B5Q Blogopean Union: there is a lot of news to report!

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.

• So, I started writing this post on Sunday morning because I didn’t think anything crazy was going to happen in the Badgersphere and BOY WAS I WRONG!

The men’s basketball team and Greg Gard are doing WORK on the recruiting trail. 4-star PG Chucky Hepburn and 4-star PF Matthew Mors were both on official visits over the weekend and BOTH verbally committed to UW on Sunday evening. Holy crap. I don’t think the Badgers have ever had a recruiting run like this.

We will have more on these two commitments this week. For now? I need a cigarette.

• I missed this about a month ago, but Nate Wells at The Gopher Hockey Blog has been previewing every men’s college hockey team and here is Wisconsin’s page. Nate knows his hockey and has some good insights into the Badgers.
• More season previews for the men’s hockey team.

• Date change for a big B1G clash.

• It isn’t all sunshine, rainbows and date changes of games for the men’s hockey team.

• Here is a great profile of the newest member of the men’s basketball team from Jim Polzin.

Sometimes, college sports are good.

• Speaking of the men’s hoops team! Practice started on Friday for the 2019-20 season!

B1G Media Day is on Wednesday just outside Chicago and our very own Matt Belz will be there. Also, starting on Tuesday we will have preview posts of every team the Badgers will face this season. That’s right, even you McNeese State.

• This is very important news, and honestly should get its own post some time in the future, but Wisconsin has THE MOST POWERFUL T-SHIRT CANNON IN COLLEGE SPORTS!

According to Kevin Kluender, the assistant athletic director for marketing and promotions, UW–Madison has the most powerful t-shirt cannon in college athletics. In just 10 seconds, the specially-made cannon is capable of shooting 114 shirts, or 11 shirts per second.

Not only is the cannon the most powerful in college athletics, it’s also the second most powerful t-shirt cannon in the world. (If you’re looking for the most powerful in the world, it’s just down the road at the Milwaukee Bucks’ home arena. It fires 186 shirts in 15 seconds.)

The state of Wisconsin is ground zero for potentially getting impaled through the brain by a free t-shirt fired from a cannon. I love it.

• We had a fun Wisconsin football helmet discussion on Twitter last Friday.

You should follow @wtfcoach because he’s doing this for every team and it is pretty cool to see how some schools drastically changed their helmets over the years, while others don’t.

• The women’s hockey team opened their title defense with a sweep of Lindenwood. BC transfer Daryl Watts fit right into the lineup scoring in each game and adding two assists as well.

• The women’s hoops team is making inroads with the No. 54 player in the 2021 class, according to ESPN. Kiya Dorroh, the tweet is not from her account, is a 6-foot, 4-star wing from Tucson, Ariz.

• The men’s basketball team wasn’t the only Wisconsin basketball team to receive a commitment on Sunday. The women’s team got their first ever player from the state of Louisiana in 6-foot-2 forward Kate Thompson.

Thompson is the fourth member of the 2020 class that is shaping up to be one of the better ones that the women’s team has ever recruited.

• The volleyball team got back on track by beating a ranked Purdue team on Friday and taking down Indiana in four sets on Sunday. Rock will have more on the team in Tuesday’s The Sett.

They also had some recruits in town for the weekend because, you know, all Wisconsin does is get good recruits.

• The men’s soccer team got a surprising result on Friday night after rain almost postponed the game.

The women’s PAC the MAC game on Friday was postponed due to weather but they were back it on Sunday against Penn State and they won 1-0 to move to 3-0 in conference.

• Nebraska...oh Nebraska. What a game on Saturday night!

Are we two years away? Five? Maybe eight years away from getting things turned around? That appears to be the discussion among fans as we can all agree on one thing. We are not there now.

A recalibration of expectations is happening in Nebraska to finally align with the rest of us.

• The Huskers did get a commitment before the game started, obviously, from a 6-foot-9 2021 OT.
• Purdue, who valiantly battled back against Minnesota, is probably done for the season. QB Elijah Sindelar and WR Rondale Moore got hurt on the same play and neither are expected back soon.
• Michigan started fast and blew out Rutgers. Admittedly it was Rutgers, but a fast start is important for the Wolverines.
• Rutgers fired head coach Chris Ash on Sunday. Should Greg Schiano come back?
• YEAH! EAT IT MARYLAND! The Terps tied the Badgers 0-0 in soccer.
• Ohio State is really good and they proved on Saturday night in front of God and everybody.
• Northwestern kind of had a similar reaction to us about the game. Offense bad...defense good. Also this article is pretty damning about Mick McCall and his offense.
• Indiana lost to Michigan State on Saturday but the program is still headed in the right direction.
• The Gophers won by single digits again. I do NOT know what to think about that team this year.