Badger Bits: The latest on Quintez Cephus; UW facilities renovation talk; Barry Alvarez sounds off on Playoff expansion

Lawyers for Wisconsin Badgers wide receiver Quintez Cephus “wrote in court filings Tuesday they believe prosecutors have evidence showing two women who said Cephus sexually assaulted them in April were not impaired by alcohol as the women have told police,” the Wisconsin State Journal’s Ed Trevelen reported Wednesday.

Read Trevelen’s full report for complete details (we won’t thoroughly aggregate the original reporting on each update in this story), but here is today’s overview:

One of Cephus’ lawyers, Stephen Meyer, called the criminal complaint “salacious” in an emailed comment on Monday. On Tuesday, he filed a motion which would require prosecutors to preserve specific pieces of evidence that include surveillance video from various campus-area locations, showing the two women did not appear to be intoxicated. Prosecutors should also be required to preserve text messages and social media postings that “will support the defense in this case and show that any sexual contact was knowing and consensual,” Meyer wrote.

Also on Tuesday, a previously scheduled media availability session for head coach Paul Chryst was postponed “as [UW gathers] information regarding the allegations involving two football student-athletes that were made public yesterday.” The two players are Cephus and Danny Davis, who was also mentioned in the criminal complaint.

Facility renovations coming?

Concepts first included in the 2017 University of Wisconsin Athletic Facilities Master Plan “have been refined and advanced,” the Wisconsin State Journal’s Todd D. Milewski reported Tuesday.

It appears the Kohl Center has been prioritized above Camp Randall Stadium, specifically where student-athlete facilities are concerned (strength and conditioning, sports medicine/nutrition, etc.).

The Kohl Center expansion was featured in the master plan as an addition to the southeast corner, near railroad tracks. But the plan now is to build facilities, including new offices for men’s and women’s basketball, over the loading dock in the southwest corner.

Coaches of UW teams who use weight room facilities at the Kohl Center have complained of not having enough space. The plans also address deficiencies in academic space as well as a shortage of office space for Athletics.

UW will know more about the timing for projects at the Kohl Center and Camp Randall after Thursday’s meeting of the Board of Regents, which is due to prioritize campus building projects in the 2019-21 state budget.

Improvements to Camp Randall seem mainly geared around adding additional premium seating.

Barry sounds off on playoff expansion

Wisconsin athletic director Barry Alvarez, an inaugural College Football Playoff Selection Committee member from 2014–16, is open to expanding the field from four to possibly six teams.

In a story published Tuesday by CBS Sports’ Dennis Dodd, Alvarez shares his thoughts in detail.

“I would now be open to six,” Alvarez told CBS Sports. “Two byes [for the top two teams]. … Maybe give one spot to the … [Group of Five champion].”

Alvarez was referring to the assumption that a six-team bracket would necessitate giving first-round byes to the two highest- ranked teams. Any six-team bracket would almost certainly have to include an automatic spot for the best Group of Five champion. Last year, that was UCF.

Alvarez added that “There are probably six teams that can win” the playoff and also admitted his thoughts began to change after Wisconsin entered last year’s Big Ten Championship Game as the last undefeated Power Five team. As we all painfully remember, the Badgers lost to Ohio State and fell from fourth to sixth in the playoff rankings.

“I knew one commissioner who wasn’t very happy,” Alvarez said in reference to the Big Ten’s Jim Delany.

The full article is a good read, as it seems like Dodd really got Alvarez to open up.

Cool stuff

Links

Football

• AP Playoff Predictions: Tide, Tigers, Huskies and Wolverines — but no Badgers | Associated Press (via madison.com), Ralph D. Russo
• ($) Wisconsin Mailbag: Are the Badgers the most disrespected top-5 team in the country? | The Athletic, Jesse Temple

Men’s basketball

• Wisconsin men’s basketball’s 2018–19 schedule released | B5Q

Women’s basketball

• Badgers women’s basketball will open Big Ten season at Minnesota Dec. 28 | Wisconsin State Journal, Dennis Punzel

High school football

• Waunakee earns No. 2 ranking in Large Schools Division in initial AP football poll | Wisconsin State Journal, Jon Masson