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Jim French Stepstool

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Everything posted by Jim French Stepstool

  1. Jim French Stepstool
    Those two things, and have or develop a knack for picking portal guys that are going to mesh with returning players & other portal candidates. Be the proverbial 'good fit'. That can't be easy. Gard seemed to have a knack for it with guys like Klesmit, Tonje & McGee.
  2. Jim French Stepstool
    Milwaukee has been home to great dining options for a long time. I'm not familiar with some of the names on your list, so thanks!!! If I may add another place worthy of a look-see----Santinos' Little Italy.
  3. Jim French Stepstool
    Some strong portal-driven momentum going on, and Hilton changing his mind adds some extra legitimacy to it. Great news.
  4. Jim French Stepstool
    Look at you------Mr CFB Transfer Portal!!!! Does this mean we won't hear anything more about Brewer prospects unless they can run a sub-4.4 forty or bench press over forty reps?🤔😄
  5. Jim French Stepstool
    There are people who didn't believe he was actually a former player. I read through pretty much the whole thing & IMO he's 100% legit. I think Leonhard would've carried some risk for sure. And once Fickell became available, going in that direction was a no-brainer. But I'll maintain Leonhards' eventual success or failure would've largely hinged on what kind of staff he could've put together. I agree Leonhard the HC wouldn't have had as good a DC as Leonhard the DC was. You can't get much more of an insider perspective than a former player but man, I find it hard to believe JL would've been as anti-NIL as Chryst was.
  6. Jim French Stepstool
    Too bad the NL adopted the DH. Lorenzen could hit 20-25 bombs in that park (partially blue).
  7. Jim French Stepstool
    Yeah, I just saw a reference to that tonite. Big boy. I cringe whenever I hear Cal-Poly. That's the school that came into Madison late one season & almost knocked off one of the Bielema-led teams. 35-34 or something like that.
  8. Jim French Stepstool
    Kawecki is obviously the shoo-in at C. But I might throw Ryan Cory in the mix too, only because Kawecki has some experience at G & could play there if Cory emerges in his 3rd year in the program. He was forced into the fray at 'Bama & wasn't bad considering the lack of experience. Admittedly just a 'what if'.
  9. Jim French Stepstool
    With Smith returning & Joseph in the fold, I wonder if they can attract another QB worth attracting? I imagine someone in the Locke-O'Neil 'willing to be a backup' category.
  10. Jim French Stepstool
    Yeah, I would say so. He never played due to injury, but Kevin Heywood was penciled in as the starting LT. So if he comes back strong that would be looked at as a good retention (not that he would've received portal attention given he sat out the entire year). Really wish Brunner would've stuck around.
  11. Jim French Stepstool
    Nowadays, we can save that quote & most schools can post it every February, right? That turns off many traditional CFB fans, myself included. But on paper this certainly looks like their best portal effort since this era has started. I think retaining Posa & Catalano is huge.
  12. Jim French Stepstool
    The floodgates have really opened up in the last 5-7 days, wow. I'd love to know what kind of money they're throwing around relative to the other folks competing for these guys. So they'd still like a couple more WRs, right?
  13. Jim French Stepstool
    Yeah, the 5-out is something you see from most teams nowadays. In UWs' case it's compounded by Winter really being the only big that might concern an opponent when posting, and when he gets the ball down low it's usually not a post up so much as a result of good man-ball movement or a screen-and-roll. It works OK when the driving lanes are there as a result of the 5-out, or the propensity of the defense to clog the lane results in the threes. But as you alluded to, none of that works if they stand around---watching Tyler Wahl or Ethan Happ backing down might've been boring to some, but if they had an advantageous matchup it could end well, even if the other four guys are caught watching. Can't do that now & get away with it. I actually saw Garlock make a nice post move & finish in their scrimmage, and he made a nice post move or two vs UWM. So it's in there. But in his case, yeah, it's gonna take a while. As the clock runs down, I'd certainly like to see Boyd more aware of driving the ball, and I'd like to see Blackwell get back to that, too. Blackwell took over as the primary ball handler late in the game, and the two of them kinda alternating the role might go a long way toward stressing a defense a little more.
  14. Jim French Stepstool
    Still wondering how consistent this team can be, and what the ceiling is if the good can outweigh the bad a little more often. When the bad stuff happens it seems to come in bunches. Like tonite. After a so-so start to the 2nd half, they built a 17-point lead. Then the UCLA kid puts up a three from the deep right corner--they hadn't hit one all night up to that point. He misses, but Carrington fouls him. Three FTs. Shortly afterwards Garlock bellys up on his man, who has the ball a good 15 ft from the hoop. I don't know if he'll ever have the ability to guard out on the floor like that when he's a vet, much less now. Easy blow-by for a layup. Seconds later Garlock commits an offensive foul on an illegal screen. So the lead is quickly down to something like 10. Those three things don't happen, I wouldn't be surprised if we cruise to the end & win by 18-22 pts. It didn't cost you the game, but it's stuff like that that's put them in holes vs some of the better teams they've played. So you continue to build, and get ready for the game vs the Media Darlings this weekend.
  15. Jim French Stepstool
    If I'm Cronin, going into the 2nd half I'm feeding Bilodeau a LOT more than they were. Thank you very much. Never should've let the thing get even remotely close to uncomfortable, but after UCLA made their run Janicki & then Rohde hit huge threes to keep them at arm's length. Kudos to a couple guys who haven't always put points on the board but combined for 18 (combined 6-11 from the floor) tonite. Blackwell wasn't great tonite but IMO was 'better'. But Boyd really profiles as the team leader, which is fine with me but not something I expected.
  16. Jim French Stepstool
    Yeah, from Bilodeau, also Kyle & Mara who are both gone. I get the feeling UW might use up a lot of fouls on Bilodeau in the 2nd half. We'll see.
  17. Jim French Stepstool
    Nice half shooting the ball, and the defense in the first twelve minutes or so was great. But let's be honest, UCLA stunk up the joint early. Their problem is that the positive run they had to end the half was fueled by aggressiveness on the defensive end, and they have a little bit of foul trouble as well as some people banged up so hopefully they run out of gas. They started to play through Bilodeau, which caused problems for Bucky. The bigs defending him w/o fouling might be job#1 in the 2nd half. TO bug seemed to be nonexistent tonite, then reared its' ugly head again for a few minutes. If UW is smart & takes care of the ball there should be FTs & some cuts to the rim coming.
  18. Jim French Stepstool
    Rapp out tonite. Unspecified (as per usual). Also Skyy Clark out for UCLA. Pretty hefty hefty absence for them. Averaging over 13 per game & just under 49% from three.
  19. Jim French Stepstool
    If adding Daniel Vogelbach to your organization isn't weighty enough to move a needle, nothing is.
  20. Jim French Stepstool
    Another test tomorrow vs UCLA. A challenging one for sure, but focusing on the bigs not named Nolan Winter I'm still looking for some sort of watermark between feast & famine. Bieliauskas & Rapp (even Garlock) are mostly fine vs the people you'd expect them to be fine against, and vs someone with one good post player & another one who's average or better it's been tough. In UCLA I see a middle ground between the low-to-mid majors we've played and Nebraska & Purdue AFA toughness and effectiveness around the hoop. And Michigan looms next. #'s 22, 23 & 32------it's time. An interesting history lesson, at least to geeks like me: this is UCLAs' first visit to Madison since 1962. That's pre-Alcindor. And two years later (Dec '64) UCLA played in the Milwaukee Classic. I once read that they sponsored a coaches' clinic featuring the four coaches in town for that tourney. That would be UW coach John Erickson, along with Bob Cousy, John Wooden, & Al McGuire. And given the era & the fact it was sponsored it was probably free. That just blows me away.
  21. Jim French Stepstool
    I noticed that too. That's a good thing; theoretically. The qualifier of course is all these guys could be just as apt to be one-year players as they are to stick around. Hopefully the latter. It looks like they had a productive weekend. I applaud those of you here that are keeping close tabs on it. Hoops is one thing, but I can't stomach wanting to keep up with the movement of 20, 30 or more people on a FB roster, year after year. So thanks. 👍
  22. Jim French Stepstool
    Erickson has been a good soldier. That & being a Wisco native make you want to cheer for him. Whether deserved or not 3B coaches here have been criticized recently (don't get me started on Sedar) so hopefully he can at least hurdle the perceived low bar. Let's keep in mind though, 3B coach is a position that is pretty much a criticism magnet. Allen has the same big shoes to fill that Borbon had. IMO Quintin Berry was a huge loss after '24. It's always interesting when a former player is given his first coaching gig. Vogelbach is certainly that.
  23. Jim French Stepstool
    @Lathund, the service time factor re Made is a great point.
  24. Jim French Stepstool
    Interesting thought. It looks to me like the shots he got last year, are mostly the shots Boyd is getting now. I loved the idea of Blackwell playing off the ball but like a lot of stuff w/this team, it's an adjustment, a process. Stay tuned, I guess.
  25. Jim French Stepstool
    He's a better defender than anyone else coming off the bench, which is why he plays. And his decision-making is usually solid (it wasn't as good tonite). I think Janicki is a backcourt version of Carter Gilmore (before Gilmores' SR year), when he was offensively challenged but still saw a lot of minutes due to the toughness, defense & good decisions in the halfcourt. I made the comment in this thread about Carrington maybe taking minutes from him. Carrington is physical enough, but especially tonite just doesn't look as connected on the defensive end as you'd hope from a vet. He came in with a decent rep in that area but I don't see it right now. I hope that changes as he can provide offense, but Gard isn't going to play someone in that role who might score seven & give up ten. "Play within yourself" is something Janicki usually espouses on offense. Not tonite so much. Certainly needs to be better.
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