Jim French Stepstool

My unscientific theory is that the early book on Durbin vs MLB pitching is that his strength was middle-out & he should be pitched inside, which played into some balls going too far in and his being plunked. But he showed an ability, especially late in the year, to turn on balls w/some power. If it results in some reluctance to go inside that in itself would cut into his HBP rate. Either way I agree getting hit at a 4.7% rate isn't sustainable. I'm guessing he'll be a solid OBP guy regardless. For a rookie the swing decisions were mostly good & his K rate was very impressive.

Yeah, I read about the $10 per hour service industry jobs & had to check the date of the post. I thought I was in some kind of time warp where the post somehow pre-dated internet message boards.

So much of the OF being productive across the board seems to rely on Mitchell coming through, which is disconcerting due to his inability to stay on the field as well as the swing-and-miss issues. Nevertheless, I think he makes the roster assuming he gets through March in one piece. More than enough natural ability to keep from pulling the plug just yet. As long as uncertainties re Mitchell remain, Perkins will have a role here. This assumes money or player capital won't be going towards OF help, which would be my guess. After '26, perhaps Luis Lara fills a Perkins-type role. AFA a vet FA lasting deep into the offseason for a cheap price, I wouldn't mind Refsnyder as a righty PH & perhaps a once-a-week start vs a LHP. But he doesn't fit the defensive profile that the organization likes.

Maybe it's petty, I dunno. But part of me loves The Brewers finishing ahead of Counsell both years after he left, with back-to-back MOTY hardware for the guy who more than replaced him.

More-or-less as expected vs Ball State. The Cardinals were a small team, but even considering that the UW bigs were all very impressive on the defensive end. Fundamentally sound, boxed out, not much reaching. Another double-double from Winter, three blocks from Rapp, and Bieliauskas & Garlock combined for 10 rebounds with no TOs & four assists. Just like the NIU game, things got sloppy after building a big lead, and to be honest Bucky looked lousy & uncertain when BSU went to the 1-3-1 zone. Teaching point. Obviously 15 TOs is more than you'd like. Blackwell got up 6 shots, not one of them from inside the arc. Just not a good decision-making night from him. I guess if he has a night like that, have it in a buy game in November. It really seems at times like they hoist too many 3PT shots (38 attempts tonite). As I alluded to, you don't want Blackwell going an entire game w/o attacking. Yet they shot around 37% from deep, which analytically most coaches will take. And Gard encourages the high volume so as long as they're good looks I don't see that changing much. I see a little bit of a trap game element next. SIUE is the last 'take the opponent for granted' type game before BYU. Yeah, UW should win it, but this is probably the toughest opponent out of the first four, and they have a little bit of experienced size. It'll also be a Super Bowl for starting guard Jack Campion, who hails from Milton. Just one of those games where you don't want to overlook the opponent, a little like UTRGV last year around this time. Mason Jones (#24 for Ball State) had an outstanding game on both ends. Very active & smart.

I think not. Both Carrington & Janicki are ahead of him defensively. Barring health issues I don't see him rising above 10th man, which would give him mostly some 1st half time AFA quality minutes are concerned. The current team definitely is deeper in the backcourt than the 13-14 squad. That gave Koenig a path to bench minutes that year (I think that was the season George Marshall left the team, and Marshall was in the rotation the year before. Not that he was better than Koenig, but his leaving maybe expedited Koenigs' role a bit earlier).

I didn't 'hate' the trade either, but at the time I wished we could've gotten Jansen for a lotto tic or two rather than giving up Areinamo. I suppose the glut of MINF in the organization made it more palatable. Still.........

I think as time goes by, the 3pt marksmanship could be the difference between Jones being a complete offensive player & simply a good but not great one. His shooting form looks textbook to me, so we'll see. As an upperclassman I see him as an effective wing that can slide to the point at times if need be--not a 'pure' PG but in the mold of a Klesmit or a Davison.

Here's another good one. There were two TDs in the game. One was a 7 YD drive; the other 1 YD.

I don't follow the women's program closely, but from what I've learned it sounds like the coach they hired has the resume & type of character the program could really use after the recent rough stretch. Best of luck to them.

Let's keep in mind that Jones is young & is facing some experienced competition in practice, as well as in the games to come. Time is on his side. Yep, he needs to add strength but in his first taste of BB at this level I feel he's been pretty good. I too like the size he & Rohde provide in the backcourt. ++ on your other points. Carrington had to know he'd be coming off the bench when he committed. He's embraced it, and having an experienced guard willing to fill that role is a wonderful asset. It would be great if Janicki's shot shows more consistently but even if it doesn't he contributes in a lot of ways. Glue guy for sure. You can really see the court vision & passing ability in the two FR bigs. If the NIU game is any indication, they're both really starting to get comfortable & more confident on both ends. Once the schedule toughens up, like you said there'll be some growing pains. But yeah, lots of reason for optimism. Hoping they can build on this tomorrow & continue to grow confidence, as Ball State doesn't have much size.

I give Grimes a lot of credit for this one. Given the conditions & the way the defense played, the way to blow this one was to make too many mistakes, lose patience & stop putting your eggs in the basket of field position & defense. He handled it well, & found a way to maximize Smith by keeping the ball in his hands, throwing very little & putting in a nice package that emphasized the thing that kid does real well---fake. I know people take that for granted but there were three or four times he had me faked out from my living room, thinking he handed it off when he kept the ball. And it's nice to see a TB run hard. Ituka with about 160 YD in two games vs some stout run defense. Catalano & Posa, just wow. You aren't supposed to be that productive as true freshmen. They're developing a nice pass rush. Sometimes Cheeks looks like he's shot out of a cannon. I have to give props to Matt Jung for sticking right with the receiver on the long pass late in the game. A pretty sure tackler but I had doubts he had that kind of coverage skills in him. See what can happen when the T.E.A.M. vest stays in the drawer?

X 2.

Fingers crossed. The relationship he's had with the organization, the fit------it would be foolish to assume that's an overriding factor, but in this case I don't think it's out of the question. Also, as @Michael Trzinskialluded to it would be refreshing to see someone tell the MLBPA to pound sand.

As long as everyone stays healthy I think Hayden Jones would be the odd man out if they tighten down to nine players. Janicki & Carrington are more experienced and ahead of him defensively. But if Jones just gets a little better every day on D he could stay in the mix at least for 1st half minutes. I love how he shows a knack for getting to the line. I kept a pretty close eye on him in the scrimmage & he just has a nice feel for the game. No official announcement that I've seen, but Zack Kinziger is strongly considering redshirting which is why he hasn't been out there the last two games. I'm sure Jones' emergence has something to do with that. In the current transfer/NIL climate some think redshirting is becoming a thing of the past, but IMO it would be a very sound decision for Kinziger.

Defensively they came out tonite in a continuation of the last 8 minutes vs Campbell. That, some really good offense & an early hot streak by Boyd pretty much put away NIU before halftime. Sort of meh on the offensive end the last 30 minutes but the defense stayed mostly strong throughout. Gave up 72 but it probably would've been around 60 if not for the officials apparently getting a memo from the NCAA that the emphasis is now on trying to prevent players from guarding their opponents. Some of the 'contact' that was whistled was embarrassing. The bench got some nice run. Hayden Jones is a smart, heady young player. Bieliauskas had a solid night, and Garlock was pretty good save for a propensity to foul. That should get better with experience. I said awhile back he needs to get stronger but I need to walk that back a little. He's pretty cut. Both backup bigs see the floor well. Jack Janicki is a true asset defensively & makes mostly good decisions with the ball. However, it's been rumored his shot has gotten much better & so far I'd have to put those reports in the "Soup pitched great" category. They scored 97 points. If they constantly posted & fed their bigs every time NIU switched---and they switched quite a bit--they probably could've scored 120.

Personally I think the jury is still out on Jeff Grimes. I'd need to see what he's capable of with a better & healthier O-line and not having to go to his 3rd QB. Of course he's most likely only here as long as Luke.

Get Mark Cuban to write checks to UW athletics? Don't get me wrong, they made a HR hire w/Cignetti. But make no mistake, in the current climate of college sports one of the more effective paths to success is to have an alum/rabid fan who is heavily into college sports & happens to be a billionaire. Heard part of the radio interview w/Mac today. Trying to listen between the lines it sounded to me like they COULD buy out Fickell (not that they wanted to) but would rather use the funds to buy players & it's an either/or.

Yeah. I wouldn't be surprised if the starts for Vaughn was even north of 70%. And another consideration is that I think Murphy has a comfort zone w/being able to bring Bauers off the bench, be it 1B, corner OF or PH. His OBP coming off the bench was .379 which is very solid.

........And solid defensively, too. Considering how the 1B situation looked early in the season & especially after the Hoskins injury, a Bauers/Vaughn tandem in '26 suddenly looks like a nice segue to the Adams/Burke portion of the odyssey.

They were pretty sloppy at times tonight vs the 3/4 court trap & I'm still concerned about rebounding. Defensively I think it has to be something like it was early last season, where it takes time but they get 1% better every day. Winters' ability to fill the Crowl role will be determined once the sked toughens up but I agree he's been pretty good since Platteville. Still concerned about his hands. If Boyd can just be average from 3PT he'll be a real tough guy to guard. And Blackwell took over the last 7 minutes or so. It's nice to have a guy in the Davis/Tonje mold who can do that. After tonite it looks like Garlock MIGHT'VE inched ahead of Bieliauskas.

So as the story unfolds & the timeline is recognized, it appears more & more like the dismissal of Elijah Gray is connected to the recent gambling investigation. According to ESPN, the NCAA targeted thirteen players for the probe in September & the number is now closer to thirty, none of the players being looked at are currently enrolled at the schools involved, and one of the six schools mentioned is Temple (Grays' former program). Also, my wife thought it was terrible that he was sitting on the bench possibly infecting teammates during the Red-White scrimmage a couple weeks ago, since it was announced he was 'sick'. Guess he was just fine, honey. ESPN is also claiming there is a connection to the college investigation & the larger story involving the NBA. Fun times.

Elijah Gray has been dismissed from the team. The word is it has to do with something relative to before he came to Madison. The school is being tight-lipped about details, of course, as per privacy laws. From what I've heard, Gray was behind both Bieliauskas & Garlock in the early practices, so this isn't crippling except to the extent that you'd like to have competition & guys pushing each other. Now, the only other true big remaining is Greppi. Also Dooney Johnson of Milwaukee committed to Gonzaga today.

Good breakdown. One of the more important things going into this season, is Winter going from filling the 4/5 role to replacing Crowl & being pretty much a straight 5. And as you said, you can't comfortably slide Rapp over to the 5 like you could with Winter last year. Interior D & board work is something that definitely needs to trend northward as the season unfolds. Makes you appreciate the size & experience of Crowl the last few years. Also Gilmore, who if he'd have been 6'9" might've been an all B10 1st or 2nd team defensive guy. As was the case last year, they have guards who can rebound, which should help.

We did this on a road trip down to central IL this summer. It worked out fine & was much more enjoyable figuring out where to go & how to get there, instead of having it mandated by technology. As long as you can read a map & aren't a slave to the clock it's always my preference.