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Johhny Davis Named A Finalist For USA U19 Team

By Adam Roberts – 6/22/2021

No one in this area needs any reminding about how good Johnny Davis is on the basketball court. But people outside of this area haven’t really gotten a super good look at the talent the Wisconsin freshman brings. Now it appears he’ll at least be given a chance to take his game on display overseas.

Davis and 16 other players under 19 years old have been named a finalist for the USA U19 World Cup team that will travel to Latvia in July. Also receiving a tryout is Minnehaha Academy alum and current Gonzaga Bulldog Chet Holmgren.

Davis played in all 31 games for the Badgers as a true freshman, averaging seven points and 4.1 rebounds while getting 24.3 minutes per game off the bench. He scored in double figures nine times, including a career-high 17 points against Penn State on February 2nd.

The three-star talent will ontinue training twice a day in Fort Worth and the final 12-member USA U19 World Cup Team will be announced prior to the team’s June 28 departure for Latvia, with the 2021 FIBA U19 World Cup taking playing from July 3-11.

Onalaska Baseball Defeats Central; One Win From State

By Adam Roberts – 6/21/2021

In Baraboo this afternoon, the Onalaska Hilltopper baseball team inched one step closer to a state title.

Two of a number of area baseball and softball teams in sectionals this week, this game was never close as the Hilltoppers put the bats to work in a 12-0 five-inning victory. Pitching also was dominant for Onalaska.

The Hilltoppers will play again later this evening against either Madison Memorial or Middleton with a trip to Appleton on the line. First pitch will be tentatively scheduled for 5pm in Baraboo.

SCOTUS Makes Big Ruling On Education-Related Compensation

By Adam Roberts – 6/21/2021

This morning a major shake up was handed down to the NCAA.

The Supreme Court is ruling on education-related benefits to student athletes. In a blow to the NCAA, the court said colleges can no longer be prohibited from providing student athletes with education-related benefits like free laptops, musical instruments, lab equipment or compensation for internships.

The ruling was unanimous and affirmed lower court rulings against the NCAA. The lower court rulings said the governing body for college sports violated anti-trust laws by putting caps on education-related gifts and benefits for student athletes.

To summarize, the top court in the nation has ruled that the NCAA is not above the law, and the idea of a student-athlete being exempt from benefits under the guise of “amateurism” has essentially been shattered.

Bucks To Face Hawks In Eastern Conference Finals

By Adam Roberts – 6/21/2021

Going into last Thursday’s Game Six of the Eastern Conference Semifinals, it felt like nobody was giving the Bucks any chance to overtake the Nets down three games to two. Even after dominating Game Six, the thought seemed to be that a road Game Seven combined with the recent history of the franchise in the postseason would combine to doom Milwaukee to just another chapter in recent Wisconsin sports postseason heartbreak.

The Bucks had other plans.

Milwaukee advanced to the Eastern Conference Finals with a 115-111 overtime win over the Nets on Saturday in Brooklyn. Giannis Antetokounmpo racked up 40 points and 13 rebounds, while Khris Middleton tallied 23 points. The game was almost blown at the end of regulation, with Brook Lopez turning over the ball late on a shot clock violation. Then Kevin Durant hit what could have easily been a game-winning three had his toe not been on the line. Strangely enough, Durant apparently wears bigger shoes than he needs to for comfort reasons, meaning his normal sized shoe would have given the Nets the win.

In overtime, Milwaukee missed their first four shots, but thankfully the Nets didn’t fair much better. In the end, Brooklyn had an opportunity with the ball in Durant’s hands to win the game again, but his energy seemed tapped out at that point on an airball to end the night.

So it’s on to the Eastern Conference Finals once again for Milwaukee, as they hope to right the wrongs from two postseasons ago when Toronto won four straight. The Bucks will get Atlanta after they dispatched the 76ers last night. Despite Trae Young struggling from the field, Kevin Huerter stepped up with his postseason-high in scoring. The Hawks held Philadelphia to 32.1 percent from deep and its lowest scoring game of the postseason.

We’ll have coverage starting at 7pm Wednesday from Fiserv, and the joint will be jumping!

Brewers Reinstate Derek Fisher; Face Rockies Again Tonight

By Adam Roberts – 6/18/2021

Brewers fans persevering through the 7-3 defeat at the hands of the Rockies last night despite the big Bucks game may have noticed a familiar name in the lineup.

The Brewers reinstated outfielder Derek Fisher from the injured list and optioned utility player Tim Lopes to Triple-A Nashville. Fisher was traded from Toronto in February and had missed all regular season games due to calf and hamstring injuries. His first game in the big leagues was last night in Milwaukee’s loss to Colorado, where he pinch-hit and finished 0-for-2.

We’ll see if Fisher gets more action tonight when the Brewers and Rockies resume their series. Corbin Burnes starts tonight against Antonio Senzatela.

12-Team CFB Playoff Review Officially Underway

By Adam Roberts – 6/18/2021

The debate over the College Football Playoff’s possible expansion can now commence in full.

A review of possibly expanding the College Football Playoff to 12 teams is officially underway.

The CFP management committee looked over the working group’s proposal to expand the playoff today. Executive Director Bill Hancock has said the next step is a board of managers meeting next week.

Under the proposal, the expanded playoff would include the six highest-ranked conference champions and the six remaining highest-ranked teams determined by the CFP selection committee. The four highest-ranked conference champions would get a first-round bye and be seeded one through four. The other teams would play each other in a format similar to March Madness for the men’s and women’s basketball tournaments. That includes the five-seed playing the 12-seed and number six playing number eleven. The higher seeds would also host the games.

Under this new format, Wisconsin would have been able to compete for a national championship a number of times over the last few seasons. But the question will become if the value of a college football championship will become diluted with more teams in the field. It also raises questions of player safety for the athletes, although the financial ramifications will be hard for the CFP to turn down.

Bucks Force Game Seven

By Adam Roberts – 6/18/2021

They say the most exciting two words in sports are Game Seven. Those two words may also be responsible for the majority of nausea cases in Americans during the course of the year.

It’s safe to say fans of both the Bucks and Nets will feel uneasy entering into tomorrow night’s decisive Eastern Conference Semifinal. But the one thing Bucks fans can take into tomorrow night is that they didn’t fall apart yesterday. That easily could have been the case; instead, Khris Middleton scored 38 points in maybe his best postseason game as a Buck and Milwaukee defeated the Nets 104-89. Those 38 points were a playoff career-high for Middleton on a night where the Bucks would never trail just two nights removed from an epic collapse late in Game Five.

Giannis added 30 points, but the true second star of the night behind Middleton was the Milwaukee defense. The D kept Kevin Durant from having another “team on my back” moment like he had in Game Five despite a 10 point Durant run in the third quarter which cut the Milwaukee lead to five.

The final game of the series could likely be decided by whether or not Milwaukee dominates the inside; apart from a 5-8 night for Middleton, the Bucks shot 2-25 from three in the game last night, meaning their scoring was predominantly in the paint. Also important to note: the home team has won each game this series, meaning the crowd may play a role at the Barclays Center tomorrow evening.

Coverage from Brooklyn will begin at 7pm tomorrow night on ESPN La Crosse 105.5 and espnlacrosse.com!

Tom Brady, Patrick Mahomes Share Madden 22 Cover

By Adam Roberts – 6/17/2021

Will the Madden Curse strike TWO athletes this year?? The NFL is probably crossing their fingers that the answer is “No” this season.

Tom Brady and Patrick Mahomes are sharing the cover of the latest Madden video game. They’re both featured as the front men on Madden 22. The honor comes just months after they went against each other in the Super Bowl.

Brady came out on top in that matchup as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers beat the Kansas City Chiefs. The last time the video game’s cover was shared by two players came back when Madden ’10 was released. That’s when Arizona Cardinals wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald and Pittsburgh Steelers safety Troy Polamalu got the honors.

Coulee Region Represented By Several Regional Baseball, Softball Champions

By Adam Roberts – 6/17/2021

I had to wait until the Central-Sauk Prairie game wrapped up this afternoon to write this piece, but I can now confirm that the Coulee Region will have a number of representatives in both the baseball and softball sectionals next week.

With the Riverhawks’ 4-0 win today, they win their first regional championship since 2017 (thanks to Eric Lee from the Tribune for that tidbit of info!) and wrap up an impressive list of area teams that will look to take the next step towards state next week. Between yesterday and today, there are now eight area teams still alive, with Onalaska set to play this afternoon in the regional finals against 2-seed Baraboo and try to become team number nine.

Yesterday the baseball regional finals saw an area one-seed sent packing with Sparta’s 9-6 upset win over West Salem (the Spartans entered the postseason with a 5-13 record by the way), a near upset in La Crosse that required a 7-run inning from Aquinas to survive a valiant push by Westby, and another minor road upset with Bangor defeating De Soto. Meanwhile Holmen softball blanked Baraboo 12-0, seven-seed Arcadia finished off Neillsville, Blair-Taylor survived against Auburndale, and Luther needed extras but got the job done against two-seed Waterloo.

If the Hilltoppers take care of business today against Baraboo, that will set up another great Central-Onalaska rivalry matchup that for awhile has been confined to the basketball court. Overall, the odds seem pretty high that at least one area team will get through the day either Monday or Tuesday next week.

Wisconsin Assembly Approves Transgender Athlete Ban

By Adam Roberts – 6/17/2021

The tenure of Wisconsin governor Tony Evers in office has been largely defined by a string of bills passed by Madison legislators that Evers has no intention to sign. Next up for a veto signature apparently is the plan to declare women and girls sports just for women and girls, even though it has cleared its first vote.

The state Assembly yesterday approved the plan authored by Republican Representative Barb Dietrich, who says women and girls in the state need to be able to compete against other women and girls, not people who were born male.

The plan will probably never become law as Governor Evers has promised to veto it if it makes it to his desk. Other states have passed similar legislation, with governing bodies like the NCAA responding in kind by threatening to remove planned events in those states.