Jim French Stepstool

Seriously, I think the thing to do is peruse through the above list & see who would be the most amenable to a one-year contract since Quero is a waitin'. Maybe Barnhart & Stallings are the best combination of fit & willingness to sign a 1-year deal? Henry? Maybe, if his defense has been trending upward. Is Navaretto still in the organization?

Erik Kratz.😃

Longo just seems to be one of these offensive coordinators who likes to use the short, ball-control passing game in lieu of the run game. Not just as a result of the injuries to the tailbacks & overall inconsistencies of the running game, either. It's been going on pretty much from week one.

Just had to rub it in, huh?🍹🏝️ I understand Barry Alvarez made the trip too.

I don't know if it's possible for a P5 team to be a 13 or 14 seed just based on the structure of the NCAA tournament, but either way I'm not sure how disappointing any season can be in which you make the tourney. Then again, I'm a big picture kinda-guy.😐

Yeah, you always hear rumblings about the depth, that they can go 9-10 deep, and it never seems to happen. But he's been playing 9 or 10, even vs the better teams. And one of the people getting fewer minutes than the others was a starter last season. So as long as people come off the bench & guard, I think the lengthened bench is a real thing.

I did too. But as the season wore on & I saw all the 3 & 5 & 7 yard routes, it became apparent they favored some of the smaller, waterbug-type receivers for those patterns. I imagine they like Dike for some of the slants & deeper balls, but you see them so seldom that it's hard to say. Then as you said, the injury. If what we saw from the pass game this season is indicative, I think the days of the bigger, more physical receivers like Lee DeRamus, Darren Charles, Donald Hayes & Nick Toon may be over.

When Tony was coaching Washington State in Milwaukee years ago, his dad was at the game. I approached him & brought up the 1975 WIAA tournament which he coached in & I attended as my old high school was participating. It was impressive listening to the number of details he recalled. Just a very, very nice man.

I think what happened, is he wrenched the back vs Arky State, had to take it a little easy in practice, and the reps that others got in his place put him behind the 8-ball a little bit. I mentioned that I watched him in pregame before the Tennessee game & he wasn't moving well at all. Gard mentioned the other day using him for scout team stuff to help him get work. The main reason to have him out there, of course, is his shooting. And right now his shot is off. But he seemed to be focused defensively last night in the few minutes he got, and the ability to read the overplays & go back door is still there. Whether it's health related or just shaking off rust, I think he's simply working his way back. And they don't have to force feed it because like Homer said, others are playing better.

The University of Wisconsin-Green Bay has a new basketball coach this season. His name is Sundance Wicks. One of his children is named Skywalker.

Interesting. With two players redshirting, they have sixteen on the roster but I believe you still can only declare fifteen before a game. At this point it looks like an uphill struggle for Gus to get minutes, but we're only five games in. What's nice is with all that's happened he appears to still want to be a part of things.

Agree 100%. Real assertive on both ends. And defending w/o fouling, which was true of just about everyone today.

Such a bonus to be able to look down the bench & find someone with his athleticism & energy. And he's making shots, which if I was a betting man I'd say the coaches weren't expecting quite yet. As long as Klesmit gives them performances like today I'd keep Blackwell in this role.

The good news, the Hepburn-Mcgee-Blackwell combo provided great halfcourt defense, again. The better news, so did everyone else. No excuse to not continue the energy on that end because it looks like there's depth--depth that can defend--to give guys a blow. At least from what we saw today, that includes Gilmore. He had a very confident look to his game. Klesmit was very solid, hopefully the funk is over for him. Next up (hopefully) Essegian. He actually looked OK guarding in his brief minutes. And Wahl, after a frustrating start, just kept playing & had a great 2nd half.

Yeah, not only at WR, but the running game that made life easier for so many UW QBs over the years wasn't at the same level. Nor was the offensive line as dominant. So the ability of the QB to beat you with his legs becomes a necessity more than a luxury, and Mertz was quite the statue in the pocket. Mordecai gives you the added dimension, which they'll need if they want to finish strong.

I was at a game at Camp Randall years ago & someone mentioned to me about the % of refs doing B10 games that were graduates of colleges in the state of Michigan. You'd hate to think that referees would be slanted, but thinking about some of the crap that went on with Schembechler over the years, and then Lloyd Carr & beyond...............from "roughing the snapper", which I've never seen called anywhere else, to the good old days of "Gee, I can't hear the signals, the crowd is too loud"...........I remember once in Madison Michigan had a first-and-goal situation, and the QB kept refusing to snap the ball due to crowd noise. UW kept getting penalized half the distance, which would up after awhile being a matter of inches because the ball was so close to the goal line anyway. Certainly makes it easy to despise anyone wearing yellow pants.

On the second half drives where we were 3rd & short & wound up failing on the next two plays----not once but twice----I was actually hoping for some sort of run-pass option rollout from Mordecai. With a yard or two to go, I actually believed that was their best chance. Says something about how much things have changed (I did like the set where they basically lined up both TEs in such a way where they were able to act as fullbacks after the snap). Just one more drive to get some breathing room, couldn't get it done. Some nice toughness from Pauling. Obviously the defense gets a ton of credit for everything they did from the 3rd possession on, especially with Wohler having to leave. Maybe Peterson turned a corner today, developmentally. And Christian Alliegro looks like a keeper. The crummy starts just dumbfound me. You see basketball teams come out disjointed or whatever before getting used to speed/tempo of a game, then adjust. But a football team constantly taking a quarter or quarter-and-a-half to get right, that's a new one on me. In the end, props to everyone coming together enough to, at least, send the seniors out with a home win.

I think there actually WAS one tick left when the pass fell incomplete, but yeah. Had it hit zero it probably would've been reviewed & a second put back on. If this were 50 years ago & in the old Milwaukee Arena, Al McGuire probably would've had the clock operators' parking space taken away.

It was getting to the point in the 2nd half where they'd be defended really well for 28 seconds, then someone would get something off in desperation, & you knew, you just KNEW............ They shot it well in their previous game, and in their first two I think were around 25% from three. Hopefully a little payback coming from the basketball gods.

GG mentioned how McGee practiced well the last couple days before Friday. The competition for minutes is that close, that something like that can make all the difference. Klesmit has been an enigma, for sure. But just like Essegian, he's proven to be effective, even if he just plays at the same level as last year. Hopefully they put it together at some point. On another note, Gus Yalden was in uniform for the UT & Providence games, but was deemed "unavailable" yesterday. I'm guessing he's deciding whether to redshirt. If he were to play right now, from what I've heard it sounds like whatever offense he'd give you would be more than given up on the other end.

I'm sure I'll have more trades to rank before next spring. So far this one ranks last. I know we have quite a bit of OF talent in the system, but......... I look at Bauers' numbers & think Doug Melvin walked back into the office.

Things changed greatly for UW on the defensive end in the 2nd half tonite, especially when Blackwell & Kamari McGee were inserted. They really disrupted well in the half court. If not for 2-3 desperation threes RMU pulled out of their arse late in the shot clock they're held to around 25 pts or so in the half. They both played so much better than Klesmit, Essegian & Lindsey. Fortunately UW didn't miss the lack of perimeter offense because there was a big advantage inside. Wahl was better tonite. Crowl IMO still trying to find a comfort zone. Hepburn seems effective guarding off the ball, Just don't know how often they can afford to have McGee out there to guard the point. His offense is limited. Blackwell took just five shots from the floor, and scored 18pts. Wahl, same thing. Coaches love that stuff.

Agree with all of this. I obviously don't know for sure, but I feel Yelich doesn't want to even consider playing 1B. Definitely would like to be wrong about that.

I once had a chance to converse with Lamont Parris, who went on to ETSU & is now at South Carolina, and came away with two thoughts 1) I wish he'd stay at UW forever, and 2) It's almost impossible he would. I get pretty good vibes about Dean Oliver, but I too think the jury is out regarding exactly how good the staff is. Kirk Penney is an interesting recent add.

I think that's fair. When you take both ends of the floor into account I think both Aleem Ford & D'Mitrik Trice left UW much better players, but obviously not at the level of some of the Ryan guys ( I think one of the best examples is Clayton Hansen). Concerning this years' team, Steve Crowl has gotten off to a rocky start defensively, but despite the struggles with the 3-point shot he's increased his PPG by quite a bit each year. He, frankly, stunk at Providence. He needed to finish more often vs Tennessee but wound up with 14 & 9 rebounds vs one of the better defenses they'll see this year. Wahl doubled his PPG each season here, then struggled last season, then got injured & came back at I suspect something less than 100%. If his first three games are indicative of his 23-24 season, yeah, big disappointment. Like Crowl, needs to make a much bigger statement defensively (and please Tyler, play as if a sniper is going to aim at you from the stands the next time you shoot from beyond the arc). I don't know where the ceiling sits for Hepburn, but I think he's much improved from what I've seen. I believe Max Klesmits' ceiling is what he's shown to be last season, which was IMO pretty solid. I don't think he was much better at Wofford, where he scored more but that's not surprising coming from the So Con. Certainly has gotten off to a sub-par start, especially defensively. As for Essegian, I have to think the back isn't at 100%. I watched him during warmups before the Tennessee game & flat out told my wife I didn't think he'd be playing because he didn't even seem to be able to move well enough to get loose. And here's a common thread--in their last game, which was far & away their worst so far, none of those mentioned above came close to playing well. I'd rather let them get a little deeper into the season before passing judgement. But looking at the program "big picture" I think the point you make has some merit.