B5Q Blogopean Union: the volleyball team has been codified as amazing by Congress

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 Nebraska).

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).

• Following up our discussion from Thursday, UW acted quickly and appropriately in banning the racist fan from the Northwestern game.

• Men’s hockey goalie Jared Moe has been having a solid season and is on the watch list for the Mike Richter Award, given annually to the top goalie in men’s NCAA Division I hockey since 2014.

• Speaking of good goalies, Kennedy Blair was added to the National Goalie of the Year watch list as well.

• Johnny Davis was named to the Sporting News Midseason All-America team. “It’s hard to remember a player who delivered a more dramatic leap in production from one year to the next. Davis joined a veteran team last season and so averaged only 24 minutes and six shots per game. As a sophomore, he has increased his scoring average by nearly 216 percent. He was ranked the No. 164 player in the 2020 recruiting class and now is one of the five best players in college basketball and a possible NBA Draft lottery pick. His game against Purdue and its dynamic sophomore wing, Jaden Ivey, might have been the single best performance by any college player in the 2021-22 season. Geez, what happened to the other 163 guys?”
• If you missed it yesterday, Wisconsin has a new, uh, old offensive line coach. Bob Bostad will be reassuming control of the big fellas up front after coaching the inside linebackers for the last few years.

• Melvin Gordon will be looking for a new contract this offseason. My sources are telling me that the Miami Dolphins are a potential landing spot.

• The men’s hoops team is having a great season. They are also an extremely volatile team, as shown by this graph from friend of the blog Evan Miyakawa. If you’ve watched the Badgers over the last, well, two decades, you know that they are prone to going five-plus minutes without scoring but this year’s team is just as likely to go on a big scoring run themselves!

• This is worthwhile way to spend eight minutes of your time today. Former Badger FB Alec Ingold, and his family, shares his adoption story with NFL Films. My dad, also a Wisconsin native, was adopted too and when I sent this to him he responded with a nice message about sending it to his sister (my aunt, who was adopted with my dad) and then noted that Ingold was wearing a Packers t-shirt as a toddler. Truly locked in for the game against the 49ers this weekend.

• Badgers got absolutely waxed by Michigan on Thursday night.

• Is Kelly Sheffield the only thing that will receive bipartisan support in D.C.? People are asking. Cool that UW alum, and CNN chief congressional corespondent, Manu Raju was able to report on this.

• A preview of Friday night’s men’s basketball game from a Michigan State perspective.
• Nebraska had to postpone this weekend’s men’s hoops game against Ohio State due to COVID protocols. Wisconsin is currently scheduled to travel to Lincoln to play the Huskers on Tuesday.
• One of the best rivalries in college basketball was played again on Thursday night. Here are Purdue’s grades from their loss to IU and here is a recap from the Hoosier point of view.
• Inside NU has their new men’s basketball power rankings out and there is a new No. 1 team that might be of interest to you.
• The 2017 QB room at Ohio State was certainly full of some important players in the fabric of college football.
• Despite his excellent performance against Purdue, Illinois PG Andre Curbelo will continue to be the first man off the bench for the Illini, a role in which he thrives.
• Where do the Gophers fit in to the grand scheme of the Big Ten for men’s basketball?

Men’s basketball results from Thursday

No. 4 Purdue 65 - Indiana 68

Women’s basketball results from Thursday

No. 12 Maryland 89 - Ohio State 95
Penn State 63 - Northwestern 59
Purdue 89 - Illinois 67
No. 25 Iowa 105 - Minnesota 49
Rutgers - Nebraska, postponed