Article:Weekly Wisconsin Sports Wank 2/8

This article is also viewable at my website theroguehour. '''University of Wisconsin men's basketball. B+''' Badgers have risen to #8 in the country due to attrition and not losing since the road game at Purdue. I think they are among the 15 best teams in the nation, but I get nervous when the Badgers ranking gets this high. Usually a team ranked this high this late in the season can start thinking about coasting and tournament seeding. Not Wisconsin. A loss right now to anyone in the Big Ten except the ranked teams, Indiana and Michigan State, will not be taken lightly by the AP voters and would probably be the difference between a 2 seed and a 4 seed come March. Sconsin notched another road Wednesday night in Iowa City against a struggling Iowa team (what ever happened to the coaching rep of Steve Alford? Did he fall off after getting canned or what?). Coming up a revenge date with Purdue at the Kohl Center and a chance for maybe a little more national respect if we can deal with Indiana in Bloomington.

Still withdrawing from college football? Here's a link to the list of the Badgers 2008 recruiting class courtesy of College Rivals.com(look at all the 3 and 4 star players!). Dream away.

'''Marquette University men's basketball. C+''' Marquette got it handed to them again by Louisville Monday, this time in Milwaukee so I guess it doesn't really matter where they play. Seems like Crean can just not coach with Pitino (like Huggins). Apparently he's so frustrated with this development that he pulled a Belichick at the end of the game. The frustration level must be pretty high because any unsportsmanlike behaviour is usually way out of charachter for Crean. But the incident was not really that big of a deal and he has been under a lot of pressure trying to keep inconsistent Marquette afloat in the crucible of the Big East. Not an easy task, made no easier by having to go to Notre Dame and Seton Hall the next two games. Interesting breakdown of the Louisville game by Cracked Sidewalks, a really good blog on Marquette basketball that provided the link above also.

'''Green Bay Packers. B+''' For signing Mike McCarthy to a 5-year extension. Good move. McCarthy has done an admirable job so far. At first I was worried that he'd be too young to command the kind of respect a NFL head coach needs to, but the way he was able to kinda pull the reins on Brett indicates that that's not a problem (that's how Favre has always needed to be coached, like a weapon. You need to make him trust you enough to follow you then you need to put him in the best position to cause the most damage to the opponent, like a weapon). He has a plan on how he wants to take this team to where he wants it to go and is sticking with it. These charachteristics will serve him and the Pack well as we embark on L.A.B., life after Brett, in the near future (maybe). Rookies and practice squad players tighten up! You never know when McCarthy might have his eye on you.

'''Brewers. B+''' No distractions for the Crew this offseason just taking care of business. Big things are expected from this bunch when the spring comes, except guys who try to wear their hair like The Rock and write for Fox Sports. If it comes down to us and the Cubs I think we can get over that hump this year. Hey if Eli Manning can win a Super Bowl then. . . hey guys remember back a couple of seasons ago when the Brewers began to kind of turn the corner towards becoming a team that could legitimately compete for something and we had that feel good player Scott Posednik who we promptly traded before anyone could figure out he really sucked? Well he's hit bottom.

'''Bucks. C+''' Bucks have been inconsistent, blown out by the Rockets and Sixers, beating the Grizzlies, putting up good effort against the Mavs but bowing out in the end. But Bucks fans are used to that. What we are most worried about is how this Shaq for Shawn Marion thing affects the Bucks postseason outlook. The Bratwurst takes the time to fully explain this.