LIVE Wisconsin Badgers vs. Michigan Wolverines GAME REACTION! Big Ten TOURNAMENT PLAY!

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It's all about March now.

The Badgers drop a heart-breaker to Michigan, but one thing you can never question with

this team is this team as heart.

This team is a competitive group and they do not lay down.

Now what's comes next?

It's time for March.

You are Lockdown Badgers, your daily podcast on the Wisconsin Badgers.

Part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day.

What's going on, Badger fans?

Welcome to Lockdown Badgers, your team every single day.

Part of the Lockdown Podcast Network reacting to a heart-breaking loss to a really good

Michigan team.

We got the coach joining us.

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Next episode, we are getting into the live Michigan reaction.

We are talking about what comes next, big picture.

Gentlemen, I think we just start here, big picture take away from this game.

Energy, we talked about it before the show.

I set it in the discord.

I just am so impressed with how hard this team plays.

It's not just today.

We talked about it yesterday in the Illinois game, multiple times in that game where they

were down double digits.

At the first half and the second half, then both times they fought back.

In this game, they fought back.

Michigan's a great team.

And you're down to one winter.

And he was on the last second shot.

This team is all heart, all competitiveness, a bunch of dogs.

It makes me proud to be a bachelor fan.

That's my big takeaway from this game.

And 100%.

It's just so nice to see this kind of fight from a team.

Again, yesterday I said that earlier in the season, we'd have lost that game by 30 points

yesterday.

We would have lost today by 30 points if this is early in the season because when we got

down, we were pretty much out.

But down to down 12, down 15, best team in the country, arguably, no problem.

Just give it to Austin rap and he's just going to go absolutely nuclear, man.

But it's always someone else and I'm really glad for Austin rap because he had a bad game

yesterday.

And it's really good to get these guys hot again.

And yeah, man, like how you continue to do this without Nolan Winter for against some

of the best teams in the country is just remarkable.

It really speaks to the leadership on this team, the coaching on this team, like the

togetherness, the chemistry, everything is just working well.

It's a bummer to lose that game.

But listen, I'm going to take the rest.

I'm fine with it.

Like let's, let's calm it down.

Let's slow the engines down and let's focus on next week because now you got two games

next week that we really need to win.

And yeah, just I'm so happy for the, for this team and everything they've done.

It is a, it is a bummer coaching our time up for the game.

Like it sucks because they were again within shouting distance of another championship

game.

But yeah, just how they continue to do this is shocking.

Like I think we are surprising so many people, everybody in the country are kind of talking

about what this team is doing.

And they deserve so much credit.

I don't know how they do this, but come on, baby.

Let's go.

Yeah, my reaction, guys, and I'm just gutted for the staff and those players because you

guys both hit on it, the, the fights and competitiveness for that team.

I mean, eight yesterday, Rajeev talked about Illinois, they could have packed it in.

So let's, let's go back to Madison, get some rest, fought back one and over time game.

And then today they're down 15 in the second half.

And you know, they go on 17 to two run, they actually had a four point lead with two

and a half left.

I'm just, you know, I'm just gutted for them and the staff because, you know, as a player

in a coach, you want, you want to cut down nets, win championships and, you know, this

team deserves that opportunity tomorrow.

But Michigan just made the plays down the stretch that they had to and what a great effort

by them.

Yeah, we're going to talk more about this game, big picture, but let's keep on this game

for this segment.

And I want to then go to coach and Rajeev for this one.

Michigan's incredible.

Michigan has walked away from most teams this year.

I mean, they have wax teams.

My buddy at ESPN James sent me a text during the game after, and coach, you hit on it.

They were down 15 in the second half.

They erased that 15 point lead in about four minutes.

And he said, people don't realize how impressive it is to erase a 15 point lead against Michigan.

Coach, that's incredibly impressive.

You're right, Ryan.

I mean, just Michigan alone, the best team in the country, you know, that's one thing.

But to erase a 15 point lead in the second half against anybody is unbelievable.

But to your point, Ryan, to do it against a Michigan, and they did it against Illinois

twice, they did it at Purdue.

I mean, they've done it all year against upper echelon teams.

So just like you said, the fight in the effort of this group, it's so refreshing because,

you know, we've alluded to it to pass a couple of seasons that maybe this wasn't the most

mentally tough, strongest team.

And this year is completely the opposite of that.

They just don't give up.

Yeah, man.

And like, it's just when you have this many weapons, you, you can do this.

Like you have the ability to make these comebacks because if one guy's not hitting shots,

if anyone is hitting shots, where we seemingly can come back and tonight, it was obviously

Austin rap, just gosh, like, and he was on fire.

You could tell, by the way, when he shot the ball, he was walking away from him, like,

oh, he hit that.

Like, he knows it because again, like anyone who's played basketball, you shoot that.

You know if that's going in, especially when you're on fire and you're in a zone, man,

it was beautiful to watch.

And like they, they were, they could do anything to stop and they finally had to stop switching

and they, it was a mess for them.

But yeah, like obviously getting down 15 points continuously is not exactly an ideal situation.

And we, we can talk about that a little bit, but, but the fact that they can keep coming

back is really, really impressive.

And it just shows the multiplicity on this team, right?

I mean, now we're, we can drive it and we can, we can dish out.

Whatever the defense is going to give us, we're going to find a way to score.

And that is what's really impressive.

Now again, this is one of the best defensive teams in the country.

So how do we do this?

Like, so now we're going to face lesser opponents in the first round next week.

We got, we got to keep our pedal to the metal here.

We got to keep going with this because we're going to face teams that are dying to knock us off.

And we just got to keep going.

We got to keep fighting.

We cannot stop if we use stop.

If you slow down this much, someone's going to get you in the tournament.

Yeah, I want to hit on what you just said there.

Michigan is a really good defensive team.

And they, they gave Wisconsin trouble, right?

Wisconsin struggled at, for large parts of this game.

Nick Boyd struggled, getting, open looks, getting in the paint.

But what happened is Wisconsin's defensive intensity,

at least for a big chunk of this game, matched what Michigan was trying to do.

Now, a little overloaded in the paint.

I mean, you missed no one went to a big time.

Yeah, you missed winter on the glass and defensively.

But guys, this was one of the better Wisconsin defensive efforts

that we've seen from a connected at standpoint.

Just multiple efforts on defense, not breaking down after the first one.

Coach, like if they can bring most of this defensively

and then have a better shooting game in March, let's go.

Ryan, I'm glad you brought that up because that was sometimes going to hit on

later in the show is the defense effort today

was so much better than what they've done this season.

And it shows you what they're capable of.

I, two things I noticed defensively that I really like today

is they changed their ball screen coverage.

They, so they, they've been switching basically one through five

for the last month plus of the season.

Today, they only switched one through three

and they played drop coverage with both rap and Billie Easkis

and they fought over the top of screens,

which I think really through Michigan off

and they're just way more competitive on the ball.

And I thought that was a really good change up

and something that to build on.

And then I love, I know it didn't work out because they hit the three

but that last possession at the end of the half

when guard went to the two three zone coming out of the time out

and that the rest actually missed a travel right before the three.

I like just stuff like that to switch it up, keep teams, keep teams on their toes

and to do all that defensively against the biggest team in the country like that

and do it without no on winner.

I just, I really like that that change up by by guard and his staff today.

I thought that's something that they can definitely build on.

Coach Gart said yesterday in his press conference

that rebounding defense is so much about what's inside.

It's how the effort that you're going to, that you're going to give.

And yeah, like we don't, we obviously talk that,

you know, Andrew Rody hasn't always been the most impressive player for us

but his effort on the defensive side of the floor is unmatched, man.

Two steals tonight, by the way, Nick White had five steals.

We had nine steals as a team tonight.

That's insane.

But that kind of effort from a guy who is not an offensive contributor

and like everything for me, it's not even things we'll ever show up on the stat sheet.

It's the way he affects passing, the way he affects plays.

Like by the way, we ran to some zone tonight.

Like all those things, they matter.

And what what Rody does is so important to this team.

And again, it doesn't get talked about enough.

But then that spilled over to Nick Boyd and John Blackwell,

Braden Carrington, Billy Otskis played well defensively at times.

Like it's that effort is there.

And if this team can bring that, that super high intensity on the defensive side of the floor

and then let their shooters do what they're going to do,

they are an insanely difficult team to be.

And you can go, you can go ask five top 10 teams, five top 15 teams say,

who's one of the toughest teams you've had to play all year?

They're going to tell you Wisconsin.

It's very difficult to play against this team, especially when we can lock it

in defensively, even guys like Andrew Rody, not a big contributor.

He contributes like that defensively and affects the game.

It's massive.

And again, winter wasn't even there.

Think about how much different this game looks from a rebounding perspective.

We were out rebounded 40 to 29 today.

What does that look like with no winter there?

What is Mara's offensive output look like with winter there?

So many factors can be improved.

And we still just played three great games.

Yeah, it's a good point of winter.

I think Mara probably has his way with winter as well

in the post, but I think I'm the glasses where winter really, really helps you.

You get all rebounded by 11.

Winter helps you a lot there.

It is funny.

I had a Michigan friend of mine text me because obviously,

Bialuska's went off on first match up and a rap goes off on this match.

And he's like, what is it with these gigantic random forest just killing us?

Like, who are these people?

And, but it's your point, Regif.

It's the breadth of weapons that Wisconsin has where you can't load up on any

particular guy outside of Boyd and Blackwell.

And then a bunch of other guys can shoot and beat you.

We're going to take a quick thing and we're going to come back.

I want to ask Coach specifically on his

thoughts between the balance between getting rest and having success in

the tournament, what that feels like.

And then let's go big picture a little bit.

Let's zoom out.

That's coming up next on Lockdown Badgers first.

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Let's come back into this, Coach.

Regime and I have talked about this a lot,

and we talked about this on the show.

I wanted to get your perspective on it.

We talked a lot about the balance between

you want to be arrested going to the market,

but you also want to be playing well.

What do you think of the Big Ten tournament run

in general big picture as the team heads into March?

Yeah, I think it's a great debate,

and I've listened to you guys the past couple of days

talking about and debating about it.

I'm kind of on the opposite end.

I see both sides where I come from,

like I mentioned earlier,

as as a player and a coach,

you want to cut down nets,

get rings, compete for championships,

and they were right there.

They're up for what to have.

I guarantee you every single person

in that locker room wanted to win a Big Ten championship.

But I do your guys' point.

I do understand the rest factors,

especially if you look at it.

Wisconsin only got 44 minutes from their bench.

Got seven points.

Michigan had 68 minutes from their bench,

got 17 points.

So when you are playing that short-handed,

and they had three tough games,

and Washington was a lot tougher than it needed to be,

but playing Illinois and Michigan,

and then today you would,

you know, tomorrow you would have played

Purdue or UCLA.

The wear and tear, when you're really only playing,

let's be honest, they played six guys.

Hey, and Jones played 10 minutes,

Garland played seven.

So you're playing six guys, four games, and four days.

If you go, if you get stuck on a Thursday game,

you're flying out on Tuesday.

I mean, you're not practicing at this point.

I do see the rest factor of it.

It's legit, especially with this short-handed,

they are down, you know, winter and down Janicki right now.

So I can see both play.

Me as a competitor, the only thing that made me think too, guys,

today, the announcer's brought it up,

and Grant Hill, they asked Grant Hill about it.

Grant Hill said, man, I was 21 years old.

It didn't matter.

Like, you know, I, so that kind of made me, you know,

here's one of the greatest players ever.

He's been, he's been there, done it.

He said it kind of gets overblown too.

So, but I might say there's a right or wrong answer.

I can see both sides of the argument.

Yeah, I, I, I almost think it's more important to me.

I get more worried about just the,

the chance of injury than I do of players necessarily getting worn down.

Like, just somebody, and you saw it in Michigan,

they lost, made almost lost the guy to a torn or a rolled ankle.

It just worries me more in that sense.

But I think, listen, there's a really big argument

that you, you want to be rolling into March.

And this is maybe the best case outside of winning the Big Ten tournament.

Like, you beat Illinois, you took Michigan to the wire.

This team's confidence has to be sky high.

And by the way, you're about to add Nolan Winter to the ML clip.

Like, this, this team's confidence.

And maybe it's one of the best ways you can go into March.

It's just riding sky high.

Roll players are playing well.

Boyd and Blackwell have been tremendous.

Regie that feels like there is momentum

with this team right now, despite, despite this loss.

Yeah, for sure.

And just going back to Coach's point,

I will say every time Boyd or Blackwell thought to the floor,

my heart was in my throat.

I'm like, no, no, no, no, don't you dare go down.

And then Karington's like holding his arm.

I'm like, can please just let this stop.

But yeah, man, the momentum is really critical.

And especially from guys like Karington or rap.

Karington seeing the ball go through the hoop a couple times tonight,

I think is really important because he was,

he was a bit of a slump.

And so was rap, rap, rap.

Literally, like, there couldn't be a better scenario for him now going

into the, to the next game where he likely will not start in the,

in the first game of the tournament, which is fine for me,

because we do need bench points again.

We have to be able to have as, as Coach mentioned,

the rotation has been, was in weekend without him,

without winter.

So yeah, that's, that's super important to have Billy

Oscars make some shots tonight.

Karington makes some shots and rap makes some shots.

That alone is going to really help us because next week,

winter comes back, obviously we have the most,

one of the most successful and most confident back courts

there is in the country right now.

You couple that with guys that are beginning to get hot

again and seeing themselves shoot their way through their slump.

That matters.

That really matters because now you're feeling a little bit

more confident and confidence is everything in sports.

It does everything for you.

It's literally the margins between good and great

is how confident a player can, can, can feel.

And that's really important.

I love the momentum and I agree, Ryan, it's,

couldn't mean, obviously when the tournament's great,

but having that extra day of rest,

I'm still hoping we get Friday, which would be great,

because then you're talking about several days of rest

and you've been able to shoot your way out of some slumps.

We're in a really, really good spot mentally

and physically heading into the tournament.

Yeah, it's, it's really well said.

Coach, I want to just get you on this too,

because obviously we've already talked about the Illinois game,

but the last couple of games, this stretch run

down the end of the season into the tournament for Nick Boyd.

Just how good is he been?

And what have you seen from him?

Well, I think that's, you know,

you guys have hit on it all season.

I think that's the difference when we talk

about this team, there's no give up in this team

and the competitive level.

I contribute all to Nick Boyd,

because you have seen the other players on this team

take on that personality.

Like, I think Blackwell has grown

and has become more of a killer.

Not saying Blackwell wasn't a great player,

I just sometimes he was too passive

and kind of lacked a killer instinct.

I think he's grown because of Boyd.

I think Rap has shown more emotion,

a little more into his game.

Same with Billy Auskis.

Winter, I think, has always had that end.

Only just displays it a different way.

So I just think Boyd takes this team to another level.

And like today, guys, he did not play well.

They're down three with 20 seconds left in the game.

He's not, it hasn't played well.

Can't make a shot.

Angel drills it.

Like the guy, the guy has no fear.

He's just a winner.

He's been to a final four.

That could be the ultimate X factor

for this Badger team this March.

From the other ones, you know,

we haven't been to a sweet 16 in 2016.

I don't think Nick Boyd wants to lose.

So you cannot underestimate that.

Like Rajeev hit it.

I always say to the guys, confidence is a hell of a drug.

And so when you're confident, like to Rajeev's point,

Rap's got it.

I mean, I think he thinks that every shot's going in.

Carrington, he has not played well,

seeing the ball go in.

Blackwell, boyd.

I think your confidence levels at all time high

going into surviving advance time

can't ask for a better scenario.

Coach, that's a great take about Boyd,

like being the reason that this team that's spreading.

That's, I hadn't really thought about that.

Like you're so right about that.

The fact that Blackwell has obviously improved his game

and wrapping these guys like you can see,

I think you said like you can see

like that energy sort of permeating through the team.

Now, it's a really good way of looking at it.

And I think that matters when he pumps up the crowd,

the way he's clapping, the way his energy that he brings

to the huddles, like that is spreading through the team.

And I really do think you're right.

It's one of the reasons that we've played a really strong

and much stronger back after the season.

It's them jelling as guards together,

certainly, Black, Boyd, Blackwell.

But you're so right that that energy that he brings

is really affecting the other guys on the team.

That's a great take.

Yeah, and don't underestimate guys.

The effect it has on the other team.

You saw it in the first possession

of yesterday's game against Illinois.

Boswell was so geared up and got employed space

in the double technical, which is a total cop out by the refs.

Thank you, yes.

After that, that fired Boyd up more.

And it got in Boswell's head.

Boswell did not play.

Well, yes, he didn't, like, but you could tell,

he was so geared up.

And when he got that first stop, he got in Boyd's face.

So just the effect that Boyd not only has on the badgers,

but what he does to opponents.

It's something different that they just have not had.

And it's organic with Boyd.

Like there's people who play with that kind of chip

on their shoulder, but it can hurt the team.

It becomes more me first.

It's very organic with Boyd.

Like he really wants to win.

It really matters to him.

The team matters to him.

You can tell.

Let me get you with this question, both you guys.

Really, I almost wonder, I was thinking about this today,

because you guys have both talked about it,

or received you hit on it with the aluscus

and rap, both having tremendous games and different spots.

I think that Nolan Injury has put guard in a point

where those guys have had to play through some stuff.

And I think it's helped them both in a weird way.

Now, Nolan's got to get back it.

Nolan going down is not good.

But I think it's had the benefit for those two young fours

where they've had to play through things.

And I think defensively, look at this Michigan front court.

Guys, I know we got out rebounded,

but they also for two freshmen,

our freshmen at sophomore, they kind of held their own

to some degree.

I've been really impressed with them.

And I think that Winter Injury has given them

the ability to play through some stuff.

I totally agree with you.

And one of the other reasons I didn't want

Nolan Injury to play, thank you, Greg Gard.

Thank you for not putting it out there.

And look, the first time we played Michigan,

we played without Austin Rap.

Don't forget that.

This time we played Michigan, we played without Nolan Winter.

We've literally played them without one of our better fours.

And we beat him once and we took him to the wire another time.

One of the best teams in the country.

Again, how good can this team really be?

But you're definitely right about that.

Forces those other guys to take on more of a leadership role,

to take on more of an offensive role, a defensive role.

I mean, Austin Rap had two blocks in a steel tonight.

Like that wasn't happening earlier in the season.

So yeah, I mean, it's like a, it's a kind of a convergence

of if all these guys are now confident, playing well,

having those, those minutes in their legs,

it really does mean that we can kind of take things

potentially to the next level.

And yeah, I agree.

It's been very, very good for Billy Oscars

and Rap specifically.

And even Garlo Tunex, then he's getting some minutes out there.

Because now you put Winter back in there.

Now you have three really, really good bigs

that all can play, can, can, honestly,

can take over a game potentially.

No, Ron, I think it's a great, great observation

on your, your part on that.

You know, it, it, it put those guys

in the most pressure pack situation as possible.

And I think Billy Alkiss has really grown

since Winter's been out, you know, his,

just his battle on the boards and stuff.

Yeah, his post defense gets like Mara.

God, a couple of easy ones laid on him.

But I think that the, and the confidence

that it gives, not just those two that you guys hit on.

But the confidence it gives the rest of the team

that they can win those types of games

and play those types of games without Nolan Winter.

Like, so whatever adversity,

because you're gonna run into adversity in the tournament.

So whatever adversity that they run into,

I think it just, they have this experience and draw on

that I don't, they're like, it doesn't matter

who goes down or who's out, they can still win the game.

And I think that's, I think it's huge for them

and the team and just the mentality going into March.

That's a great comment from Graham down here.

He said, at the start of the season,

we said, no one goes down, we are screwed.

Which at the start of the season, I think it was true.

I think it was correct.

And we've been proven wrong.

Yeah, you beat Purdue.

You beat Illinois without them.

You go toe to toe to Michigan.

And now you add them back in, assuming he's close to 100%.

I think it's a tremendous comment down here from Graham.

I'll take a quick second here.

Let's talk big picture next, get star comments.

We'll get coach and receive some star comments.

I don't receive you.

You may need to go, so if you need to drop, just do it.

We'll get some comments to you as well.

Okay.

We'll do that next on Lockdown Badgers, your comments.

And then big picture March slots.

It's coming up next on Lockdown Badgers.

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And it's great energy without this sugar.

So you don't get that spike and then that drop.

It's a little better for you.

It's convenient.

Mention the flavor that you like most in the chat.

What again, I go with cherry.

Other people go with grape or if you want

some a little sweeter cotton candies out there,

find a new favorite flavor of five hour energy.

They'll be online at fiveernergy.com or over at Amazon.

Now let's come back in this also great time to mention

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All right, let's get some comments in here.

But first big picture in the March,

how are you guys feeling right now?

Just really big picture with this team.

Really, really, really freaking good for two big things.

So one, imagine playing in the tournament

and a team goes up 12 or 15 points.

You're not scared that team's gonna be

that we're gonna come right back.

Like no one's ever gonna feel safe against us right now,

which puts a ton of pressure on any opposing team

that we're playing.

And even if we're up by a little bit,

they're like, oh, can we even come back?

Cause these guys can score 15 points like that.

What we've been able to do multiple times against,

by the way, top 10 teams.

We're not doing it against anybody.

We're doing it against the best.

That is putting the fear of God, I think,

into the opponents that we're gonna play.

And based on how we have played against Michigan, Illinois,

Purdue, Michigan state, I will say that,

and listen, the believe meter is at an all time high now.

You cannot tell me that this team cannot get to a Final Four.

You can't tell me that because we've shown

we can beat anybody without no one winter.

We can go to toe to toe with anyone.

Maybe Duke, maybe Duke is the team

that we're like, we don't want to run into them,

which is why I think we better off as a six seed.

But like, we need to, we have to believe

that we can get this done and this team has to believe.

I have full faith that a sweet 16 is in the cards this year.

And you better believe we're going to be in it

in every single game we play.

And I just, I'm so pumped for next week, man.

Yeah, I'll be the first to admit that I've, you know,

I've been consistent.

I think this is around a 32 sailing team

because of their defensive deficiencies.

But to what Reggie was just talking about,

I have kind of backed off on that for two factors.

It's just the amount, but the experience

I've had gotten without winter with Rappin,

Billy Alskis doing it, the way they're shooting it.

But today's defensive effort, you know,

but to what you guys have hit on is you've done it,

you beat Illinois twice, one at their place,

beat them on a neutral, one at Michigan without Rapp,

lost on a last second shot today on a neutral floor

without winter, you know, you, you won at Purdue.

I mean, they, you, they've got the biggest road wins

at anybody in the, in the country.

So I don't see, there shouldn't be a matchup

where they shouldn't have confidence or belief

that they can win.

But I also, it's going to come down guys defensively.

Like we saw last year BYU's game,

they got to get some stops on the defense end.

And I think Reggie had the exact same point.

I don't think it's going to happen.

I think they're going to end up as a five, maybe a four,

but I would love to be a six, because I would love,

I think there's a different tier from those number one seats

than from any two or three.

I would love to avoid, you know, in Arizona,

a Duke, a Florida, in that sweet 16 round.

So I would be ecstatic if they would get a six

for that reason.

Yeah, it's well said.

I was with you coach with the Round of 32 ceiling,

defensively, I think we had the same kind of questions.

I think this Michigan game today was really important to me,

because to me, you're stacking data points.

You're the first Michigan game, you beat them.

There was a scenario in my head

where Michigan was going to come out

and exact quote unquote revenge and just house you.

At this point, you stacked enough data points to say,

you, you can beat anybody.

And this offense is dynamic enough to outplay

some of the defensive deficiencies on any given day.

I think they can get into the sweet 16.

I think they can battle their way there.

This team has really impressed me down the stretch.

Is there a scenario?

I want to throw this question here again.

Well, we're going to get some start questions down.

We won't get to all of them,

but we'll try to get to a much as much of them as possible.

Michael says elite eight this year

are total failure of a season.

Is there, I know we all kind of maybe disagree with this

and it doesn't mean Michael's wrong.

Like every opinion here is great.

But is there a March scenario where you would look at it

and say this season is almost a bit of a failure?

What would that look like for you guys?

For me, it's probably a first round.

I do think that like this season has been

monumentally successful.

And it will just have a really big stain at the end of it

if we go down in the first round.

If we get past the first round,

honestly, we're going to be a five or a six,

which means we're not going to be favored to win our second round.

We should theoretically, by seeding,

we should lose in the round up 32.

I mean, that's, we're not, you know, like we haven't,

we've never been ranked in the top 16 all season.

So like it's, it would be, it would be good to get there.

If we lose in the first round though,

I'm going to have a hard time with that.

I will still say it's a success

because 14 and six in the conference

and beating the teams that we have,

no one can take that away from this team.

But you also have to get it done in this first round.

You're playing in 11, you might even play a team

like Miami, Ohio, Yikes.

But like we do need to get it done.

We have to make, we have to make that happen

because this team deaths desperately needs it

and they proven they can do it against a lot of good opponents.

You got to get it done.

Yeah, to some of our great listeners,

points in what you guys both hit on, I agree.

I think this has been an unbelievable successful season

to what you guys have talked about.

24 and 10, 14 and six.

And that conference with the wins.

If you guys would have told me in December

that this team was going to be 14 and six in the big 10,

I would have said you're crazy.

So I think for that reason, it's a success.

But to what you both hit on,

you have to avoid that first round loss.

I wouldn't, I would never classify this season

as a failure because of that.

It would just be a huge disappointment.

I say it all the time and I'll be saying it

for the next week if Ryan has me on shows

as we talk about the tournament.

When you get to the tournament, it's all about matchups.

It's not even about seating.

It's matchups, how you match up with a particular opponent

against your strengths, their weaknesses, et cetera.

And what I would think, what I would really like to do

is as much success as this program has had,

we haven't been to a sweet 16 since 16 if I'm correct on that.

So I would love for this team to get past that first weekend.

Yeah, I think Greg Gard needs it at some point,

maybe not this year, but like at some point,

at some point Greg Gard needs that run

to kind of validate what he's doing.

And I agree with both of you though,

I think the radio season was tremendously successful.

I really do care about the Big 10 regular season.

I get months of incredible enjoyment

out of watching good radio season basketball.

I can't be for nothing if you get a bad match up

and you lose in March.

That being said, to Reggie's point,

a great dinner can be ruined a little bit by a bad dessert.

And if you lose in the first round

with the talent that you put together,

it'll be hard to square those two things for me.

Gabe Brahmos, a good friend of the show, by the way,

I really like Gabe.

Is it possible it's going to be better on offense,

not defense without winter?

I would push back on this, I would say no.

It made me think for just a really quick second.

The thing with winter is he's so incredibly efficient

at multiple levels, he's really good,

he's the best role man you have, his good hands,

he runs the court incredibly well.

Like there's a lot of easy buckets you get in transition

because no one winter runs to the RAM

and draws people in and you get open to reason transition.

So I would say no, but I think it speaks to guys

to the other two bigs that they play pretty well

in his absence.

Yeah, no, I think it's a great point by Gabe.

I would say I agree with Ryan, I would say no,

but I think what it has shown is that they can play

without him, but I think what it really shows now

is they're a very big matchup problem.

They can take Billy out skis out of the game

if they need to and they can play rap at the fore,

winter at the five play a five out offense

and it's gonna be really hard to guard that team.

And even Billy out skis is capable from three.

You guys were talking about earlier,

think why those grind to your friend from Michigan

is like what's going on?

Well, because Mara and those bigs play drop coverage

and when you guys got, so when they're in drop coverage,

you're gonna pick and pop your bigs

and Wisconsin has those bigs to pick and pop.

So that's why and winter has that ability,

that's why I don't think they're better offensively

without winter, but it has shown them

that they are a hard matchup,

even with winter off the floor.

Winter's only gonna make us better, man.

He's only gonna make us better offensively defensively

all of it, like he's so incredibly efficient.

He's elite efficiency and you've shown that

you've looked at that on synergy, right?

And like he's elite and it's very welcome return for him.

He also just lengthens the bench.

Like that's the other part,

just adding quality players into your lineup.

It lengthens the bench.

It's like a pitching rotation and baseball

adding a number three starter,

pushes everyone else down and people are fresher.

They can play harder.

You don't have to raise much about fouls.

It's better for everything.

Thought here, coach, this may be more to you.

Did you wanna see any type of different coverage

with Mara down there?

Maybe we could have dug more, help more.

There were a couple times we did double a couple times,

but what were your thoughts

how they covered defensively?

Yeah, it's a great question by this

because early in the game and you just talked about Ryan,

they did, when it went inside,

Boyd actually got two deflections, two steals.

He immediately went and immediately post doubled.

And then Michigan kind of got away

from throwing into the post in the first half.

But then in the second half, they went back to one on one

and especially down the stretch,

when it was 62-58 after rap hit his fifth consecutive three,

they threw it down to Mara on the post,

played Billy, let Billy Auskis go 1v1

and Mara just backed him literally down to the rim

and just laid it in.

And then he had the other one late too.

So they did it early, they didn't do it late.

I'm sure it's because they didn't wanna give up

to kick out three, but I do think

with their perimeter and tier your defense,

they're gonna have to just switch it up

and they gotta be a little more aggressive on that,

in my opinion.

And I think that one of the reasons they probably did that

is because of Michigan.

Michigan is really, really good, which we all know.

Mara's a really good passer, right?

We had that with Crowl Lasher.

He's a very good passer.

So ideally, I would have liked to see a double down,

like late in the game there,

double down on the strong side

and then have someone roll over to get that shooter.

But the problem is Mara is good enough to look to the weak side

and just then put it across court to an open guy.

And not every team in the tournament is gonna have that.

So if you are going up against the dominant big,

I think we can be a little more aggressive

on the double down and roll our coverage

because we're not gonna come up with a guy.

Mara's increased elite at passing the ball from the post.

So if you don't run into a guy like that,

it gives us a little bit more freedom to do that.

I'm okay with what they did

because I would rather Mara get that

than a wide open three from Michigan

because that's gonna just keep pumping them up.

And we couldn't give them wide open shots.

Yeah, I actually really agree with you there.

Let's say it's a calculation you make.

You have to give up something.

So you either give up a post shot

where he's gonna shoot it over somebody

or you give up an open three.

You gotta give up something it's Michigan.

I'll also point out and coach you

and I were texting about this.

There was a play late in the game.

I think Wisconsin was up to it this point.

Mara had the shot over Garlock on the baseline, missed it.

Garlock just needs to get the rebound.

Like he didn't box him out.

So I'm fine with it.

I think you gotta give up something it's Michigan.

Reggie, I'm gonna kick this one to you

from Hooger, good dude, man.

Boyd is the best signing guard has made in the NIL era.

Maybe not the best player, but the best signing.

What do you think?

I borrowed 100%.

It's not even close at this point,

but Boyd is.

Boyd's got a time closer to country, right?

Are my crazy.

I mean, Boyd has exceeded all of my expectations.

Tanjay was a fantastic.

He was, and he also exceeded our expectations

and to be honest, so did store.

But Boyd, as coach said so well earlier,

he is literally his energy's permeating through the team.

He's making this team better, not just him.

He's playing great and everyone around him

is playing great.

We are a infinitely more dangerous team

this year in the tournament than we were last year

because of Nick Boyd.

And that is why he is the best signing

that Gray Guard has made it.

I am like, we did a factor fiction last week, Ryan,

where we talked about can a single guy year be an all-time badger?

And I was like, oh, I don't know.

I was wrong.

Nick Boyd is an all-time badger.

This dude is just put his name up in the Raptor somewhere.

I can't believe how good he is

and how incredible he is made our team.

It's really remarkable.

He is an unbelievable player.

Yeah, you guys are both spot on.

I would say just to keep it brief,

he makes the badgers tougher.

And Tanji was a great player.

Tanji didn't make the badgers tougher.

Boyd makes them tougher.

Yeah, it's a tremendous get.

And I say this all the time

and we'll take a few more comments to get out of here, guys,

but I say this all the time.

It's a meshing of who he is and what Guard has built.

Like, you can have the best coach

or the best cook in the country,

but if you don't give him right kitchen to cook

and he's not gonna beat.

Guard has gone so much out of Tanji, Boyd, Store, Carrington.

You can go down the list.

It's at this point, it's not coincidence.

Right.

And you've got to go clear for both the rap as well, 100%.

Klesmit, Kamari McGee, you go down and down the list.

Rodi, he's built like something here

that really works for these guys.

But then yeah, to your as a point, Boyd

is absolutely coming to me.

I'm tougher.

Some Michigan fans in the chat,

you have the Michigan fan here,

y'all's basketball team's a ton of heart.

We'll be playing in the second week of the tournament.

Montalk, y'all have a tough team

well played, go blue.

Some nice comments here for Michigan fans.

And certainly if any Michigan fans are talking,

we said it several times, your team is phenomenal.

I'm not a Michigan fan, obviously,

but that is a wagon of a team

that you guys have put together there.

Guys, I'm gonna pull up a couple more comments,

search for a couple more.

Any last thoughts you have,

kind of as we start to wrap this up.

Yeah, I actually wanted to ask Coach a question,

just kind of get your thoughts on this.

Like, you know, you brought up matchups in the tournament.

And I'm almost curious because I feel like

we're becoming so efficient at dealing

with different types of teams.

What is a bad matchup for us?

Like, what does a bad matchup look like for us right now,

based on everything that we've been doing lately?

What don't we wanna see in the tournament?

That's a great question, Regime.

Like, you saw it with JMU, Ryan,

I touched about before they played that game.

The athleticism that JMU had that the badgers didn't have,

it was really a mismatch from the get-go.

Regime, your point, I would have said

against a bigger, stronger, interior, orientated team,

but they've proven repeatedly

in the two games against Michigan, Illinois, Purdue.

I think it is long athletic guards

that can keep the ball in front of them,

particularly with boy,

eliminate Blackwell getting into the paint

to force Blackwell to settle for threes,

which he sometimes can get into that mode.

So I think long athletic guards

could be a bad matchup for the badgers.

I also think a team, you know,

you get some of those lower seeds,

a team that will give you three quarter,

quarter, four, four pressure.

You know, the badgers have gotten a little loose

and some of those occasions doing that,

especially with they keep the ball on a boy's hand.

I would think those two team things for me

would make me nervous in terms of a matchup standpoint.

Yeah, it's a good point.

Yeah, it's definitely it is.

It's very matchup dependent and, you know,

and whoever we play, whoever we get matched up with,

we're not going to know anything about that team, right?

I mean, because we know,

I mean, I certainly can tell you

about almost any big 10 team,

but I don't know a lot about the teams outside of the big 10

or maybe the top 10.

So it's going to be really interesting

to see what we get.

And one thing I would add another thing

that makes me nervous,

because Ryan's hit on this all year and he's been spot on,

their transition defense gets a little loose.

So if they get matched up a team,

when the team that's very good in the transition,

because Michigan early in the game

have some wide open transition loads today and missed them.

So if you, if they get matched up against a lower seat,

that's really good in transition,

that could make the badgers a little nervous.

Well, let's end here, guys,

because I got this text actually after the game

and somebody asked me to hit on this.

We talked this one about why we like this team,

the heart, the boy, the shooting,

you went to her back, you beat anybody.

What's the biggest reason you have

for concern heading into March?

Reggie, we'll start with you.

The biggest, the biggest hiccup you have right now.

Yeah, I mean, I think at the end of the day,

we're still, we can be,

you live by the three, die by the three,

like that's still my number one concern,

because as I said to you a couple of weeks ago, Ryan,

like we shoot 20% from three, you know, like,

I mean, we did, we did well yesterday,

not shooting the greatest,

but I do worry about what we look like

if we just have a cold night,

because sometimes those shooting woes are contagious,

just like hot shooting is contagious.

And that worries me, and ultimately,

I am always worried about people's penetrating,

straight line drives that we just can't stop.

Sometimes it's just too easy for teams to score on us.

We saw that today for at times in the early part

of the second half,

but if we get a combination of a team that's gonna put,

they're gonna put a lot of pressure on us

and gonna drive and we're not gonna do much to stop them,

or we get in foul trouble,

and then we just can't shoot the three.

I mean, it's gonna be very difficult.

We need our threes to go down.

We didn't go down.

I would say, I agree with Reggie,

but I would say for me, it's defensively.

Ryan and I talked about it right after the game,

Carrington, so those last two defensive possessions

down the stretch.

Michigan, Kenomas, the three.

Carrington did not block out his guy.

There was a guy in his area,

I forgot who got the offensive rebound.

He did not block him out.

Got the offensive rebound, kicked it back to Kadoe,

hit the three.

Michigan's up three.

Boyd makes the three.

I don't know if people caught it that last possession.

Michigan had nothing going.

Six seconds left.

They had nothing going.

Carrington left Lindenburg and kind of chased after the ball

and then got turned around and was actually just standing

in the pain, had no idea where Lindenburg was.

And he was wide open on three, reverse pivot, kicked it.

Now, again, you got to have a guy like Lindenburg

that can hit a shot like that.

But just those two defensive breakdowns

that Carrington had late and Michigan being

who they are made them pay for both of them.

And it cost them the game.

And in the tournament, you're going to play great teams

that if you make mistakes, they will make you pay.

And like Ryan said, got the car lock lock out in the game as well.

It's just the little things like that guy, especially

in March, are the difference of you surviving

and the difference of you going home

and the season being over just like that.

Yeah, it's going to be a ton of fun.

Oh, hopefully, hopefully it's not a fun.

Yeah, I think both those are really good takes.

To me, it's been the defensive stuff.

I do think the cold shooting, yes, that's going to sink you.

But I think with the way Boyd's been getting in the paint,

we've been able to evolve a little bit.

That's just, we only need to shoot threes.

Like we can't have a terrible shooting day.

But I think with Boyd's building in the paint

that's been a little better defensively

than just a consistency through a game.

Like those little possessions

that you can't just give up and open look here.

You can't just not get back in transition there.

You've got a box out here.

I think the other thing for me guys

that still really worries me is Nolan Winter

and how healthy he's actually going to be.

Because we get crushed on the glass,

quite frankly, without Nolan.

Now we've played Illinois and Michigan,

but we're not as good on the glass without Nolan.

I think we need a help for her, should I'm Nolan?

Quite frankly, we just don't fully know.

Quite so.

For both of you guys to that point, Ryan,

if Nolan isn't completely ready to go Thursday or Friday,

do you sit him to give him two more days

for around a 32 game?

You do now, based on everything that we've seen for me.

I think if he, if it's like really,

if he really is that close and it's just like,

you know what, let's just sit him.

I think given how we played in the term without him,

I think we could probably get away with it,

but boy, I really don't want to see it that way.

So a clarifying question, when you say,

sit him, like is it like he's like,

he could totally go, but he's limited or like,

is he close to, here's my thing.

If he's close to playing, I play him a hundred percent.

I take an angle from a cadaver, I tape it on,

I duct tape it together, I put glue on it.

Dude, you can lose in the first round of March.

Arizona's loss is a one seed.

Virginia's loss is a one seed.

Like Purdue is a lot.

You can absolutely drop the first game.

And if you have 80% no one winter, again,

not saying anybody, I get what Rajiv is saying.

Like we just had, we played really well without him.

I think it's March and you suit everybody up.

You, even if it's 20 minutes of no one winter.

And in all honesty, he probably could have played

based on a couple of things that, you know,

we kind of heard like he probably could have played.

So I think he is going to be fine

and it's going to be good, man, bring it on, baby.

Bring it on.

What do you think coach?

What's your answer to that one?

No, I think you guys are right.

I mean, you're right.

If he and our listeners are saying to,

if he's 75%, shoot, if he's 50%,

it makes you longer to your point in the rotation.

I agree with Rajiv.

I think the staff, I think he was ready to go this weekend.

They just said, it wasn't going to make a difference

in their seeding, why risk it?

And I'm really glad the staff showed that discipline.

I'm glad winter showed the discipline

to believe in the staff to sit him

because look at the run they had without him.

We talked about the confidence factor.

I think it was the right move.

I think he's ready to go.

I mean, I think if he's on one leg,

you play him probably because he is no one winter.

So I rule him out on a cart.

If he's like, he's, to me, you got to play in March.

But Will Hanna says he played with,

Will Hanna played with a partially torn growing,

not totally healed and threw down 28 and got 16 boards.

So if Will Hanna can do it, absolutely.

No one wins again.

We're going to wrap it there guys again.

We went for 48 minutes, but it's a big moment in the season.

March is about to start.

We got the great regime.

Go check out his work on the buck report.

Always blessed and humbled to have coach Goth

who does this for a living, kind of gracing our presence.

And he brings a level of context that we just can't do.

So it's always great to have him here.

We got Mike behind the mic as always.

None of this works as smoothly without him.

So in the chat, just please let him know

how grateful we are.

Locked on pay, I don't pay him a ton.

You know, it's good.

It's solid, the benefits he gets.

But, you know, it's a definitely thank him as well,

because he does a tremendous part on these shows.

And it makes, we were talking about the other day,

where Jeep and I can actually have conversations and coach

together without having to scan the comments.

And that makes it so much better.

So, and for the 474 of you people watching,

thank you so much for tuning in.

Oh, and we have a locked on bracket challenge.

Thank you, Hanjo, in the chat.

Join our discord, get in our locked on bracket challenge.

It's going to be a ton of fun as well.

As real as says, let's go Badgers on Wisconsin.

Jeep, you had something here.

Yeah, I just wanted to say, there's

me a lot of good content coming out tomorrow.

Like we've obviously, I think, I know Ryan,

I think you're going to go live Ryan during the selection show

or soon thereafter, Justin and I are going

to be going live at 9 p.m. Eastern tomorrow night

for our selection Sunday.

Especially we're going to have some guests on there.

So yeah, it's a lot of good content coming out tomorrow.

Tomorrow is one of my favorite days of the entire year

can't wait.

Yeah, and so that's a good point.

Reggie, we will be going live and locked on

during the selection show.

So you guys can follow along with us as the names pop coach.

I'll put you on the spot.

Are you around tomorrow?

Yeah, I would love to, you know, and I was just going

to say too, I want to thank all our great listeners,

this community is unbelievable.

I want to thank Reggie, Ryan, Mike, everybody

for letting me be a part of this.

I love it.

It's great, especially it's getting me off my post season

depression that I'm in.

But I also want to say, please check out everything's

Ryan's doing is awesome every day.

I don't know how he does it, but please check out

what Reggie and Justin are doing with their work.

It's unbelievable stuff.

It's a must must must listen, must watch.

And I just want to thank everybody

from the bottom of my heart for allowing me to be a part of this.

Glad to do it, coach.

As always, on Wisconsin, I appreciate you guys so so much.

And we'll definitely talk tomorrow.

It's hard to find my stuff on the laptop.

It's longer.

Ryan, how are you doing all this traveling?

The winter games are officially here.

And if you're anything like us, you're locking in for events.

You only get to see on the biggest stage every four years.

And that's why following the winter games on Fandall

just makes sense from middle counts to individual events

to finding your angle on the sports you care about most.

Fandall gives you more ways to say connected to the action.

The drama of curling matches that start slow and somehow

get intense fast hockey games that feel different

right from opening face-off.

The winter games are on, and there's no better way

to follow them than with Fandall.

Fandall, play your game.

You can just move through life,

or you can find the things that move you.

It's your choice.

Choose joy.

Choose the road.

Choose your shot.

Take it.

Choose to get in there.

Choose your calling.

Choose your path.

Just choose.

We craft cars for those who choose to do more

than simply move.

You know who you are.

Mazda, move, and be moved.

Awake up.