Jim French Stepstool

I was maybe the only person in Wisconsin that watched much of Nebraskas' game with Creighton on Sunday since it was oppo Packers-Bears. Rienk Mast is now 24 years old and a real problem offensively whether it's shooting from outside, driving the ball or finding teammates. Just one of these solid guys who can make others around him better when he's playing well. And the guards (Lawrence & Sam Hoiberg) do a nice job of decision-making & deferring to others when needed. Defensively they played man but with what kinda looked like zone principals to me. They sagged, helped & recovered and doubled on the baseline. Looks like driving the ball will be a major chore tonight. Winnable for UW but it's going to take a real impressive performance. Our old friend Connor Essegian (ankle) is out for the remainder of the season.

Never had an animal-related mishap with one of our trees. But this reminds me of a time as a kid, it was a cold winter & the family dog developed a habit of running out the back door, doing what he had to do, and quickly rushing back in. When the tree was put up he stared at it longingly. In a fit of paranoia my mom yelled at him, "Don't even think about it!!!" Fortunately he didn't.🐶

I've seen those; they ARE really cool. Not surprising that the motor would go belly up eventually.

Not to go off-topic but that's one of my bigger concerns re 2026. IMO Turang already Ks a little more than he should given his skillset. I love the unexpected power but please Bryce, don't ever lose staying on the ball & the pokes to LF. I'm not concerned about Pratt offensively just yet as he's been young for his level. But the #s were modest last year & this certainly isn't the tine to deal him. Once Made passes him on the ladder--which seems just a matter of time--hopefully they're both putting up good numbers, and Fischer & Pena are also impressing. To me that seems like the ideal time to pull the trigger.

Ours doesn't collect dust when stored; but thanks for pointing out the possibility of the tiny cuts. It solves the mystery of the gloves that came with our tree. I thought to myself "why do I get a pair of batting gloves with the tree?" The thing isn't very old & still pretty supple. Maybe I'll need the gloves down the road.

I like the fake trees that look real; we've done that for years with the exception of a few years ago when we decided to go 'old school' just for the heck of it. Made me remember why I stopped--the needles, keeping the thing hydrated, sometimes having an issue with fitting it into the stand. Ours doesn't come with the lights though, I still enjoy trimming it from scratch. My sister & her husband still go out & harvest a tree each year. I give 'em credit. Six hours---that's UP NORTH alright😐.

Gard talks a lot about Winter potentially having much more to give. Hes' kinda quietly become a double-double machine. I can certainly see where you put him above Boyd in overall talent. Blackwell has had a few too many what I would consider not-too-smart fouls. It ultimately didn't hurt the team Saturday when he picked up three in the 1st half, but IMO guys with the size, reach & athleticism sometimes let the positioning & early anticipation--the scouting report stuff--slide a little. Within that concept, yeah, be aggressive & figure out how much you can "get away with" for sure. Overall I believe Blackwell has 'elite defender' stuff in him. Just maybe follow the rules a bit better. To be fair Klesmit wasn't 100% most of last year. But I agree when at his best on both ends, Rohde can certainly play at a higher level. When he's locked in on the defensive end, now you've got a 6'6"-ish guy guarding hard & smart on the perimeter & that's a real plus. He's making so many good decisions lately. If he keeps this up, Gasser is a pretty good comp. Or to go further back, He's been Tom Molaski, but with a much better stroke.

I did this years ago on another board with some pretty entertaining feedback so I thought I'd try it here. Do you rock the artificial Christmas tree, or go with a real one? Or maybe no tree at all? Also, any funny /interesting Christmas tree stories? For example, years ago the family of a former GF had their tree attacked & knocked down by their cat. He ate the tinsel & the residue in his litter box had a silvery tinge for the next month.

And from me, and anyone else that appreciates Xs & Os. Just a solid, solid coach with a real knack for roster construction. He's adapted to the new landscape very well IMO.

It'll be a real challenge but yeah, gettable. Their best win is probably a neutral-court game vs Oklahoma, and their closest thing to a roadie is K-State in Kansas City. They seem to play quite a bit better in Lincoln, more than your usual home-road team splits. I held the opinion for awhile that Hoiberg was a vastly overrated coach, but he seems to have them guarding pretty well the last couple seasons & they appear to have money to throw around (I almost throw up in my mouth a little every time I make reference to that when talking about the college game). Hoibergs' kid is a nice energy guy.

A few thought on todays' "Super Bowl"......... It's pretty obvious this isn't one of MUs' best squads, but I wasn't buying some of the comments out there about how bad they were (I haven't seen much of their games). I thought defensively in the 1st half their overplay & recover, foot movement & hedging was really good & kept UW in check until Blackwell started going off. I also thought some of their open looks from three were by design, especially when as the game unfolded it was obvious their best boat is to drive the ball. If they can knock down shots they can win their share of games. Hell, they were a couple of plays away from being 7-2 coming into today. But if they can't 'muck up' a game & make it an up & down affair that'll be a problem. Good & Bad from Gard today. I have no idea how you don't get Blackwell out of there late in the half w/the two fouls. OTOH, keeping him on the bench to start the 2nd half was a solid decision, and I thought UW treading water in the first 8 minutes if the half--even opening it up a little--with Blackwell sitting was maybe the closest thing to a key in the game. Andrew Rohde was absolutely terrific today in all aspects. POTG as far as I'm concerned. Coming out party for Bieliauskas? He can really be an X factor if he shows some semblance of what he did today from here on out. Bad half, then a pretty good one from Rapp. Let's hope he settles into a relief role cuz it looks like that's the plan moving forward.

Last month Mark Stewart of the MJS said it "appears" Zachman has the medical redshirt option if he chooses to use it. FWIW.

This whole NIL thing was handled like **** from the get go. It should've been structured as the athletes being allowed to go out & cut their own deals if they wish, with whatever businesses are interested. No school involvement. Hire representation if you wish to have someone handle it for you. And if you appear in an ad or commercial, leave the school uni at home---it's YOUR name, image & likeness, not the schools'. Wayyyy too late for any of this of course. And if it was by some miracle implemented, I'm sure some schools would illegally get involved in the proce$$. But trying to police something like that would be much better than the nonsense we're seeing now. With the genie out of the bottle, yeah, 2-year deals would certainly be an improvement.

The fortunate thing here is that your two best CFs (Mitchell & Perkins) have options remaining. It would suck if Mitchell had a fantastic spring, Perkins was out of options & you dealt him, and three weeks later Mitchell was back on the IL. So they can just bide their time for now & see how things look in Feb & March. As to the original question, I'd say yeah. It does seem to be sort of a make-or-break year for him AFA being able to stay on the field, whether it's here or in Nashville.

I imagine it'll stay a 9-man rotation, mostly. I liked what I saw of Hayden Jones right from the first time I saw him in the scrimmage, but barring injuries I imagine he'll remain behind Carrington & Janicki. And unless you run & press for most of the game, going 2 deep along the perimeter is usually as far as you need to go. Maybe if they have games where they go small as they did vs TCU...........? As you said, still fighting for consistency. I'm sure having the huge lead had something to do with it, but being outscored by eleven in the final twenty minutes should spearhead the teaching points going into Saturday.

Agreed. Rohde, Blackwell & Boyd all played really well on both ends & gave us a huge edge over the NW guards from the get-go. A couple late NW threes were the only damper on a magnificent defensive half. Seven steals for the game is quite a bit vs a team that usually plays pretty smart basketball.

Yeah, the 2nd half was tough to watch. Give credit to Singleton, Page & Martinelli for playing hard to the buzzer, especially Martinelli after tweaking the ankle. What bothered me in the 2nd half was the sloppiness---I think 7 TOs in the half, a couple of them really ugly---and not matching the NU energy on the boards, way too many 2nd & 3rd looks. But when things go south it's nice to have a guy like Boyd to take over & find a way to get to the lane & the FT line. Blackwell's performance speaks for itself. And I liked how Rapp did some positive things after coming off the bench. And continued baby steps for Janicki on the offensive end. Normal solid defensive & floor game from him, but it looks like the comfort level & confidence is starting to come on the offensive end. Shot looks a lot better.

I had to chuckle when I read that. I mean, that's SO spot-on. I think he'd be a nice fit considering the versatility. But I wouldn't give up Megill, and I don't know how inspired Detroit would be to deal him.

I liked the last few minutes of the half vs Da Frogs, and the last 5 minutes of the game. Definitely great intensity & effort in those stretches, and it coincided with their best defense of the entire game (surprise, surprise). It's why I'm watching & waiting for that end of the floor to show consistency and --I think I heard Mike Bruesewitz use the word 'connectivity'. That works. Fullcourt press looked pretty effective late, but of course you can't rely on that to bring energy. I too feel good about the intangibles re guys like Rohde & Boyd. Carrington has his head screwed on pretty tight too. In the past, IMO the deal was that Tonje competed well & all that, but really wasn't a rah rah type. The guy conducted himself as an adult, which is fine. Then there's Storr, who played for the name on the uniform for four months at a time until the next highest bidder came along. They made a terrific hire, but I'm not 100% sold on Iowa quite yet, especially going into EL. After getting their eyes opened a bit in San Diego I wonder how Florida will do in Cameron.

Yeah. And underline 'THINK'. Definitely not Pena.

I usually don't look at the computer stuff at this early point of the season. Many good early non-con matchups but a lot of buy games across the country as well. Somewhere in the 60s sounds about right to me too. Northwestern isn't one of those teams overloaded with talent, but they'll come well-prepared & will be a problem if we aren't. I'll be interested in seeing who guards Martinelli. UW's switching, communication & just overall consistency on defense HAS to get better. I'm not overly concerned about the scoring, although the obsession with playing faster & shooting threes has to be tempered with recognizing the importance of getting favorable matchups & taking the extra 5-10 seconds to make that happen if need be. Having trouble scoring vs TCU wasn't startling, but the TO rate was much too high. After setting screens, Winter & Rapp have to be a little more cognizant of rolling to the cup & less apt to just be happy floating around the perimeter.

Correct. AFA I know no one was expecting that. Circumstances put him in a very unenviable position.

The first point you make is an especially good one. From what I saw the OL improved once the offense settled into a vastly different way of doing things---world beaters, no. But more comfortable in an offense that had a little more of a 'traditional' look to it. It certainly would've helped to not take over two months to decide Heinzen was an interior guy & not a LT. Seriously bad decision coming out of camp. Agree with the other points as well. As for Carter Smith, it wouldn't surprise me if a couple years from now people will be railing about the QBs who played ahead of him in 2025. Those people would be wrong. Talented enough to furnish hope for the future, but nowhere near ready right now.

The former makes a lot of sense.

Their QB play was certainly better than ours from what I saw, and I assume was as good or better in the 2nd half as well. Where I'm coming from, I see UW going into the locker room up at least 7-3 if not for the poor 1st half from West, augmented by their guy putting two punts inside the ten IIRC. But from what I'm reading on this thread neither guy (did Simmons play in the 2nd half?) made plays. Given the conditions you definitely needed to run the ball something closer to what they turned in vs ILL. I'm sure that didn't get any better as the game wore on.