B5Q Blogopean Union: a Badger will be on the USMNT for the first time ever!

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 (which we NO LONGER DO).

• This is amazing news for the Badgers men’s soccer team! Christopher Mueller, who plays his club soccer for Orlando City SC, got called up to the national team for their friendly against El Salvador in December. He is the first Wisconsin player to ever get called up to the senior USMNT.

• We will discuss this more throughout the day, but Will Ryan, the new head coach for Green Bay, is the son of legendary Badgers basketball coach Bo Ryan.

• Dylan Holloway is at Canada’s World Junior camp and now two more Badgers will be trying out for the US team.

While Alex Turcotte is already on to the NHL, Cole Caufield’s absence will potentially leave the Badgers extremely thin at forward for the Michigan State series. It should be noted that Sam Stange and Owen Lindmark were apart of the earlier camp for Team USA but did not make the most recent round of cuts.

• Despite only splitting their opening series against No. 4 Ohio State, the Badgers remained at No. 1 in the newest USCHO.com rankings. Wisconsin travels to Minneapolis this weekend to take on the No. 3 Golden Gophers in a renewal of the best rivalry in college hockey.

• Iowa men’s basketball’s defense has been, predictably, bad already this season. I wish someone could have warned us about this!

• This man is now everyone’s favorite college basketball player. I don’t make the rules, but when you have this hair and no least favorite food you’re a winner.

• I regret to inform you that Purdue has found another 7-foot-4 monster to play for them.
• Northwestern/Minnesota canceled due to COVID-19 concerns.
• Can Ohio State make the CFP without winning the Big Ten?
• Michigan has paused all football team activities due to potential COVID-19 positives.
• Rutgers is slowly becoming Kick Returner U.
• The highly regarded Maryland women’s hoops team won two of their first three games. I’ll be interested to see how the revamped Badgers look against one of the top teams in the nation.
• Bill Walton is finally back in our lives again. Here are his best tangents from Monday’s Indiana/Providence game.
• As you may have seen on Twitter on Monday, Indiana’s starting QB Michael Penix, Jr. will miss the rest of the season with an ACL injury. We hope he has a speedy recovery and is able to play again as soon as possible. Since the Badgers play the Hoosiers this weekend, Jack Tuttle will now be the QB for IU.
• The Gophers escaped Loyola-Marymount in their second game of a weekend double-header, 67-64.
• After you watch the Badgers game this afternoon, Michigan State takes on Duke in a top-10 showdown.