFleur, and then we saw the handshake that was on Saturday, and a lot of people are up in arms about it. Well, he he needs to be better, he needs to have more class this and that. Though I agree that there is a classy way to go about it, I don't I don't hate it. I don't I'm gonna be honest with you, I I like it. I like what Ben Johnson's doing right now. Because what Ben Johnson's doing right now is he's making this rivalry better. He's making the rivalry ignite. That's what he's doing. You know, you always look for in sports. There's always you want to have a rivalry because when there's no rivalries, it's nothing, right? The NBA, I I don't think there's a rivalry left in the NBA. You can say season by season, maybe, right? But they try to push like the Lakers and the Celtics, or they try to push this on us, and there just isn't that rivalry anymore. There is a definite rivalry between the Bears and Packers now. There is a dislike between the head coaches, there is a dislike between the players, and I am here for it. I want all of it because it adds more juice. When there's juice, there's it's just it adds that much more excitement when they meet. Whether it's in week one, week 10, week 17, week 18 in the playoffs, whatever it is, there's that juice there, that extra motivation. When you go into it as a fan base, you just have that much more excitement going into it. So I love that Ben Johnson is kind of he he's throwing gasoline on the fire, and he's like, Oh yeah. Now the question is, how do the Packers respond to that? Oh yeah, we we all talk, we you know, we hear everybody talk about it and they don't like it, the fans don't like it, and the players don't like it. Great. Now we gotta see it. And I know end of the season, so you're not gonna see it for a while, right? You're not gonna see it until next year, but you have to add that as extra juice when you hear it is going into becoming the Bears head coach. Praise Dan Campbell, praise Kevin O'Connell. I enjoy beating Matt LaFleur twice a year. I I don't care anymore if it's you know, some people say it's a force thing from Ben Johnson that he just, you know, just kind of forces it, and it seems like phony, right? I don't care at this point. He's embracing the rivalry, and that's what the Green Bay Packers have to do. Top to bottom, coaches to players. I thought the aggressiveness from the Packers, I thought they were very stale in the second half. I thought that Matt LaFleur made no adjustments. And I mean, we're gonna get into it today. We're gonna talk about Matt LaFleur and all that, but what the Bears did to the Packers is what we've seen in the past. It was just very amplified. When you give up 25 points in the fourth quarter, 25 points in the fourth quarter in a game where you basically had it won, you could have wiped your hands clean of it, you gave up 25 points in the fourth quarter. That's an effort problem, that's a coaching problem. There's a lot of problems right now with Green Bay Packers, and we're gonna get into it all here today on the show. We have a ton to get into. We're gonna talk Packers, we're gonna talk Badger Hoops, we have to talk Bucks, Kyle's gonna stop by, we're gonna talk NFL, we're gonna talk about that wild wild card weekend. We have a whole boatload of things to get into here today on the show. So when we come back, Ummer's gonna stop by. We're gonna talk about Matt LaFleur and that situation there with Green Bay Packers. If you want to be involved in the show, make sure you're doing it today. 715-990-4914. That is 715-990-4914. Make sure you like, subscribe, follow across all the social media platforms, Wisconsin Sports on the Go with Trade. But we will be right back here on the show. Hour number one of two is just getting going. We'll be right back. That song was perfect for this next segment because we're gonna be talking about the Packers. We're gonna talk about Matt LaFleur's situation. Do the Packers move on? What do they do? They take the gamble for moving on like a coach from a coach like Matt LaFleur. That's the question we're gonna talk about today here in this next segment. But this next segment is brought to you by Chili Implement. Tackle your toughest jobs on the farm or in your yard with equipment from Chili Implement. Visit Chili Implement and find what you need today. Check them out there at Chili Implement. So, Ummer is here tonight. Ummer, I don't want to talk about what happened on Saturday. I want to talk about you. How are you doing on this Wednesday?
SPEAKER_03:I am slowly recovering still from Saturday night, man. How about you?
SPEAKER_01:That that was rough. That was uh a rough game to watch. That was a rough game to uh well at first it wasn't. At first I was like, wow, here we go. I guess it's gonna be one of them games. Matt LaFleur is gonna put we were texting him. I don't I can't remember who I was texting that night because he definitely texted me. Yeah, and I was like, there's no way he doesn't keep the gas pedal down. He doesn't like Ben Johnson, he doesn't like the Bears. They have that rivalry that's there now. We see it. I mean, we we hear it from Ben Johnson, we hear it from Matt LaFleur. You know it's there. Like, I don't even care. Like, I don't want to talk about Ben Johnson and all that nonsense. I talked about at the start of the show. I mean, I like that he's he's bringing the rivalry. I like that. Now it's a question of does this team answer? Does the do the Packers answer? Because whether it's a forced thing or whatever from Ben Johnson, I don't even care at this point. He's throwing it out there, he's throwing the words out there. Now it's about can you go out there and beat him? Can you go out there and beat Ben Johnson at the end of the day? I don't care what he's saying anymore. It's can Matt LaFleur and this team beat the Bears? Can they beat Ben Johnson at this point here? So, I mean, I outside of that, I'm I'm doing good. I'm doing good. But yeah, that that drives me nuts. People are all everybody's complaining about his comments and were his comments bad. If you look at it in one light, sure. But at the end of the day, I don't care. It's a rivalry now. I like that. I like rivalries. I like that he's enticing this thing. I like that he doesn't like Matt LaFleur because Matt LaFleur shouldn't like him, and Matt LaFleur shouldn't try to take it easy on him in the second half. So let's talk about Matt LaFleur here on there. Yeah because it's the big topic over everywhere. Everybody's talking about it. Matt LaFleur's going into his last season of his contract. Ed policy said there's gonna be no lame duck coaches. So we're in a we're in this kind of position now where they're gonna be talking. Now, as you guys know, we're prerecorded, so we have no idea. Maybe he gets a contract signed tomorrow. I have no idea. They said by Wednesday, maybe hesitantly, they could have something worked out, whatever, you know, whoever you want to believe at this point. You have Ian Rappaport and those guys saying that it's gonna, like, they're working on the extension, and then you look elsewhere and it's like, oh, we don't know what's gonna happen. Umer, I'm gonna be honest with you, let's just talk about Matt LaFleur in total. Yeah, at this point. I've kind of been in the camp of I don't know how I feel about Matt LaFleur, because I feel like Matt LaFleur's teams are consistently showing us the same thing every single year. Every single year. It's the same nonsense, it's the same stuff, and it's the same as we see in his press conferences. Oh, I have to go look at the film. I have to go look at the film. Matt, you don't need to look at the film. You know what you saw. You watched it, you saw the lack of effort from Rashawn Gary, you saw this, you saw that. You can answer all those questions that they're asking you. Your cop-out answer all the time is I have to go look at the film. Own up to it for once. Just own up to it in a press conference. Like those, those little things that drives me nuts. That's just one of the things that drives me nuts about Matt LaFleur. But I'm right now at the point with Matt LaFleur where if he's not going to make the changes that need to happen, because you can't just run this back. You can't. Like there, there is no run it back with this at this point. Because honestly, yes, if Micah Parsons was there, it would have been better. Sure. If Tucker Kraft was there, it'd have been better. Sure. I agree. Zach Tom, Elton Jenkins, sure, it'd have been better. If you'd had all those big name players, the big contracts playing, yeah, it would have been better. It wouldn't have fixed your special teams. It wouldn't have fixed the lack of emphasis that you put on your special teams, it wouldn't have fixed the lack of play calling that you have in the second half, the conservative effort that you give, the lack of adjustments that you make, it wouldn't have fixed those problems. Sure, it would have made your defense a lot better, yeah. But would Zach Tom, yeah, okay. Rasheed Walker wouldn't have had to play. But when you watch a game like that and you're watching Rasheed Walker be beat off the edge, Kennard's sitting on your bench. He's there. I understand you want to use him in those jumbo packages, right? The big boy package. You didn't run the big boy package, you barely ran it. He was out there for what that catch that almost ended up being a disaster in its own right. But I mean, you used him there. Outside of that, why didn't you just okay? At that point, Rasheed Walker was being beat off the edge like it was nothing, like it was nothing. He didn't look like he even cared, like he was very uninterested in the game. Yeah, get him out of there, throw somebody else in there at that point. So Kennard would have given an A plus effort. Maybe he wouldn't have been as good. Sure. But he had given an effort. There was no effort there from Rasheed Walker. You see, from some of these guys, like Rashawn Gary, at times in this game, it was like Rashawn, I need you to make a play.
SPEAKER_03:He's made one, he did make a couple plays. I'll give him that, right?
SPEAKER_01:Remember the on other, it's like one play he makes it, the next play jogging. And it's so inconsistent with him that it just gets to the point at the end of the day where you you're the head coach, be the head coach. Oh, we can't we gotta stop blaming coordinators. We have to all well, it's it's half leaves defense. Yeah, but Matt oversees the team. That's the thing, he oversees it all. So if he can't oversee the team while calling plays, he needs to stop calling plays. Because if he wants to be the head coach of this football team, he needs to be the head coach of this football team. He they're so worried about oh, how's the offense? How's the offense? He can't worry about that because he's trying to worry about that, but he's trying to worry about that, but he's trying to worry about this, but he's trying to worry about that. So it's all getting pushed off on other guys, and that's like, oh, just throw your best guys out there. Special teams, the emphasis on special teams. He said, Oh, it's not killing us yet, it's not, it's not the thing that's hurting us. On the contrary, Matt, it's the thing that's hurting you every single year. It doesn't matter if it's kick returns. We had Josh Jacobs back there returning kicks. The guy with a busted up knee was back there returning kicks for you because you don't put an emphasis on it. You said at the end, oh, we have to get something going. Okay, let's throw Josh Jacobs back there.
SPEAKER_03:He did say Josh asked to be put back there, too.
SPEAKER_01:He said that of course he did because he saw that they stink. He saw that they stink, and he's like, I have to do something to set us up a good field position.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, he's like Thursday. He's like, Yeah, put me back there. I used to do it, I used to do it at Alabama, and like, you know, once he catches the ball, it is a running play. He did get a 45-yard game, but unfortunately.
SPEAKER_01:And then fumbled in and almost made me cry.
SPEAKER_03:And almost got it back, thank God.
SPEAKER_01:But just the emphasis that he's putting in the wrong, he's he's not he can't be the head. I I'm at the point where if Matt's gonna if Matt's gonna return as head coach, I understand it. He's a very good coach. I I don't Matt LaFleur's a good coach, yeah. But Matt LaFleur right now cannot be a play caller and a coach because he can't be the head coach of his football team. He he's not the head coach right now. He's calling plays, and then everybody else seems to just have their things, like they're running their personnel on different sides, which is the way it should be. But Matt's not overseeing at all. He's not. You can't tell me that he's looking at it and saying, wow, Rashawn Gary's playing way better than Engabare or Van Ness. He's giving way more effort than those guys. We should definitely have him out there. We should definitely have those guys out there in that one. No, I I would not believe that. And if it is, then Matt LaFuller needs to go too. Like, I'm just watching these personnel decisions that they're making. Matt LaFuller needs to step in and be the be the boss, be be be the guy, be the guy in the locker room, be the voice, be the leader that he's supposed to be on this team. And he's not that right now. And in order for that to happen, he needs to make those changes. He needs to be the change. And if he can't, if he won't become that change, if he won't fire some of his buddies, because Rich Bissaccia, I'm sorry. He might be a nice guy, but he needs to go. And if Matt won't do it, then Goody and Ed Policy have to walk in and say, Matt, we're gonna bring you back as head coach, but we're gonna make some coaching changes. We're gonna do it. We're gonna walk in and say, Bisaccia, thank you. Bye. Steno, I love you. You want to be the offensive line coach? Okay. If you don't, okay, bye. Because you're not a good offensive coordinator. Matt, we're gonna bring you an OC. Go call Mike McDaniel. That should be your first phone call. You should call him up. Say, hey, you want to become an offensive coordinator here up in Green Bay? Work with Matt. And then let Mike McDaniel run the offense. And then if Matt wants to put his input in, great. He could put his input in. He can he could throw it in there. But just wash your hands of it. Be the head coach of the football team. Umer, I want to hear your take because I'm just I'm just yelling at this.
SPEAKER_03:Okay, you're going, man. I was like, I was like, is log off.
SPEAKER_01:I was like, Amir, you what what are your thoughts on Matt LaFleur right now? The whole the whole, I mean, coming off this game, but it's it's deeper than this game. It's not just this game. I know a lot of people are gonna point back to this game and say this is the reason why he needs to go or needs to stay or whatever. It's deeper than this game.
SPEAKER_03:It goes back, it goes back to um continuously them making malpractice. I always call coach and malpractice. Like you have you bring in Chevron Diggs, you knew Valentine and Nixon weren't getting it done. He had one snap in the first quarter, and that was it. And then those guys were getting cooked all in the second quarter. I I agree with you. The second Walker in the second quarter second half was looking as bad as he was. I would have put Morgan on the left tackle, I put Kennard at a right, I would have just made changes. Like the thing that gets me is like they're so cheap when it comes to their coaching hires. Like they went and redid their whole defensive staff, which I think was smart. But then when it comes to their offense, like, think about what they do. I mean, I heard Roley talking about this today where when they had a chance to get Darren Rizzy, they didn't want to pay him. I know there was some conversation about Rizzy asked for a lot of money, hoping that he wouldn't get the job. But the fact that the Packers are cheap, and then what they do, they went and spent all the money on Rich Casaccia, which hasn't worked out at all. Same thing with like Luke Getzky gets fired from two jobs. We bring him in as a consultant. Nate Hackett can't get a job anywhere. Bring him in as a consultant. We keep bringing in these guys who get fired and try to see if they can help us on different parts of the field. And it's like, I've been saying for the last three years we need new voices. Bringing in the same people and having an echo chamber and basically doing the same thing over and over again, expecting a different result, is the purest definition of insanity. And I feel like the floor has never really made any change, it keeps promoting from within, minus on the defense for the first time he actually went out of house. But even with that being said, like when we lost Campanelli, we went ahead and promoted Doug and I feel like we had Nyman out there on a coverage play playing defense for the first time ever. And I'm just like, again, like we keep making these like we keep like redoing the same thing over. Like you keep running inside zone on first down, then you you're second and long. Like it just it's getting to a point now where LaFleur, I know he's a great play caller, but in that second half, people were saying he was being too aggressive at certain points. I can see that because he wasn't taking the gimmys, like he was trying to push the ball downfield. I'm like, just take what the defense is giving you. Get Jordan to just dump it off and just check it down because your offensive line was getting beat, and they weren't doing anything crazy. They literally just were just were just they're blitzing wide, they kept blitzing wide the whole time, and we had no answer for it. I mean, when Zach Tom was out this game, I was thinking, like, all right, I had a really bad feeling. Because Zach Tom, I feel like really changes up so many things on that offense. But LaFleur is a coach, I'm with you. If they keep him, I'm happy. If they let him go, then I'm willing to hope that we can get some new voices in there. And maybe the Packers, now they had policies in charge, maybe he'll spend some more money and gain an actual bona fide staff. Because if you look at what the Bears did, they went and spent all this money on Ben Johnson, they wouldn't spend all this money on his assistant coaches, and look what they got. They're now in the divisional, in the divisional, right? And the Packers have done continually done the same thing. And what is what has been the result of that? Three seven seed appearances, one playoff win in the last three years, and then on top of that, too, we bring in a new training staff. Our injuries are getting worse, not better. And then on top of that too, the way we're going about injury and the way we're going about our guys, like we find out now that Zach Tom had partially torn Patella and we're gonna try to put him out there. Then you talk about the Jair Alexander knee injury where like they could have had him do surgery, he could have probably been back in the second half of the season, instead they try rehabbing him. Like, there's so many bad decisions that I mean in-house, and I just think like a clean slate might not be a bad idea, but I just don't want us because we have a window right now, you know. Jordan's playing amazing, Michael Parks will be back next year. Tucker Kraft, Volontay Wyatt, we'll have our pieces back, but we need new voices on the offense. I'm done with buck kiss, too. I understand that he's coached some good offensive lines. This year was terrible. Yeah, and I'm done. I just I just need changes. I think what you said was LaFleur being a head coach, a true head coach, doesn't call plays. Mike McDaniel comes in, he becomes the OC. They bring in Bill Callan or somebody else to be the offensive line coach, and they completely just redo everything. Because right now, I don't think you could sell the fans on bringing back everybody the way it is and expecting things to be different because they haven't been. They haven't been.
SPEAKER_01:No, it's becoming stale. It's becoming stale, dude. The same stuff every year. I mean, like we're saying, we we don't think that Matt is a terrible, he's a good play designer, right? But I think he gets ahead of himself play calling-wise, he becomes predictable, right? And that's the inside zone is predictable. He, you know, the second down, the second down run all the time. It just those things he becomes predictable in what he's going to do. And what you saw from Ben Johnson in that game, and he does a really good job of. He switches that playbook every single week and he's scheming up different things. Mid-game, he's adjusting. Dennis Allen adjusted mid-game, and we saw it. We saw those adjustments that the Bears made. The Packers on the flip side, no adjustments, didn't make those adjustments. And when you punt four times in a row, of course they're gonna have a big return. It's gonna happen eventually. Something's gonna break. It's just in that game, you saw such. I think it transpires from his the head coaching spot where you see a hesitant play. Jordan Love. I thought he hesitated a lot. There was a third and two play where he had ran it.
SPEAKER_03:He could have ran it, got the first bounce.
SPEAKER_01:And I just thought to myself, this just shows I don't know if it's a scared thing. But it's a hesitant play. He was looking to, I don't know if it was in still dude. You know what it was though? You can't make mistakes.
SPEAKER_03:He ran that first on the first or second drive, he ran, and then Austin Booker came in and cleaned him, hit him right in the head again. Yeah, the helmet and everything. I think he was like, Look, I want to run for it, but these guys are headhunting. And if I get taken out of the game now, we're really screwed. So he said just throw it away and play for you know play from third down. That's the only thing I could think of. Because I'm with you on that third and two, he could have ran for it and just slid and got the first down. But I know he was thinking like these guys are gonna try to take a shot at me, and I don't want to take that shot. I don't want to lose, I don't want to miss the remainder of this game, and then all of a sudden that conversation starts coming up again. But I'm with you on that. There was there was, I mean, I'll put it this way when he was throwing the ball, he wasn't hesitant. I mean, he was he was he was slinging it, like he was doing. I mean, again, on that last drive, Jaden Reed doesn't help him out.
SPEAKER_01:No, I thought though the Christian Watson throw, I know Watson said it after game, he's like, I thought he's gonna hit me in the first window. I thought he should have hit him in the first window. He should have really lost the break. I was like, ah man, hit him there. Like, I don't know.
SPEAKER_03:It's something that if you were him there, like the where he threw the ball, I'm like, okay, that was crazy. But dude, it was the like if Watson has put both his hands up, he has a better chance of catching that ball, right?
SPEAKER_01:Oh yeah, 100%. Like it could have been executed better by I, you know, we're giving a lot of hate to Matt LaFleur in this game. We are, and I thought Matt Matt deserves partial sum. I don't know how much he would give to the blame. I want to hear from you guys 715-990-4914. That's 715-990-4914. I want to hear from you guys your thoughts on Matt LaFleur. I Matt LaFleur deserves blame in this game. I agree. But not all of it, but not all of it, because I thought there was a lot of execution by players in this game that just wasn't there either. We're talking about the offensive line. McManus was a big one, right?
SPEAKER_03:Seven points. You you miss an extra point. Like that that is the one. If he hits that extra point, we're not going for a touchdown. We're going for a field goal at that point.
SPEAKER_01:Like no, I agree. I agree. I mean, McManus, but then you look Rasheed Walker, you can look across this roster, and you can. I mean, the last throw that Cale Williams had was fourth and eight, and McDuffie ran him out. I don't know if Cooper's out there. I know you're talking the winner. Cooper's out there. Cooper's out there, he catches him over McDuffie. But McDuffie did a great job chasing him down, getting to him. And McDuffie did great in his spot. The throw that he made, though. I mean, you look at the coverage, you look at Valentine's. Everyone's there, where are they? Right. They're underneath. They're all attacking the ball. They're not staying disciplined. They're not staying disciplined and staying with their guy back. They're all looking to, like you just said, with you know, the Bears headhunting Jordan Love. They're all looking to headhunt. They're all I don't know why Carrington Valentine is because Carrington Valentine, he's so in like disinterested in hitting guys. It's not even funny at this point. If a running back comes to the outside, there's a good chance Valentine's just going to try to steer him out of bounds versus trying to hit him. But I'm I'm looking at that play, and it's like, he's not why are why are my coverage guys underneath? And we're talking about Trayvon Diggs, and we're like, oh, well, Diggs played one snap in the first half. That was it. What you told me Diggs want to stay with that guy?
SPEAKER_03:Diggs would stay with the guy.
SPEAKER_01:You're telling me that Diggs, I mean, I understand he just got the Green Bay, but you're telling me he can't figure out how to run a cover three. Come on, dude. You're telling me he hasn't ran a cover three.
SPEAKER_03:He's a fourth down. You've got to knock the ball down. You don't even got to pick it, just knock it down.
SPEAKER_01:No, I mean, it's honestly though, with Diggs, it's like you went into a game here where you run so much zone. Diggs has played a lot of zone in his life. Like he can figure it out. He can figure out where to play in the spot.
SPEAKER_02:Exactly.
SPEAKER_01:You're telling me you can't figure it out. It's uh that's what I'm saying with the personnel decisions. The personnel decisions just don't make sense. They they just make absolutely no sense to me.
SPEAKER_03:And then it just oh did you see the one where they were on defense, they had to call a timeout because they only had 10 players on defense, and then even on the final kick by by the extra point kick by the Bears, they only had 10 people on the field. I'm telling you. No, but it's just being set up in the right situation and just the just the fact that you're not doing your job. Like as a coach and assistant coaches, you need to be making sure you got the guys in the right place. And this is something that's been happening all year, right? And that's what I'm trying to say. Like having inexperienced coaches like that, like Ruby Posachi has like what 30 years and he doesn't know what he's doing, right? Yeah, but you look at the defensive staff, you look at some of the other guys, I mean you look at the offensive staff too. These guys are all guys that have been in-house people, right? They're all people like Sean Duggan, he came from BC. You look at Vrabel, you look at Steno, you look at Buckus, you look at uh Rafferty, all these guys are in-house people with less than five years' experience. What are we doing? 100. What are we doing? Like this this is the reason why, like, if the Baby Packers want to go somewhere, they need to like start investing in their coaching staff, and they need to start getting people that know what they're talking about and have some veteran experience. I'm not saying like get like a 30, obviously, Rich Pisace is not the answer, but get guys that have improved that don't know what they're doing. Like James Campy, I don't know why we let him go. He's he's in the house right now as a scout. I I bring them down and say, Hey, you coach, you coach our offensive line and let's get it done. When he was there, our offensive line was one of the best offensive lines in the league consistently for uh decades.
SPEAKER_01:It's it's definitely this is gonna be a long week, I would say. I don't know if it's gonna be Bears fans are when you guys hear us tomorrow, but yeah, no, when you guys hear us tomorrow, I don't know if like the Matt LaFleur, like I said, we're pre-recorded. So we don't know if Matt LaFleur got signed, if anything's happened there, if he got traded, anything like that. But I kept seeing that too. Yeah, hey, I don't know if the Falcons offered me a first round pick. I don't know. It's not crazy, it's not a crazy thought, it's not a crazy thought because then you can just say, hey Jeff, before you leave for the Titans, we have a spot.
SPEAKER_03:But I don't know, you're at a point right now where I don't like you're talking, like I'm just like, let's be real, even the defense, I know they're aghast, but like you know, you gave up 25 points in the in the fourth quarter and you give up what 445 yards to this offense. And I'm like, again, like as if you're supposed to be such a such a vaulted defense and such an amazing defensive coach, why aren't you putting your guys in better positions to make plays? Because there were times where guys are running clear-free and there was nobody. I mean, the inbreakers were killing us. I mean, you had running backs going out in the flat and they were killing us.
SPEAKER_01:I understand, but dude, oh my god, it was just it was it was a dump pass after dump pass after dump pass. And I don't know if we just forgot that Colson Lovelin was the like go-to guy there for the entire couple drives. But that's all they were looking for was Colston Loveland there, and it worked. It definitely worked. So we're gonna continue this Packer Talk when we come back here from the break. We want to hear from you guys 715-990-4914. That is 715-990-4914. We're gonna hear what you guys' thoughts are on the Packers, the season, everything else. Matt LaFleur, we want to hear your thoughts. Definitely hit us up there. So when we come back, we're gonna continue the Packer Talk, talk about this Bears game, talk more of Matt LaFleur, talk about everything in between. We'll be right back here, Scott. I'm your host, Trage, as we're coming back in here on this Wednesday. And hey, this next segment of the show here is brought to you by Casa M. Spice. Are you craving bold gourmet flavor with those MSGs, fillers, or excess salts? Meet our friends down there at Casa M. Spice Company, the award-winning spice blend, born in Texas. This stuff is fantastic. I threw it on my chicken last night there, threw it on the tragic. Was that fantastic? I threw some of that pecking order on there. The whole hog, I know whole hog doesn't sound like it'd go good on chicken. Oh, it does. It brings a different kind of hit to that. And then I threw some Texas Twister on there too, just to finish it off with her with the spice. Man, is this stuff fantastic? Give them a try. Casa M. Spice. Check them out there at any Ace Hardware or check them out online, Casa M Spice. So Amer is back here. We were kind of discussing a lot of Matt LaFleur, the whole situation with him coming off this game as a whole, from what we've seen here over the past how many years with Matt LaFleur? And I mean, it just seems very stale now. It seems like we're just good enough making the playoffs. Good enough making the playoffs. Good enough making the playoffs. Well, at some point you got to get over that hump. At some point, you have to make it, right? They went to the NFC Championship game with Rogers with that team. Now, there's always gonna be that thing holding holding you up with giving Matt LaFleur credit for that because you're gonna say, oh, well, Rogers was there, right? We had he had Rogers, he had this kind of team. Now you have your guy, right? Jordan Love, the guy that you drafted. That's your guy. That's your guy that you've built up. You have this really young roster that we hear about every year. It's the youngest roster, youngest roster. I'm gonna be honest with you, I'm right at this point. I think what they lack is a veteran guy. You know, a guy, some guest, actually, not veteran guy, veteran guys. Guys that you can bring in. They don't have to be stars. I'm not asking for stars, right? But I'm asking for guys to come in there to kind of settle everything down. Guys who are just gonna go out there and make plays for you, who are gonna, they're gonna always they're gonna give that A plus effort that we talk about all the time. But they're they don't have to be bona fide stars, they just have to be leaders. And I think this team lacked leaders at times. Now, I Josh Jacobs, he's a leader. Like, I think he's a leader. I think Jordan Love hesitates to be a leader. I do. I think he's there, I think he can be a leader, but at times I think he hesitates to be that guy, and I think he hesitates to command that that leadership role. Rashawn Gary had the had the captain, but I Rashawn Gary, I don't know, he's a leader of men out there. Michael Parsons definitely going out to not help. I thought that he he's definitely a leader and a lead by example kind of guy. But I don't know if like Michael Parsons is a lead by example guy.
SPEAKER_02:Right.
SPEAKER_01:I need a guy out there who's gonna settle the troops, right? Things are starting to go a little bit crazy on it, like in this Bears game, right? Things were starting to go sideways. You need a guy to step in and just settle it down. Just say, hey, we're good. Right? We were talking about it with the Badgers. We're we're talking about it next there, but in that game against Michigan over the weekend, they had that upset win, and you had Nick Boyd. The Badgers went down 14 on the road against the number two team in the country. And you had Nick Boyd going to the huddle, and he's like, guys, we're good. We're good. Settle down, we're good. That's what you need. But it was, I think honestly, in that way, you had your team say, okay, we're good. Like, we're fine. We just got to settle into this game, we'll be fine. That's where I'm looking for on this team. I just don't, I don't know. Am I crazy? I don't think I see that. I don't think I see those leaders on this team. And I don't know if that's gonna be a veteran, I think it has to be a veteran presence that's gonna demand that kind of respect back. But I think you're missing that guy, right? You had the the Charles Woodsons of the world and guys like that back in the day. And you, I mean, you go through a laundry list of guys that you qualify as leaders on the field. You need those guys, and I just feel like the Packers lack that at times, and I don't know if that's is the case of because they keep drafting and they keep letting some of these older guys go and they just keep getting younger and younger and younger, and they're not getting any of that veteran presence in there, or if it's just the fact that they don't go out and look for it. I don't know what it is, but Amor, I mean, I just feel like they lack it. What do you think?
SPEAKER_03:I think that we need to stop being the youngest team in the NFL. I think that that's a great thing, it's awesome, it's nice, but I don't think LaFleur is the kind of guy who I feel like he's been working with that, and we clearly see it's not really working. We need him to get some guys in there that can also bring the intensity within the locker room, right? Like we need leaders that are gonna hold people accountable. Like, if you Parsons said that Parsons, hey, you scored 27 points, you should be able to win that game, and people need to be held accountable for those for those actions, right? And the fact that that wasn't the case. So I'm I'm I'm at a point now where yeah, we're a draft and developed team, and I know we're gonna be very scarce on money, so we're gonna have to probably make some bad decisions, you know, some hard decisions with some players. But at the end of the day, like we need more veteran presence, we need more guys that can command a room that can take over, and actually, when you have these situations where you're coming into second half, you don't have that fear of the team coming back. You know, you're gonna, as as Bullard said it, he goes, You're gonna keep your neck on their foot and you're gonna finish it off, right? We need more people who can do that. And I think that because the fact that we don't have a first-round pick this year, we're gonna have to draft well and we're gonna have to bring in not cheap veteran presence, but presence of veteran presence on both offense and defense, hoping that you know, because Tucker Kraft, Parsons, Wyatt, Jordan, Jacobs. I think all those guys have that leadership presence, right? But again, like when you see someone push down your quarterback's head, when you see someone take a cheap shot at them, you see other players doing dirty things, and there's no one really fighting for them, like the TJ Langs and the Josh Sons of the world, we needed something like that again.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, you need fire, you need that kind of you need that kind of juice in the auto.
SPEAKER_03:I'm sorry, like I'm okay with my team getting a 15-yard penalty if it's because they're defending one of their players. Yeah, because right now there's no there's no fight, there's no intensity. The they keep saying the word soft. It's not that, it's like they're playing, it's like they're playing scared. Like, you know, I saw when like LaFleur got pissed off in Igabare for getting on the field and caused him to have too many men on the field, and he's like, you know, yelling at and screaming at him for making a mistake, and that's another thing. Also, LaFleur is too tightly wound. Like Aaron Nagel was talking about that. He needs to get loose again. We just need to have, I think, just more voices that are been in these positions before come into a locker room and be able to help provide a culture that doesn't fear these situations but finds a ways to overcome them.
SPEAKER_01:You need Matt LaFleur to get in the guys' faces. When he watches Rashawn Gary jog on the field and then jog off the field, he needs to get on Rashawn Gary and say, Hey, that's an like if I see you jogging again after a quarterback and not giving your all, I'm going to bench you. Like, that's it. I'm done. Like, be that guy, be be the coach of this team. You know, all these players come out of it, and that's why I don't think Matt LaFleur is gonna be fired. I'm gonna be honest with you right now. I don't think he's be fired. He has to make major changes, and if he won't, then Goody and Policy do. But Matt LaFleur, I don't feel he's gonna be fired because you look at all these players and they all love him. Yeah, but the problem with being a player's coach is sometimes they don't respect the player's coach. Yeah, that's that's sometimes the problem. And you have the love of the locker room. I I like that, but you also need to have the tough love, right? Dan Campbell, and as much as sometimes we we don't like Dan Campbell, Dan Campbell gives tough love. Like he you you could ask any of his guys, they love him, they love Dan Campbell, but they also play really hard every single down, all those guys. Now, sometimes maybe it's a dirty play here or there. Like, I'm not gonna you know condone everything that some of those guys in the Lions do. We're not gonna like start naming names, but we don't need to get into the lions. But when I watch that team, there's always a fire, there's always a drive, there's always Jared Goff trying to take the extra, or Gibbs trying to do the extra, or Aiden Hutchinson or Brian Branch, whatever it is. Those guys are always giving it all. And when I watch this team, I see guys dogging it. If guys dogged it in front of a Mike Tomlin or one of those guys, Mike Tomlin would be up in him. He was up in him against that game against the Texans. He was right up in his offensive line's face, he was right up in their faces. I mean, that's the kind of fire.
SPEAKER_03:That's what Whitney LaFour do the offensive line on that second half.
SPEAKER_01:You need to walk in. Like, maybe you're not the biggest guy in the world, Matt LaFleur. Like, maybe you're not the biggest guy, but you need to act like you're the biggest guy.
SPEAKER_03:I mean, prime examples in the in his second press conference, right after the review of the tape, that was the first time he's ever called out a part of his team. He goes, 'The offensive line just didn't block right. They didn't block well.' He was right. And I was surprised that he said that, you know, but that's what I'm saying. If Jeff Hafley leaves, I want them to bring in Raheem Morris. I think Raheem Morris he coached a Super Bowl defense when he was in the Rams, and he has been everywhere, and he has always had good defenses. And it's not just that, like he provides an intensity with him too. And he has the hardware to back it up. Like he has the hardware, he's a player, he's a former player, he's been a he's been an assistant, uh Super Bowl champ. And again, like he had that Atlanta defense humming at the end of that year, right? And I'm sorry, like if we lose halfway, there's a lot of guys, and also him and Raheem go way back to him and LaFeau go way back too, right? So I would think that'd be a great hire there. I just I'm with you, man. I just need to see, like, as much as Ben Johnson drove me crazy with what he said. Again, I can if my coach was doing that, I wouldn't be mad.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, it fires you up, like he makes a lot of run throws you going.
SPEAKER_03:Yes, he gets you going. Like, yeah, am I gonna hate watch them this weekend and I'm gonna watch them hope that the Rams put 70 points on them? I hope so. But end of the day, and like you know, they kind of forget Sean McVay, Michael. I mean, Michael Four, which is Matt LaFleur's brother, is the OC over there. Sean McVay is literally best friends of Matt. Uh, I don't think that they're gonna take it too kindly for all the crap this guy's saying about their best friend. So hopefully they take it to him. And also Devontae Adams is there too, right?
SPEAKER_01:So it's at the end of the day getting the best out of your guys. And I feel like Ben Johnson gets the best out of his players. I don't know if Matt LaFleur is getting the best out of his guys because we were just talking, you know, we're talking a little bit about Jordan Love, right? We're talking about some of the hesitation and stuff like that. It just feels like he's not getting the best out of some of these players at times. And you look, you can look across it. And you know, the one comment was Quay Walker coming out that game, and he's like, We've seen this for years now. This has been a constant theme of this team. And it's like, okay, yes, Quay, but you were supposed to be a part of the change. You were a first-round draft pick, you were supposed to be the change, and you haven't been. And we're watching across the board at these draft picks, and I a lot of them look good. Like, Javian Buller looks good right now. It's just a lot of talk from Javian Buller. Like, I love his talk. I love his talk. Like, I love it. He backs it up. I love aggressive, he backs it up. But like, I need these guys, I need these guys now to go out there and perform. Quay Walker, you're talking now. I want to see you perform. Javian Bullard, he's been talking, but yes, he goes out there every single week and he performs. Now, it's all talk until it all works out. It's all talk until it works onto the field. Javian Bullard, it's a lot of talk, but it's a lot of action. Evan Williams, same difference. McKinney, same difference. I mean, the play that still drives me absolutely nuts. And I can't believe Keyshaw Nixon thought that he played a really good season this year. But that play in the end zone, when I saw McKinney go out, he went all out trying to stop the running back from getting in. And then I saw Nixon make a business decision and jump out of the room.
SPEAKER_03:You could just try to punch at the ball.
SPEAKER_01:Anything. Just I've seen I watched Nixon jump onto a pile when the play was done and get a 15-yard penalty.
SPEAKER_03:But then you don't do that.
SPEAKER_01:You can't do that. You can't at least just try to trip him. Anything, do something. McKinney at least dove at the legs. McKinney, McKinney versus Keyshawn Nixon, Nixon's a little bit bigger. McKinney, I mean, he's a good tackler, but Nixon a little bit bigger. It seems like he's a harder hitter. Where was he on the goal line? Where was he on the when you needed him the most? Where was he with that? Oh, I got that tough attitude to me. Where was Keyshawn Nixon?
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, where was the tough attitude right there? That's my problem.
SPEAKER_01:It's like these guys, you just it just doesn't seem like you get the back.
SPEAKER_03:Cam new in a Super Bowl thing all over again. I'm just like, really? That's all they don't talk all that talk, and then that's what you do, dog. Like it just look makes you look like why it just makes you look fake as hell. Sorry, fake. It makes you look fake. I just I just I can't stand it. It's like I don't I don't need the fake tough guy's tough. Oh, Rich Passage says, Oh, yeah, he has some mud on the back of his neck. That's great. I didn't see it there. Like he over here doing dirty hits, he's over here doing all those other kinds of things. But when it came down to it, like, what was that, dude? Like, you had a great opportunity to punch the ball out. Look what they did to Christian Watson when he was midair, they did everything to try to take him out. They didn't waste nothing wasted. That's what I'm saying. Like, we need we need a complete revamp our whole side. Like both our corners need to be gone. I keep digs, I see what he can do. You know, but uh our investments in offense line, defense line, and cornerback. That's it. I and then maybe linebacker, and that's it. I'm I'm good.
SPEAKER_01:100%. There's like we said, there's definite it. We expect Matt LaFleur to come back, we expect them to work out some kind of contract, and he's gonna be back. But if he's gonna be back, he needs to make the tough changes. He needs to make changes not only in his coaching style, but also in his coaching staff. He needs to stop being buddy buddy with guys, and he needs to be the head coach of this football team. So, Umber, I gotta run here. Let the people know where to find you out there across social media.
SPEAKER_03:I just come find me on Twitter at AMER3455. I've been getting blown up by Bears fans. So if you guys want to come support me and help me fight these Bears fans and all their commentary, I'm all for it.
SPEAKER_01:Make sure you guys check him out there. He's always covering the Packers. He's he's talking about Packers all the time. He's also getting after them Bears fans. I I never engage because I'm just not an engager unless if I see a video that absolutely like drives me nuts. And then I'm like, okay, I'll engage in that one. That's where I'm at on that. So when we come back from the break here, we're gonna get to some better things. We're gonna talk badgers, men's basketball when we come back here to straight. Three straight wins now. UCLA, Michigan, and Minnesota yesterday there. So we got to talk about it all. Christian's gonna stop by. We're gonna talk about that when we come back here from the break. Wisconsin Sports and Go Trades. We'll be ready for the first time. I shoot this show. My dogs are always with me. They're always here sitting at my feet. They just listen to me talk for two hours, and that's just how it goes. They've been there since I started a podcast, and now we're on the radio. They've been there through every single time, though, between commercial, they have to get up, they have to shake for 15 minutes. It's like, lay back down. Like I can't have this jingling going on when I come back on. But either way, anyways, anyways, this is Wisconsin Sports on the Go with Trage. I'm your host, Trade. We're coming back in here on this Wednesday. Christian's stopping by. We're gonna talk a little badger oops here, talk a little transfer portal too for badger football. But before we get to that, I have to get to the sponsor of this next segment, a new sponsor to this next segment, and that is the state farm agent Jeff Holthouse. For home farm, auto, renters, and life insurance. Contact Jeff Holthouse in Nielsville, Toma, and now Marshville, located in the former Kids Corner building at the 505 North Central Ave. That's the address there. Make sure you check him out. He does fantastic work. So check him out there. Jeff Holthouse there with State Farm. So Christian is here tonight. Christian, how are we doing? I hopefully better than my ad read there. As first time I read it, I was all over the place trying to figure it out. But, anyways, Christian, how are you doing on this Wednesday?
SPEAKER_00:Good, man. The badgers are back, right?
SPEAKER_01:Oh man, they're giving us something to be excited about.
SPEAKER_00:Exactly. We don't have to worry about the Packers. Like, we can just erase it from our memories. We got Wisconsin basketball to save us now, right?
SPEAKER_01:We were talking about it. You and me, we were talking about it after Badgers won. We're like, there's no, this is not good. But there's we can't have too many nice things in one day. We can't have too many.
SPEAKER_00:Badgers won. We got a big time recruit from Wisconsin commit at the All-American Bowl. Like things are going too well. Like, you know, this is just not, it's a bad omen for the Packers.
SPEAKER_01:It was setting up for a bad day. It was setting up for a bad day. I mean, we went into that game, Christian. We were talking about on Saturday, and we said, I mean, there's things they can do in this game. But we weren't very optimistic because we saw what we've seen so far this year, and we've seen what Michigan has been able to do. And we said, wow, this is a this is a tough matchup. This is a really tough matchup for Wisconsin. I mean, matchup wise, personnel-wise, everything in between. It just seemed like it was a really tough matchup. And this Badger team stepped up. And the crazy part is it was in Ann Arbor. And I said it, Christian, I said it going in. I said they have to survive the initial punch. The initial punch. And they did. They went down 14 and they went to that huddle. And I am starting to love Nick Boyd. I know I've yelled about him in the past for turnovers and getting crazy with the basketball sometimes. I am starting to love the leadership side of Nick Boyd. Because when you listen, I always look for after big upsets. I always look on YouTube for the cinematic uh video to watch it because they always have Matt LePay with the video then in the background. Like it just feels better watching goosebumps listening to Matt LePay call a game, right? But listening to Nick Boyd when they went to the huddle, he's like, We're fine, we're fine, we're fine. And just listen, like that calm, calm voice where he's getting into his guys, but he's also that calm leader in that huddle. Love that. And they showed it out in the court. He showed it out in the court. John Blackwell finally shows up. Braden Carrington. He's back, man. Played out of his mind. Braden Carrington. I'm telling you this right now, Christian. And we're gonna talk about more in this game. I don't, I'm gonna be honest with you at this point here. Braden Carrington could start. Like I in my mind, he could start. Over Andrew. I love Andrew Roadie, but I could start Braden Carrington in that spot. I just I love what he's been bringing off the bench, so I don't know if I want to completely get that out of the way. That's the thing. It's like that he's playing.
SPEAKER_00:That's like Kamari McGee last year. You could have started him over Max Klesma. You know, it's like, why don't tinker too much, right? Like that's my wife accuses me of I I tinker too much with my fantasy football lineup before, and I always end up making the wrong decision. Don't tinker, stick with what's working. Roadie, dude, Roadie is a starter. Like he's he needs to be on the floor. Yes, he he's his stats don't pop off the page over, but like we need guys, we need that third guy, fourth guy. Even if they're off the bench, that's awesome. Because with that second unit, we have that guy that we can rely on. If we have him out, like think about that second group. You have like maybe Blackwell or Boyd, but then after that, you have like God forbid you have Garlock in there, you have um Janicki in there, and then all of a sudden you just have Andrew Rhody. So like literally the only guy who can score probably on that in that lineup is either Boyd or Blackwell. So I think if you if you keep, I mean, if you can keep Carrington coming off the bench or whatever, I think that just gives you a second option score that can either like take some pressure off of Boiter or Boyder, Blackwell, whoever's in, or you know, then, or he's the guy. So I think I I I thought about that too tonight. I'm like while they were playing the Gophers when he was going off and hitting three after three. I'm like, this dude could start right now, but I mean, why mess with a good thing? He's good coming off the bench.
SPEAKER_01:You know that about me. I know. I I love to mess with lineups. I mean, I loved what I've been saying. Everything. Oh, I you got to. You have to sometimes. You have to think about what we could do to change the right. And I mean, Carrington's been getting a lot of minutes as of late, too, and well deserved effort that he got.
SPEAKER_00:After he was like almost non-existent for like, I don't even know what that was, to be honest. I know he I know he was fighting like an injury, but also felt like I don't know. I saw some it was Nick Ossen or someone tweeted afterwards that um something about like he kept going even after like he took like an like you know, he lost, had a cut in his minutes, and then also like you know, had some subtle jabs from his head coach or something about his effort or defense. I don't know, something like that. I'm like, okay, so he was definitely in the doghouse, right? But I think I mean he he showed out against Minnesota too. Like obviously hit all those threes, but I think I watched like two different blocks he had where he's just been in there going and getting it, getting rebounds. Like that's the kind of guy we need to have on this team.
SPEAKER_01:You know, honestly, we've just talked ourselves into not starting him, but basically getting a majority of the minutes off the bench. Like that's that's kind of where we're gonna be. Yes, like who cares about, right? Right. He's not starting, but he's gonna be the sixth. He needs to be the sixth man, though. I don't know why you know Janicki seems like he's the first guy off the bench and stuff. It's Brain Carrington needs to be your first guy off the bench for one of your guards, whoever you're gonna bring out, whether it's Boy, Roadie, whoever, that's gotta be your rotation piece first because what he brings, like you said, not just on the offensive end, but on the defensive end right now, in this game against Michigan, you're talking nine rebounds. He had two offensive rebounds. He had that big in transition, he had the big block in transition. He's all over the place right now, and he's playing hustle. He's hustling after there was a ball that almost, I think it went out of bounds there. He hustled after it, jumped into the crowd, threw it back in. I think Michigan fans thought it, you know, he went out of bounds, he didn't. Either way, there was a whole lot of mess in that game there. From, you know, I listening to Michigan fans across social media, they're you know, up in arms. That's the goaltending call. That was it was it was clearly still above the cylinder. So that's I mean, I don't know how blatantly obvious the rules are, but that's what the rules state is if it's still above the cylinder, you can't just go up and but either way, either way, this was a great performance from the Wisconsin Backs. This was a great performance all the way. This might be, and I I saw a lot of people talking about that 10-minute stretch they had where they were just knocking down shot after shot after shot, and Michigan was coming back at them. I'm gonna be honest with you, like this game might have been one of the best college basketball games I've watched in a while. Just the back and forth play, the effort from both teams. Once Michigan, I thought right away Michigan was kind of thinking to themselves, oh yeah, we're gonna cruise. Like that right away, they're like, Oh yeah, we're cruising, they're smiling, they're all up into it. And then the Badgers made their push. And I you saw the reaction from Michigan and Dusty May, and it was like, oh boy, game on. Like, here we go. Like this, they're pushing us now, they're pushing us. And by that point, it was Bielowski, uh, the bigs for Wisconsin. Bielowski and winter in this game. Bielowskus. I this is the offensive performance that you wanted to see from that guy.
SPEAKER_00:I mean, honestly, like he was that's I think that's that's what that's what you want. That's what you hoped rap would be.
SPEAKER_01:Yes. What is going on with Austin Rapp? I thought he was gonna play against the Golfers. Did he play at all against Minnesota?
SPEAKER_00:No, he didn't play it all, but I know he had a sleeve on his right knee when I looked when he was running around the court chasing Blackwell after the uh after he made the three. So I mean, I don't know. Maybe I don't know.
SPEAKER_01:The side to side movement's still gonna get him, not straight ahead.
SPEAKER_00:That that or I don't know, maybe, maybe, like, maybe kind of like Harrington, you know, because he was hurt, quote unquote hurt, you know, for a game or two, you know. Maybe he's that's his hurt, but he's also he's just in guards doghouse right now because defense is just atrocious, and he's not doing enough offensively to keep him in the game or worthwhile, right?
SPEAKER_01:That's definitely understandable. I could I could definitely get behind that because I've compared him to Connor Asesian on the defensive end there. I I really like he's just yeah, there's a reason.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I mean, I know we like to we like to, you know, generalize and poke fun at the Wisconsin offense all of a sudden it's like, oh, we're all about scoring points now, we don't care about defense. But like you'll never get that out of guard. He's always still he has too much Bo Ryan, you know, principles in him still. He's defense still matters. You cannot turn the ball over. You turn the ball over once, you get a glare, you turn it over again, you're coming out of the game, right? So I mean, I don't I don't know how many times I saw Will Garlock go into a game and he was out 30 seconds later because he turned the ball over immediately.
SPEAKER_01:You like that. I mean, you like that. He's gonna develop. It's just they're kind of throwing him into a role.
SPEAKER_00:You can just tell he's he's in there too early. Like, yeah, but it's by like he has to be. But you can tell like he's in there and it's he's he's just not comfortable. And he like even when he dribbled, it's like me when I finally got varsity minutes in your year. All of a sudden I start dribbling and I start panicking a little bit because I'm like, holy crap, I'm finally in the game, and then all of a sudden you dribbled off your foot, or someone just you're just don't you're not crisp, you're not confident, someone takes it away from you, right?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, no, I you know what a guy I thought had a lot of confidence in this game. I thought King's there, I know he only played two minutes, but some of the pressure that they put on him, I thought he put it like he handled it really well in this game. So I I really liked what I saw at King's there. It was really a short, short little amount of time that he was in.
SPEAKER_00:Did he even get in against the did he even get in against Minnesota?
SPEAKER_01:I don't I don't recall against Minnesota.
SPEAKER_00:I'm what I just I'm thinking, and I'm like, I don't even remember seeing him. But Hayden Jones didn't play against Minnesota. I absolutely agree with you. True, but I agree with you. Like, I absolutely like what I saw to Kinsinger against Michigan, too. It's like you're playing the number two team on the road, and he's not having any like conference. He's you know, he's open, he shoots. That's his job. That's what he's brought here to do, right? Yeah, he didn't even play tonight. Garlock, Janicki, and Carrington were the only ones that came off the bench against Minnesota. I don't know. I don't know what happened there.
SPEAKER_01:It still says we're recording. I don't know what's going on. Still recording.
SPEAKER_00:Let's keep talking.
SPEAKER_01:It's still recording. We had some technical difficulties, but it's still recording there. So, anyways, anyways, we're talking about we've gotten into it all here. We talked about the Michigan game there, and King Easer thought he played some good, valuable minutes there. It was a short little stretch of time, and we're talking about him like he played 15 minutes. But I thought in those two minutes he showed the boys, he showed like he was still, you know, he's still developing, as we know. But I thought he didn't, he didn't uh he didn't shy away from the pressure, he didn't shy away from a big game. So that's something that you love to see. I thought they did a really good job on Amara in this game. Amara only with nine points in this ball game there. They did a really good drive, uh, really good job on the drivers in this game, shutting down the lane. Badgers did a I I thought defensively, like you were talking earlier, I thought they did a good job. I know you you look at 88 points, you're like, wow, that's not really that good. Honestly, end of the day against a Michigan team that's putting up 100. Everybody like 88's not a bad day at the office. Points in the paint. They were, I think Michigan winning the game. If I saw the stat right, they were leading, they had like 20 plus points in the game, uh, in the paint in every game this season so far. And the Badgers only 12. I mean, yes, it seems like it's still a bigger number, but definitely an improvement from what other defenses have done against this team here. So definitely something to look at there. And then fast break points. Michigan only had seven fast break points in this game. This is a team in Michigan that loves to run. So seven fast break points compared to the badgers four in this game. You could huge stat line.
SPEAKER_00:You could you could tell though, like they made a concerted effort to get back on defense. Like it ball, a shot went up, they really weren't crashing the the offensive boards all that hard. They were getting back because, like you said, Michigan thrives on that. That's that's like a huge part of their game, is just getting easy points and transitions. So I think that was a huge, I mean, obviously, a big reason why they were able to hang with them or like limit some damage when they were down big, you know.
SPEAKER_01:100%. 100% agree with you there. I mean, this this was a game where it was a game of runs, it was a game of can you take punches and battle back? And I think it showed a lot of a lot of resiliency and a lot of toughness that we've been looking for. Now, there still is a mental focus portion that I'm still kind of concerned about with this team, and it goes with free throws. We saw it in this game late. Some misses there at the free throw lines, ability to kind of distance themselves, make this put this game away, and they just weren't able to hit the front end of some of those one and ones, and then they're missing, you know, just a couple misses here and there, and it just that left the door open. And against good teams like Michigan, I know you ended up winning, so I don't want to like completely say, wow, like that was, but against good teams like Michigan, or even a team like Michigan State or Purdue, if you got to face Purdue again, those kind of, you know, I think they play Purdue to end the year. When you face things like that, you have to find ways to put them away. And at the free throw line is definitely where you have to do it. So when we come back from the break, we're gonna hit hour number two. We're gonna come back. We're gonna talk about that Minnesota game, and then we also want to hit the transfer portal a little bit. We're just gonna dive into that, talk about the newcomers there for Wisconsin football. So we'll be right back here on Wisconsin Sports on the Go with Tranch.