Wisconsin Sports on the go with Trag

Jan 31 Hour 1: Brewers, Badgers, Packers

• Tragen • Episode 366

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Studio Reset And Episode Setup

SPEAKER_00

This is Wisconsin Sports on the Go with Trade. Your place for all things Wisconsin Sports. Now, your host, Trage.

Badgers’ Ugly First Half Vs Minnesota

Brewers Sign Reese McGuire And Quero’s Path

SPEAKER_02

How are we doing, everybody? And welcome in to Wisconsin Sports on the Go with Trade. I'm your host, Trage, as we're coming in here on this Saturday. I hope you guys are enjoying your Saturday so far here. I hope you guys have enjoyed your week since we talked last this last Wednesday here. Not a whole lot has happened. Not a whole lot has happened Wisconsin sports wise. We saw the Badgers take on Minnesota. We got some Packer talk to get to. We got a lot of stuff to get to today. But we are back in the regular studio today. Happy to announce that. If you guys are listening on Wednesday, I said we were redoing the studio downstairs. Had to get some new paint on the wall. We were trying to freshen it up down here. The old paneling. I have old paneling in the basement. And I want to get a fresh, you know, give it a fresh little look, as they say, for the TikTok, right? For the TikTok. I had to get a fresh look down here. So I tried to do, I took some of that paintable caulk and I put it in the grooves. And then I tried to put mud over top of that to, they say it's supposed to make it look like drywall. I it kind of worked. Kind of didn't. It kind of worked, kind of didn't. So I mean, it looks good though. Yeah, no you guys can't see it. You guys are listening on the radio. You're like, what's he talking about? I can't see anything. It looks good. I hopefully I get some TikToks uploaded. You guys can check out the studio here and see that it looks pretty. It ended up pretty good. So there we go. There we go. Back in the studio here. My wife did a fantastic job over this last week getting me set up upstairs in a temporary studio. But I am glad to be back down in the cellar again, down here shooting the show. So we have, like I said, we have a lot to get into. Not a whole lot has happened, but we have a lot to get into. So make that make sense. We got to talk about the Badgers. Badgers got the win against Minnesota. And that game, the first half, I tell you what, I played Candy Crush through the first half. The whole first half. The whole first half. I text Christian during that first half. I'll say, this is ugly. This this might be the worst first half of basketball I've ever watched. This was that was bad. That was just bad. And both teams, they both struggled in that one. Minnesota was banged up going into it. The Badgers got banged up. Bialowskis went out. But still, after coming off a loss to USC, I really thought we were going to see something a little more spark in the first half against Minnesota. And man, that was uh that was not what I was expecting. So we're gonna talk about that. We're gonna get into the Minnesota game, talk about what we saw, and then we're looking we're going to look ahead to Ohio State. They have Ohio State coming up today. We're gonna get into that. We got some Packer talk to get to today. Um's gonna stop by. We're gonna talk about that Russ Ball, Goody, and LaFleur. The Packers finally announced the extensions of all three of those guys. The Packers did, not the reporters out there. The Packers finally are released or finally announced the extensions. So we're gonna talk about that today. And then we're gonna talk about the combo of those three, our thoughts on it, because a lot of fans are still upset about it. So we're gonna get into that here today on the show. And then I want to start with the Brewers. We haven't talked, we've talked about Brewers here the last couple weeks, talking about, you know, the Freddie Peralta trade, the prospects they got back for that, the prospects that are gonna be invited to uh spring training. We've got into all that in the uh past couple weeks here, but today I wanted to talk about a move that the Brewers made since we talked last um this last week, and that is the Brewers signed and agreed to a contract with veteran catcher Reese Maguire. Signed him to a minor league contract and also invited him to the major league camp. Reese Maguire last season with the Cubs there. He's played in parts of eight major league seasons with four teams. So there you go. He's kind of a you wouldn't say a journeyman quite yet, but he's he's getting there. He's getting there with the teams that he's played for. Not a when you look at his stats, you look at the hitting, not great. 226 last season and 140 at bats, 248 over his career. He's been a backup catcher. That's Brees McGuire. He's a backup catcher. Never really has been a threat in the batter's box, but if you look at his defensive, if you look at the defensive side of it, a little bit better. You feel a little bit better. He's above average grades in framing, ability to block balls in the dirt, and his throwing. Last season, or well, last season he nabbed eight of 31 guys on the bases, about 26%. And then if you look a year before, or well, if you look career-wise, he's about 27. So all in all, pretty good, pretty good defensively, offensively, a little bit to be desired. Backup catcher, that's what you think right away. The conversation that's going on now, though, is well, okay, now you have Reese McGuire. What happens with your highly talked-about prospect, Jefferson Quarrell? And it seems like every single year Murphy, no matter who's at spring training, we we he's had, I mean, you talk about years where he's seen Jesus Made, he's seen Armade, sorry, sorry, Mate, Jackson, uh, Jackson Churial, Jacob Mizarowski. He's called Jefferson Quarrell the crown jewel of the organization's farm system. That's that's what he says about uh about Quarrel there. Which points you in a direction of okay, Pat Murphy loves this guy, he's not really a big rookie guy. He likes, he likes kind of the veteran, he likes having that kind of thing, the scrappy players. You know, he's not really the highly touted prospect guy. So when you hear him say stuff like that about Quarrel, it's like, okay, Quarrel is he's highly regarded already. And now you have the manager saying, wow, he's pretty darn good. You look at what some of the rankings have, and I believe the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel ranked him as the number four prospect heading into the 2026 season. Most people haven't lost out hope on him. I know he's been banged up the past couple seasons, but most people out there have not given up really any hope on this guy. He is one of the best defensive catching prospects in baseball. He was in 2024, he was regarded as one of the best. He threw out, he had, I believe he had five base stealers that he threw out there in spring training that year, where they we first kind of put himself on the map. He threw out like five guys. I remember watching some of the clips, and he has got a cannon of an arm. He's on the 40-man roster, but like I said, he's been banged up the past couple seasons. So they haven't seen him get that regular playing time at the triple A level. I don't believe. So a lot of people wondering, okay, what does this do? You bring in Reese McGuire. What does that mean for Quaro? I believe it's gonna mean what it was going to, anyways. They would have brought in somebody else. If it wasn't Reese Maguire, they're gonna bring in somebody else. I don't think they're going to bring Quarrow up and want him to serve as a backup catcher to Contreras because the Brewers have a DH problem where Yelich is your everyday DH, basically. You'll get a day off and then you'll see Contreras hop in there. Usually, though, it's going to be Yelich and the DH. So Contreras to stay in the lineup is your catcher. Quero would not get regular time. You want a catching, you want a prospect, a young guy, to continue to get regular at bats, continue being regular behind the dish. You want to see that. So I my opinion on it, I think they're gonna play it right. I think Quero's gonna start the year down at triple A. Maguire will be your backup catcher, unless if they bring in some veterans into the into camp to kind of make a competition with Maguire there for that backup catcher role, or if they bring in somebody else. If that happens, okay, maybe it changes it. But right now, I think Maguire is your backup catcher heading into 2026. You expect Contreras barring injury, right? Knock on wood, barring injury. He is going to be your everyday guy. He well, I shouldn't say he's going to be your everyday guy, but he's not really gonna be sharing time. There's gonna be no platoon role at the catcher spot. Contreras is gonna be out there every day. So Quero just doesn't fit into that logically. Now, at some point, do I want to see Quaro up at the big league level potentially this season? If he goes down to triple A and he starts tearing the cover off the ball, yes, I want to see him up there. Because I do believe that getting time at the triple A level is going to be a big thing for him. Getting regular at bats and being behind the dish every day is going to be big for him. But I also believe being up at the big league level, experiencing what the big league clubhouse looks like, and being up there with Contreras. I know he's gonna get some time with him down at spring training, but getting some time with him in a regular or on a regular basis in a regular season is going to also help out Quarrow to see how Contreras does it, you know, prepares for games, all those little things. Because the best way to learn is to watch other experienced guys do it. How did how do they do it? How can I maybe, you don't want to say copy, but you want to say, okay, I'll watch what he does, how he prepares for a game, how he calls these different, how he calls a game. You want to have all that experience. And I think Quaro could get that at the big league level, though I don't think you start him there because I want to see him have an extended time at triple A. He's really good. Like, really good. You look at the metrics, you look at everything off of fan graphs, everything like that. You you love what you see. But the injuries over the past two seasons have kind of hurt the chances of him to make a quick climb. And then at the same time, you want to see what he can do at the triple A level because last season didn't hit bad, but hit 255. So you want to see him go up there, go to triple A, produce, play well defensively, work with some of these pitchers down there. Maybe you'll have some guys coming through rehab and all that stuff, so he's gonna get some time with some of the big league guys, and then you see how that all goes. So that's kind of where I'm sitting right now with the whole catching situation in Milwaukee. I think it's going to be Reese McGuire as the backup for Contreras to start, and then we wait and see what they'll do with their highly ranked prospect in Quero as the season goes on, as injuries happen, all that kind of stuff. Maybe as he progresses through the triple A season, maybe he's playing well, everything's going well. We'll see what happens there. I don't know what something just fell back here, back here in the studio. So I got to figure out what's falling down. You know, I like I said, I just reset up the studio, so something probably fell already, and I gotta put another nail in the wall. I don't even know what's going on. But we're gonna hit a break. There we go. That's what we're gonna do. We're gonna hit a break. I'm gonna figure out what fell. And when we come back from the break, Almer's gonna stop by. We're gonna talk some Packers. We have Christian stopping by later on here in the show. We're gonna talk a little badgers versus Minnesota. We're gonna talk, we're gonna recap that. We're also going to look ahead to Ohio State coming up today here. So we will be right back here in the Wisconsin Sports on the Go with Trage. I'm your host, Trage, as we're coming back in here on this Saturday. And at the break, I figured out what fell. We're in this last segment. Elmer's here, by the way. Elmer's here. Elmer, we're in this last segment in the intro of the show. And all of a sudden, I'm going along talking about the brewers, and then all of a sudden, boom! And I'm like, what just fell? I know you we just redid the studio and everything. So I was like, oh, a picture fell off the wall or something. No, it was one of the shelves underneath the bar. I shoot the show at the bar down in the basement there. Yeah. And all of a sudden, just middle, it was like towards the end of the segment, I was like, Bam! And I was like, okay, now I gotta figure out what just fell. So at the break, I was figuring that out. It was one of the shelves underneath the bar that fell. So there we go. We have mysteries solved there. But Amr is here on this Saturday. Amr, how are we doing today?

SPEAKER_03

I'm good, man. I'm good, man. How are you, man? I'm just uh enjoying this weekend, trying to stay warm and happy about the some of the some of the things that finally came to light when it came to the Packers. Got those contracts signed for our our leadership and just looking to see where we go with filling up this defensive staff. But other than that, though, man, I'm good, man. Just you know, dead daycare all week and this weekend while the wife's working. So just doing my thing, man. How about you? How are you doing?

SPEAKER_02

We're doing good up here. The weather is finally straightening up a little bit. We're gonna get into the 20s next week. It's gonna be a heat wave. It's a heat wave up here. How's the snow? How is it all gone yet, or is it still?

SPEAKER_03

Oh no, it's still here. I mean, we we haven't broke out of uh the 20s, we haven't broken out of the 20s all week. And so and then now with this, I don't know what it's called, it's a cyclone bomb or something coming through on the east coast. So I'm expecting it all come back again. Then it's supposed to snow next week in the middle of the week. So we'll we'll see how it goes, man. It's it's crazy right now.

SPEAKER_02

You guys are getting more snow out there than we are, and I'm sad about it, mad about it, or what's going on at this point. We're just experiencing miserable cold, and right as hopefully pretty soon that just switches over to spring and baseball's here, and we can just leave this nasty weather in the past. That's all I'm here for at this point. That is all I'm here for. But we're here for this summer. We talked about it Wednesday. I was all up in the air, I was all up in the air. I was upset because the Packers hadn't released that they actually had signed an extension with Matt LaFoley. The Packers had. We saw all the reporters do it. The reporters said Matt LaFleur's agreed to an extension. This guy's agreed to an extension. You know, we've signed this guy. It's all the reporters. The Packers hadn't announced it. Well, finally, the news broke on Friday. Well, Friday mid-afternoon, I would say. It was sometime mid-afternoon there, that the Packers had agreed to extensions with Russ Ball, Brian Gudikins, and Matt LaFleur, and the Packers released it. I don't know why I was so I was I was really like waiting for I don't know why. Like I knew that Matt LaFleur was, he got his extension, but I don't know why I was so like, I need the Packers to release it, but I did. I wanted the Packers to be serious and tell me about it. So the Packers released it finally, released the statement that they are coming back here. So Amer, initial reaction when you saw the news, you saw that all three guys, this pairing of guys, the combo, is coming back. They're extended long-term together. What were your thoughts?

SPEAKER_03

I mean, I'm just happy that it's finally done over with. I know we've been, you know, constraining and complaining and trying to come up with all these conspiracy theories about why things haven't been announced, or they're gonna fire the floor, or they're gonna knock bringing back Goody, and now everybody's locked in. You know, I kind of want to know how many years it is. That gives you an idea about what it is, but from my understanding, it's supposed to be a long-term commitment. Ed Policy did speak on today. He did mention the fact that the season didn't end the way we wanted to, but they believe in the path forward that Matt and Brian and Russ have provided us and want to continue on that path and know that they are the right men to get us to the Super Bowl. I agree with that. I think they are. We just need to find ways to stop banging our head against the wall and try to kind of close up some of these weak spots that have continued to be weak spots year after year after year for the last 15 years. And you know, it starts with special teams, it starts with depth, it starts with our training. Um, not so much our training styles. I feel like they've made a good change there, but like sports medicine, things like that. Like just things that we can improve and get back and get maybe into 21st century about.

SPEAKER_02

Right. No, I I like keeping the combo together. If you're gonna do it, you might as well just keep it all on.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, or you clean house, yeah.

SPEAKER_02

Clean house, or you keep everything you don't do what the Buffalo Bills are doing, where they fire Sean McDermott, promote the OC, and then they keep the same GM and they think that's gonna fix the problem that they have with uh stale locker room. I don't understand how that all works, but the the Bills are wild. The Bills are wild, right? Joe Brady was the I believe he's the OC, wasn't he, out there?

SPEAKER_03

Yes, he was the OC for the Bills, and now he's the head coach.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, so I don't understand how the Bills are operating, but if the Packers would have done something similar, I would have also been confused if you were can if you were concerned about the locker room and the direction of it and the voice in there. I don't really understand just flipping a guy forward the same staff.

SPEAKER_03

It doesn't really make it you're basically saying that it was the head coach's fault uh for the team not getting past the hump. And I'm just like and the but you don't fire the GM who helps create the team that the head coach has, right?

SPEAKER_02

But there was also creating a problem in there, too, where they're they have an active guy on the roster where they're complaining about drafting they drafted him absolutely still a part of the team. So I don't know how that all works, but the Bills are a mess. The Bills are a complete mess. But that's okay. We'll let the Bills be a mess. The Packers, according to team sources, too, LaFleur, Goody, and Ball will all continue to report directly to Ed Policy. That started back in 2018, I believe, then, when Mark Murphy switched it to more of an organizational structure instead. Before they had reported straight to before that, they had reported to the general manager, and the general manager could fire and hire coaches, and that's how it all worked. Now they all go directly to policy. What do you think about that? Do you do you like the structure? Do you like it that way, or do you like it before 2018 when it was a you go straight to the GM, where the GM has more of the control?

SPEAKER_03

I'll put it this way. I feel like you didn't really notice a difference. I know Mark Murphy was one that was kind of loose with his tongue when it came to so much commentary. He would say things like you had his emotions on sleeve, he would say the quiet part out loud. Um, but truth be told, like, you know, the the hierarchy and the chain of command was a certain way with Bob Harlan for decades, and it worked fine, right? And then, like, yeah, it helped us get two Super Bowls, but in that in between those times, there was times we didn't make Super Bowl, and then afterwards we changed it. And yeah, we haven't gotten back to the Super Bowl yet, but I feel like I'm okay with it. I'm okay with I don't think there's anything wrong with it. I think that if it's not broken, don't fix it, right? And um, I don't, I again, I don't think Ed Policy is gonna have any very much input on football operations. He's gonna leave all that to Goody, right? He leaves the operations, the general manager, the personnel, the roster, all with him. He leaves the contracts with Russ, and then he leaves the head coach into the floor, and he just wants to keep it a known. It all goes back to what happened with Ted Thompson when his unfortunate autoimmune disease kind of took the best of him. And, you know, there were probably decisions that are being made in his name that maybe he wasn't making. Like people could always go back to the uh 2015 draft, where a lot of people have may or may not have said that Russ Ball really conducted that draft in the name of Ted Thompson, hence why like none of those people really panned out if we're being honest, right? Train out of the first round pick, not taking TJ Watt because of injury concerns, and then getting Kevin King, who also had injury concerns coming out of uh Washington. So um, not to fire over spill milk by any means, but I just think that I'm okay with it. I think that um if it's been working, it's fine. And also listening to the way Ed Policy talks and the way I feel he goes about his business, I just feel like his whole focus is making sure that the organization is running and going in the right direction in a positive direction.

Basement Shelf Crash And Packers Extensions

SPEAKER_02

Right. I and I completely agree with you. You didn't notice the change, you didn't notice it really at all. And policy from everything that we've noticed is he wants to be the business side of it. He wants Goody to be the football side of it. If they have to come together a little bit, they have to come together. But at the end of the day, that's Goody. This is policy, that's how it is. So we got to remember that with moves, too, where it's like everybody's like, oh, policy, this, but no, I don't think policy's got his hands really deep into all of them. It's Goody. It's gonna be those guys on that. But getting all those guys back, I love what Russ Ball's been able to do. And along with Goody, Goody is the question mark, right? Because we talked about this combo, and a lot of people are still up in arms about the combo of LaFleur and Goody. And a lot of it with Goody goes back to the draft classes, right? Specifically the first round draft classes because those have been the ones where he struggled with. So this season, well, luckily he doesn't have that opportunity, so he can't really screw it up this year, and people can be maybe a little bit happier. So we we talked about it the other day. We said Goody just has to realize that he's drafting in the first round and not the fourth round, because that's what it seems like in the drafts is he's drafting in the fourth round all the time and then works his way backwards into every draft. So, like I said, a lot of fans still kind of nervous about the combo of LaFleur and Goody. They feel like this combo is going to keep the Packers stagnant. They're just gonna stay stagnant. I don't feel that way.

SPEAKER_04

Right.

SPEAKER_02

I don't because I look at this last season and I say Goody went all in. He went all in. He went and got Micah Parsons. He traded away some top picks, he traded away Kenny Clark, he got Micah Parsons back. And that was his, I'm going all in with this team move. Now, were there other moves that potentially he should have made? Probably, right? You look at the cornerback room, you look elsewhere. There's probably some moves that should have been made. Money was probably an object of that, but you look at it, you say, okay, maybe some moves should have been made, maybe maybe some moves should have been made elsewhere. Sorry, words that get to me sometimes. But I look at what Goody did, and I don't hate it. It's just last season you had a lot of injuries and a lot of key spots, and that's what led to this team down the stretch, struggling, losing Tucker Kraft, Zach Tom was a big loss. Elton Jenkins not really producing at all. He got injured, but the center position to start the year was a mess. And then you look around, it just it never came together. Keeping them these two together, I think, is a good thing. What do you think, Umer? Keeping the combo, are you as worried? Some fans are really worried about this that the Packers are gonna stay stagnant. What are your thoughts on it?

SPEAKER_03

I'm fine with the combo. I think that at the end of the day, like you just have to trust in what they're trying to do. Uh, I do agree that you know Guten Kunst has missed more than a hit on first rounds. And like you said, he always finds a way to get the most value out of later picks. Um, but you kind of hope that because John Snyder went through this for a while too, and then he finally started really hitting. Um, I'm hoping that now in the last couple drafts, I feel like Goody has been hitting. Kind of hope that Jordan Morgan does pan out at the left tackle spot. Um, but yeah, again, I'm okay with the combo. I just need, you know, when it comes to some of the decisions from a coaching perspective, I need those to get better locked in. I think, you know, I think Guten can do a better job of maybe providing some better talent and not trying to be the smartest guy in the room and just trying to find the guy that gets the best, you know, fills the best need or as or you know, the best available. Because sometimes I feel like he makes the I'm smarter than you kind of pick, and those don't always pan out as the way as they should, right? And um again, I said I said in the last show, we need to stop trying to rotate players in positions where you need continuity, i.e., the offensive line. Like I'm I'm over and done, and if that's what's Stenno is doing, then Steno can go because I don't need us to be rotating the right guard or the left or left guard or the tackles or the center. No, you get your best five, you play your best five every single game, 100% of the snaps, unless they're hurt. I don't care about this gameplay, I don't care about the game time, I don't care about experience. The reason why the Bakatari, Lang, Lindsley, Sittin, and Balaga, why those offense lines were so good is because they literally never missed any snaps together. And because of that, they were able to kind of work together as a whole unit to be able to protect Aaron Rodgers as best they did, which they did a great job of. We don't see that in Green Bay right now. I mean, we've been rotating players at right guard and left guard and right tackle literally all for the last three years, and it's just getting to a point like one's enough stuff. Like the regular season is not time for preseason. So I need that to end. And yeah, if I see that if I keep seeing that, I'm just gonna be like, what's the point then? You know?

SPEAKER_02

Yep. You need continuity on the offensive line to make it work. And we saw this last season, it was a mess game after game. Jordan Morgan's constantly getting flipped around. You saw what he did in college. Yeah, runs the NFL and he tried to flip them around places. I like the thought that Goody has in drafts where he says, I want versatile guys, right? And I get that. You want to have guys where you maybe can move them in and out, you can flip them around the offensive line when he can. Like you need you need to have versatile pieces at times because you will have injuries and you got to be able to move guys. But when you have your guys, when they're healthy, why is there the constant revolving door? Why in a playoff game are you know rotating guys out? It doesn't make sense when you're in big moments, big games, that you're still rotating an offensive line. That drives me nuts. I agree with you. It drives me nuts to see out there you're not getting continuity between them. So I completely agree. Guny, LaFleur, the combo is back, but they got to be better. They have to be better. And we're a long way from the football season. That's what I just realized. We're in January right now, moving into February, and we're talking like it's tomorrow and they got to figure this out right now. But they do. I mean, the offseason's huge. The offseason's huge. It starts now. It starts with uh scouting right now. Goody putting together a good draft class. I know he's not gonna have that top, you know, top pick, but he's gonna be in the later rounds there. We know where Goody's good, and that's in the later rounds. So bolstering up the defense for Gannon, looking at offensive linemen, there's a lot of pieces that need there's a lot of holes that need to be filled on this team yet. So we'll wait and see what they kind of do here moving forward. We'll have more packer talk, of course, moving forward. But another packer tidbit, Sean Mannion, the quarterback coach, is on his way to Philly as the new offensive coordinator. He's the only one crazy enough to go take that offensive coordinator job there from Philly at this point. So Sean Mannion out the door. I uh that I didn't want to see that. No, I really didn't. Um, having Tom Clemens in there, and then you move on to Sean Mannion in there, and you were just kind of trying to hope for that, you know, get that continuity, keep it there with Jordan Love and keep him in that quarterback room, maybe get Sean Mannion and promote him up to OC at some point. I know that was a talk of a lot of people, was wanting to see him kind of move up in the ranks. Now he's on his way to Philly. That stinks. I mean, I'm you kind of that's you're probably in that same boat right now. Seeing him walk out the door. That's not the guy that I wanted to see go. There's a couple other guys, you know, like Rip Sasacia, yeah. Yeah, Lucky could have walked out the door too. That'd been fine. But now you lose Sean Mannion. So, I mean, just kind of your thoughts on that.

Packers’ Structure, Draft Hits And Misses

SPEAKER_03

I mean, honestly, yeah, like I thought Sean Mannion was a guy that the floor really coveted. Uh, I think uh Aaron, Jen, and Jimmy on the Packaday show that just came out really hit it where when the floor is, you notice that his brain trust that's depleting are the guys that are really talented, right? Like you saw, like you know, Nathaniel Hackett leaves, Sean Mannion leaves, but there's other guys who aren't getting opportunities, aren't leaving, and they're just staying with the team. And the great example is that is Steno. Like he's had head coaching job opportunities, he's had OC job opportunities, he's not getting any of them, but he's just staying in. And uh it gets to the point where it's like, all right, like, and then uh with that being said, you're seeing like those ones that do leave are being pretty successful, you know. And uh it's just frustrating to where like the ones that need to go aren't going, and the ones that you want to stay are going, right? Yep, and uh Manion was the kind of dude that the floor coveted since the second he became a coach. I mean, he's only been coaching for two years, uh or no, three years, three years. He's only been coaching for three years, you know. And for him to have an opportunity to be an OC and a play con OC, I think it's gonna be and he's going to good, he's going to a good situation, right? Like a very, very robust, talented offense. And if he if he can take that offense and make it into what it was what it was not last year and make it consistent, don't be surprised if he gets like a head coaching job out of it. You know what I'm saying?

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, no, with him, it's just a with Philly, it's just the external stuff. It's it's the players in the room that cause it to be an unkind of a job that you're like, uh it'd be crazy to take this one, but I'll go and take it.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, 100%. And uh the guys I want to go do elsewhere, see if they can be successful are Steno, is Vrabel, is Bunkis, right? I want to see them go elsewhere and try to be an OC or a play call on OC because I haven't seen him and then Raffidi. I need Rafferty gone because again, you've seen these guys like in positions where Raffidi and Variable are the passing game coordinator and the wide receiver coach. I feel like our wide receivers took a step back last year. Minus Watson, you know? I felt like there were more drop passes. I felt like there was more inconsistency, there was wrong routes, there was uh not knowing where to line up, where to play, things like that, you know. So just again, like just I want some new voices. And I know they were looking at the quarterback coach uh out of uh Arizona, who's a young up-and-coming guy, Sanner. And then, of course, the guy that just got fired from the Jets, the OC over there for Aaron Glenn, Tanner Exerham, who was pretty, you know, that guy, I'm I'm killed his last name, but basically Tanner, who was another guy that was a part of the Sean McVay trick who I'd bring in as well. Too, I just need new voices on the offense. Don't get me wrong, the offense has been basically top 10 since LaFleur's been here. Like that's no doubt. But I just feel like if you can get different voices in a room to help you see things from a different light, it just is going to make you better, you know? Instead of just re-chutting over and over again the same guys like bring back, I'm gonna bring back Getsy, I'm gonna bring back Nathaniel Hackett. And I'm like, no, man, get someone else, like get some new names, right?

SPEAKER_02

No, I agree. And this I saw that the uh the quarterback's coach there out of the Cardinals, he's a Milwaukee native, too. He's from Wisconsin. He went to Wisconsin actually. We're doing that, aren't we? I mean, that's an it's an interesting, uh, interesting move. He's a young guy, like you were saying there, a very young guy. I believe he's actually he is calling plays at the East West Shrine Bowl this week. He's only he's 30, he's 30 years old, and he's calling plays at the East West Shrine Bowl this week there. So very young guy. Definitely a guy that maybe bring him into the room, a new voice. It might lead to good things there for the Packers. So, Amor, I gotta run here. Let people know where to find you out there across social media.

SPEAKER_03

Oh, find me at uh Amor A, I'm sorry, Amor3455 on Twitter and then at Coast to Coast Packers everywhere else. And as always, Trade, thanks for having me, man. Appreciate you.

SPEAKER_02

Of course, thank you for stopping by today. When we come back from the break, Christian's gonna stop by. We're gonna talk a little Badgers, Badgers, Minnesota, and then we're gonna look ahead to the game with Ohio State coming up today here. So we will be right back here back into Wisconsin Sports on the Go with Trage. I'm your host, Trage, and we're coming back in here on this Saturday. Christian stopping by. We're gonna talk a little badger, badger hoops here. We're gonna talk about that Minnesota game. Look ahead to Ohio State. But before we get to that, Christian, how are we doing? It's Saturday. I mean, big dinner last night. How is it? Where'd you go? Where'd you go to dinner last night?

SPEAKER_01

To uh Full Mile in Sun Prairie. If you've ever been down there. Oh, no, I have not.

SPEAKER_02

But now I got a new is it pretty good? Good stuff.

SPEAKER_01

Very good. It's like a brewery and restaurant, all their own beer and everything. I would absolutely recommend it.

SPEAKER_02

Well, there we go, people. You gotta get down there.

SPEAKER_01

Maybe maybe try to get them try to get them as a sponsor on your show or something.

SPEAKER_02

Oh there we go. There we go. There's my next avenue. There's my next avenue. Christian's gonna hook it up down there. Let them know that Trage sent you down there, and then hopefully they're like, who's Trage? Then they hear it and then they jump on. There we go. There we go. Business plan. Business plan right there. So we have a lot to dive into today here. I want to talk about that Badger game against Minnesota. Christian, you felt like you were the bad luck charm. You had to shut it off. You had to watch it next day, and you still feel like that because once you shut it off, they actually came back and won that game. But Christian, I mean, that that first half, I'm gonna be honest with you. Coming off that game against USC, I thought to myself, there's no way they're at home against Minnesota. They are gonna come out with a fire lit underneath of them after losing like they did against USC, a heartbreaker, right, in that one. I figured they'd come out with a fire. They'd be they'd be jacked up for this game. They had 17 points in the entire first half. They had nine with six minutes to go in the first half. Nine points with six minutes to go in the first half. I texted you and I said, this might be the most ugly basketball game I've ever watched. And it was from both teams. I mean, Minnesota was they were very light handed. Like they didn't have, I believe Tyson didn't play in that game, and then they were missing somebody else. I can't remember who the other rotational player was, but they had seven guys that they were rotating in between. So they were very without some of their one of their stars, their leading scorer. And then the Badgers, they had everybody except for Bielowskis, who got hurt early, and there was no offensive rhythm. There was nothing. I mean, Christian, that that first half, that was a major letdown, wasn't it? I mean, in my eyes, that was a major letdown, especially coming off of a loss. That made me feel bad. That made me feel worse about the I don't know, the continuous play of this team. I'm trying to think of the word that I'm looking for, but looking at this team like coming off of a loss, that was a letdown.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, I mean, what is it, like a week ago, they were four or five in a row, feeling pretty good. It's like got through got through that really difficult stretch two and one against Michigan, UCLA, and uh Purdue. And now here we are, like losing, losing to uh USC, who is just coming off like a they they lost to Nebraska or uh Northwestern, right? So like that's a bad look at home, especially blowing a 10-point lead after coming back from down 10. But then I mean, then you got Minnesota coming in, who I I I still think Minnesota's I think they're a lot better than that 10 and 11 record tells it tells us they are. But I mean they were down how many guys they had, like you said, seven guys that played, and looking at the minutes now, only and one of the guys only played four minutes, so they only had six guys that actually played. And those I don't know, the other the it's one of those things I was thinking about when we were talking about this before. It's just they're gonna like we've talked about so many times. Hey, if the three's not falling early, like we've seen this season, like what when do you change it up and you start doing something? And in my head, now I'm just like, you know what? This this is just how this team is. They are going to live and die by the three, and they absolutely just died by the three in the first half. It was disgusting.

SPEAKER_02

Yep. No, if you're and the thing with it is if you're gonna live and die by the three, look at the rotational pieces that you don't use. The kingies are of the world, one mid in this game.

SPEAKER_01

One middle watching me. He went in, one like literally played one play, had a turnover, got pulled, and never went back in.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, you I just don't understand it when if you're gonna live and die by it. If guy isn't feeling it, well, you gotta pull him then. Like you got to pull him right off the bat. I don't care if it's roadie, I don't care who it is. You gotta pull him off the bat. I mean, you look at this game here. Four for nine from Blackwell, four for nine from Boyd. That was all second half, too. I mean, there was nothing cooking in the first half. Most of these stats that you look at, if it looks decent, that was second half stats because the first half, there was nothing falling. I believe the last shot of the first half was the first two-point basket they had all game. I believe so. I think Nick Boyd's two-point shot that he had to end the first half. Because, yeah, I mean, 15 points. Yeah, probably. It had to have been because I think Nolan Winter started it with three, Carrington had a three, Roadie had a three. There's nine points right there. It's probably you sprinkle in two other threes there. There you go. There's your 15, and then you had the two from boy. That's bad. Like that when you think about it, like you just said, when do you switch? When do you switch? I think you gotta find a way to switch because you're gonna get the tournament play. And if you go to a uh uh NCAA tournament game and you're not hitting from downtown, and that's all you're gonna live, you're gonna you're gonna go home first round. That's it. Done. If it's going, if it's cooking, they can beat anybody. But if it's not, we watched the Nebraska game, we watched this game. They were just like we talked about during that game, Chris. I mean, they were just lucky that Minnesota was equally shooting as bad. And they didn't have Kate Tyson in this game. If they had Kate Tyson, you might be talking about a whole different outcome to this game because that's a 20-point score right there. So many things went wrong in that first half. Defensive, it didn't look good defensively. Communication was off, I believe, in that first half there. They were allowing penetration again. It's all those little things. And then we flipped to the second half, and Greg Guard went into the locker room and he challenged his guys. I don't know why it took until the second half for him to challenge his guys to go back out there and do something. But it took until the second half, and then Blackwell decided he was gonna play, and then Boyd decided he was gonna play. I think that actually irritates me more. Is that I okay, I like that guard went and he challenged his leaders and they stepped up in place. I like that, but I also don't like that at the under-16 media timeout or the under-12 media timeout or the under-eight media timeout, nobody went to that huddle and said, We gotta figure this out, we gotta pick it up. None of those guys on the floor at that time could take that leadership. They had to wait until halftime to make that adjustment. You were playing Minnesota, it was 35 to 17. If you were playing Michigan in this same kind of situation, you were done. You would have just got your doors blown off. Michigan State, Illinois. I mean, you could go through the whole top half of the Big Ten, you would have been done. It wouldn't have been a game. You're just lucky you were playing Minnesota. I think that's my I don't know, Christian. Do you do you is that make sense to you? Like it irritates the most because it took until halftime for them to figure out, oh boy, we better play. Like that that's what irritates me the most is that we talk about leadership from Blackwell and all these guys, and it took until a pep talk at halftime for them to figure out that they had played.

SPEAKER_01

It's like, do you think maybe they were just playing with their food and just kind of thought, you know, this would just be easy since Minnesota's not like a top team in the Big Ten and they're down a bunch of players and they're on the road, like maybe they just thought they would just roll over. I don't know. But I mean, how can you think that too, though, with like all the like bad blood and all the things that were made out of the Brayden Carrington game and like everything that kind of went on there? Like, you know, and it's a rivalry anyway, even though Wisconsin's been dominating it lately. It's just you do you really think that they would just roll over? So I mean, they that's kind of what it looked like to me. Defense was lazy, sloppy, offense, and just felt like they were just taking threes quick, and that's all they're interested in doing. But I mean, I don't know. I think and then they just weren't even getting close on most of them, which was I think I turned it off at one point and I saw Nolan Winter shoot a three and it bounced off of one of the badger's hands or whatever for a chance for an offensive rebound and went right to a went right to a golfer and just went right down the right down the uh drawn the court for a layup. I'm just like, okay, I'm done with this. I'm I'm obviously the bad luck guy. I felt like I don't know if you've ever seen the movie, uh I don't know if you've ever seen the movie Celtic Pride with Dan Aykroyd and whatever they kidnapped the jazz. But yeah, that's me. We're the bad luck guys. Like that's me every single time. I'm the bad luck guy.

Coaching Carousel: Mannion To Philly

SPEAKER_02

I said I sat there and played 51 levels of Candy Crush. That's what I was doing the entire time. I just I just sat on Candy Crush. I couldn't shut it off because they started making the comeback. I'm like, well, this is what I gotta do now for the rest of the game because then maybe they're gonna run this back. So it the first half was ugly. Second half, shots started to fall. The ball was moving, they were knocking down shots. Boyd was getting downhill, Blackwell's getting downhill. They were starting to play with an intensity, like we said. The halftime pep talk must have worked. They end up coming back in this game. Blackwell, once again, with a big shot down the stretch. I just don't understand where the the weird part with Blackwell is how good he can be, and also how bad he can be all at the same time. One game he can be, he can look like he's one of yeah, he looks like he could be a first team all big ten. One game he can look like that, and the next game he looks like uh maybe he could get honorable mention, maybe, just maybe, due to name. It's such an odd thing with him right now, finding just finding his groove. I don't know what it is. I and and we talked about this. Do you think it has to do with Nick Boyd? Do you think the Nick Boyd John Blackwell combo, as much as I love him when they're working together, when they stop working together, and Nick Boyd gets into this groove by himself where he thinks he's got to keep driving and he's going he's going a thousand miles per hour and he forgets about his teammates. He's got the blinders on. Do you think that is part of the problem with Blackwell? Is that Boyd tries to get his and that's a problem?

SPEAKER_01

I could see it. I think it definitely feels like sometimes, especially when Boyd gets in these modes, like we saw at the very last possession of the USC game. Boyd just dribbled it all on the court, dribbled around, dribbled around, trying, then tried to get a layup to tie it up. Like it feels like Blackwell maybe just takes the backseat when I mean maybe I don't know. He should be the guy, right? Like he's the guy that came back from last year. Tanjay's gone, it's his team now. Yes, they bring in Boyd, but like I don't know. I feel this just still should have been like in the crucial moments, it should be Blackwell. And we saw that against Minnesota, right? The first time around. But I don't know, but I don't know. Yeah, it definitely feels like he takes kind of the back seat and just disappears and then just becomes the Nick Boyd show.

SPEAKER_02

Right. I mean, down the stretch, like you're saying, if it's like what like we saw, 60, it was 60 64 to 63, was what the score was, or whatever it was at that time. They're up by one, and Blackwell hit the big three to finish them off, put them up. And Blackwell, when you watch a moment like that, and you've seen him a couple times take big shots. Blackwell's got the ability to do everything that Nick Boyd does. Blackwell has a really, really strong drive. Like he can get downhill, he can put it into a guy, he can get up to the rim, he can get foul. He can also pull up from three. He's got a really good mid-range game. He does all those little things you want. He just doesn't. It feels like at times he doesn't want to be the guy. It feels like at times he wants, he still feels like he's backseat to some. Like, like John Tanjay was the guy last year. Blackwell was really good. He was just his number two. I feel like John Blackwell is having a problem trying to be the one. Like, just accept that he's the one now and he has to be that guy. And Nick Boyd tries to fill that void then, and then we see the the little craziness that happens in between. Nick Boyd's really good. Like, we don't, we're not knocking that anybody right now. Nick Boyd's really good. It's just John Blackwell's your closer. You can have a really good setup, man. You can have a really good, you know, middle relief, whatever it is, but you need a closer. And John Blackwell's your closer. He's got all the ability to do everything that you needed him to do late in the game. He just won't be that guy yet. And that's where I guess my biggest worry is when does he find that groove? When does he want to be the John Blackwell that he was supposed to be this season? The guy that we saw early on this year that was just torching everybody. I know they're a mid-major teams and everything like that, but he was no hesitation. I'm the guy, I'm gonna bury these shots, and then all of a sudden, Big Ten play started, and he kind of lost his groove. He got he was out for that game, and then he kind of lost his groove and he found it again, and then he's back to this, and now he's back. So it's just uh the hit or miss stuff with Blackwell that makes you a little bit nervous, I would say.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, I think just like you said, it's if he's supposed to be the guy, he's just he's very inconsistent for being that guy, right? So it makes you a little nervous, and you just hope you know he finds that groove right when tournament play starts, once the Big Ten tournament starts up and right into the NCAA boy tournament, because if he disappears like he has been, we're it's obviously it's gonna be there's no way the badgers make it past the first weekend again.

SPEAKER_02

No, not not even. I agree with you 100%. Let's talk about another guy we've kind of been hard on in the past, but I'm starting to see a roll here is with Jack Janicki. He doesn't really if if you look at his stat line, just look at his stat line from this game 23 minutes. He was 0 for 1 from the field. He had one rebound, one assist, one steal, one block. Nothing, nothing to write home about. You're like, why did this guy even play 23 minutes? He's a glue guy, he's a glue guy, he holds it all together. I think just watching him out there, he brings some fire to that team. And I think it's his leadership on the floor that I think guard really hones into. I think he brings a little bit more than some of these other guys do at times. You watch him defensively, he'll check anybody in this game. Here, he was checking some of their big guys. I mean, when they they did have a switch, he was down low checking them. He was pushing him out of there. He was doing a really good job in this game, handling his business. It doesn't show up in the stat box, but he does those little things, makes the right pass, doesn't turn the ball over. And this one here, he had no turnovers, doesn't turn the ball over, does those little things, sets guys up, drives, gets to the right spot. And I think those things are things that we overlook because we look everybody looks at the stat line and they're like, well, Jack Janicki didn't do nothing. I mean, and he we've said it all season. We're like, what's his role? What does he do? Like he gets all these minutes, but what does he do? I think he's a glue guy. I think he's a leader on the floor, I think he's got that fire to him, like a Max Klesman last season. He was some games you you could have sat him because he wasn't gonna knock down a shot. But he was a glue guy. He was your fire, he was a leader on the floor. I think that's Jack Janicki. I mean, Christian, when you see Jack Janicki, I know we've both had our issues with him in the past, but when you see him, when you're seeing these minutes and watching him play, is that kind of what? You're seeing two out there.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. I mean, you gotta wonder, like, yeah, if we keep asking ourselves why does he keep getting minutes, like he doesn't put up any stats, right? Like, I thought he'd take a step as a scorer. I thought he'd be more of a you know, he'd be a rebounder, just you know, whatever. But I think obviously I think obviously means a whole lot uh a big deal. He means a whole lot to the team. So as a glue guy, yeah, I think he's a guy that the team loves. Uh he's uh obviously a big part of what they want to do. And I think I mean Andrew Roadie, just to kind of like put out there against, I mean, I guess he didn't get as many minutes as Janicki did, but like he's not he puts up a ton of ton of stats either. Yep, you know, it's just the guys that are doing the right thing, and that's just what Greg Gard in the Wisconsin basketball program wants, and that's what they need, right? That's what enables them to have guys like Nick Boyd and John Blackwell score 23 and 21 points while everyone else is by just looking at this, like no one else even gotten double digits, or like Winter got the nine, that's it. So if you if you're gonna have guys like that, like Boyd and Blackwell, you you have to have guys like Janicki that are like totally fine taking the backseat and just doing all the little things that aren't like you said, don't necessarily show up in the box score.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, no, and you know what the the only my only problem with Roadie is he's a fantastic passer, but he also thinks he he thinks five steps ahead and his guys don't. He's making a pass where a guy should be and the guy isn't there because he's waiting or he's sitting out at three-point line, he didn't cut. That's all when you watch his turnovers, like, yeah, he has a couple bad ones here and there. They look bad, but when you really watch it, you're like, well, if no one went to it. Yeah, if he would have cut, he would have been open, but he didn't, and that's where Roadie thought he was gonna be. So with Roadie, it's like he's he thinks and he's a really good passer. It's just he thinks too much, and he he's like a quarterback throwing a receiver open, but the receiver decided to run a post and he threw a corner. Like that's what he's doing out there. It's yeah, it's a really good, he's really good at what he does. Like you said, Janicki Roy, you gotta have those guys on the floor. I completely agree with you on that one. So there's a guy that we don't know if is gonna be on the floor. Alexis Bielowski. Not sure he got he rolled up the ankle there. I believe he fell on Nolan Winter in that game, rolled up the ankle. We're not sure about him yet. Probably a game time decision. We're gonna wait and see here today what goes on here. One o'clock. We'll see what happens there. But if Bielowskis can't go against Ohio State, where do you turn? Do you go with Austin Rapp? Do you go with your your, I guess, day one starting lineup that you thought was going to be your starting lineup moving forward? Or do you lean maybe into a Braden Carrington? We've all we both vouched for minutes for Braden Carrington all season long. He should get all of them. If somebody isn't in there, Brayden Carrington should be getting those minutes. Do you lean into a Braden Carrington or your sixth man, as it seems like, Jack Janicki? Does he get a start? I mean, Christian, where are you at right now? Are you rolling with one big, four guards almost? Or are you going, are you leaning more into the two big? Where are you at with that?

Badgers Deep Dive: Boyd, Blackwell, Janicki

SPEAKER_01

I think you just go back to rap. I think he he fits that position, he fits the spot, he fills that position. And I think guys like Carrington and Janicki are so like useful coming off the bench.

unknown

Right.

SPEAKER_01

If you all of a sudden like put one of them into the starting lineup, and yeah, you go a little smaller. Um, but then you lose some juice off the bench. Carrington has been huge off the bench this year. He has been the scoring that they need um in that second unit a lot of times, especially when someone like Boyd or Blackwell are off the court. He's a guy you can depend on to actually score. So now I don't think you want to mess with the rotations too much. If you're guard, I think you go back to put rap there until you know Bele Alskiss can come back. But I don't know. That's just my opinion. I think you just you don't don't tinker too much. As someone who tinkers nonstop with his fantasy football lineups or you know any other thing out there, I've learned don't tinker, just trust your gut. I think guards just gonna go back to rap because you know he fits right in, and that's where he started at the beginning of the year. And I don't know who knows. Maybe this will help rap kind of like get it figured out because I mean, even coming off the bench, that guy's offense is still uh kind of a mystery to me.

SPEAKER_02

I think he's trying to find his role, and I think he's pressing a little bit too hard to try to find his role back into the starting lineup. I you can see it in him. He's trying to push it hard now. He's playing better defensively. He had a couple of key stops there against Minnesota. I mean, he's playing better defensively, too.

SPEAKER_01

So then maybe now if he does get this shot to start again, maybe that pressure will be off a little bit, especially knowing if Beeley Elskis is not in. You know what I mean? Maybe he doesn't have that pressure of like, oh, he's got a short leash. So maybe he'll relax a little bit. I don't know.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, no, I agree. I agree with you there. I mean, I I would probably stay with the bigs. I think they will, and then you'll kind of see how Ohio State plays it, right? Ohio State generally runs out the lineup. They're gonna have a 7-1 guy. I believe that I'm gonna call him Ivan because I don't know how to say his last name. That last name is that's gonna baffle me until I hear somebody else say it. So they got Ivan out there, and then I believe Binnham is also, I believe he's like 6'8. So you got a couple big guys there for Ohio State. So they usually roll in a little bit bigger of a lineup. I'd assume Greg Gard will probably counter there by having his bigger lineup out there if Bielowskis can't go. Like we said, we don't 100% know he was in a walking boot after the game there uh with Minnesota. So we'll wait and see what happens here with Ohio State today. Keys to the game, Christian, what do you want to see against Ohio State for this badger team? What do you want to see?

SPEAKER_01

I want to see I want to see us hit some shots. We got we got, I mean, I've I'm not in denial anymore. I'm like, I've come to the terms with the fact that they're not gonna work the ball inside and like try to run inside out. It's they're gonna be shooting threes. They're gonna live and die by it. I want to see them like you said, I want the ball to move a little more. Yeah, I want to see and rather than just drive kick and one sh, you know, take a shot with 10, you know, 20 seconds still up in the shot clock. I understand it's kind of the offense now. It's you get down, you it's it's fast paced, you shoot threes, but I want to work for really good threes, catch them in in stride and have some good, good looking shots and not just shoot threes just to shoot threes.

SPEAKER_02

Don't settle. Don't settle for shots. Work the ball around side to side. Don't settle for early shot clock threes. I agree with you 100%. Worked, and I know like they're not gonna work it inside, inside out, but drive. Look to drive, look to drive and kick. You know, Nick Boyd, John Blackwell. Don't hesitate to drive and then kick out to an open shooter. That's where a lot of their bread and butter is, is in that set. Nolan Winter, I believe, has got to be big in this game here. He's got to step up. And then it's gonna be on the guards. Bruce Thornton's your big guy to watch, and then John Mobley has been good. Ohio State coming off that win against Penn State. Badgers coming off the win against Minnesota. Before that, Ohio State, I believe they lost to Michigan. I think that was like a 12-point loss there. So a little bit closer of a loss against Michigan. So Ohio State definitely not a team to take lightly. They're six and four in the Big Ten, 14-6 overall. They're definitely not a team to take lightly. So we'll see what happens here today. One o'clock. We will recap that game on Wednesday on the show, and then we'll look ahead. I don't even know who they have. Who do the Badgers have after Ohio State? Oh boy. Oh man. I don't know. I haven't looked best at Ohio State. Ohio State. And then when do they play next? They're gonna have Indiana. And that'll be so they have almost a week off. They have almost a week off. Indiana and then Illinois.

SPEAKER_01

They get a little bit of a break.

SPEAKER_02

You gotta this Ohio State game's on the 31st. You sell out in this game, you're gonna have off till the seventh when you play Indiana, and then you have a three-day break before you play Illinois. So getting a nice break there in between. You gotta like that.

SPEAKER_01

Ooh. This is I think this is the second like brutal part of their schedule, right? You got Ohio State, Indiana, Illinois, number nine, Illinois, number seven, Michigan State, and then you got at Ohio State right away again.

SPEAKER_02

And then Iowa. And then Iowa right after that.

SPEAKER_01

And then you catch a break with Oregon and Washington, but of course, on the road, then home against Maryland, who looks terrible. And of course, then we get to finish the season at Mackey again, Purdue.

SPEAKER_02

Gotta love it. Gotta love going to Mackie there to end the season. So, Christian, I gotta run here. Let people know where to find you out there across social media.

SPEAKER_01

As always, find me at Christian Borman and find all my work at The Badger Backer.

SPEAKER_02

Make sure you guys are checking him out. He's covering all the recruits coming into Badger Football. He's covering this badger basketball. He's got it all over there at The Badger Backers. So make sure you guys check him out. When we come back, we're gonna wrap it up here for the day on this Saturday. We'll be right back here. I'm your host Trage as we're wrapping it up here on this Saturday. I hope you guys are enjoying your Saturday so far here. We're gonna do our final thoughts of the day. Final thoughts here to end the show. Gotten to the Brewers to start it out there. Like I said earlier on, my final thought on that. The Brewers will go with Reese McGuire as their backup catcher in 2026. We'll see what happens with Jefferson Cuero, though. Maybe he'll get a call-up at some point later on in the year. Glad to finally see Rust Ball, Goody, and LaFleur get their contract extensions announced by the Green Bay Packers. I still feel like there's a lot, like we know, there's a lot of moves to be made as the coaching staff is kind of dispersed there after halfly left. So we'll see what they do with the rest of these coaching openings. And then Badgers, Ohio State coming up today here. Badgers gotta be able to find a way to knock down shots early in this game. They can't fall behind. They got to come out ready to rock. This is another home game for the Badgers at the Cold Center. One o'clock start here today. Let's see what happens. Gotta be able to control Bruce Thornton. Gotta be able to control the glass. Knockdown shots, Nick Boyd and John Blackwell have got to be big in this one for the Badgers. So, with that, that's about all we have for the day. I hope you guys enjoy the rest of your Saturday and the rest of your weekend. But until we talk again next Wednesday, three