ROBBERY: Why Nick Boyd DESERVED Wisconsin Badgers All-Big Ten First Team—Season Evaluation HEATS UP

0:00It's the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. Introducing the all-new Mazda CX-5. Featuring more connection. Hey, Google, where's the nearest Pilates class? Safety that has your back. More discovery on the scene of crowds. More passion in the details. A more controlled and changing weather. The all-new Mazda CX-5. More to move every side of you. See it in five films at MazdaUSA.com slash five sides. Google is a trademark of Google LLC. Sequence is shortened and simulated. This is Nick Gangstead with the Lockdown Podcast. This message is a paid partnership with Apple Card. I love that I can run up to 3% daily cash back on every purchase of my Apple Card, which can be automatically sent to my high-yield savings account through Apple Card right in the wallet app. With my iPhone, I can use Apple Card with Apple Pay basically everywhere I go. You can apply for Apple Card too, right in the wallet app on your iPhone.

1:02Subtract your credit approval. Savings is available to Apple Card owners, subject to eligibility. Savings in Apple Card by Goldman Sachsbank, USA Salt Lake City Branch member FDIC. Terms and more at applecard.com. Nick Boyd didn't make the first team all big 10 teams. I demand a recount. He got snowed. You are Lockdown Badgers. You're daily podcast on the Wisconsin Badgers. Part of the Lockdown Podcast Network. Your team every day. What is going on, Badger Fans? Welcome to Lockdown Badgers. Your team every single day. Find a Lockdown Podcast Network, the number one sports podcast network. And thank you for being here and thank you for being in every day. I'm your host, Ryan Harrings, and I appreciate you. Today's episode, Nick Boyd got snubbed. Let's talk about his final four experience and take a couple of your questions, including. Are we getting fooled by this team? There's a couple of questions I want to get to.

2:02But first, let's talk, Nick Boyd. All big 10 teams came out. Nick Boyd's second team. All big 10. John Blackwell gets 13 all big 10 on Nick. Nolan Winter didn't get honorable mention, which I thought was silly. He should have been honorable mention. 13 all big 10. John Blackwell's second team. All big 10. Nick Boyd just robbed. What are we? What are we doing here? And the thing of it is. All conference teams. Are very much. Are very much a reflection of where you start the season. And voters need to quite honestly get over it. You know, so you, you know, Braden Smith comes into the season with tremendous height. And. I think he kind of rides that into the first team old conference of Jeremy Fears. I think the same way. Whereas Nick Boyd coming in not as heralded. Certainly people knew who we was. But he outplayed these guys. Right. You look at Braden Smith. Braden Smith average 14.9, 3.6 boards, 8.7 assists. Nick Boyd average 24 and 4 on 53% effective shooting percentage.

3:05The average five points more per game than Braden Smith. And yeah, Braden Smith had more assists. But Nick Boyd was. I think down the stretch clearly the better player. Keen Weggler average 17.9 per game. Only 4.3 assists. Nick Boyd had a better year than that. I think it's a good year for me. There's 15.5 points per game. And multiple times this season when you had to look at him as. You're, you're making dirty plays to the detriment of your team. Nick Boyd had none of that. And then you look at them individually. What, what they did in those matchups. Nick Boyd beat Michigan State and Jeremy Fears. Nick Boyd beat. Braden Smith. On their home, on their, their senior night to end the season. Nick Boyd. And the badgers beat Keen Weggler. And in those three games, Nick Boyd average had 23 against Purdue. And a game where Braden Smith shot eight of 18 in that last game. Hit 25 against Illinois. Nick Boyd had 29 against Michigan State. And a game where Jeremy Fears went three to 12. What are we doing here? I just. Open your eyes and take a look at how good Nick Boyd is.

4:07And if it means your media darling Braden Smith isn't on the first team list. He's not on the first team list. It is what it is. Nick Boyd absolutely got snubbed. I don't even. I don't think there's a huge argument that you can make that logically make sense. He beat these players head to head. He had the highest points per game average of all of them. He shot efficiently. This team is peaking. They have three of the best road wins in the country. He's the first teamer. He's an absolute first teamer. It is what it is. Still second team all all big 10. Quite frankly, I think you should be talking about Nick Boyd potentially. As an all American, let alone first team all big 10. He's just been tremendous this year. I think he's outplayed these other players. It's. It's unfortunate in my opinion that. That he didn't get on that list. And I think it reflects preseason biases to some degree. The other thing I want to talk about here. We got a couple questions. I want to get into it quickly. This is just kind of a quick bonus show. This is from laughing gas. He said, looking back. Do you think this team exceeded expectations or underperformed work from where you thought they were to where they are now?

5:08Where how do you feel? I think they exceeded. I didn't think they would be 14 and six in the big 10. I think I was more like 13 and seven, maybe. I don't actually remember my preseason prediction, but. I certainly didn't expect them to go in and win some of these road games. I thought there'd be a little better in the out of conference, the noncon. But I think they have exceeded expectations to me. I think it's fair to say that. Let's keep going here. Let's see. Scott. They have to win in March. Fair on fair. That's the reality. Yeah, we keep going back to this. Does it need this matter to the general badgers fan if Greg guard doesn't make a run in March? Does the Michigan game matter? Does the Illinois Michigan State Purdue game? Do these games matter if you don't make a run in March? It's a super fair question. I think the answer is different for everybody to be honest. I don't think. So yes. I'm going to give you kind of two answers. The first is, yes, you got to make a run at some point.

6:08You have to make a run because March is by definition the culmination of the entire season. So if you fall flat at the end of a race, if you're running a marathon in that last mile, you trip and fall in a mud pile. Yeah, first you probably have to talk to the course organizers. Why are there trip hazards on the course, but yeah, it does. Nobody remembers the first, the first two thirds of the marathon, right? It's how you finish and it's where you finish. And I think that's a fair point. I'm also never going to look back and remember how I felt after the Michigan game or the Purdue game, or the Michigan State game. And those were great moments. I really enjoyed those moments. So it's more than just how you finish. It's a collection of moments throughout the year that you really enjoy and you have a blast with. But you also have to eventually get back to the sweet 16, get back into the elite eight. I think both of those things are fair. So how do you evaluate it? How do you evaluate the season? It maybe you do lose. In the round of 32 again, or gosh, a bit in the first game.

7:11How do you evaluate the season to me? It's still a success. And that's. I'm not going to waver off of that. I think you have successful season. You're I think if you're finishing the fifth and the big 10. It's a successful season. But it would. It would leave a poor taste in your mouth. It would. It would taint it a little bit. So I think Scott is right. You've got to make a run. That's the reality of it at some point. But to me, it also doesn't completely diminish the season. If you don't. Clayton says guards overrated outside this year. Kirk Penny was the driving force. I always look at it like this. And again, every opinion on this show is welcome as long as people are respectful. We're we welcome every opinion that that's the point of this whole community. I think you're better when you welcome all opinions. I don't think Clayton's necessarily wrong on the second part of this. So the second part of this, that's the first part, I'm sure that you think that it's not the same. But you definitely. Kirk Penny was a master driving force. But who hired Kirk Penny. You, you have to give people credit for hiring good people.

8:15And you also have to give people credit for listening to good people. Because not everybody does either of those things, great guard. Found a good person to hire and Kirk Penny. Obviously, he knew him. But he brought him on staff. And then he also. This is what I keep them back to. I've said it a lot. over a system and say, I'm going to change what we're going to change what we're doing offensively. We're going to trust Kirk Penning to do something different. I think you have to give Greyguard a ton of credit for that and give Kirk Penning credit, too. It's not one or the other. You know, it's not what's the best part of Texas Roadhouse. Well, it's the buns and the steak. Both of those things can be true. I think Kirk Penning gets a ton of credit and I think Greyguard does. Both of those things can be true. But I think he's still up to give Greyguard a ton of credit. I would disagree that he's overrated. But again, teach the wrong, no wrong opinions, man. We respect all the viewpoints and takes on the show. Indigo Stout says, when you were talking about Cam Hunter and Free Take leading their team to score, and you forgot about the Gus Bus, he's a remons leading score. Yeah, man. It's wild. Greyguard. And these guys have all gone on to be pretty darn successful and I think all for different

9:17reasons. Cameron Hunter. When he came here, he, if you remember, he got hurt, he had like mono, I'm forgetting exactly what he had, but he had something that really set him back. He came in to be a backup guard, be a depth piece and then he got hurt, he got sick. That train never got out of the station, out of the station, he got to rail and it never got going. I think a healthy Cameron Hunter last year helps this team, not massively. But I think he's your seventh or eighth guy, he's playing 10, 15 minutes a game and I think he helps you. So that's why I didn't work in Madison. Free Take I think was just young. I think there was a little bit of immaturity to grow through probably and maybe not as much patience from the coaching staff as you would have liked, but I think it's clicked for him. Those athletic tools that we really liked that I talked a lot about the athletic profile that kid. You're seeing it. He's been balling out this year and Buffalo and then the Gus, the Gus bus. I still a Gus bus merchandise. I loved watching him play in high school. You know, he was, he's a really talented guy, good footwork, good field, can pass, can

10:18shoot. He's got some of those unique things that make things difficult to deal with. He just, I hate to say, he wasn't mature enough when he got to Madison. It took him a couple of years and that, that happened sometimes, right? Now he's playing at a lower level Vermont, but I would expect, I was big both free taking Gus, man. Maybe they move a step back up after this year. Maybe the game and the mentality has matured. They weren't bad talent evils by great guard for sure. We're going to wrap up there, guys. On Wisconsin really do appreciate every single one of you and we will definitely talk later. We got factor fiction coming up with receive in a bunch more content this week on Wisconsin and we will talk to you guys later. Hey, everyone, this is Ross Jackson, one of the hosts of the Lockdown Podcast Network. If your group chat's been a little quiet lately, I want to invite you to come and join ours. If you sign up for the Every Day or Club, you get access to the members' only group

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