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Badgers Upset By Maryland 70-64

By Adam Roberts – 12/29/2020

The grind of a college basketball season often means great teams will slip up against a team they should beat a handful of times during the year.

At the pro level, we saw that on Sunday as the Bucks fell to the Knicks. Last night, it happened to the Badgers.

The same day Wisconsin moved up to number six in the AP poll, it was upset by Maryland 70-64 at the Kohl Center. The game itself was pretty even throughout, with Maryland outshooting the Badgers 50-43.6 percent from the floor. But looking deeper at those numbers reveals the difference in the contest: Maryland outscored the Badgers 38-20 in the paint, and especially early on, cold shooting doomed Wisconsin (they started 1-6 shooting).

This is highly uncharacteristic of what the Wisconsin offense is. “That’s been a constant all year, of establishing our interior game first and letting the perimeter game play off of what we establish inside” said head coach Greg Gard. “And we did not do a good enough job of that…we left [some] points on the table by not being able to finish inside.”

Another difference came at the charity stripe; Wisconsin was 8-15 shooting free throws compared to 12-15 for the Terps.

Wisconsin can bounce back in a big way when it takes on #21 Minnesota New Years Eve; we’ll have that game on ESPN La Crosse 105.5, your official Badger station, starting at 2:30pm.

#2 (D4) Aquinas Girls Comeback, Win 75-60 Over #2 (D3) Lake Mills

By Adam Roberts – 12/28/2020

It hasn’t been too often in recent history that an Aquinas girl’s basketball team has found themselves in a hole needing to climb out, but that was the case today against Lake Mills. Down 43-25 to the #2 (D3) L-Cats, the Blugolds found scoring where they have so far this season and likely will all year: Macy Donarski.

The next member of the Donarski basketball clan scored 32 to propel the Blugolds to a 28-4 run and a 75-60 late December win.

Aquinas is now 6-0 and next faces Sparta on the road tomorrow.

Bucks Shoot 18% From 3; Lose 130-110 to New York

By Adam Roberts – 12/28/2020

Bad shooting nights are bound to happen from time-to-time in the NBA, but Milwaukee’s performance against a consensus bad team like the Knicks is still quite embarrassing.

Thankfully the Packers were on at the same time to distract most of us.

The Bucks finished the game shooting 18.4 percent from three in the 130-110 loss; it was particularly bad for Jrue Holiday, who missed all four of his attempts, while Giannis was 1-5 and Khris Middleton went 1-6. Giannis did finish with a team-high 27.

It was new head coach Tom Thibodeau’s first win with the Knicks, as well.

Milwaukee returns to the floor tomorrow in Miami.

Packers Rush For 234 Yards; Beat Tennessee 40-14

By Adam Roberts – 12/28/2020

Litmus test games, sometimes called barometers of success, are commonplace in Week 16 of the NFL regular season. Teams often use this week to gauge their readiness for the postseason, and fans can use it to determine if their team is legit or perhaps a playoff imposter.

If this is the case, the Packers passed with fairly flying colors last night.

Running back Jamaal Williams was out last night to injury, and so A.J. Dillon played in his first real meaningful game. He made the most of it, rushing for 124 yards and two scores to compliment four Rodgers touchdown passes, including three to Davante Adams, in the 40-14 Green Bay win over Tennessee.

Dillon’s big game could serve as the catalyst for more in-depth offseason discussion over whether to keep Aaron Jones next year (he’ll be demanding money with his contract expiring after the season ends), or release Jones and stick with the rookie Dillon and Jamaal Williams.

For now, the win comes at the best possible time for Green Bay, who in addition to the fine night on offense were also pretty good on the other side of the ball. The much-vaunted Derrick Henry was held under 100 yards rushing on 23 carries and he didn’t score a touchdown, either. Mike Pettine was getting rare praise from Packers Twitter last night for his approach to Henry, often stacking eight or nine guys in the box to counter the ability of Henry to shake of initial contact.

As far as the playoff race goes, Green Bay was unable to clinch the #1 seed courtesy of Seattle beating LA, but they can do so Sunday with a win at Chicago. If they lose, they’ll need some help from the 49ers, who face Seattle in Week 17. For Chicago, a win puts them into the postseason at 9-7; otherwise, they’ll need the Rams to beat Arizona.

Bucks Lose Season Opener To Boston 122-121

By Adam Roberts – 12/24/2020

Jayson Tatum banked in a three with 0.4 seconds left to lift the Boston Celtics over the Bucks 122-121, but if you listened to national radio this morning all you’d hear about was how Giannis Antetokounmpo failed to tie the game with a missed second free throw at the foul line.

Giannis finished with a game-high 35 points and 13 rebounds, including 18 points in the final frame. Khris Middleton added 27 points, 14 rebounds and eight assists in the loss, while in his first game with the Bucks Jrue Holiday contributed 25, 6, and 3.

“I’m upset about it” Giannis said about the miss following the game. “Hopefully when I’m in the same position, I can make the next one. That’s the mentality you’ve got to have. But obviously there’s a little bit of a weight on your shoulder…because, if you miss, that’s it for your team.”

Milwaukee will look to bounce back when it hosts the Warriors tomorrow on Christmas.

Bucks Open Regular Season Tonight At Boston

By Adam Roberts – 12/23/2020

The Bucks will open the 2021 season tonight against the Celtics in Boston, hoping that this season they take that next step on their quest to win an NBA Championship.

Milwaukee will look to have a better start to the regular season than the preseason, where it went 0-and-3, and subsequently is hoping to improve over their unexpected semifinal exit in the bubble last season against Miami. The starting lineup for the Bucks tonight looks like this:

PG: Jrue Holiday

SG: Donte Divincenzo

SF: Khris Middleton

PF: Giannis Antetokounmpo

C: Brook Lopez

Milwaukee should be at essentially full strength, with only point guard D.J. Augustin listed on the injury report.

Vikings’ Cousins, Bucks’ Holiday Spread Holiday Cheer

By Adam Roberts – 12/23/2020

Perhaps more than ever this year, the giving spirit of the holidays is taking importance. And Kirk Cousins and his wife are spreading the holiday cheer 60 families wide this year.

The Vikings quarterback and wife, Julie, adopted an entire shelter through The Cousins Foundation to help families provide gifts for their children. Cousins’ holiday efforts were just one among six other community holiday activities supported by other Minnesota teammates.

In the same vein, a few days ago new Milwaukee Bucks guard Jrue Holiday announced he would be donating the remaining balance of his 2020 NBA salary to Black-owned small businesses and nonprofits to support families and businesses across the country that are suffering from the lasting impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Previously, Holiday had donated his salary to various non-profit and Black-owned businesses in New Orleans.

Luther Girls Upset #2 Bangor 42-40

By Adam Roberts – 12/23/2020

Upsets in high school basketball are harder to come by than you might think. At this level of competition, the difference between the haves and have-nots is usually wide enough that the favorite wins most games. And at halftime, the score between the second-ranked (D5) Bangor ladies and Luther was 15-11 Cardinals.

But on their home floor, the Knights were not content to roll over.

Senior Cassie Warren finished with 13 points to lead overall scoring and was complimented by 10 from 6’2″ junior Rachel Koenig as Luther outscored Bangor 31-25 in the second half, just enough for a stunning 42-40 upset win. Despite a cold start to the game on offense, Luther’s defense never allowed Bangor to run away with things. In a game where big runs are usually the dagger to any upset hopefuls, there were really none to be found.

The win was also the 500th in the history of the Luther girl’s program.

2-3 Luther next faces C-FC on Monday, while Bangor looks to bounce back with a good showing in the Shullsburg Tournament in Wisconsin Dells starting on Tuesday.

Brewers Add INF/OF Tim Lopes

By Adam Roberts – 12/22/2020

The Milwaukee Brewers have grabbed a utilityman off of waivers.

The Crew acquired all-around fielder Tim Lopes from Seattle today, to bring the 40-man roster to a total of 37 players.

Lopes last season appeared in 46 games for the Mariners, recording 34 hits including 12 doubles and two home runs with 15 RBIs. He hit .238 overall and was primarily used in left field but also played 12 games in right and one each as a third baseman and on the mound for an inning as a reliever.

NBA Has Looked at Expansion

By Adam Roberts – 12/22/2020

Back in 2015, the future of the Milwaukee Bucks in the Milwaukee area was in jeopardy with the aging Bradley Center the third oldest arena in the NBA and the league demanding an upgrade. If that did not happen, it was very possible the team would relocate to Seattle or possibly Las Vegas. Thankfully for fans of Wisconsin pro basketball, the state senate voted to allocate funds for what would become the Fiserv Forum.

Still, I think it’s safe to say most basketball fans want to see the Supersonics, or some new Seattle NBA team, once again. Now it appears that could be a possibility in the near future.

In a press availability Monday, league commissioner Adam Silver described the league as having a sense of “manifest destiny.” This is a change of tone from the head man in the Association, who has said the league has not been considering expansion over the past few years. The NBA hasn’t added teams since it expanded to 30 in 2002 with a team returning to Charlotte (originally the Bobcats before the Hornets name became available once again). The most likely destination of this new expansion would be Seattle, which nearly landed the Sacramento Kings in 2013 and then the Bucks as mentioned above, but Las Vegas could also be a popular choice.

Hell, maybe the league would shrug its collective shoulders and go “Why not both?”. Two new teams with expansion fees paid off to the league would certainly help the league handle revenue losses from a lack of fans during the pandemic, and new two teams in the West could push Memphis and New Orleans to the East, helping balance competitiveness.

Silver has said that plenty of conversations need to be had still, but on the otherside of COVID-19, basketball back in Seattle could be very much in the picture.