B5Q Blogopean Union: Weekend Update featuring neither Colin Jost nor Michael Che

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.

• The Wisconsin softball season started on Friday evening! I am sorry we didn’t have any coverage leading up to the first games, but here are the results from Friday’s delayed due to weather games. The Badgers lost their opener in Boca Raton, Fla. at the FAU First Pitch Classic to Indiana State, 2-1, but bounced back to beat host Florida Atlantic 5-1. Pitcher Kaitlyn Menz struck out eight over seven innings to keep the Owls at bay.

The team was back on the diamond this morning and as of me typing this sentence at 9:55 a.m. CT Wisconsin is winning against Bethune-Cookman 8-0 [UPDATE: by the time I finished the post the game was over, Badgers win 8-0]. They have another game this morning, against Northern Illinois, and then finish off their weekend in Florida by playing Bethune-Cookman against on Sunday morning.

• The men’s hockey team lost to Michigan 8-4 on Friday night. That is all we are going to say about that. Can’t wait to watch Cole Caufield in the NHL!

• The women’s hockey team stomped Minnesota State 5-1 on Friday afternoon and have game two of their series on Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m. CT.

Personally, I’m hoping Daryl Watts scores a hat trick so she can win more weekly awards.

• The wrestling team had a tough match up with No. 2 Penn State on Friday night and came out on the wrong end of things. From what I understand, the Nittany Lions are a class above the Badgers, even though they are only separated by two spots in the rankings. I think this was still a pretty good showing for UW, especially for Seth Gross, who is ranked No. 1 at 133 pounds, and beat No. 4 Roman Bravo-Young in a 6-5 decision. Could the commenters more knowledgeable about wrestling please chime in on my thoughts?

• You will notice a lot of B1G West teams recruited better than usual in 2020. Should make for a fun division for the foreseeable future.

• Speaking of graphs, let’s look at how the Badgers scored their points in January. You’ll note that it seems (emphasis on seems) like Wisconsin is trying to run and get out in transition more.

• I think the Wisconsin women’s basketball team makes some sort of postseason tournament next year. Please do not remind me of this if they don’t. I will delete this post if I have to.

This may look bad, but keep in mind Wisconsin was down 43-19 at halftime. Abby Laszewski had 25 points (ties career-high) and seven rebounds in the loss.

• He isn’t fast though.

• Jonathan Taylor, Tyler Biadasz, Quintez Cephus and Zack Baun were all invited to the NFL Combine.

• Olympic qualifying for soccer has been going on for the past week and our girl Rose Lavelle is still amazing. Check out this strike that opened the scoring against Mexico in the CONCACAF semifinals.