B5Q Blogopean Union: big time win for the volleyball team last night

Good morning! This is going to be a daily(ish) post that discusses the goings on of the rest of the Big Ten Conference, and the country as needed. Much like the European Union, the Big Ten is a loosely confederated group of entities that sometimes have the same goals (like free movement of people between countries or not winning national titles in football or basketball) and sometimes accept new members that they later regret (Estonia or Rutgers).

We hope that you will use this post to comment on things happening around the conference and also as a sort of daily open thread to discuss breaking news or argue about Spotted Cow.

• I forgot to mention this yesterday gut Giannis was in Madison with the Bucks for training camp! I bet you Bo Ryan would’ve tried to redshirt him if he’d played at Wisconsin.

• Matt “Looks Just As Good As Jonathan Taylor Does In Tan Pants” Belz was in Chicago for B1G Media Day on Wednesday.

You can read his write-ups of what the Wisconsin contingent had to say here and what all of the B1G coaches had to say here. The preseason player of the year and the all-conference watch list were announced Wednesday morning as well. Cassius Winston is also on the short list for national player of the year, so it’s no surprise to see him here.

Two Spartans and two Terps on the list make sense since they are widely predicted to finish first and second in the conference this year.

• Brief Micah Potter update.

• There was a lot of chatter over on the tweet box about Wisconsin football helmets yesterday.

This guy is a cool follow because he does this for every team! It’s really, I don’t know if “interesting” is the right word but I think it’s interesting, cool to see how some teams have changed and also what special one-off helmets they’ve used over time.

• Join the club, Josh.

• Badgers soccer legend Rose Lavelle is being honored during the Wisconsin/Michigan game Thursday night at McClimon Soccer Complex. Besides that, it is a match between the top two teams in the B1G right now...so a lot is on the line.

• Please. I’ve never asked for anything. Just bring NCAA back.

• WHAT A FRIGGIN’ BEATDOWN AT THE FIELD HOUSE ON WEDNESDAY NIGHT!

Wisconsin looked extremely impressive throughout the whole match but especially with their serving in the third and fourth sets. They now travel to Lincoln to take on No. 2 Nebraska on Saturday.

• Did you know that the NHL started last night because I definitely did! (Author’s note: I did not.) You are all welcome to join me in cheering on the Flyers for what I’m sure will be the 34th consecutive year of my life without them winning a Stanley Cup.

• Do you think if they actually won the 3-on-3 tournament they’d get cut from the hockey team and forced to join the basketball team?

• We’ll have a Q&A with him published later this morning, but Steve Helwick from Hustle Belt has a preview of the Kent State game right here.
• Nebraska just keeps taking Ls from Saturday night’s game against Ohio State.

• Oh man, remember Bo Pelini?
• A preview of the Iowa/Minnesota volleyball match from last night. After winning the first set I hope Hawkeyes fans turned the game off and went to bed.
• RONDALE MOORE’S INJURY STATUS HAS BEEN UPGRADED TO WEEK TO WEEK!
• We’ve entered Pat Fitzgerald-tober. The ‘Cats are probably going to start winning again now that it’s #SpookySZN.
• I did not know that former Buckeyes, and NFL, WR Anthony Gonzalez was now in the US House of Representatives. He’s planning to “propose federal legislation addressing student-athletes’ ability to be compensated for the use of their name, image, and likeness (NIL).”
• I know very little about college wrestling but what I do know is this: if a young man named AJ Ferrari announces his college decision, I’m going to link to it. AJ FERRARI! Sounds like a character that @DangerGuerrero made up.
• Michigan has two (2) starting kickers now. I...don’t know what to do with this information. “As of now, we have two starting kickers. Don’t over-complicate it. And whoever’s drive it is will kick,” special teams coach Chris Partridge said. “Don’t over-complicate it” indeed.
• Having a player’s only meeting is always a good sign. Right?
• An enormous college basketball season preview over at The Only Colors. Go read it. It’s good and informative and will give you a sense of where the top teams in the country are at heading into the season. It helps that there are nice things about Wisconsin in there, but I wrote this before I saw he had them ranked No. 20.