The Wisconsin Sportscast

The Cap Times
  • 4.5 (37)
  • SPORTS
  • UPDATED WEEKLY

A weekly podcast with insights and analysis on the Wisconsin Badgers, Milwaukee Brewers, Green Bay Packers and Milwaukee Bucks from two of Wisconsin’s most experienced sports journalists. Mike Lucas is a veteran sports columnist for the Cap Times and was a Badgers radio color commentator for over 25 years. Tom Oates was a sports reporter and columnist for the Wisconsin State Journal for 40 years. 

  1. 1D AGO

    Countdown to College Football, and The End of Aaron Rodgers

    In this week's episode of The Wisconsin Sportscast, Lucas and Oates start their timers: as of recording there are 100 days until week zero of college football. With just 100 days (as of recording) to go until college football begins, all of the pundits are busy putting out their lists and predictions. That includes ESPN’s list of coaches who are in the hot seat this year. Of course, Luke Fickell sits at number three on that list. But with a lighter schedule this year and (hopefully) and an AD who’s behind him, Lucas and Oates think that his job may not be in danger quite yet.  In college basketball, Greg Gard says he’s in favor of expanding the conference schedule. That’ll be tough, say Lucas and Oates, as that basically becomes a professional schedule at that point. It all comes down to the money, of course, because all college sports today are about the money.  Aaron Rodgers announced that this season with the Steelers will be his last as an NFL quarterback. It’s hard to argue that he isn’t one of the top five quarterbacks of all time, Oates says. It’s a shame he only got one Super Bowl in Green Bay, though, thanks to his team’s defenses, special teams, and at times coaching.  The Wisconsin Sportscast with Lucas & Oates is a Cap Times podcast produced by Nate Wegehaupt. Find it on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.

    35 min

  2. MAY 13

    Madison Looks for a New AD, and The Miz Finds His Control

    In this week's episode of The Wisconsin Sportscast, movement finally begins in UW Madison’s search for a new athletic director.  The Badgers announce that Eric Wilcotts, the interim chancellor, will head the search and ultimately hire the school’s next AD. Oates was sure they’d start with the search for a new chancellor, but at least he’s someone who’s been around the university for decades. The university announced their selection committee too, and it’s filled with some old names and some we aren’t familiar with. The varied backgrounds of everyone on the committee will be a useful asset, says Lucas.  What is needed out of a new AD for UW-Madison? Oates says someone who knows how to raise money. NIL isn’t going away any time soon and Wisconsin is falling behind in raising money. Whoever the next AD is has to be comfortable cozying up to some rich alumni. The Brewers swept the Yankees over the weekend, with Jacob Misiorowski getting all the national attention. With a 103.6 mph fastball, he holds the record now for the fastest pitch thrown by a starter during the pitch tracking era. Now that he’s found his control, and some confidence in his other pitches, he’s becoming more and more of a threat to even guys like Aaron Judge.  The Wisconsin Sportscast with Lucas & Oates is a Cap Times podcast produced by Nate Wegehaupt. Find it on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.

    37 min

  3. MAY 6

    The Always Expanding NCAA Tournament, and Jordan Love Gets a Backup

    In this week's episode of The Wisconsin Sportscast, Lucas and Oates talk about changes to one of their favorite sport events of the year.  The NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament looks likely to expand to 76 teams. Lucas and Oates are not fans of the move. That’s eight more teams today, but they don’t think it’ll ever stop. The commissioners of the big conferences run all of college sports now, and they want more and more of their teams in the tournament. How long until we’re filling out 128 team brackets? Tryod Taylor is the new backup quarterback in Green Bay. He’s a journeyman who’s played for many teams over the years, so you know he has to be a student of the game to keep getting work. Jordan Love may not be injury prone, but Lucas and Oates think that having a veteran on standby will be a big improvement over someone like Desmond Ritter.  Russell Wilson’s name has been thrown around as a potential backup quarterback to Love (if he would ever accept it), and at least he has Wisconsin ties. Wilson is likely one of the best quarterbacks the Badgers have ever had, or at the very least would appear on anyone’s Mount Rushmore of Badger quarterbacks.  The Wisconsin Sportscast with Lucas & Oates is a Cap Times podcast produced by Nate Wegehaupt. Find it on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.

    36 min

  4. APR 29

    No Badgers in the NFL Draft, but Packers Meet Some Needs

    In this week's episode of The Wisconsin Sportscast, the NFL Draft takes over Pittsburg and leaves Wisconsin sports fans with questions. No players from the Badgers are drafted this year after seven rounds, though a few former Badgers did make the cut. It reflects the current state of the Badgers, and while we shouldn’t read too much into this, Lucas and Oates are happy that Luke Fickell hit the transfer portal hard this year. A few Badger football players were signed to free agency contracts after the draft. While nobody can see the future, a lot of them do have the talent to have fruitful NFL careers.  The Packers, meanwhile, had either a great or an okay draft, depending on if you count Micah Parsons as their first round pick. The Packers had more position needs than normal this year, and were able to meet a lot of their defensive holes. But there are still plenty of question marks on the roster, most notably in the backup positions for several key offensive players.  The Wisconsin Sportscast with Lucas & Oates is a Cap Times podcast produced by Nate Wegehaupt. Find it on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.

    37 min

  5. APR 22

    Blackwell Heads to Duke, and Packers Hope For More Second Round Draft Success

    In this week's episode of The Wisconsin Sportscast, it’s hard to remember how many roster spots the Badgers Men’s Basketball team has left after a flurry of transactions.  John Blackwell is heading to Duke, where he hopes to grow his skills for the NBA while competing for a national championship. He’ll have to contend with not being the star of the offense anymore, but Lucas and Oates wish him well and are glad he’s at least not in the Big 10.  Greg Gard was able to pick up a few players in the transfer portal, mostly from smaller schools like Miami-Ohio and Washington. Lucas and Oates say that Gard has had success in the portal in recent years; every year there seems to be at least one big hit.  The NFL Draft starts this week, and the Packers will head to Pittsburgh without a first round pick. But when Lucas and Oates take a look at who the Packers have drafted in the second round over the past decade, the list is filled with heavy hitters.  The Wisconsin Sportscast with Lucas & Oates is a Cap Times podcast produced by Nate Wegehaupt. Find it on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.

    36 min

  6. APR 15

    Chris McIntosh is Out, Who Comes Next?

    For this week's episode of The Wisconsin Sportscast, not even storms kept Lucas and Oates away from the recording studio. Topics: Chris McIntosh announced his time as athletic director with UW-Madison has come to an end, as he is accepting a position in the Big Ten front office as deputy commissioner for strategy. Mike Lucas isn’t too surprised, but Tom Oates is, at least a little. The Wisconsin Badgers football team’s general manager, Marcus Sedberry, has been named interim athletic director. Lucas and Oates discuss what they know about Sedberry's new responsibilities and how this could put even more pressure on coach Luke Fickell, who considers McIntosh a friend. Who comes next? The role of athletic director has become that of a business man. UW-Madison will need someone who can shake hands and woo boosters to raise money for the team. Lucas and Oates discuss the right and wrong types of people for this job and some possible names already surfacing. The Wisconsin Sportscast with Lucas & Oates is a Cap Times podcast produced by Nate Wegehaupt. Find it on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.  The Wisconsin Sportscast is brought to you by Ridge Top Exteriors and Leopold's Books Bar Caffè.

    28 min

  7. APR 8

    Thank You Blackwell, and Michigan’s Millions Win a Championship

    In this week's episode of The Wisconsin Sportscast, the transfer portal is open, which means big news for Badger Men’s Basketball. John Blackwell has announced that he is officially entering the portal. Badger fans might be mad or upset at him for the decision, but we should be thanking Blackwell and the Badgers for the three years we got to have him in Madison. That’s pretty rare in the new NCAA! Lucas was a bit surprised by the move, but Oates was not. It’s a smart move for both his career and his financial future. He’ll probably get a few NBA tryouts to find out if and where he might be drafted, but most likely next year will be the most money he’s ever going to make playing basketball. He likely won’t be a second round NBA draft pick, and he’ll likely end up in either the G League or in Europe. Any money he could make there won’t compare to the millions he can be making if he can get some big schools in a bidding war. Greg Gard has always had success with the transfer portal, and the Badgers have already added an exciting face to the roster. The 22 year old Owen Foxwell already has some experience playing guard in Australia. If he works out, he could be joining Nolan Winter, Austin Rapp and Will Garlock on the starting line next year, so long as Garlock continues to step up as he had to end the season. Gard has around 2,000 players to pick from in the transfer portal, and he’s shown that he’s able to find guys like Nick Boyd when he needs one more star player that nobody is paying attention to. Finishing off the college basketball season, Michigan has beat UConn to take home the NCAA National Championship. The millions they’ve spent on players has paid off! UConn tried to bully Michigan early, but that didn’t work and Michigan ended up bullying them instead. Michigan only made two triples in the championship game, but went 25 for 28 at the free throw line. With the Men’s Basketball National Championship secured in the Big 10, college sports is falling right into the lap of the conference. Add in football, women’s basketball, women’s hockey and maybe men’s hockey into the mix, and it’s clear that the talent is going to where the money is, and that resource is in the Big 10.  The Wisconsin Sportscast with Lucas & Oates is a Cap Times podcast produced by Nate Wegehaupt. Find it on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.

    36 min

  8. APR 1

    UConn Busts Brackets, and Illinois the Mini-Michigan

    In this week's episode of The Wisconsin Sportscast, Oate’s NCAA Men’s Basketball brackets are alive, if just barely. After UConn beat Michigan State and Duke, a lot of people’s brackets probably look pretty similar. Duke had a good team, sure, but it was built on freshmen. When your team is filled with freshmen, they’re going to make some freshmen mistakes, and that’s exactly what happened to Duke. UConn, meanwhile, has great team construction and a great coach in Dan Hurley. That said, Hurley needs to tone down the theatrics a bit before he does real damage to his team. Refs don’t like it if you complain after every call, and Hurley is one who does just that. Every time he gets close to an official, he gets close to going over the line and hurting his team. UConn will take on Illinois in the Final Four, two teams that most people didn’t expect to be facing each other in the tournament. Illinois has really stepped up their defense compared to the beginning of the season, positioning themselves as almost a mini-Michigan on defense. They’re playing like the big team they are and using their size to their benefit. But UConn has a certain toughness in them that’ll make them hard to beat. On the other side of the bracket is Michigan vs Arizona in a battle between two big heavyweights. Arizona is maybe the only team in the NCAA that doesn’t rely on threes to win games anymore, and ultimately that makes them really difficult to contend with. There are three games left in the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament, and all three look to be great battles between great teams.  Meanwhile in the NBA, did anyone notice that the Bucks have missed the postseason for the first time in a decade? If anyone is paying attention regularly, they shouldn’t be surprised . They’ve been sliding ever since their championship, and this year they’re looking almost like a G League team. Doc Rivers may have gotten into the Hall of Fame, but he needs to leave Milwaukee and the team needs to figure out what’ll happen with Giannis. At this point, anything they do will be welcome as long as it’s part of a complete makeover.  The Wisconsin Sportscast with Lucas & Oates is a Cap Times podcast produced by Nate Wegehaupt. Find it on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.

    32 min
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About

A weekly podcast with insights and analysis on the Wisconsin Badgers, Milwaukee Brewers, Green Bay Packers and Milwaukee Bucks from two of Wisconsin’s most experienced sports journalists. Mike Lucas is a veteran sports columnist for the Cap Times and was a Badgers radio color commentator for over 25 years. Tom Oates was a sports reporter and columnist for the Wisconsin State Journal for 40 years. 

Information

  • Creator
    The Cap Times
  • Years Active
    2023 - 2026
  • Episodes
    138
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    2024 © Copyright The Cap Times
  • Show Website
    The Wisconsin Sportscast

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