'Sconnie Six Pack 12/2
Khris Middleton is back for the Bucks, key injury updates for the Packers, and Luke Fickell goes to work on the recruiting trail
Feedback Friday!
Happy Friday, all. As usual, Friday I am asking for your feedback. Tweet at me, leave a comment, track me down, find any way you can to let me know your thoughts on the ‘Sconnie Six Pack. What do you want to see more coverage of? What do you not care to see? Is there something you don’t quite understand and want explained in a comment or a feature part of the newsletter?
Any of your thoughts are welcome. As you may have noticed the last couple of days, I have added a “table of contents” to the top of the newsletter. It includes links to the top of all six stories covered that day. Do you find this helpful?
Table of contents:
Bucks host the Lakers as Khris Middleton makes his season debut
Wisconsin volleyball begins NCAA tournament with hopes of winning back-to-back national title
Packers get some injury updates and clarity on who will start for the Bears this Sunday
Wisconsin men’s hockey returns to Big Ten play against #5 Michigan
#2 Wisconsin women’s hockey travels to Bemidji State for WCHA conference matchup
Bucks host the Lakers as Khris Middleton makes his season debut
Milwaukee (15-5) is hosting the Los Angeles Lakers (8-12) at Fiserv Forum tonight. Beyond the excitement of the Lakers’ sole visit to Milwaukee this season, Khris Middleton is making his season debut for the Bucks. Middleton has not played since the first round of the NBA playoffs last season. You can watch tonight’s game at 6:30PM CST on ESPN.
Middleton has been out with a wrist injury that required surgery. Widely considered to be the Buck’s second-best player, Milwaukee has still managed to have the second-best record in the Eastern Conference through the first quarter of the season. Milwaukee is two wins behind the Boston Celtics for first place.
MarJon Beauchamp and Serge Ibaka have both been ruled out for tonight due to illness.
Los Angeles is led by longtime superstars Anthony Davis and LeBron James. Davis and James are first and second respectively on the Lakers in points and rebounds per game. Davis also leads the Lakers in steals and blocks per game. Both are listed as probable for tonight’s game against the Bucks.
Three other Lakers players who have found themselves in and out of the Los Angeles starting lineup this season due to various injuries on their team have injury designations for tonight. Lonnie Walker is questionable and Troy Brown Jr. is probable to play against Milwaukee. Both missed the Lakers’ most recent game on Wednesday with injury. Dennis Schroeder is questionable.
This will be a fascinating game featuring two teams that do the hard-nosed work around the rim. Milwaukee leads the NBA in rebounds per game with the Lakers close behind with the fifth-most. For Los Angeles, Davis leads the league in individual rebounds per game. Giannis Antetokounmpo is fifth in the category.
Davis also matches Milwaukee’s Brook Lopez’ shot blocking prowess. Lopez leads the NBA in blocks per game (2.9) with Davis not far behind with the third-most (2.3). Milwaukee averages the third-most team blocks per game.
Wisconsin volleyball begins NCAA tournament with hopes of winning back-to-back national title
The Badgers begin the NCAA tournament today with one goal: win the program’s second national championship. Wisconsin hosts first and second-round matches at the UW Field House this weekend beginning at 4:30PM CST featuring #8 Washington (20-10) and TCU (25-3). The winner of that match will advance to play the winner of #1 Wisconsin (25-3) and Quinnipiac (14-14) which play at 7:00PM CST. You can watch all NCAA tournament first and second-round matches on ESPN+.
The Quinnipiac Bobcats qualified to the NCAA tournament by winning the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference tournament championship. It did so in dramatic fashion by defeating the conference’s best regular season team, Fairfield (25-7) in the championship match. This is the Bobcats’ first trip to the NCAA tournament.
Quinnipiac is led by senior outside hitter Aryanah Diaz. Diaz leads the Bobcats in kills, kills per set, attack opportunities, and service aces. On the defensive side, Diaz leads the team in digs.
For those interested in keeping up with all the NCAA tournament action over the next couple of days, ESPN and the NCAA have created an option to satisfy every volleyball craving. Airing on ESPN+, The 5th Set will be a show covering highlights throughout every NCAA tournament match. Think of it as volleyball’s version of NFL Red Zone.
Packers get notable injury updates for their roster and clarity on who will start for the Bears this Sunday
Following practice on Thursday, the Green Bay Packers and Chicago Bears released injury reports ahead of their Week 13 matchup this Sunday.
Both teams had notable updates on the status of their quarterbacks. After exiting the Packers’ Week 12 game against the Philadelphia Eagles with injury, Aaron Rodgers returned to practice as a limited participant yesterday. Chicago’s quarterback, Justin Fields, was upgraded to a full participant in yesterday’s practice after missing the Bears’ Week 12 game due to a shoulder injury.
It appears Fields will start for the Bears on Sunday. One week after allowing Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts to run for a franchise regular-season record number of yards for a quarterback, the Packers’ defense will be tasked with stopping Fields who holds the all-time record for quarterback rushing yards in a single regular-season game.
Green Bay’s two top running backs remained limited participants in practice on Thursday. AJ Dillon is listed with a quad injury and Aaron Jones is listed with shin and glute injuries.
On the defensive side, Green Bay is hoping inside linebacker De’Vondre Campbell can play for the first time since exiting the Packers’ game against the Buffalo Bills due to a knee injury. Campbell returned to practice as a limited participant last Friday ahead of the Packers’ game against the Eagles, but he was unable to play on gameday. Campbell has been a limited participant in practices both Wednesday and Thursday this week.
Wisconsin men’s hockey returns to Big Ten play against #5 Michigan
The Badgers (6-8-0,0-6-0 Big Ten) welcome one of the nation’s top teams, the #5 Michigan Wolverines (10-5-1, 2-4-0 Big Ten), to the Kohl Center as Wisconsin returns to Big Ten play for the first time in nearly a month. You can watch tonight’s game at 7:00PM CST on Bally Sports Wisconsin Extra or B1G+.
Michigan has five losses on the year, but all of them have come at the hands of top-20 teams; four of the five losses have come against top-10 teams.
Michigan features a star-studded roster loaded with NHL draft picks. Although it does not match their NCAA record seven first-round draft picks that were on last season’s roster, this season’s Wolverines lineup is as talented as any in the country.
Michigan has four first-round NHL draft picks on its roster. Most notable is sophomore forward Mackie Samoskevich who leads the team in goals, shots, and is second in points per game.
A future NHL draft pick, the Wolverines also feature freshman forward Adam Fantilli. Fantilli projects as the second overall pick in the upcoming 2023 NHL draft. He leads Michigan in points per game - a mark good enough for second overall in the country.
#2 Wisconsin women’s hockey travels to Bemidji State for WCHA conference matchup
The Badgers (11-2-1, 8-1-1 WCHA) will play a two game series against the Bemidji State Beavers (4-13-1, 1-11-0) this weekend following a Thanksgiving bye week. These will each be afternoon games. You can watch today’s game at 3:00PM CST on B1G+.
This will be Wisconsin’s second series against Bemidji State this year. The Beavers visited Wisconsin in October with the Badgers taking both games in the series 8-0 and 7-1.
According to Bemidji State’s game notes, these games will be the 99th and 100th meetings between the Beavers and Badgers with Wisconsin dominating the all-time series 86-7-5. Wisconsin has not lost to Bemidji State in their last ten meetings.
Wisconsin has rotated its starting goaltenders throughout the year with redshirt sophomore Jane Gervais and redshirt senior Cami Kronish each getting consistent starts. Gervais, however, exited Wisconsin’s most recent game with a lower body injury. In his weekly radio show, head coach Mark Johnson said that Gervais would not be available this weekend, but she will likely be back next weekend for the Badgers’ series against Minnesota State. Expect Cami Kronish to start both games this weekend for the Badgers.
Topping-off the six pack: two players at a key position for Badgers football visiting Wisconsin this weekend
With merely nine players committed to joining Wisconsin in the upcoming 2023 recruiting class, newly-minted Wisconsin head coach Luke Fickell has his work cut out for him. The transfer portal window opens December 5th and the early signing period for high school recruits begins December 21st.
A key position for Wisconsin currently has no committed recruits in the upcoming class: tight end. This weekend, however, Fickell and his staff are welcoming two recruits taking official visits to campus.
CJ Jacobsen, a three-star recruit according to the 24/7 sports composite ratings, is currently committed to Utah. Wisconsin offered Jacobsen just one week before he verbally committed to Utah in October.
Tucker Ashcraft, a three-star recruit, is the second tight end visiting Wisconsin this weekend. Ashcraft has been committed to Colorado since September, but his recruitment has appeared to open-up since Colorado fired its head coach, Karl Dorrell, in October. Just a couple of weeks after Dorrell was fired, Michigan State offered a scholarship to Ashcraft. Ashcraft is visiting Michigan State next weekend.
Fickell and his staff have wasted no time trying to ensure that Wisconsin’s current recruiting class stays committed. According to various reports by 24/7 Sports and Rivals, Fickell and other members of the Wisconsin staff have made multiple visits and calls to current Wisconsin commits.
On, Wisconsin.
Call the table of comments something more clever 🙂