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It's another Saturday morning with us here on Make the Call on the Civic Media Radio Network.
I'm Jimmy Koska, sports director for this whole thing.
And we are here.
on March Madness somehow finding time away from all the productivity we've had at work the last couple of days to bring you this morning's show here.
on the Civic Media Radio Network.
I'm Jimmy Cuska and as always we bring in Parker Olson and Greg Gunderson to the fold to talk all things sports and not sports as we get ready for the weekend.
We got some good things to talk about.
We got some bad things to talk about and we might as well start with some good things in our segment which we call the top seven at seven.
It's the top seven sports stories or not sports stories at seven in the morning on a Saturday.
And number seven on our list is
A very important question and it's on the topic of food because why wouldn't we?
What's the best sports venue food or drink item you've ever seen on the menu?
So think about when you've gone to a game whether it's been a major league game of a high school game could be anything and What is the best food or drink menu item you've seen when you've gone out to a game?
So I will start it just because I'm looking in our our studio here and you guys have
Got the hand on chin.
So I'm guessing you guys, I'm throwing this curveball at you early in the list.
I'm going to start with mine.
About a decade, maybe 15 years ago, the Milwaukee Brewers introduced the pulled pork parfait, which is literally just pulled pork and mashed potatoes with barbecue sauce.
And it was.
Incredible.
I just think when you take anything with mashed potatoes and blended meat and barbecue sauce, it's going to be a winner for me.
That combination of foods will always slap.
That was a gimme.
They knew it, no matter what price they put on it.
Jimmy, mine's super boring because it's the most common item you can find at any stadium anywhere, but it's at a particular place.
The hot dogs at South Dakota State University went to a basketball game there probably 20 years ago now and somehow wound up with a plain hot dog.
I had foil.
I had a bun and I had meat in the middle of it.
That's the best hot dog I've ever had.
Somebody out there knows what brand they are.
I wish I had them at home.
So my high school, one of where I grew up, Kedahat, they get their hot dogs in from a local meat company, like a meat distributor.
So the hot dogs at a high school game in Kedahat, I would put up against just about anybody in the country.
Parker, how about you?
There's something I don't know necessarily if it's about...
the location of the place, but there's something about a hot dog being at the ballpark.
It's just so much better.
I don't know if it's like being fresh grilled right there or what, but it just makes me so much happier.
I love a ballpark hot dog and not the brand.
I don't mean the brand.
The brand's fine though.
Well, we've saved our potential sponsorships for the future, Parker.
Way to go on that.
Number six in our top seven.
So let's talk about the ballpark.
Let's talk some baseball.
The World Baseball Classic wrapped up last week.
And with that, Venezuela is your World Baseball Classic Championships and our champions.
And they had a couple of brewers on the roster.
Team USA had Bryce Terang.
So we have a lot of brewers representation in this final game.
And my question to you guys is, do you think the success of
those players have had in the world baseball classic is going to carry over now.
into the Major League Baseball season.
I think that obviously he had a very, very good World Baseball Classic.
I don't have the numbers in front of me right now, but I know that he was just incredible at the bat.
Honestly, he was probably one of the more consistent guys.
I believe he got all tournament team or whatever it is, honorable, whatever it is that they do for that.
But I know that he did very well there.
So I think that he certainly could, especially, and I know this is kind of a little bit backwards, but
He's leaving the world baseball classic with a bad taste in his mouth, because Team ASA did not play well in the last, oh I don't know, probably 15 innings worth or so of baseball that they played.
So I think he's leaving that hungry, but he's also got that success to really motivate him and to get back into the groove of, I think he's going to keep going.
If nothing else, this is a little bit of a lead time.
This is the chance to be warmed up before everybody else is.
Of course, the question then becomes, will you peak at the rep point of the season?
But I think that would be getting ahead of ourselves.
Yes, in a small way, Jimmy, I expect this to translate a little bit if only because they've got some momentum that other players might not have.
And if you want to be extremely cynical, the fact that Bryce Turing had so many highlights and things only increases his trade value and the brewers inevitably dump him for prospects here.
a year or two.
So that's always there too.
I'm sorry, Parker.
Don't kick
I know we're not feeling great today.
I don't know if it's because we're all of our brackets are busted or whatever.
We might as well make that our number five on our top seven at seven.
Let's start with our brackets, man, because you know, every year, you know, our company, every company in the world does the illegal gambling thing where they do a office pool brackets.
Winter gets, you know, 20 bucks in breaking rights, whatever.
But I looked at mine and I said it and I'm telling you guys right now that I can't even get out of the playing rounds without somebody losing.
So my brackets are always gone within Dayton, Ohio is where my bracket goes to die.
How about you guys?
The lesson I learned recently was that my bracket had a half life in that a day after I made it, it was half garbage, completely just dead.
The way that I generally do it is I let the computer pick for me and then I forced Wisconsin into the final and I know how likely that is to work out.
But hey, at least after the first day, my champion pick Duke is still in it.
So it could be, could be at least they were at the time, like who knows what's coming down.
the pipeline.
So I need to blame the person really responsible.
His name is Otto.
He's got two first names, Otto, Phil.
Do you guys know who that is?
Okay, sorry, never mind.
That is, that is the number one
expert, I think, in filling up brackets.
Parker, how about you?
talk more about the Badgers here in a bit.
We had Jake Kukorowski joining us too.
at the bottom of the art front to say the beginning of the show that Jay Kokorowski is joining us.
He's going to recap all the things with the pictures and try to help us through it.
Maybe lift our spirits a bit, I hope, because I'm still feeling pretty down about what happened a couple of days ago.
But all right, let's move on.
Let's move on to a Greg Anderson special here in the top seven at seven.
Number four, the Packers coaching staff has been finalized.
They announced a series of final positional coaching positions anyway.
earlier this week.
Also just looking at some of the coaches and their backgrounds, there may be a couple of changes in store for what we see on the field for the Green Bay Packers this year.
What changes do you think are happening, Gray?
It's going to be all on the defensive side of the ball, at least for the most part.
One quick note that Romeo Dobbs left and he was one of our stickiest handed wide receivers.
There were a lot of timing routes that didn't necessarily.
The play wasn't built around Romeo, but he was the blowoff valve that ended up being taken advantage of a lot.
So there's some offensive changes, but the big shift is that almost nobody from the defense is the same as last year.
The only name that I really recognize from last year's staff, DeMarcus Covington, was the defensive line coach, and now he's listed as the outside linebackers run game coach.
And part of that is probably the defensive shift we're expecting to see.
A lot of fans wondering, will we see a shift from 4-3 defense?
The Packers have run for quite a while now to a 3-4 defense and signs are pointing to exactly that.
There's no reason to change your defensive line coach's position title to outside linebackers unless you're making that switch where the defensive line is more focused on linebackers.
And that's kind of a fair assessment.
It's a very watered down way to explain the shift to 3-4.
So defense and then the other thing is special teams.
But if we see a big improvement out of special teams, it won't be because the Packers were trying to achieve that.
They were going to keep rich.
As far as I know so I'm a little worried that if we see special team shift It's because the new coordinator cam a cord I believe it's pronounced basically forced it to happen through sheer will alone I'm basically worried.
We won't see enough changes Parker.
What are you thinking?
Well, I'll tell you I'll just put it this way I'm looking at the defensive coaching staff on the Packers website right now and a bunch of them don't have pictures That is kind of the signal for there are new things coming and that doesn't include the new
new defensive coordinator who does have a picture.
So actually there's a lot of changes to be expected, Gray.
The new faces could be okay.
The Packers have a long history of taking names you've never heard of before and turning them into front office professionals like John Eric Sullivan.
Now the GM of the Dolphins.
He was hired as a scouting intern by the Packers in the early 2000s.
And now he's why the Miami Dolphins are Packers South.
Packers South indeed.
I will say this about the transition to a three, four.
It does mean that some of your favorite edge rushers for the Packers might be fighting themselves, doing some different things during plays.
Micah Parsons in coverage.
Like that's the kind of stuff we're talking about with the changes.
And I'm really curious to see what more time to talk football as we get through the summer and see some of the draft and the mini camps and everything else.
I can't wait.
Draft is a month away.
I'm already putting together my notebook for that, but we're going to move on in our top seven at seven before we nerd out.
And number three is.
a very simple question for y'all.
With opening day coming up on Thursday, the question is, will the Brewers make the playoffs
I am planning on the Brewers not winning the division, maybe.
I could convince myself to win the division, but I do think that they're going to the playoffs regardless, uh, at the very least as a wild card.
Um, I have been offered tickets to go to opening day.
I am not sure if I can yet though.
It'd be really cool.
I would love to, but I don't know if I can.
We need a
reporter on opening day.
So you're our guy.
There
There's your permission that you need press credentials.
All right.
I like it number Number two in our top seven at seven by the way, my prediction is the Brewers are in for a big fight this year They traded away some some pieces here in the offseason But it just seems like they restock that pretty well just feels like they're gonna be busy right to the end and we won't really you know With all that with the additional the wildcard things it doesn't really keep them out of it So it's really hard to read but I don't know about winning the division like you Parker about that.
So anyway, that's that's
That's for another time opening day coming up Thursday on many of these same civic media stations for our last couple of minutes So we're gonna go to a very familiar topic here at number two in our top seven at seven and that's because this week There is some more drama coming out of Milwaukee in regards to the Bucks in Yonah satanic Coonpo The Bucks want to shut him down for the rest of the year.
Yonah wants to play and That leads me to this.
Do you think we've seen the last of Yonah satanic Coonpo as a Milwaukee buck?
There's only a couple weeks left from the season
He's currently hurt.
They have some meaningless basketball to go.
I put it out there already on publicly social media this week.
I think we're done with Deanna Sarah in Milwaukee personally, but that's where I'm at.
How about you guys?
Whether or not a team is actually a better place for somebody like Giannis, I think it'd be really easy to convince him right now because I don't think anybody wants is coming out there saying, Hey, Giannis is secretly really happy right now.
And all of these rumors about him being upset are lies.
Okay.
So we'll call it a given that he's not happy.
That means the grass is looking greener elsewhere.
And in the 30 team league, I'm thinking the grass looks green.
in about 27 other places right now.
Pretty short list of no's, if I'm honest.
Honestly, just buy me a train ticket, call it a surprise, and I'm a happy guy.
I'm tired
happens every week
the direction of this conversation, and this week it's he wants to play, the bucks don't want him to play, whether it's because they want to increase his trade value or what, but anyway.
Well, the reason I think that they don't want him to play is because he's been hurt, I think, every other week.
Frankly, I'm not sure that he's been healthy.
Hardly at all this year it seems like and I think I said this a couple of weeks ago Yanis you weren't gonna be able to get him to sit I think we predicted this exactly would happen that they would get to a point where the bucks were really bad and they weren't gonna have an any good chance of making the playoffs and that
You know what?
Let's just rest up Yannis to make sure he doesn't get hurt, whether that be for his own health or for trade value.
And now we're here.
The Bucks are asking him to sit.
And guess what?
Yannis has got too much of a heart on his sleeve to not be able to play.
There's no chance he's going to stay off the court.
Frankly, if the Bucks want to have a chance at keeping him, I think that they need to let him play just to try to keep him happy.
The Bucks are almost done.
Only a few games left in the season.
They'll be done in mid-April mercifully of the season.
It'll be over.
They have no chance of making the playoffs and not really any chance to move up or down in the lottery either.
So season's effectively done in Milwaukee.
Number one in our top seven at seven is next.
We're going to talk about the Badgers.
They lost on Thursday to High Point.
And we're going to take a deep dive on it for the next half hour.
And we'll do that coming up next year.
I'll make the ball part of the Civic Media radio network.
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It's make the call.
As you heard the big voiceover guys say, I'm just repeating words that he says here on the civic media radio network.
Let's talk Badgers as our number one in our top seven at seven.
March Madness is upon us.
We're through the first, the first ground now we're down to 32 teams of the NCAA tournament and none of those 32 teams are from Wisconsin as the Badgers have been eliminated.
and they are done after losing the high point 83 to 82 on Thursday in which high point made 15 of 43 point shots and took down the Badgers on a late transition bucket.
Wisconsin season is done.
Greg Gard summed up the experience by saying today sucks.
This sucks.
And it does.
And that's kind of where I feel that Greg Gart has looked into my soul and used the words right from there to say, yes, this sucks to Badgers fan because I thought that had they had, um, you know, any matchup against a top team, it was going to be a lot of fun to watch.
It's way more fun when the Badgers are trading threes or trading, uh, trading shots with a top notch opponent rather than a program that has never won an NCAA tournament game.
But here we are, guys.
I don't, I'm past denial.
I'm somewhere around acceptance, but it still sucks, man.
It sucks.
The real answer here is that it was 100% a Homer pick, but I'm going to break it down further and defend it a little bit because I wait until I hear that it's a worthwhile pick.
I basically wait until I see good news about the Badgers from people who know better.
And it's like, okay, cool.
My Homer strategy might actually work this year.
That said, it was a
I think it would have been a good sign.
I'm basically the canary in the cave, if you will.
If I'm picking Wisconsin, it's a sign that other people shouldn't have.
You and I should have compared notes before the brackets went up, I think.
We walked into this game.
And I think we said it last week.
They were either going to lose to a bad opponent.
Maybe that's true.
I don't know.
I'm not going to discredit high point.
I think they actually are a pretty solid team.
And they kind of give me the vibe that they're going to be that one team in March Madness that makes you go, oh yeah, this is why March Madness is awesome.
But it was going to be this or it was going to be the Badgers made a really deep run.
This is what we got.
Really disappointing to see the Badgers.
I think just not play well defensively.
I think High Point couldn't miss a shot to save our lives.
One thing that I am going to say I'm glad for is the flavor of the conversation around the loss, you know, the things that are being blamed.
I haven't heard NIL as part of a conversation like about problems.
And going into this like a month ago, it might have been easy to believe, hey, these small schools are going to disappear and the bigger schools are going to just get bigger, the rich get richer.
I don't feel like I've been seeing that at least not so
far or so much that it's been a problem.
What do you guys think about that?
I don't feel like it was an unfair exit.
I feel like they got beat.
As for the NIL stuff, I think that is a really interesting conversation that we could probably do a whole segment on at its own right.
Because I kind of think that obviously it doesn't help the small schools.
The small schools are being used as stepping stones now, which frankly is really unfair to them.
But also even the big schools are being used as stepping stones now.
The Badgers, if you look at it, AJ Store.
John Tanji, and Nick Boyd.
Those are three one-year wonders for the Badgers, and they were all fantastic, and it just sucks that the Badgers couldn't hang onto them, because I think if you were to keep any of them for more than a year...
then you get more chemistry.
We've already seen how much chemistry, obviously, this season that Nick Boyd had with John Blackwell, that I do believe that that guard duo was the best in the country.
They were very, very good together.
For them to only have one season together, that sucks because they're not actually getting a full year's worth of reps, and this goes back to something with the small schools.
The cool thing about small schools before was that you might get one really good class of players who mesh together over three, four years, and then their senior year, they actually make a really good, deep run because they've had all that time to work together and to make that team into something that could do something to March Madness.
You're not seeing that now.
That hits everybody, even the Badgers.
It's been very disappointing to me.
Jimmy, I want to hear what you've got on the Badgers.
Kind of what were your expectations?
I guess I haven't I don't remember.
Did you say how deep you had them going to the brackets?
Yeah, my bracket I had them getting to the sweet 16 and I know I was sheer optimism just because they've been playing down the stretch this year But I went into this like and we'll talk about this with Jake Kokorowski in our next segment But they were it's very much boomer bust with the Badgers They were either going to make a deep run or they were gonna be bounced early They were bounced early played a mid-major that can make three-point shots had a you know great outside in game
play defense, you know, one of the advantages the Badgers have had in the Big 10 is their backcourt, their backcourt's among the best of the nation.
That's how they got themselves into an upset territory with so many of these teams of the road in the Big 10.
And that's, that's the thing that was negated a bit.
just in that they found a team that could hang with them in terms of shooting threes and getting up and down the floor.
And the Badgers not really playing defense this season.
Well, it came back to bite them this year.
Again, high point is a team that is after beating the Badgers 31 and four going into today.
So not a team by any means that was a slouch, but also a team that had they not gotten the out of it would have never made the NCAA tournament, not in a million years, the way things are set up.
And their coaches write the point this out.
Nobody plays the top mid majors.
That's why Miami of Ohio had zero quad one wins.
It's why high point didn't get to see anybody during the year because when a team, a good mid, good mid major team is out there, well, the major teams aren't going to play them.
They don't want to have that loss on the record, especially if that mid major ends up not being that great in the end.
So to me, the boomer bus badgers, I think played out almost exactly as we thought it would.
And again, Jake will tell us about it here in the next seven guys, but on my bracket, I had him going to the sweet 16, just hoping that after a decade, they'd get back.
there, but you know, it's going to be another year to wait to see if they can do it.
It's been a full decade.
Yeah.
2017.
Oh my God.
It's going to be 20, 27 next year.
Oh, man.
It is, uh, it is tough being a badger span.
people say that that wasn't even his team that did it and all that.
That's why the social media memes have been out there.
Uh, I don't know, guys, it is tough right now, but you know, that being said, they've been a five seed, uh, three times in the last, what eight years they've been a three seed.
Um, they've also missed a tournament a couple of times.
So it is really boomer bust, I guess.
Um, and that, that is, that is where we'll leave it because Jake Kukorowski is, uh, waiting right now to join the studio.
and we're going to bring him in next to talk about all things Wisconsin Badgers here in the thick of March Madness.
This is Make The Call on the Civic Media
It is the bottom of the hour, which means it's time to talk all things Badgers with Jake Kokorevsky of Badger Observer and BadgerObserver.com.
Jake, our conversations are
Ending a little earlier this year, we're going to get a couple more weeks with you on Badgers men's basketball because, well, their season's over.
They lost on Thursday, lost to High Point College that I feel like just as an institution itself, it's like a business.
a business executive suite kind of college with golf cart tours and swimming pools and you know airplane cabins and all the crazy things but more to the point they shot and made 15 three-pointers against the Badgers and a guy who had not made a two-point field goal all year had a transition layup and that ends the Badger season 83-82 on Thursday.
I think we've gotten past the initial I don't know if shock is the right word I think disappointment's probably a better word for this because well the Badgers have been here before.
or is the five seed, they've lost the last few times they've been a five seed.
Just kind of a, you know, after all the knee jerk reactions and the hashtag fire guard folks, where are we at here a couple of days later with the batters?
How are we feeling about Wisconsin men's basketball season?
Really just what this team was about is what showed.
On thursday, right where you have two great guards and yeah, you can make an argument that that's the best bat, you know starting back court in the country with You know nick black nick boyd and john black.
Well, they combine for nearly 50 points 49 points They both shot over 50 percent.
You know, they shot exactly 50 percent 18 for 36 On the you know and guard plays, you know is key in the NCAA tournament and they provided it And you saw the brilliance on their end in that regard, but it's also
You saw the we talked about this throughout the entire season right the volatility of this team where You know the defense wasn't necessarily up the par where you know, they allowed high point Yeah, I was under 50% but they shot 45% they made I mean high point shot 53% from three-point range in the second half They made nine of those 15 three-pointers in that second half in those final 20 minutes and you know credit goes to high point right but for
Pulling off the upset and you know, they're down by 10 and Wisconsin looked like they were about ready to pull away and really kind of set the tone and High Point fought back and I mean even Wisconsin had leads in the second half that you'd think okay now they're gonna put it away and they allowed Wisconsin I mean there's a scoring drought in the second half that allowed High Point to get back in the game But you're looking at certain things that I mean one another thing fast break points High Point had 16
Uh, compared to Wisconsin's five and that included that basket.
You talked about the player that didn't have a two-pointer all season that decides to, you know, lay it up.
And hey, that's kind of poetry, right?
For the March madness, but, uh, really, Wisconsin, you know, it's, uh, yeah, it should be disappointing.
Uh, again, Wisconsin has not reached a sweet 16 in quite some time.
And, you know, it's, uh, I do think Greg guards a great coach.
And I think.
There's the evolution of his coaching style and just the philosophy of what they're doing on offense.
It should be committed.
Also, what he's done in the transfer portal and bringing in guys that have made immediate impacts.
But yeah, it's now just, I mean, it's okay to ask the question of like, what's next in terms of how does this program get to that second weekend that's eluded them for quite a while.
Talking to Jake Kokorowski, a Badger Observer.
Yeah, it's been since 2017.
And the Badgers, since then, have lost three times as a five seed.
They've even lost as a three seed in the second round anyway.
But it is certainly disappointing.
There's still some sting to it here even a couple of days later.
And if you take a step back and you look at the tournament as a whole, yeah, it's happened to everybody.
There were several upsets in the first couple of rounds of the NCAA tournament.
So it's not just the Badgers being a power conference team that lost.
But what was different, I think, a bit this year, is that I think people
saw this kind of coming, Jake, because the Badgers did really well against the top teams of the schedule.
They won on the road in some almost impossible places, but they had some real head scratching losses this year, too.
And I think that was kind of foreshadowing a bit for what happened against High Point.
Right.
And I mean, I mean, it goes back to that volatility.
It's that roller coaster.
Someone, I think, my buddy Bart Towarvik for T-Rank, you know, former contributor when we were both at Bucky's fifth quarter, he had said, told me like last week that, you know, they're Jekyll and Hyde.
At times and then you go up in I mean they shouldn't have lost that game against Oregon on the road I mean they attempted what the school record like 44 45 three pointers, you know, there's certain games or I mean the home loss to USC they should have won and It's a that's the way this team was and I mean a lot of that goes towards I mean if you're gonna be building a team that likes to shoot from the perimeter when you go cold man, that's killer and if you're I mean in this
There are times where you saw like we talked about this I think throughout the season that the identity like that's got them to moving up to a five seed and having that late surge and from you know, January through The early part of March was that toughness and that grittiness that was shown on the and the effort plays that were necessarily seen in the beginning of the season during non-conference play And it's and so you saw that but you saw a little bit of that during the game, but you know you saw
High point do a little bit more.
And so, I mean, like you said, that's where, uh, you know, and for that matter, you know, Wisconsin didn't shoot bad from three point range against high point.
I'm just looking at the stats, right?
I mean, in the second half, they didn't shoot well.
They shot, I mean, shot 33%.
Um, and they shot nearly 40% for the game, but, uh, it's also like when the defense isn't necessarily, um,
I don't think it'll ever be up to the Bull Ryan standards of how much of a stickler bow was when it came to defense.
But when you have, it's just, one, it's a different type of game now and whatnot, but it's, yeah, it's just, there's a lot that goes into this with this team that you saw the progress and you saw the hints of the identity, but it just,
Not all that clicked when it absolutely needed to and that you know on Thursday, and that's why they're going home.
Did you think Jake that this was kind of the as sad as it is the perfect ending to Badger basketball season this year?
Because frankly, to me, it felt exactly how I sort of thought it would.
Last week we were talking, they're either going to be a really, really good March Madness deep run, or they're going to lose to somebody that you think they should beat, and they're not going to play well defensively.
That's kind of what we saw, right?
Yeah, I think a perfect ending would have been like, they go up to the...
I feel like, you know, like, I think the ending in terms of this type of way with how volatile this team is from that standpoint, I think it's the perfect ending.
I think a perfect ending for just what you saw for the second half of the season would have been, hey, they beat High Point in a gritty one.
They beat Arkansas and then they go into sweet 16 and they give, you know, and maybe they upset, you know, whoever they face there and then they lose to a lower rank seed trying to get to the final four.
And that's just my, maybe that's my
Poetic maybe it's just having a I won't say necessarily a darker sense of humor But just a just seeing how this team worked where hey, they can I think we saw this team You know play the you know really well against the michigans You know they beat michigan on the road and then they take michigan to you know To the limit last second
in the Big Ten tournament in a neutral court without one of their best players in Nolan Winter.
You saw what they did against Illinois twice.
And so that's where, you know, in terms of wins.
And you saw what they did, you know, at home Michigan State, like in Purdue.
So yeah, there's so much positive with this team with just what they were able to prove.
And so, I mean, it was a high, high ceiling team.
I could have seen them go to the final four.
I I wasn't able to make it out to Portland But I put in credentials just to make sure just in case like in San Jose would have been the second weekend for the west regional I wouldn't be able to make it out there because ticket prices are crazy But uh, you know if they would have made it to the final four.
Yeah, I would have made Would have made the trip out there and because that's why I thought this team could I mean could surprise I mean if you're gonna be Michigan if you're gonna be Illinois if you're gonna be Purdue Yeah, man
Like in michigan state.
Yeah, they could make it up to the final four and but that's like we mentioned before that then it's a It's a low floor where hey, you lose the organ and not saying High points organ right, but it's it's you know, but high point
Deserve you know deservedly had 30 plus wins this season.
So but it's also just a very much Yeah, it is kind of just what I think it does is it's a microcosm of this team I think is is a really good app description of just that loss was hey, you saw the great guard play you saw You know, you saw this team 17 assists on 31 baskets.
I mean, they're able to pass the ball really well this season But the other thing I would say too is this I mean who else stepped, you know
Austin Rapp stepped up a little bit, but you know, they're still in consistent play with some of the big guys and not getting as many contributions.
And I mean, Nolan Winter, you know, had eight points and played 20 minutes, but he was coming back from injury too.
So, I mean, you saw the, you know, defensive lapses at times.
Jake Kokersky of BadgerObserver and BadgerObserver.com.
You can read more of a recap on all the things that happened on Thursday in the NCAA tournament with the Badgers, including
Greg guards of post game press conference where he said this sucks today sucks Just a pretty good summation of feelings for pretty much any Badgers fan that day, but Jake before we let you go I just want to be a little forward thinking on basketball What's the roster look like now going in the next year knowing that there's going to be some transfer portal stuff that happens between now and The start of practices in the fall.
Yeah, no, and there's yeah, there's so much going on forward thinking not just
basketball, but volleyball, they have a match next week at Marquette to start their spring and then spring football.
So it's going to get very busy at Badger Observer.
And then trying to even think about basketball is going to be the next thing is, well, I mean, Gonsnick Boyd, I mean, Andrew Rode, Braden Carrington, you know, are going to be the key names in terms of them, you know, exhausting their eligibility and their key contributors this season.
So how's Wisconsin going to replenish that backcourt again?
And then what
What what do they do?
I think in in the interior Do they try to free fortify austere rapt and alexis billiaskus took some major steps?
I feel and can they and then you know, Nolan winter You know Continue to add strength and and add you know presence in the you know in the interior of the court That's gonna be the next question.
Can you know can there be?
more rim protection, that's going to be one thing to watch as well.
So, I mean, with every basketball roster, it feels like every year they turn over rosters and we saw how much Wisconsin's turned over last season after the John Tanje year.
And so, I mean, it's almost, it's a to be determined because we just don't know how everything shapes out.
But as always, Badger Observer will try to keep track of everything and let people know what's next.
Well, what is next, too?
And what's happening now?
And I think we'll talk more about this next week is spring ball is starting up.
And I know it's not like it was in the past where we got the spring football game and people could come out and see kind of what was going to be on the field in the fall.
But spring football is here.
And Jake, we had about a minute here.
We know about the disappointment of basketball.
There's quite a similar feeling of football the last couple of years, too, under coach Luke Fickle.
And I know Badger's football, for them, the schedule this year is a little more favorable.
But at the same time, I think people are curious to see if this team can return to at least getting to a bowl game in 2026.
I mean, I think that should be the absolute least that benchmark for this team.
And with the schedule that they have, just after I talk to you guys, be heading down to Camp Randall Stadium for a little Saturday morning practice to watch.
It'll be a second one.
Medeo has been able to view.
And there is a lot of questions to answer with this team.
And I was going to write an article about it, but I feel like there are
Question marks outside of one or two position groups for for for this program right now in terms of all the roster turnover And I also on badger observer if you're trying to figure out which badger is having which jersey number now I got you covered I got a little handy study guide for y'all to make sure you guys are set to go there so it's but yeah, it's it's you know, hope springs eternal
if that's the right terminology.
And so we'll see.
It'll be the second spring practice.
We'll be able to view apparent, appears all of them going forward.
And Badger Observer will break down all of what transpires inside Wisconsin's facilities coming
up.
All right.
Well, we'll talk to you more about Badger's football next week.
But for now, we're going to go back to looking at our busted brackets after Wisconsin loses earlier this week in men's basketball.
Jake, thank you for joining us and look forward to talking to you again next week.
Awesome.
Y'all enjoy the weather out there.
We'll talk to you soon.
Jake Kokorowski, Badger Observer, back after this to wrap
things up on make the call part of the Civic Media Radio Network.
One final time here on Make the Call, part of the Civic Media Radio Network, Parker Gray.
It is time for our final sports thoughts of the week, and I will start with Gray.
What is your final sports thought for the week as we sit here after I know you've been busy in the office the last couple of days?
I haven't.
I've just been watching TV, but that's my job.
I'm the sports director.
This is what I get paid to do.
For you, I'm sure you've been much more busy.
What are your final sports thoughts for the week, man?
It's more like day nightmareing the eulogy to the rest of my bracket.
It's just a matter of time at this point.
If your bracket looks anything like mine and you have a bail option and eject your seat, some lever you can pull to remove yourself from the space quickly, I completely recommend it.
I'm something like 130 out of a group of 160 something right now and the
30 people below me didn't even pick their tiebreaker.
Like, I'm below the people who got their name right on the SAT right now.
That's my final enduring and will remain a thought on sports on my mind.
Parker, can we cleanse the palette from what I just said, please?
would say for me after the Badgers loss of the NCAA tournament, the most compelling storyline left was the battle of the ice tease Arizona versus Long Island.
That was the only game I cared about.
And now that game is done.
I have nothing to watch for the tournament.
My bracket is still broken.
I don't even know.
I know somebody whose bracket isn't broken.
And that's Mike Clemens.
He joins us here in about 20 seconds, but I.
I'm telling you guys, March Madness, you get so hyped for it.
The first couple of days are amazing.
You've got four games on one screen going, and then all of a sudden, the teams that you thought would be good aren't good, and it's over.
That's where I'm at.
I'm right there with you guys.
Opening day, as you said, is here.
Spring is here.
Warm weather is here today.
It's 1,000 degrees here in southern Wisconsin.
Appreciate you guys.
Have a good rest of your
We have Mike Clements coming up now with a sports update.
We'll get a full look at all things sports with Mike right now.
It has been Make the Call, the Civic Media Radio Network.
Have a great weekend, everybody.
Wisconsin with a shot at the title.
Good morning on Mike Clemens with sports.
We begin with women's kalachaki.
The Wisconsin Badgers team headed to the title game in the frozen four going on at the Penn State campus in Pennsylvania.
The Badgers women beat the host team Penn State in a thriller last night four to three game going into overtime.
The Badgers now take on the Ohio State Buckeyes tomorrow afternoon at three o'clock.
This is the 17th time.
The Badgers women's hockey team has made it to the Final Four.
They returned to this tournament the last four years in a row under head coach Mark Johnson, who was asked how hard is it to get this team to appreciate how special this opportunity is?
Yeah, I mean, that's, you know, the battle you have to fight is, you know, when expectations are so high.
You know, I never take it for granted because I know how hard and difficult it is trying to get the players to understand that and buy into it early on in the season and then be consistent throughout the season and get through these.
things that happen.
And then at the end...
Yeah, you're in a position to go to the frozen four again and you're, you know, maybe you mean your national champions, but knowing that, you know, each step now is more challenging and more difficult.
So your focus stays on what can we do to give ourselves a chance to win that game.
Men's College basketball.
Yeah, it was one and done this week for the Wisconsin Badgers when they lost to the High Point Panthers 83 to 82 on Thursday in the NCAA tournament.
Was it a bad performance by Wisconsin?
Had coach Greg Guard after the season ending loss.
I think we played bad.
I thought they beat us.
They beat us.
They were banging in that many threes.
That was their chance to do that and credit to them, tip your gap to them, that they were able to make shots, then take more and make more than they have in a long time.
Nick Boyd was such an addition to the team this year, a transfer from San Diego State and led the scoring for the Badgers in this game.
There was an interesting confrontation he had with a reporter in the locker room after the game.
The question was, was this year's Badgers team
overrated.
It's hard to say this
was a great team.
Why'd you hit
it?
Why'd you hit it?
Tell me.
Make the case a great team.
Why not?
Why not?
in terms
of
how this ended?
I mean, you know, great teams make it to Mars Madness.
How it points to a great team, you know what I'm saying?
It is what it is.
Like, it's only 64 teams that allowed to step foot on that court right there.
You know what I mean?
So you got to be a great team to get there.
And, you know, if there were no upsets in the sense, there would be no Mars Madness.
So like I said, you know, it happens.
You tip your cap and not say we're not a great team.
I mean, so what's up?
What did you think?
I don't know.
It's tough.
I think it's a tough season to define.
You're certainly a good team, a team that loses
in the first show on the NCAA tournament.
I don't know.
What did you think about it?
Was it a bad team?
It's not bad.
Good.
All right.
I guess
I can.
Not quite great.
OK.
I guess I can agree with you on that a little bit.
It's just hard.
It's really hard to define.
To define?
What do you mean?
I just think it's hard to label what this season was.
You guys had four wins over top 10 teams.
What type of teams do that?
Right.
Exactly.
So what are you going to call us this?
I don't know.
That's the problem.
There's a history before you got here.
This program just not being able to get over
Yeah,
I mean, this is a great program.
So I mean, I guess you gotta call it what it is tradition, history wins his losses.
Yeah, I mean, I think any coach in the country would take 24 and 11.
So I'm proud of that.
I say it's a great team.
That was the Badger senior Nick Boyd in the NBA.
Another turbulent week for the Milwaukee Bucks.
First, Yannis and Ted Acupo went down with another injury.
This time a hyper extended knee.
Then came another story about the Bucks from ESPN that claimed the team wants to shut down Giannis for the rest of the season, but that he still wants to return and play on Thursday.
The Bucks were blown up by one of the worst teams in the league that Utah Jazz 128 to 96.
a 32-point loss at Coach Doc Rivers.
We played awful.
Didn't play with any competitive spirit tonight.
I thought the first group set the tone.
I thought the first group came in.
Everyone on the team, that group was trying to score.
So funny, we had a shoot around the day where the ball was moving.
everything was second action first six times.
The guy who was supposed to go to kept it and you know, at the end of the day, that's on me to get on the play.
Right?
Rivers praised the effort of two players, Ryan Rollins and veteran Bobby Portas, who was asked, is the season basically over now for the Bucks?
It is what it is.
13 games left in the season.
You know, it's trying to build off of it and give forth the good effort every time we out there.
Obviously today was super disappointing and you probably never want to lose a game like that.
right but you know play every other day the rest of the year so you know there's plenty of opportunities to go out there and you know keep guys locked in and just keep building like I said man it's been a up and down year like going on but I'm in a fight though so I ain't laying down.
That's Bobby Portas the Bucks in Phoenix tonight to play the Sun's tip of time 9 p.m.
with sports on Mike Clemens.
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