Gard Appreciator/Fickell Believer

@VinceBiegel NET seeding teams is a better system at putting the right teams in the right seeds, on top of the obvious NIL/portal stuff

Question of the group: Why did every single favorite win today? This is unheard of for March Madness. Is this because of #NIL? The transfer portal? AI being used to seed teams? Something else?

@barryisthedon NET is a predictive metric, not a summary of achievement.

NET Blind Comparison: One is #27 (7-seed)/Other is #33 (9-seed) Team 1: 18-7 (10-4, 5th in Big 10), 3-6 Q1, 5-1 Q2, Best Ws (@ #1 Mich/@ #5 Illinois), Worst L (#48 USC) Team 2: 18-7 (8-6, 8th in Big 10), 2-5 Q1, 5-1 Q2, Best Ws (@ #34 IU, #40 UCLA), Worst L (@#151 Maryland)

@PeteFiutak NET is a predictive metric and doesn’t really judge W/L. It’s supposed to be used as a tool to create/compare a resume of NET on a team’s schedule

Utah State 25th in the NET - I'm fluent in Mountain West - without a win over a Power Conference team and with a loss to UNLV Wisconsin 43rd with losses to BYU, TCU, Villanova on neutral sites, at Nebraska, at Indiana, Purdue, USC (by 2) The system is broken

@bawfuls @gtyman17 @SteelCityBucs30 They pushed the chips in for Sabathia and Greinke and did not win it in either of those runs. None of the guys they traded away put their new team over the top. If they signed all of the guys they traded away, they’d be staring down a 5 year $200+ million dumpster fire. So…?

@gtyman17 @SteelCityBucs30 And what’d they get out of it? Two NLCS appearances. Many fans would prefer a shorter window if it means deeper runs. It’s a tradeoff people theorize all the time.

“Decided not to”. Yeah they were just feeling kinda bored with him. Has nothing to do with small market teams NEEDING to trade these players to stay relevant.

@Peter_Bukowski @Brandon_Sneide @smuffyburner @WiscoGrant @BartWinklerShow Why doesn’t Wisconsin also outspend California to bring in all of the top companies in the world? It’s a very smart and realistic idea, Mr Bukkake. I’m going to also keep asking for this to happen.

@Brandon_Sneide @smuffyburner It's funny that @WiscoGrant and @BartWinklerShow get all huffy about Packers fans having low standards, but when it comes to the Brewers, this is an exciting strategy with good outcomes.

They lose in the playoffs not because of pitching, my friend.

@Peter_Bukowski @Chouriochurro Have you seen the highway robbery they’ve conducted on basically every trade like this, Mr. Bukkake?

The Brewers having the best record in baseball, then blowing their team up, is so much more offensive than the Dodgers being willing to spend F U money on a roster.

@tarksmarks44 @SternHolic @ChiBadgPartDeux Im just going to suggest here that [hopefully] a healthy QB + more talent + a much easier schedule would mean more success next year, no? Is that not considered logic?

@TheRealEBohl @SternHolic @ChiBadgPartDeux You can hope all you want. There’s just no logical reason to have any hope. Go to McDonalds and give ‘em $50 for a burger. It’s not a steak, but you can hope it is.

As it stands, I’d give this portal class a B grade. We spent big on QB and landed our primary target. I also think there are a few other guys we signed whom we likely wouldn’t have signed last year. That’s a legitimate step in the right direction. That said, edge and wide receiver are two of the most premium positions in the sport, and they’re also two positions where our rooms still aren’t where they need to be. The staff has clearly been pushing hard to land more premium talent at those spots. If they strike out there, you really can’t call this an A-level class. Nevertheless, even if we didn’t sign another player, I think this roster is good enough that the baseline expectation is “eight-plus wins, or the coaches didn’t do their job."

@tarksmarks44 @SternHolic @ChiBadgPartDeux We had shitty backup QBs all season and didn’t spend big and played the #1 schedule in the country last year and close to it the year before. No coach is beating Ohio state and Alabama with a cheap backup QB. Let’s hope for some luck this year to follow the $.

@TheRealEBohl @SternHolic @ChiBadgPartDeux Lots of programs and franchises spend. You’re making an assumption that they are getting good value and know what they are doing. There’s no reason to believe that. Luke Fickell beat Notre Dame and the AAC one year with 3 stars. Bucky isn’t in the AAC. They look like it though.

@tarksmarks44 @SternHolic @ChiBadgPartDeux Well, we’re haven’t been high up in the spending department and we’ve happened to draw a lot of teams that are on our schedule the past few years so 🤷🏼‍♂️

@TheRealEBohl @SternHolic @ChiBadgPartDeux Fair. Counterpoint: If they had some qb depth, greater talent around the qb, play with any sort of urgency, or any kind of identity to build on… then people wouldn’t think a transfer qb who doesn’t complete many passes from a 9-3 Old Dominion team was a fantastic get.

@tarksmarks44 @SternHolic @ChiBadgPartDeux Counterpoint: we’ve basically never seen “the qb we wanted” play an important game with Fickell. Mordecai was pretty solid in the few games we did.

@SternHolic @ChiBadgPartDeux Saying we got the QB we wanted and that means he’s going to be good follows the same logic as the past seasons. I would hope all the guys they have are ones they wanted. They’re all pretty much just guys. Unless there’s some plan or coaching improvement they’re still not good.

@sebastianL20 @MattBrownEP I was wrong!

@TheRealEBohl @MattBrownEP Lol, well Indiana is the new power.

The economics of big time college football are so messed up that Indiana...INDIANA...has the money to pay a dude 20 million not to coach, but "Indiana" probably doesn't have the 3ish million needed to pay for a quality enough roster to win 7 games

@Badgers_44 Let’s make sure that Joesph has his ACLs still properly functioning by conference play next season before saying this.

Wisconsin isn’t broke anymore

@CoachBradMurphy @ChiBadgPartDeux Any reasonable portal QB that stays healthy will be a *massive* upgrade over what we’ve seen since Mordecai broke his finger. That’s all that matters.

@ChiBadgPartDeux Realistically who are the top 5-10 portal QBs that will actually change life for Wisconsin? I truly don’t know, but I have a feeling there aren’t many. There are a lot of big programs that need a QB. I have my doubts Wisc will grab a program changing guy. I hope they do🤞🏼

Major win/win situation brewing for those who despise my account. If the Badgers have to settle at QB or otherwise have a disappointing portal season, I'll lose virtually all interest in the program. That'll mean very little, to potentially zero, more posting.

@stauner42 @shedeurrrrrr @badgerbarstool It was an approximation. Whatever they make, they lit the majority of their budget on fire every year.

@shedeurrrrrr @TheRealEBohl @badgerbarstool An article from SI that also, indirectly, is saying Edwards made at least under a million dollars.

Also helps when your QB is the Heisman trophy winner and not Braedyn Locke

@WiscoGrant @badgerbarstool “Categorically disproved this” = asking a guy who has no reason to tell the truth…come on.

@badgerbarstool lots of really good reporting categorically disproved this

Idk man.. kinda fishy. Feel like he could’ve played but wanted to reserve the medical redshirt.

@WiscoGrant @NickBode41 I would not blame a guy at all for cashing in for an extra million bucks as his last chance to do so and I also would not expect him to be truthful about it. It’s ok.

@NickBode41 BEJ is pretty universally liked on the team, i'm of the belief football players want to play football

Travis, the exact opposite was reported in mid-November, but again, the angry man opens his mouth and shuts his eyes

@MadisonMessiah @ZachHeilprin Billy Edwards got 2 guys drafted after his 2024 Maryland season. It’s very possible if we could keep a starting QB on the field.

@ZachHeilprin Want him back? Yes, absolutely. Am I shocked? No, receivers want to catch passes and the Badgers showed zero ability to provide him with an offense that is going to allow him to do that.

So far, there have only been a few guys hitting the portal that you'd definitely want back. Hilton Jr was clearly one of them. Hard to fault any of the WRs for leaving with what happened this season and the uncertainty at QB. Gonna be a ton of new faces in that WR room.

@KMcN78 @badgerbarstool Billy Edwards got 2 guys drafted in his final year at Maryland. It’s possible without stupid luck.

@badgerbarstool Hard to make it to the NFL as a receiver if you don't have a QB that can throw the ball.

For fuck’s sake