B5Q Blogopean Union: happy Valentine’s Day, dear reader, we love you

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).

• I hope you all enjoyed the Super Bowl on Sunday night. Personally, I was cheering for Joe Burrow and the Bengals but it is awesome that two Badgers earned Super Bowl rings with the Rams win. As a 36-year old person, the halftime show was fun and my children were absolutely baffled that I knew all of the words to the songs.

• The women’s hockey team swept Minnesota State (5-2 on Friday, 7-2 on Saturday) over the weekend and are now tied with Ohio State for second in the WCHA. And would you look at that, the Badgers and Buckeyes meet in Columbus next weekend for the final regular season series of the year. The first place Gophers have a home and home series against last place St. Thomas this weekend and should wrap up the regular season title against the lowly Tommies.

• After two goals and three assists in Sunday’s game, Daryl Watts has 293 points and is just 10 points shy of tying Meghan Agosta for all-time points in the NCAA at 303. She put up a total of nine points over the weekend against Minnesota State.

• Marisa Moseley is seriously building something cool in Madison. As some commenters noted in the game recap from Sunday, we may be entering the Barry Alvarez “get your season tickets now” zone with the women’s hoops team.

• The Wisconsin softball team started their season over the weekend at the Northern Lights Tournament in Florida. The Badgers went 3-3, beating UConn, Akron and Eastern Kentucky while falling to No. 19 Kentucky, No. 13 Virginia Tech and No. 11 Mizzou. UW will be back in Florida for the St.Pete/Clearwater Elite Invitational on Thursday with their first game being against UCF.

• The fellas looked...good (?) in their annual dance routine with the UW Dance Team.

• The Badgers dominated the Illini, 32-10, in their last Big Ten dual of the season. Braxton Amos (197) and Trent Hillger (285) collected major decision victories. No. 22 Amos shutout Matt Wroblewski 10-0, while No. 11 Hillger defeated No. 16 Luke Luffmann 10-2 in the heavyweights. Austin Gomez (149) and Eric Barnett (125) earned pins as well.

• You get wine for being awesome at volleyball in Italy?!? Man, we are doing it ALL WRONG over here.

• USA. Canada. Gold medal rematch. It really couldn’t have ended any other way.

• Michigan State men’s hockey loses their 10th game in a row. Yeesh.
• Penn State wrestling had another dominant regular season.
• A Purdue-centric view of Wisconsin women’s hoops 22-point comeback win from Sunday.
• Northwestern women’s hoops scored a HUGE win over top-four Michigan over the weekend.
• The Buckeyes nabbed a 3-star big man for their 2023 recruiting class.
• Juwan Howard’s Wolverines are plagued by inconsistency this season.
• A film breakdown of Rutgers win over the Badgers in men’s hoops.

Men’s basketball results from over the weekend

Indiana 61 - No. 17 Michigan State 76
No. 16 Ohio State 68 - Michigan 57
Penn State 70 - Minnesota 76
Maryland 61 - No. 3 Purdue 62
Northwestern 66 - No. 13 Illinois 73
Nebraska 75 - Iowa 98

Women’s basketball results from over the weekend

Michigan State 58 - No. 7 Indiana 76
Nebraska 82 - Illinois 63
No. 4 Michigan 69 - Northwestern 71, 2OT
Penn State 62 - Rutgers 71