The Wisconsin Sportscast

In this week's episode of The Wisconsin Sportscast, the Bucks have lost to the Indiana Pacers and are out of the NBA playoffs. But that part was expected, at least it was after their first few games. What was expected was what happened after the game when John Haliburton, father of Tyrese Haliburton, got on the court and into Giannis’ face as soon as the game came to an end. Giannis handled it about as well as you would hope, both in the moment and after the game, and John Haliburton has been asked not to attend any more games this season. Let’s see if he actually sticks to that. Tyrese himself is a Wisconsin native, and possibly one of the best players to come from the state in recent years. He was a late bloomer but brough Oshkosh North to win the championship. Oates calls him a winning NBA player, one of the biggest compliments he can give. Sure, he can be a little mouthy, but for him the team comes first.

With the Buck’s latest first round ejection from the playoffs, it’s once again time to speculate about Giannis’ future with the Bucks. Will he go to Houston? Or maybe San Antonio? Oates doesn’t think so. The Bucks won’t want to trade him, there aren’t enough draft picks out there and they don’t want another Kareem Abdul-Jabbar situation on their hands. And Giannis has said that he wants to stay and has a real life set for both him and his family in Milwaukee. There will be a lot of talk in the next few months, but Oates says he thinks he’ll stay put. 

Finally, a big headline in college sports this week is that Texas is expected to spend $20-40 million on their football team this year. After seeing how well Duke did in basketball with that strategy, who can blame them. The Big 10 announced that they had over $900 million in revenue last year and each school will be getting around $62 million each. And Nebraska Quarterback Dylan Raiola signed a big NIL deal with Adidas. The money is certainly flowing in college sports these days. Let’s just hope the players' transcripts and GPA grows with their pocketbooks… 

In this week's episode of The Wisconsin Sportscast, the NFL Draft has left Green Bay, bringing praise to the smallest city in the National Football League. At least, Oates’ nephew had a good time. Attendance was better than expected at around 600,000. At least that’s how many free tickets were given out, who knows how many more were hanging out in bars across town. It’s certainly better for the old timers like Lucas to hang out in a bar than standing around on concrete all day. The Packers did a great job at showcasing Wisconsin, and did a pretty good job drafting too.

The highlight was obvious to everyone: Mark Murphy coming on stage on Thursday to announce that the Packers had drafted wide receiver Matthew Golden. The Packers, and Murphy, played to the crowd and it worked. Not only that, but the Packers took home two wide receivers, with Savion Williams coming into the third round. Was this a surprise? Sure, says Oates, but not entirely unexpected. The Packers current wide receivers have grown a little too comfortable in their roles while failing to take the big jump that was expected of them. Add in Christian Watson’s injury that will take him out for the majority of next season and maybe the receiving core could use a little fire. The Packers didn’t focus on everything that Oates expected, but you can’t scratch every itch. They still made some good moves, and while Oates isn’t one to issue draft grades, he still thinks they did pretty well for themselves. Golden is about as fast of a guy as you can get, and in the modern NFL that can do you some real good. Just look at what Xavier Worthy did for Kansas City after all… 

Finally, Lucas turns to the Bucks and Damian Lillard’s season-ending injury. Dame tore his Achilles on Sunday, and an injury like that could take him out for next season as well. Is this the end of Dame? Probably not, Oates thinks. He’s a great player and a proud player, and while he is up there age-wise he certainly isn’t out of the picture yet. This show was recorded as the Bucks were taking on the Pacers in what could be the last game of the season for Milwaukee and Lucas has one suggestion: it’s time to fire Doc Rivers. The Bucks roster is an embarrassment right now, and the team is at real risk of losing Giannis. When that happens, the Bucks stock is going to go down and down. The Bucks have been a real mess of an organization as of late, one that reminds Lucas a little bit of Browns. Who knows why! 

In this week's episode of The Wisconsin Sportscast, the NFL Draft is almost here and after months of preparations Green Bay is just about ready for action. Is the town of 105,000 ready for the draft? They have to be, Oates thinks. The NFL wouldn’t allow the Draft to come to town if they weren’t. The crowds shouldn’t overwhelm anything, and Appleton and the Fox Valley are just down the road. If you can’t find something to do in Green Bay, you can certainly find a bar in Appleton. Still, this is the first time in a very long time that the Draft has come to Wisconsin, and Oates thinks it might have taken some bargaining to happen. After all, the Packers didn’t want to play any international games until last year. But it’s Lambeau Field, so why wouldn’t it be in Green Bay? How many other stadiums are out there that people make pilgrimages to? It’s a great thing for the entire state, Oates says, just as long as people aren’t upset that the frozen tundra isn’t frozen in April…

The Packers have pick number 23 this year, and plenty of names have been thrown around for the next potential name to wear the green and gold. But it likely won’t be any Badger players. Lucas and Oates agree that no one from Madison is being drafted in the first round. Maybe by Saturday, but not likely before then. The last time the Badgers had any first round draft picks was 2017 when T.J. Watt was picked up by the Steelers. It’s not that the Badger’s haven’t had solid players who are NFL ready. But ever since they had six offensive linemen drafted in one year, they’ve had a hit.

But the Packers are the real star this week, and Lucas wants to know: how is Gutekunst as a drafter? He’s fine, Oates thinks, but he relies too much on pure athletics and RAS scores. The Packers have drafted a few great RAS players in recent years, and have they had a particularly dynamic time in the NFL? Did they even when they were in college? You can’t ignore the RAS, obviously, but playability needs to be a factor. Still, everyone has to pick a few busts every once in a while. 

In this week's episode of The Wisconsin Sportscast, Lucas and Oates meet up over Zoom after  the Masters had one of their biggest tournaments in years. They averaged over 12 million viewers on CBS this year, the biggest since 2018, as Rory McIlroy took the victory. Does Oates watch a lot of golf? Not really, but he’ll watch the Masters every year. Golf can be a bit slow, but it can also have some of the best drama in sports. McIlroy was running away with it, then made some big mistakes, then was facing off against Bryson DeChambeau. Augusta National is a beautiful course, and a real workout too. You only have a little bit of space to hit your drives, with the crowd bunched right up against the fareway. Good thing Lucas and Oates don’t have to play there… 

McIlroy had a great success story, Oates thinks. He’s aggressive, but has learned over time not to take every risky shot that comes his way. He blew a big lead in the 2011 Masters because of that, and now has earned a grand slam of golf championships. According to Oates, he has got to be one of the world’s top players. 

Turning to Madison, the Badgers Football team will hold their spring showdown this Saturday at Camp Randall. They took some big hits in the past few days, losing two big players. Left Tackle Kevin Heywood is out for the season already with a torn ACL, and Tight End Tanner Koziol says he’s entering the transfer portal. The portal window will be open through Friday, and hopefully the Badgers can make a few moves to bring some new faces on board. But whoever they bring in, if you do go to the showdown this weekend, maybe bring a program. They already have 30 new players on the roster if you include the freshmen…

In this week's episode of The Wisconsin Sportscast, Florida beat out Houston to win the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament, but Houston didn’t have the biggest meltdown of the week. That would go to Duke, who’s offense seemed to entirely shut down in the second half of their loss against Houston in their Final Four matchup. How do you go more than 10 minutes only scoring one basket? Why would Duke let Houston set up their press? Whenever Houston scored, Duke took their time setting up the ball and giving Houston a chance to set up their press, which stopped any chance Duke had at making a play. Houston’s defense is good, reminding Oates of a Dick Bennett defense, and shut down Duke so effectively they were able to head to the finals. 

But then it was Houston’s turn to have a meltdown when they were unable to close Florida. Houston had four straight possessions with turnovers to end the game, confusing even head coach Kelvin Sampson. But that wasn’t the real kicker of the game, Lucas thinks, it was the fouls. Whistles were few and far between in the first half, and the coaches decided to make up for it in the second half. It cheats the players, Lucas thinks, and it’s even worse when the refs decide that teams need to have an equal number of fouls to end the game. Just look at Wisconsin vs Duke for proof of that…

Meanwhile, the Badgers Men’s Basketball team hit the portal hard, picking up three potentially big players. Point Guard Nick Boyd will be coming in from San Diego, who Oates thinks will bring some real toughness and experience to the team. Boyd was convinced to come to Madison thanks to John Tonje, who spoke with him and convinced him that the locker room was worth it. Then there’s the Aussie Austin Rapp, who last played in Portland. He will add some good size to the Badgers, as long as he can get over his fear of getting to the paint… Then there’s Andrew Rohde, a Wisconsin native from Brookfield who will be coming home from a stint in Virginia. All three players look good on paper, and Lucas and Oates are excited to see what they’ll bring next year. 

In this week's episode of The Wisconsin Sportscast, the boys are back in the studio as they take a look at the Brewers performance so far. They hadn’t yet won a game as of recording and are in rough shape. Most of their pitching staff is hurt, with tons of players on the IL. Where was the offseason improvement? They lost Devin Williams and Willy Adames during the offseason, and it doesn’t look so far like they’ve made any real improvement since last year. Some say that Mark Attanasio is just looking to sell the team at this point, but the Brewers have been good in recent years! Whatever Attansio wants to do with the team, there’s still an entire season ahead of the Brewers and they still have plenty of time to turn things around. 

Meanwhile in college basketball, the transfer portal is open and over 1,300 players are looking for a move. That includes freshman guard for the Badgers Daniel Freitag, who we just haven’t had a real chance to see this season. Is there a chance that he doesn’t have talent? Sure. But it’s more likely his spot was taken by Kamari McGee. Freitag had a lot going athletically and had size and speed, but he wasn’t a great shooter, which is a must in modern basketball. Maybe it was just that he was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Players aren’t the only ones moving around either, as coaches are beginning to fall like dominoes. One notable move is Buzz Williams heading to Maryland, which Lucas and Oates think is a good move. Buzz is someone who can make teams competitive enough to get into the NCAA Tournament, and he likes to throw some money around for recruits. That’s all fine and good, until an athletic director decides to turn off the money…

Finally in the NCAA Tournament, it’s down to the Final Four: Duke, Florida, Houston, and Auburn. Four number one seeds, which Oates thinks might be the beginning of the end of college basketball, all thanks to NIL. These power conference teams can just buy up any good player from mid-sized schools, leaving everyone else in the dust. There were no real Cinderella teams this year, and if things keep going this way Oates doesn’t think there will be in the future. Just think about what all this transferring year after year is doing to these players' academic transcripts! 

In this week's episode of The Wisconsin Sportscast, Lucas and Oates are again remote as the Badgers Men’s Basketball team falls to BYU in the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament. John Tonje gave an incredible effort, setting a new school record for points scored in a NCAA Tournament game with 37, but it wasn’t enough. The second round of the tournament is always going to be against a good team, and nothing can be taken for granted. With a disappointing defense, Tonje’s efforts were almost enough to save the Badgers but not quite. BYU has a great offense, and without good defense to counter that it was a tough game.
It would have been great to have more than just one year with Tonje, Lucas says, but he was still a great pickup for the team. He’s what people like to call a “multi-leveled scorer,” and can shoot from just about anywhere. He was not at the top of anybody’s list last year, but Greg Gard saw the potential in him and brought it out. Will he make it in the NBA? Maybe! He’s not the tallest player in the world, but he’s athletic and he can score, a must in modern basketball. That is to say, it makes sense why Gard gave him the ball in the final play of the year.

Speaking of Gard, there are still plenty of people who have never liked him and never will, and a loss in the second round of the tournament is likely to fuel some of that discourse. But Oates is still behind him, saying that coaches around the league still have big respect for him. He navigated tough waters this year, with NIL and the transfer portal, but at the end of the day, Oates thinks he’s still a pretty good coach. 

Finally, and speaking of great coaches, Lucas and Oates turned to Women’s Hockey as Mark Johnson took home his eighth national title, and his fourth in six years. One day, there might be a statue of Mark Johnson, or at least something to honor what he’s done. He builds a great program, not just recruiting but coaching players. He’s all about Wisconsin, and he’s even humble. What more could someone do to deserve a statue in Wisconsin?

In this week's episode of The Wisconsin Sportscast, Lucas and Oates are back in the studio to talk about, what else, the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament. The Badger’s drew a 3 seed (as they should), playing Montana on Thursday in Denver (which they shouldn’t). Not only are they playing just days after their loss to Michigan on Sunday, but Denver has some real altitude to it. Montana has played at a higher altitude, but the Badgers will need to adjust a little bit. More importantly, though, they should be playing in Milwaukee! Lucas and Oates are just about ready to launch a federal investigation into the matter…

But seriously, the Badger’s have a tight turnaround playing Thursday afternoon, as do all the Big 10 teams. It’s too tight a turnaround, Oates says, to have to potentially play a Big 10 Championship game on Sunday then turn around and play again on Thursday. He still thinks it’s best for teams to win one, maybe two games in the Big 10 tournament, then lose to a good team and rest up before the NCAA Tournament half a week later. Teams aren’t judged by their performance in the Big 10 Tournament, they are judged by their March Madness performance. Should it be that way?  Maybe, maybe not. But that’s the way it is, and that isn’t going to change. The Big 10 should make some sort of deal with the tournament committee to give the players some kind of a break, even if it’s just a day.

But in the meanwhile, the Badgers will take on Montana on Thursday afternoon in a game that should be nothing to worry about. After that, it’s either BYU or VCU. Sure, BYU are good shooters, but Wisconsin is likely the most balanced team in the country right now and can score from just about anywhere. If the Badgers want to say they had a decent season, they’re going to have to make it to the second weekend. Of course, you want to see them do even better than the second weekend, but if they want to be taken seriously it’s a must. They’re good enough for it too, Oates says, but it’s still the NCAA Tournament, so anything can happen. 

In this week's episode of The Wisconsin Sportscast, Oates is out on assignment, so Lucas is joined by the Dean of Wisconsin Sportscasting: Jay Wilson! Jay was in Duluth over the weekend for Badgers Women's Hockey as they continued another dominant season. They are ranked number one in the NCAA, having lost only one game this season so far. Only one team has gone undefeated throughout an entire season in NCAA Women’s Hockey, and the fact that the Badger’s are right behind that is historic. The strategy? Have a team filled with great talent and one of the best coaches in Wisconsin history in Mark Johnson. 

Maybe it’s a debate about whether or not Johnson is one of the greatest coaches in Wisconsin collegiate history, but Lucas and Jay don’t think so. He already has seven national championships under his belt, and might secure another this year. He’s still the top goal scorer in Men’s Hockey in Wisconsin. And he does great work to uplift the sport of women’s hockey. Johnson can make a move that has everyone else scratching their heads, and it just works. He understands the real philosophy of hockey and his players. There’s been chatter that he might retire if he wins another championship, but Jay says that he still has the knowledge and energy to keep going. Like a lot of college sports, it might come down to how much he wants to deal with continuing to work around NIL.The Badger Women’s next game is Saturday, and they have a real chance of going all the way again this year. At the very least, they are probably the best team in the league.

Meanwhile, the Men’s Basketball team had a tough loss to Penn State in Madison over the weekend. The last time Penn State won in the Kohl Center was in 1995, and the loss sets a bad momentum heading into the Big 10 tournament. But that might not be the end of the world, as a quick loss in the Big 10 tournament would give them a little rest before the NCAA tournament starts up shortly after. But Lucas says they need at least one win to build up some momentum ahead of their chance to play in Milwaukee to start off the NCAA tournament. 

In this week's episode of The Wisconsin Sportscast, Lucas and Oates join the show from the field once again as the Badger’s Men’s Basketball team sits slated, as of Tuesday night, as a number 3 seed in the NCAA tournament. There’s even a chance that they could play in Milwaukee, though that would require you to read into some of the predictions being thrown around. They’ll need to hold onto that number 3 seed for a little while longer if they want that to happen. We know the NCAA wants to put the Badgers in Milwaukee, if only because it’ll be sure to put some butts in the seats. There’s been plenty of great NCAA tournament Badger games in Milwaukee, and going back would be great for ticket sales.

But first they have to win some games. They took a loss to Michigan State on Sunday, even after leading at halftime. While their shooting faced some real trouble, there was one good number coming out of that game. Nolan Winter had 17 rebounds against the Spartans. It’s been a while since the Badgers have seen that, since the Orlando Tucker days. Winter might not be the strongest physically on the court, but he’s certainly active, and when there’s a body on him he can move. The Badgers take on Minnesota on Wednesday before ending the regular season on Saturday in the Kohl Center with Senior Night. They’ll be losing a handful of great players after this season, with McGee, Tonje, Crowl, Klesmit and others graduating this year. They’ve signed a few incoming freshmen already, including a good handful from Wisconsin high schools. As they should, Oates thinks, as more and more good players come out of the Badger state in recent years.

Meanwhile, the Packers have some work to do on their roster, and one name is sticking out: Davante Adams. He’s a free agent, and certainly would be of interest to Green Bay. It’ll come at his price, though, even if he wanted to be a star player on a Super Bowl contender team. Yes, the Packers need a top receiver, but they have a few other needs too, and that might take salary cap priority.