Wisconsin Badgers Thread

[tski1972]

Any red/white scrimmage details?

[chonestown]

Any red/white scrimmage details?

I was there. Will put something together.

My dad asked me "When the Badgers play Jump Around at the stadium, what do they call it."

I replied "Jump Around."

MTC

[Kerb Hohl]

Just looking at the box score and comments, it seems like Crowl has taken yet another step, but he's obviously never going to be a true star. Ditto on Klesmit.

I'm not sure what I think about McGee being the guy at PG. Tells us that Hunter and Freitag aren't there yet, but McGee looks pretty good? Freitag had a nice scrimmage, though.

Blackwell is probably the late shot clock guy and will take a step up, but he's probably far from Johnny/Storr.

It's just a scrimmage, but I was hoping that somebody like Amos flashed a little bit more. Long season, of course.

[chonestown]

Old Bones Chones with a delayed report from courtside at the KC:

Look, I knew it was going to be a special day when I was walking down the concourse and crossed paths with a dude wearing a shirt reading "Greg Gard: Silent Assassin" emblazoned with the coach's visage. Nice little bit of joo jitsoo (sp?) in turning Fire Gard into Gard: Fire! Catch a red dot on your forehead while talking sht about a true G, make a hasty entreaty for mercy to the deity of your choice.imo

I got there too late to grab a program, so I spent a lot of time gazing at the scoreboard and trying to keep Tonje, Amos and Hunter straight. More on them, though each look like B10 guys. Will they be Wisconsin guys? That reader is the question to ponder. Oh, the pondering.

Good to see Max Klesmit got someone to cover his shift at Kimberly Clark. My Fox Valley bredren might have been overly enthusiastic on having a free Sunday so he let the shots go with abandon. I love the dude but he might have left his marksmanship in Combined Locks. Wouldn't be surprised to see him drop 35 in a game this year and follow it up with a 1-19. Anyone know why I keep calling him Luke Klesmit? This is me not being a shtposter, it's seriously an affliction.

Now what you have with John Blackwell is a guy who can score in a variety of ways. He can excel off the bounce and you can see right here how he changes speed and creates separation for the jumper. I don't see him having a Johnny Davis breakout, but he's clearly one of the three best players on the team with Crowl and Klesmit and may well be the steadiest on offense. If he's still around next year, it clearly will be his team.

All the reports are that McGee will start and he did nothing to disprove that. Still a pest on defense, the best PG at initiating the offense, but damn, the dude is small. Took the ball to the hole plenty of times with feast or famine results. Has clearly embraced the Greg Gard Way, after starting at GB where it was a smorgasboard of Gooooooooooo Yooooooooourrrr Ownnnnn Waaaaaaaaayy (thaas a little Fleetwood Mac for the RGM homies). Good to see what he has become, but hoo-boy, I hope it becomes a PG by committee just based on his lack of stature.

Freitag is the commit I've been most excited since Chucky. A pg with a football background (at Wisconsin, knock me over with a feather), he showed up with a basketball body. Uneven outing for him, but he does pop. The athleticism is there and he seemed solid with the ball. Shooting was a concern in HS, but it looked better than advertised. Good juice off the bounce. Very much looks like the PG of the future. Easy to imagine him lining up next to Blackwell and just tormenting opposing backcourts.

Tonje was the standout of the transfers. Rugged body with a scorer's mentality. Able to spot up from beyond and take it to the rack. I think he could play both 3 and 4, but it comes down to defense and this scrimmage was not a good way to gauge defense other than observing complete lapses. Didn't see any of those really. None of the transfers have the eye-popping athleticism of Storrs but all are conference-level athletes despite coming from smaller programs.

Amos is intriguing to me. Looks to be a 4, but was matched up against Crowl at times and held his own. I think he was the least heralded of the transfers but he looks to be a good pickup and fills an area of need. Should take over the Gilmore minutes. Should. With all the transfers, they range from offensive threats to not offensive liabilities. Amos leans more to threat, but just didn't have the opportunities for me to get a better feel on where he falls on the spectrum.

Either Hunter of Freitag is going to be a victim of the numbers game. I think there's going to be a lot of McGee-Klesmit-Blackwell-Crowl-Winter line-ups, with Tonje either taking McGee's or Winter's spots. Repeating myself, but Hunter looks to be a worthy use of a scholarship. The one thing the Badgers will have is depth. Crowl has shown he can be The Guy, but he's never risen to the level of a Happ, much less a Kaminsky. Real good player, but I'd be more comfortable on counting on Blackwell or Klesmit game to game.

Quiet night for Winters and not a good showcase for him. If he has a big sophomore bump, hey, now you got a stew.

Gilmore now wears #7, but still rocks the Dirk Diggler headband he wore during the "You Got the Look" recording sessions.

We sat in the row just ahead of what had to be Riccardo Greppi's family. Actual meatball fans! what do you know about that Kerb. Like cheering in Italian and all that. My man Rico, he's got a (Chris Farley voice) good wide base and decent feel for the game. Could see him getting some action if Crowl and Winters get in foul trouble and they need to clobber whatever clod is playing pivot for Purdue. He made a ridiculous no-look pass over his head to a cutter. Okay, I see you Riccardo Greppi!

The no-look took me back down memory lane to the troubled tenure of Gustavus Mass Transit, one time considered to be Baby Jokic, but honestly, looks like he could be next gen AJ Soprano. Plus, he's in Jersey. It's all lining up, no? He should be entering his Howard Zinn phase. It's a good look.imo

Don't have to much to say about Robinson. Quiet most of the night and reed-thin, but made a couple plays on defense at the end and drained a pair of 3s. Minnesota pipeline continues.

Back to the 2024-25 Badgers, it's a funky situation. Not sure what the team's identity is. They aren't without talent, but I don't know how it fits. Gonna come down to how the architect puts it together. That's right, compadres, it's an other season of debating Greg Gard.

<Bart Starr voice>
Can't wait!

[ReasonablySober]

Read on Twitter

[chonestown]

Read on Twitter

They were dealin' tonight.

She don't have the physical profile of her more highly-acclaimed frontline colleagues, but they're just a better team the more CC plays and looks like they found their libero in Lola.

Watch'em is all I can say.

[chonestown]

Wisconsin, a volleyball school, thrashed #10 Purdue on the road in straight sets. Charlie had a 11-point scoring run from serve and had another couple extended runs. Had some wild-ass bump sets and is just a joy to watch. Serve receive has been reliable. Franklin had a quiet game because Smrek was laying waste all night. Team is healthy, Charlie's got acclimated to finding the trees and Lola has snatched the libero spot. Much different team from early September.

Arrow is trending upwards, comrades. Nebraska on Friday. I dunno, I'd probably watch it if I were you.

[BroncoBuck]

Embarrassing team

[MikeIsGood]

Embarrassing team

Say more?

[BroncoBuck]

Embarrassing team

Say more?

Played terrible against UW-River Falls tonight

Scrimmage or not, it should never be a tie game late in the second half against a mediocre D3 team.

[MikeIsGood]

Got it, thanks. Didn't even realize we had a scrimmage tonight.

[Kerb Hohl]

Not encouraging, but I'm getting the feeling that this team is going to be extremely up-and-down like the team 2 years ago that missed the tournament. No elite offensive finishers like Davis or Storr so there will be a lot of 3s chucked. If the 3s are falling, they may pull an upset over a great team. If the 3s are not falling, they may struggle with some trash team.

I think one of the recent teams that had a good season struggled with Oshkosh, so it's not a lost cause. I'm not entirely encouraged by this team, though.

[chonestown]

Volleyball amigos! Match of the year tonight at home. Halloween weekend in Madison. Look man, I avoid making predictions, but safe money is on a frenzied atmosphere. The Midwest Sweethearts take on the Corn Lobby, get crunk.

[MikeIsGood]

Volleyball amigos! Match of the year tonight at home. Halloween weekend in Madison. Look man, I avoid making predictions, but safe money is on a frenzied atmosphere. The Midwest Sweethearts take on the Corn Lobby, get crunk.

Hell yes, LFG. I missed the drubbing we put on Purdue last weekend but love the direction we've been moving now that the Frosh are better integrated and we've figured out rotations.

[MickeyDavis]

BTN tonight. Looking forward to it

[chonestown]

Volleyball amigos! Match of the year tonight at home. Halloween weekend in Madison. Look man, I avoid making predictions, but safe money is on a frenzied atmosphere. The Midwest Sweethearts take on the Corn Lobby, get crunk.

Hell yes, LFG. I missed the drubbing we put on Purdue last weekend but love the direction we've been moving now that the Frosh are better integrated and we've figured out rotations.

Absolutely, Purdue was the best they looked all last year. They've been less reliant on Frank, so it's a more varied attack, and they've been building to this steadily. Win or lose tonight, it feels sustainable.

[ReasonablySober]

I dislike Nebraska.

[ReasonablySober]

That was an ass kicking.

[MikeIsGood]

Yeah. A Nebraska win isn't surprising, but a sweep is pretty discouraging.

[chonestown]

Go Pack Go, I guess.

Nebraska just ruthless whenever they had a chance to close.