It's time for Make the Call, a weekly discussion on the top Wisconsin sports stories of the week.
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Now, it's time for Make the Call, the Civic Media sports production.
Good morning to you.
Thank you for joining us here on Make the Call, the Civic Media radio network.
No, we are not in another daylight savings time warp.
It is eight in the morning and it is
the live version of it all.
We have moved times from 7am to 8am.
And that means that for those of you who normally tune in at 8 and hear something else, well, now you're stuck with us for the next hour.
So give us a chance.
Join us for some sports talk and some fun and welcome in it is make the call It's been on civic media airwaves here for the past several months.
I am Jimmy Cusco the sports director for civic media and Every week I am joined by a couple of knuckleheads here at the civic media crew that includes Parker vertical Olson Parker in Madison
How are you?
What are you doing with the extra hour of sleep we now get with the show moving to eight o'clock?
Well, I didn't remember this morning because it's brand new.
So I woke up and went, man, I'm ready.
I'm excited for this.
And went, oh, I could have slept in.
So yeah.
And of
course, and of course, we also have Gray upper management Gunderson from Park Falls joining us.
Gray, what's up?
You get it.
You get another old man answer out of me, Jimmy.
It's the same thing for me.
I do a morning show every weekday at 6 a.m.
so I'm up at five no matter what.
So like on a weekends, like I get up two hours before my girlfriend and she already hates that, but I do it on weekends and it's like four hours earlier.
So I already have enough of this topic in my weekend.
So it's lunchtime for you.
I will say as a parent that later starts being nothing.
Kids get up whenever kids feel like it and it's always
at least two hours earlier than they need to be up.
So same thing with Huskies as it turns out, then I've got both.
So there you go.
We are all up at eight o'clock in the morning.
We promised to be more energetic than we were at seven o'clock.
But we don't promise that.
We're just going to do our normal thing.
So we have a segment that we start to show off that we've always called the top seven at seven.
It doesn't make any more sense because we're not at seven a.m.
anymore.
Now we're at eight a.m.
So now we are doing what is called the brand new segment top eight at eight.
It's brand new.
It's shiny.
It's the same exact thing as before.
We've just added in a number to the digits here.
So what we do in the top eight and eight is we're going to do the top eight sports or not sports stories from the week and give you a quick rundown on each of them between Parker, Gray, and myself.
We will offer some very, very insightful answers to the burning questions of the week.
And we start at number eight.
There are expansion teams happening.
All over the place right the NBA and now getting getting ready to announce a couple of expansion teams So my question to you guys is if you could have an expansion team placed in any major sport, where would you put it?
We'll start with you Gray
Well, I'll tell you, I love the expansions being discussed in the NBA right now, because we've seen how nicely organized a 32 team league can be.
So it looks like we'll be cracking that number, right?
I saw there's two expansion teams for the NBA.
That'll bring it up to 32.
I would bring a hockey team back to Wisconsin, though.
We should not be cheering on any Chicago, anything.
The Blackhawks rock.
But whatever you put in Milwaukee is going to be better.
That's where we need an expansion team.
NHL, Wisconsin.
That's the right answer.
I mean, I can't really contest that at all.
I will add to this, though, and say, baseball and Nashville.
We've got the Nashville sounds there, the Brewers, I believe, AAA affiliate there.
I wouldn't mind having some pro baseball.
Major League, the top tier of baseball in Nashville.
That seems like a city that could use some real fun baseball.
So, you see, those are my top two answers.
I think hockey and Milwaukee would be great.
The Admirals do exist, by the way.
The Admirals are a pretty outstanding AHL program, but...
Having an NHL team in Wisconsin feels deserved, especially given that there's a lot of talent at hockey that comes out of this state.
I know that firsthand because this morning I'm here doing the show from Green Bay, where I am covering some hockey national championships for youth hockey.
So there's a lot of hockey, good things happening here in Wisconsin and happening all across the board.
Let's move to number seven in our top eight at eight.
And my question is this, and don't take this as
Um, anything but what, you know, I know all of our brackets are already on fire at a trash can somewhere, but I gotta ask, are you guys interested in the rest of this NCAA tournament?
somewhat I'll say yes even though all the teams you know my chosen champion is still there but my bracket is dead it died when high point did what high point did last week but my interest comes from moments like a couple days ago watching Purdue you get like a down to the last second like is that going to be a goal-tending penalty that ends this game in a different direction it's those kinds of things the in the moment excitements the things you can't plan for but I will say that I'm a little less excited than I was before Parker you still in it.
I'm still in it exactly for the reasons that you're talking about, right?
It is still the NCAA tournament, it is still March Madness.
There's always going to be excitement there.
I will say I'm not really caring about any teams in particular that have my intention.
It is purely who I have picked on my bracket, and my bracket does great for the first weekend.
This is an annual thing.
I do great for the first couple of rounds, and then that's so hot.
So not a lot of teams are really root for me anymore.
I mean, when Cinderella is Iowa, I have a really hard time getting
into
it.
Just saying.
But the Big Ten is well represented.
So I am curious to see if the Big Ten can continue to do some big things here in the Elite Eight and going into the Final Four next week.
Number six in our top eight at eight.
And my question is simply this.
Is Wisconsin a hockey state?
Consider.
Badgers women's hockey has won every national championship for the last while like 30 years something like that I don't know they've it just feels like every year It's another national title for Bucky the men's team
is still going.
They play in the NCAA tournament today against Michigan State in the afternoon.
You'll hear that on our Wisconsin Rapid Station WFHR.
Of course, you've got, we talked about just a couple of questions ago.
The admirals in the AHL, they've been a very successful program.
High school hockey has started producing some pretty outstanding teams.
There's for the second year, national championships and youth hockey happening in Green Bay.
That's where I'm at covering things this weekend.
So my question is pretty simple.
Is Wisconsin?
a hockey state.
I'm gonna say yes and I'm gonna use math here.
If you take the number of minor kids with mullets and you subtract from that number, the number of these kids who wear leather boots, you're gonna get a number that represents the number of hockey players in this state.
What I'm saying is the number of mullets is directly proportional to the number of high school hockey players and there's so many out there.
It's an ocean.
If I could ask the state, are we a hockey state?
The mullets would rise up and say, yeah!
And I'm just going to go with their answer.
Parker, what do you think?
I don't know if that math is math, but here's some math I've got for you.
The women's team, they've got nine national titles.
I love the fact that Mark Johnson has more national championship trophies than he has grandkids.
And the men's hockey team in Wisconsin also has, I believe it's six national titles.
I can do that math, and that is a lot.
That means, yes, Wisconsin is surely a hockey state.
Parker earning new nicknames, Fax and Logic Olson over there.
You can extend that to division three where River Falls
just picked
up another women's hockey national championship.
Stumped men's hockey in the final four.
So there's definitely a lot going forward, too.
I would say yes as well.
I'm from Northwestern, Wisconsin, where you're bordering what Minnesota called itself the state of hockey.
But what have they done lately?
You know,
they fired a couple
coaches.
Yeah, they fire their coaches.
Yeah, they do have an NHL team though, and that's something Wisconsin does not have.
Number five at the top 8-8.
Very simple question.
Opening day starter Jacob Mizorowski, how high can he go?
He made the all-star game last year.
Opening day starter this year.
This has been a rapid ascent for him.
Well, and when that happens, Jimmy, the only remaining question is how long can it be sustained?
You know, you look at the greatest pitchers of Brewers history, the names are there.
So like it becomes a question of, I have no idea, but that exact question.
that it's worth asking is why I'm so excited with it.
I am a Miz fan 100%.
How high can he go?
We don't know and that's what makes it so worth watching.
Parker, what do you think when you think of the peak of the Miz?
Well, the Miz, how high can he go?
At least 103 miles an hour, I think, is about the answer.
I was
going to say 6'4", you got me, you got me.
Six foot four, I think he's like six foot seven.
He's a tall guy.
Is he really?
Yeah, I think so.
Power forward.
Yeah, he is.
He's six seven one ninety seven.
How does he not blow off on the wind?
But yeah, man, I think that he can go very high.
Obviously, he's already made the All-Star game.
debate around that as you like.
What I think that his goal for this year is to be able to hold that consistency throughout the season of how good he can be because he was really good at the start.
He's proven to be pretty good in a high pressure situations.
We saw that in the playoffs last year, but he kind of had a tough time after that all-star game.
So we really need to see him have that consistency.
And I think that he can go that high.
Guys, you know, that whole time we just talked about him.
He just struck out at other chicago white socks.
Just oh my god Number four the top eight at eight and guess what?
It's a bucks question.
So everybody get excited here because the bucks have been pretty bad and They're guaranteed a losing season this year They have no shot of making the postseason and their lottery is pretty much set.
They're gonna be somewhere around Double digit pick so I have to ask this the bucks are gonna have to rebuild this thing again somehow and I'm curious if there are any bucks not named Yanis the tenant koonpo in the current roster that you'd like to keep around for
Why
would I give you a straightforward answer when I could curve it a little bit and say maybe but do we even know right now like what do these guys look like without the overshadowing Yanis question and the building and like there's the fingerprints of building the team around Yanis even when he's not there on the court so remove him what fills that gap until we have the answer to that question I don't even know if I feel like we can answer this you know is there anybody worth keeping maybe but we're not going to know until it's too late Parker who do you keep if anybody
That's a really good point, Gray.
I'm looking at Ryan Rollins and I think I'm Porter Jr.
Just a couple of guys who, I mean, they're putting up the stats right now.
Like you said, though, when you take Yanis out of the equation, what does that make these guys?
Does that make them better?
Because maybe there's someone, they're a little higher up on the food chain.
Let's put it that way.
Or are they worse because they don't have a superstar that's feeding them quite as much?
I don't know.
I would like to see how they would do without Yanis, though, those two guys.
They have surrounded Yanis with shooters basically and those guys are are gonna be valuable in the NBA no matter where they go They've got all kinds of guys that can hit freeze from the outside But I'm with you guys It's hard to know what the Bucks can do without Yanis and what they would have to do right now was constructed without Yanis.
It's a team that that
really doesn't have an identity, and quite frankly, on defense, don't have a chance.
This is not a team that is built to sustain NBA, facing NBA offenses to great effect.
Number two.
Or number three, I'm sorry.
Wow.
I'm miscounting things already in the top eight at eight.
And this is the concern.
Any concerns at the Brewers roster here as we get started.
Uh, let's, you know, of course, with Cheerio, uh, being out with the hand injury that he sustained in the world baseball classic, um, just some of the off season moves and, and seeing some of how those things panned out an opening day.
I'm just curious if you have any lingering concerns with this Brewers roster as we get started here at the 2026 season.
I'll go ahead and say no right away.
And also, Jimmy, I'm not going to let you get away with pretending you didn't include the word choreo.
No.
In the in the notes there, that's listed there.
Choreo.
No.
I'm not too concerned unless that becomes a lingering injury.
Anytime you play and then you're back out like Jackson's been, it's like, if that keeps happening the back and forth, then I get nervous.
But I want to circle back to the Miz question a couple back.
The thing that I love the most about that performance the other day was how it started.
the leadoff Homer.
It looked like it was going to start the wrong way, and then he put up a historic opening day performance.
That speaks to the mentality of, hopefully, the rest of the team.
Obviously, the Miz is locked in even after a rough start.
If the rest of the team can say the same, how high can the Brewers go becomes my question.
What do you guys think?
Oh, great.
I think they can go very high.
I think that they've currently got, I believe it was Blake Perkins that they brought up.
with the charioting and go on the injury list right now.
Blake Perkins is a guy who's got major league experience already because he's been with the Brewers and he's bounced up and down a little bit and he's been fine.
He's not a flaw in the system by any means.
Joey Ortiz.
He's actually hitting for once.
Very excited about that.
He's kind of carried over what he was doing in the World Baseball Classic into this MLB season now.
I do want to say real quick about Cheerio with the regular season now.
Or that what you were saying about the lingering injury, perhaps, he got hurt from a hit by pitch on his hand in the World Baseball Classic and he re-aggravated it on a check swing against the Reds in spring training.
That concerns me.
That might be lingering and I hope that they can reel that in.
We'll talk a little bit more about the Brewers and opening day coming up in our next segment.
But so what we have to do now is take a pause and whenever we turn, we'll finish off our top eight at eight here.
I'll make the call a part of the Civic Media radio network.
Welcome back to Make the Call on Civic Media.
We continue along with our top eight at age here on Make the Call on the Civic Media Radio Network.
We have made it to number two on our list and this is a football question and this is mandated by upper management that we include this specifically for a certain member of management who happens to be on this show and our question at number two.
is great at the Packers in free agency.
It's not really a question.
We're asking for a letter grade for what the Packers have done in free agency.
So we turn it over to management and make sure that we fulfill
the wishes and requirements of the contract.
Gray, what are we looking at in Packers and Free Agency?
Jimmy, thank you for following my off air instructions so precisely.
I couldn't have written that script better or followed it better on your behalf.
And wow, how kind those words are about me every time we talk.
Actually, let's break it down nice and simple.
The Packers and Free Agency, first of all, they've made moves.
So they're disqualified from that absolute bottom tier F minus kind of thing.
The moves that they've made,
actually made a little bit of sense.
You can tell they lost a linebacker, they signed a linebacker, they lost a corner, they signed a corner.
So right out of the bat, I'm going to bring them out of that D minus kind of category.
So where are we at?
I'm going to say the Packers get a B minus because like I just said, their moves address the needs they have.
But there was room for more aggression here.
There was the opportunity to replace a kicker.
There was the opportunity to go out and get bigger names.
I'm not going to call that a knock, but it was opportunity passed up on.
So my offseason grade is a B minus with room to improve to about a B plus.
I've got concerns about Zaire Franklin's performance within the Jonathan Gannon system.
But that's where I'll stop because there's so many questions.
Is Gannon even going to run a pure three four?
Is he going to blend it with a little bit of four three?
Who knows?
And I don't know if I want to know the answer to that question because blended defenses get a little bit weird, but B-minus.
Parker, are you higher, lower?
Am I at the betting line here?
You're actually right on the betting line.
I was also thinking B-minus.
And for the reasons that you have brought up as well, I think that they have done what they've needed to do.
However, they have not done anything that has gotten me more excited.
I guess is the way that I'll put it is at least in free agency.
Um, I am more excited about a couple of the coaches, I believe.
Um, but yeah, no, I'm not, I'm not saying that they've done anything that has gotten me like, we're going to win the division.
Maybe it's like, no, we are at least where we were definitely would.
I was not expecting another blockbuster like, um, Michael Parsons, but I would have liked to name that I was like, Oh,
okay.
To rephrase it simply, I would argue that they've built the foundations for what they need to do, but we still need to watch them build the house on top of that.
Like the pieces are there.
They obviously know what's needed.
Rich Basaccia is gone.
Whether he was quit or fired doesn't matter anymore.
But what do they do with what they've started with?
Because there's just like they did last season.
Xavier McKinney said it.
A lot of teams start 2-0 and don't amount to anything.
The Packers are 2-0 in the offseason, as far as I'm concerned right now.
Got the simple yeses and the no's, crossed the T's, dotted the I's.
But now what?
Jimmy, I'm curious, do you see as a football coach, do you see the right moves being made or do you think there's a hole there?
I
think I'm going to be a little more bullish on the grade.
I would say it's B or even B plus territory.
And this is because of this reason, they didn't overpay anybody who ended up making megabucks somewhere else.
So they did not shoestring or hamstring themselves into a contract situation at positions where they either got talent or they've had a history of developing talent.
Wide receiver.
Edge rusher very expensive positions and the Packers made able to find guys there.
Edge rusher specifically, they have Micah Parsons.
So having Rashon Gehry or the other guys that they've let walk in free agency.
I feel like in the draft, you can find a guy to take some snaps off there.
You might find someone a street free agent to help take some of the heat off of Parsons at that position.
But when you're adjusting to a defense, maybe you don't need as many of those type of guys.
You just need some guys to keep Micah Parsons healthy and on the field.
And at wide receiver, well, that's always been kind of a position.
and by committee, they will miss the steady hands of Romeo dubs.
But at the same time, they have done a really good job with wide receiver rooms that, frankly, have had very little in it from the outside.
And then they go and they still manage to throw for 4,000 yards.
And they got to throw to somebody.
They've got great tight ends.
They've got the running back situation more or less sort of figured out.
They still need to back up on there.
But I really feel like the Packers did everything they needed to.
And the biggest thing, they didn't overpay for anybody that really
lock them into some more long-term deals, which they're already pretty well tied up with love and Parsons.
That's why like 60% of the roster right now, in terms of the money.
But we have to move on for the Packers as much as we could spend the whole show talking Packers for the agency.
I promise that when we get to draft week, that's all we're gonna talk about.
It's probably the Packers.
I love the NFL draft.
That's all we're going to do that week.
But we have to get to our number one question and our number one in the top eight at eight.
And we got about two minutes to do this, guys.
I need your overreactions from Brewer's opening day.
What is the biggest takeaway we can have from a 14 to two win over the White Sox on Thursday?
We've just seen the best and first opening career start for the future best Brewer's pitcher of all time.
All time.
You want the efficiency of Brandon Woodruff?
You want the longevity of Slayton?
Okay, he's gonna have to get one of those to get the other, but I'm betting on it.
I'm putting money on it.
The Miz is the one.
He's him.
Parker, what's your bold prediction?
I mean, David Hamilton got my attention.
That guy, he might be the most Pat Murphy baseball player, brewer I've ever seen.
I mean, making a...
Making a play barehanded at third base.
I don't even think that he's been that much of a third baseman before, if I'm remembering right.
And to do it at MLB at least.
And then he's got an infield hit.
I love that.
I love seeing the guy with wheels get down the baseline.
That's good stuff.
I think that he might be the most Brewer Brewer that we've seen in a bit here.
Jimmy, what about you?
Bryce Terang is going to be the next guy you're going to see on all the national promo cards for the Brewers.
I mean, besides Mizraowski, besides the usual suspects, he really
came out.
He had kind of a breakout world baseball classic and it got the attention of a lot of people.
He had a lot of highlights in that.
I just, I really see him as being kind of the next, you know, the next brewer.
I mean, we start this all the time with Brewer's Stars, but he's like the next guy that's coming up for the Brewers.
And at the same time, the cynic in me is like, well, he's probably the next guy too.
That's going to be a Dodger because
When the brewers develop someone good in their system, it's only a matter of time before they're signing a nine-figure deal to play somewhere else.
That being said, leaving the Seneca side for a moment, the fact that the brewers have stars at different positions, and they're doing this on, again, we talk about budgets.
a pretty small budget.
It tells you a lot about the brewer's ability to develop through the minor leagues and find the right time to promote these guys to the major leagues.
They still have a lot on the way too.
And that's what's exciting about being a brewer's fan is that, you know, hey, there's some pretty cool things happening already, despite the fact that they can't sign guys to $200 million deals, but there's still more on the way.
And there's some big prospects coming up yet for Milwaukee.
Speaking of big things coming up, the Wisconsin Badgers are finding success in a lot of sports.
And they still have a couple of teams going in the post-season, even as of this weekend with Ben Socky, and with his basketball.
Ben Sock, all things badgers, with that Jake Kokorowski of Badger Observer.
We do that next right here on Make the Call on the Civic Media Radio Network.
Welcome back to Make the Call on Civic Media.
It's the bottom of the hour, which means it's time to talk for one final time this academic sports season about the Wisconsin Badgers.
And joining us is Jake Kokorowski of Badger Observer.
Jake, it would be great to be talking about Wisconsin's place among the 83 Big 10 teams left in the NCAA tournament, but.
The Badgers have long been out losing to High Point in the first game of this tournament.
We still have a lot of Big Ten teams going, but I got to start just by asking about the Badgers and whether or not we feel any differently about the end of the season for Wisconsin here now over a week later.
Wisconsin lost to High Point on that Thursday game.
you know, last week, that first run of the NCAA tournament, is there anything that we feel is different about how the season ended for Wisconsin?
I think it's still, it's okay to be obviously disappointed.
I mean, it's a round of 64.
I mean, the opening first round, it's a team that, I mean, you look back at what High Point did to Arkansas and like how close they came and kept it close.
And so that's why they call it, they say this is March.
I mean, that's why you have all the apparel, you have all the slogans as we have all the tweets for that.
But it is, I mean, it's one of those things where you have a matchup that, like I said, I thought the matchup was going to be advantageous because of the lack of size on High Point and the fact that Wisconsin can match the tempo.
But we've also saw that, again, High Point made some crazy shots and Wisconsin's defense just isn't what
it used to be, you know, in terms of the Bull Ryan-esque type of, you know, what you've seen with those teams.
But I will say, you know, yeah, you still can remember, you know, Nick Boyd, who should have been a first team all Big Ten selection.
Quite possibly an all-american selection, you know doing what he did and you can appreciate the wins You know at Michigan take in Michigan into the Big Ten tournament You know, maybe if they win who knows if they bump up, you know even further in the NCAA tournament in terms of seating But you also beat Illinois twice
Michigan State at home, you know Purdue on the road and But yeah, you know, so you can appreciate it.
But yeah, it's also just a hey look how many teams big 10 teams got to the sweet 16 look what Iowa just did to Nebraska, you know a couple days ago and you know and Head into the elite eight in Wisconsin, you know, it's so yeah, it's okay to appreciate but it's also Hey, what if?
And that's the way I mean, that's kind of the central questions now going forward underneath Greg Guard is, you know, moving forward.
I think he is the right coach in this and he's evolved and he's, you know, utilized the transfer portal great.
They've also recruited the talent and, you know, to, you know,
in terms of high school recruiting to help supplement and also gone overseas.
So I think the roster setup and the makeup, you know, and how they've evolved with this current landscape of college athletics is good.
Now it's just, I mean, it's a question everyone's been asking, you know, since what, 2017, getting to the sweet 16, when are they going to make it back to the sweet 16?
Jake here, I think that is kind of the main question that a lot of Badger fans have on their mind right now is,
Is Greg Guard the guy who can get them back deep into the NCAA tournament, right?
We saw how quickly Chris McIntosh kind of pulled the trigger on Paul Christ for football, right?
He was a team that was still going to bowl games and was doing fine, but decided to make a switch and we've seen how that turned out.
Some people more optimistic about the fickle these days than back then.
What do you what is your take on how long the leash is for guard?
What is the standard for him coming from athletics department?
Does he need to get deep into tournaments or is round to 64 every year fine?
I mean I the way college athletics is I mean and it's hard because it's it's hard with it's apples to oranges a little bit with just how football is compared to basketball and how much revenue football brings in I'm not saying basketball
men's basketball doesn't, but it's also you have with, you know, football, just how key of a driver it is, the athletic department.
And you saw, I mean, I think there are a lot of things going on with football that, that where the change came through.
And with how basketball is, you know, and it's tougher even now, because let's take a look.
I know you talked about Chris making a change, but, you know, or Macintosh.
the athletic director, Chris McIntosh, making the change from Paul Chris to Jim Leonard, and then to Luke Fickle.
Well, they didn't make the change from Luke Fickle to somebody else this off season as well, where this team, they're in midst of what became a six game losing streak, especially after that Ohio State, after that Iowa game where they lost four in a row.
I mean, I don't know if I've seen a vibes as low as that's ever been since I've covered the team in that regard, but they kept with Fickle.
And so it's, I think with Wisconsin, with this current landscape, I mean, it's one thing too where it needs to be said of how bringing these players along and developing them in this age with entirely new rosters for men's basketball almost, right?
Like how many guys, new guys that they brought in four freshmen, they had four, and they originally had five transfers, but went down to four transfers with the alleged gray situation.
So you bring in all those new players these new faces that was a lot of scoring to that the part of the program and You have to replace, you know, and it's gonna have to happen this year too with boy, you know, Nick Boyd Andrew Rode Braden Carrington
among the key guards that need to leave.
So for me, I feel the leash is longer per se.
I don't know if there is a leash right now.
I don't think he's like, you know, if you're using the dog comparison, just walking around and going to every yard or so.
But I also feel that, I mean, you know, it's a point that needs to be discussed and just...
And I'm sure that program is one, disappointed, but two, trying to look to see what can get them to that next level.
And it all starts coming up now with the transfer portal coming up soon and just seeing what type of moves they make.
I mean, the biggest thing too is also going to be, I think, a measure of.
Retention of retention is retaining players, you know like in terms of retaining guard is like okay.
What's gonna happen with no one in the winter?
You know and in John Blackwell and others and like and I'm not saying you know It's more just every year.
What's what's happening?
You know, it's not I'm not speculating anything It's just one of those things of it's the way college basketball is of just you know Who's in who's out and how the roster constructs from there?
Talking to Jay Kokorowski, Badger Observer and BadgerObserver.com, where you can already find a number of features recapping the Badger's basketball season, but also getting us ready for the spring with volleyball and football, which of course are.
Ballsports having some action here the spring the Badgers have their their annual I guess the volleyball I don't want to call it barnstorming But they do get to go around the state of it.
They're playing up at Eau Claire, believe it or not That's
where
I spent a long time playing at the the relatively new sodden take center Which I happened to just be by here a couple of days ago this week I went up to see my grandma and I got to sit out front of it I had never been inside of it.
So I went and took a visit of it for a vision free facility.
It's pretty awesome And I'm sure people at Northwestern was
Wisconsin will enjoy it having the Badgers in town.
But let's talk volleyball for a second before we switch to football at the end.
And just, you know, we're still accustomed to success with volleyball, much like we are with Wisconsin women's hockey and, you know, some of the women's sports, even basketball on the rise and the WBIT, they're the semifinals of that.
But volleyball has certainly set a pretty high bar for themselves.
And just curious what we're looking for this spring with Wisconsin.
Yeah, I was able to catch the match on Monday.
of the spring match, they call it a scrimmage.
I mean, you know, that's besides the point, but it's a, you know, Wisconsin's got a lot to replace, right?
I mean, Carter Booth, Alicia Andrew in the middle, and Carter Booth was, you know, all American, put up great numbers.
Of course, Mimi Collier, one of the best players in the nation last year.
You know, my first real time covering the volleyball.
Program on on a you know on a beat level and got to witness probably one of the best offensive years I'll probably ever see and Mimi Collier And so with Wisconsin to you know, you know by luggage, you know is now at Arizona State and that you know She's a key outside hitter and so the things to watch were I mean they brought in five They signed five freshmen that enrolled early and all saw action
And Hailey Thompson is an outside hitter, Audrey Flanagan.
They're starting.
They're among the first players on the court in that first set.
You have a couple of key transfers.
One of them is a third team All-American in Jaila August from Florida.
And she looked dominant when she was on the court.
And it's basically sort of like with how men's basketball was last year.
Hey, you have all these new faces.
You bring in two transfers.
five freshmen.
I know there's another freshman that committed in just a week or two ago as well.
So you're going to have a bunch of new faces for volleyball.
How do they meld?
How do they mesh?
And I thought they did a good job in the four set win.
First set was dominant Marquette.
Got them in the second set when they had switched up some linemen lineups and Wisconsin pulled out the third and fourth sets But you know, there's a lot of youth but there's a lot of talent and then you're meshing it with a transfer like Jail August or like Ava Travis from UC Santa Barbara who's an outside hitter and then kind of the the key You know the person that brings it all together is a captain and Charlie Furbringer, etc.
Who's one of the nation's best setters?
So, you know over these next
now three matches heading in, you know, through April, it's going to be watching just, hey, how are they continuing to grow?
Like what type of lineups is Kelly Sheffield trying to utilize and try to see what players could do in which areas, either in the back row, in the front row attacking, whatnot, but they are really, I would say, I mean, there's a lot of talent and it's, yeah, very much unproven, but it's going to be a fun team to just start watching, you know, now heading up to Claire in a couple of weeks.
Let's talk football for a second, Jake, because we got a few minutes left here.
And we're getting our first looks now at them in spring practices.
I think a lot of people get a much better look at them in April when they open the practices up more to, especially around the high school football coaches association convention, which happens in the middle of April.
You have a lot more eyeballs on this program this year as I really don't want to put it any other way.
I mean, this really feels like kind of make or break for the loop.
because if they can't get past four and eight or get back to a bold game at a minimum, especially given that the schedule softens for them this year, I think there's going to be a lot of people calling for change if they can't be competitive this year.
What are the early indications in spring and what are some things we can look forward to with
football?
There have been four practices so far, so they're already a quarter, more than a quarter of the way through.
They get 15 allotted spring practices, which will conclude at the end of April, which started just a couple, you know, started last week.
You know, just things to watch is quarterback situation, Colton Joseph, the transfer from Old Dominion, Sun Bell offensive player of the year, dual threat player.
You know, he's looked apart, running ball, got great legs, throwing like on Tuesday, he had a great day, airing it out.
throw and touchdown passes.
You know, it's not been consistent yet, but I don't know what to, you know, it comes to like your four spring practices into a brand new offense.
I give leeway there.
But he's had a couple of high throws here and there and whatnot with accuracy.
I'm expecting that to calm down in my eyes there.
But I think one thing is watching the battle for the number two quarterback between Deuce Adams and Carter Smith and even a freshman like Ryan Hopkins who's gotten second team reps this spring already early on.
But I think another thing to the indication, I mean, one question that is really kind of on the mind is like outside linebackers, the production off the edge with Matt Mitchell's group.
Mason Ryger's off to the NFL, Daryl Peterson the third's trying to as well.
They combine for 11-ish, 11-and-a-half sacks, 17 tackles for loss last season.
Who's gonna replace it?
The one thing that's been kind of consistent is the amount of pressure that not just one player, not just one outside linebacker has brought during these first four practices, but also, but it's been either Nick Clayton or Jalen Williams or Sebastian Cheeks or...
you know others uh Liam Danitz who's a D3 transfer from Hope College in Michigan.
They're these different players that are stepping up and I think it's a really good sign for Wisconsin uh seeing that production and um it's been positive signs so far we'll see just how it transfers the rest of the spring and into the summer and fall.
Jake Kokorowski of BadgerObserver and BadgerObserver.com.
We sign off with you for a bit, at least unless something big happens with the Badgers.
We're, of course, watching what happens in hockey, but we can find all of the breakdowns of the Badgers at BadgerObserver.com.
You can get subscribed there and have it delivered right to your inbox.
We appreciate all of your contributions, and I know we'll be talking to each other real soon here,
Jake.
Sounds great.
Y'all take care.
Yeah, we'll talk to you soon.
Jake Kokorowski, Badger Observer.
And when we return, we'll talk a little Brewers by Clemens as an update from opening day.
A couple of days ago, we'll have that next year.
I'll make the call part of the Civic Media radio network.
Welcome back to Make the Call on Civic Media.
One final time on Make the Call here on the Civic Media Radio Network.
It's almost nine o'clock, which means I have to duck off to go call some hockey.
So this is our last chance to offer up some final sports thoughts for the week.
I'm going to start with you, Parker.
Parker Vertical Olsen, your final sports thoughts for the week here as we dive into the Elite 8 today in the NCAA tournament.
And of course, it's more Brewer's baseball.
Yes, honestly, all I can think about is baseball right now.
I'm so excited to have baseball back.
Opening day, I wish.
Not on the boorers part.
The boorers did a fantastic job.
I really wish that MLB would like, plan opening day a little better.
I don't love the one game on Netflix on, what was it, a Wednesday night?
And then most games on Thursday throughout the day, and then a bunch of people off on Friday.
Not a fan of that.
Especially since the boorers are in a dome, but they don't need that off date.
They were gonna play no matter what.
That's what I'm thinking about, Jimmy.
All right, now we turn it over to Gray for his final sports thoughts for the week.
My focus is also on the diamond.
I'll pay attention a little bit to the NCAA tournament here and there, but the vibe at the at the beginning of this baseball season, it's catching me.
I've never cared this much and that sounds bad.
I know I'm a sports guy.
We're on a sports show, but I'm the football guy.
Everybody knows this.
I might be the football baseball guy.
Guys, what's happening to me?
Oh, what's happening is that baseball is a very chill sport.
It's much like football where you can relax.
You don't have to, you don't have to get, you know, your, your neck doesn't have to get all the pain in it from turning your head at every pass of the puck or shot with the basketball.
It's a very relaxed sport.
It's something you can take in and you can have a conversation around.
You can sneak off for a beverage of your choice or nachos or whatever it is.
That's one thing I love about baseball and also.
The baseball experience is fantastic between the parking lot and the tailgating.
And then, of course, being able to get into the stadium and enjoy it with you guys.
Baseball is here.
It's great.
My final sports out of the league is I'm ready for it, man.
Bring on the warm weather.
Bring on the entire pack of brats.
I'm no doubt going to consume it.
My next Brewers game in one sitting.
I am ready to go with baseball season.
Guys, we're out of time.
We got to get out of the way for my Clemens.
Thank you.
And we'll be back here next week talking more sports.
Sounds good.
Thank you, Jimmy.
Thanks, Jimmy.
Mike Clemens.
Was that opening day?
He's got an audio recorder full of things to share with you, and he does that right now.
But for now, thank you for joining us here on Make the Call, part of the Civic Media Radio Network.
Have a great weekend, everybody.
Brewer Baseball begins with a blast.
Hi, I'm Mike Clemens with Sports.
Brewer's Baseball underway.
They'll host the Chicago White Sox tonight.
First pitch at Ampham Field at 6'10".
The Brewer's kicked off the season with a 14-2 win
Over Chicago on opening day Thursday, the Brewers bats were hot.
Jake Bowers, who had seven home runs during spring training, delivered the first day of the new season.
Jeff Flavering with the call.
Bowers a fly ball to the right.
It's got the height as it at the distance.
At the wall.
It should does.
A three-run bomb for Bowers.
Now the day started out with the news that outfielder Jackson Churio will begin the season on the IL.
It turns out he suffered a hairline fracture in his finger while getting hit in the hand during an at bat for team Venezuela in the World Baseball Classic earlier this month.
Brewers manager Pat Murphy
made a decision to let it calm down and heal even more and spend about two weeks or so.
I did the fourth and then what's the date today?
I have any idea.
So far it's 22 days.
So it's been healing for three weeks.
Hopefully we can get it healed here soon and he can get back to work.
We don't think it's long term.
23 year old Jacob Mizorowski was selected as the starter in his first opening day game.
Now he gave up a home run to the White Sox leadoff batter.
The Miz then went on to strike out 11 Chicago batters setting a new franchise record.
First opening days, wild.
There's a lot of stuff going on, you know, giant flag throughout the, you know.
outfield.
So it's cool to see.
Um, but yeah, it was, uh, there's a lot of emotions going through, giving up the home run sucks.
But you know, the guy got to it and threw it up and in and he got to it and handle it.
So, oh, well, move on.
Sal Freely connected on a two run home run in the game and talked about the energy inside the ballpark in front of over 43,000 fans.
Yeah, I mean,
it's it's unbelievable right and I would even say last year as a whole not just the postseason like I can think of numerous times of Monday Tuesday Wednesday was sold out it's just awesome seeing all them come out I think we kind of knew that's what the atmosphere was going to be like today so it was no surprise to us but yeah I mean best fans in the world.
So this year's Brewers roster again is one of the youngest in the major leagues.
I asked veteran Christian Yelich
how manager Pat Murphy sets the tone in the clubhouse.
Anybody that's been around Murph knows he likes to joke around, mess around, have a good time, but there's also an element of seriousness to it and you know when it's time to be serious.
I think players know when it's time to have fun with them and joke around, but you know when it's time to lock it in and you have to do your job and there's high expectations and you have to meet those expectations.
There's going to be some discussions if you don't.
Now the Brewers gave Pat Murphy
a contract extension in the off-season and they promoted GM Matt Arnold to president of baseball operations Brewer's owner Mark Antanasio talked to us about what went into that decision.
So I'd say that you know just stepping back whether they're making it you know individual to any one person we really look to have
stability across the board.
Stability allowed us, you know, when we had a manager opening in a president baseball GM opening to just promote from within.
Matt and Murph had been here for upwards of nine years at the time of those, you know, promotions.
Murph has been the manager of the year twice, so it speaks for itself.
And so, sure, we absolutely
felt it was critical to extend him.
It also richly deserved, I believe, in rewarding people for, you know, a job well done and nobody in the National League has done a better job than Pat Murphy the last two years.
You know, Matt also is the executive of the year for two years, so that speaks for itself and that's for all of baseball.
I'll stick with my, we have a very stable.
organization and we'll always focus on that.
NBA, the Bucks host the San Antonio Spurs today at 2pm.
The Bucks have been in a nosedive this month.
Doc Rivers went off earlier this week when asked about the team losing 10 of their last 14 games.
We win the last game, right?
But my point is, yeah, but then we won the last game.
So clearly, they showed up the next game, right?
This is not like we got blown out 40 games in a row.
So the other night, we got blew out in Utah, right?
We went to Phoenix, the team that desperately needed a win.
We won that game.
Tonight, another team that desperately needs a win.
We got our butthole, so we got another game.
So I'm not going to keep on this drudge of, I just got to coach the team every night, and I got to try to push them each night.
Each night, we tried to build them.
If you were at Shoot-A-Round today, it was a great Shoot-A-Round.
The guys were all locked in, but you guys don't get to see that.
What you don't do is sit around and talk about how bad things are.
That's what you don't do, not in life either.
I'm not gonna do that.
That's the Buckshead coach, Doc Rivers, with sports on Mike Clemens.
