B5Q Blogopean Union: it’s a great day to start winning NCAA Tournament matches

Plus: don’t know what else to say about the state of the men’s hockey team; some interesting players in the transfer portal; and Jonathan Taylor still rules.

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).

• Construction is underway at Camp Randall Stadium for the new luxury seats in the south endzone. This is the wave of the future for college football: nicer, more expensive, but fewer, seats to get fans back in the stadium with amenities. We’ll see how it goes!

• Women’s soccer star defender Aidan McConnell got called up to the U-20 WNT ahead of next year’s Concacaf U-20 Women’s Championship

• Back to back AFC Offensive Player of the Month awards for Jonathan Taylor! Will this guy ever “make it” in the NFL? Some are wondering.

• I can’t believe a decision that Urban Meyer helped make turned out poorly! This is rough for former Wisconsin QB, coach and Colorado State offensive coordinator Jon Budmayr who is now out of a job. Wonder if he’d want to return home and be the OC in Madison????

• Eat it, ACC!

• Great article from friend of the blog (???) Jim Polzin about how Wisconsin volleyball is viewed by both outsiders and themselves.

• The NCAA Tournament started on Thursday and the Badgers play their first match on Friday night at the Field House. Only one Big Ten team was in action on Thursday, with Purdue sweeping Illinois State. The Boilermakers will face Dayton, who beat Marquette 3-1, in the second round.

• “We’re all super-pumped up,” Grace Bowlby, saying what we are all thinking ahead of this weekend’s Border Battle.

• Can’t really care again until changes are made.

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• Big Ten Title game preview from Black Heart Gold Pants.
• Nebraska QB Adrian Martinez enters the transfer portal.
• A recap of Purdue’s first round win over Illinois State in volleyball.
• Ohio State men’s hoops fans are savoring the win over No. 1 Duke.
• No. 3 Michigan men’s hockey has a series with No. 11 Minnesota coming up. Big weekend for the Wolverines!
• The contributions of Rutgers’ women’s soccer freshman class is a big reason why the Scarlet Knights are in the Final Four.
• We’ll have more on this in a recruiting post later, but Maryland wing James Graham III, who you may remember is from Milwaukee, has entered the transfer portal.
• Is P.J. Fleck getting the band back together? Kirk Ciarrocca is considered the front runner to retake the Minnesota OC job.

Men’s basketball scores from Wednesday

No games

Women’s basketball scores from Wednesday

No. 23 Notre Dame 76 – Michigan State
Penn State 69 – Boston College 86
No. 12 Michigan 48 – No. 10 Louisville 70
No. 2 NC State 66 – No. 6 Indiana 58
Northwestern 72 – Clemson 61
Miami (Fla.) 74 – No. 8 Maryland 82
No. 24 Florida State 67 – Illinois 58
No. 9 Iowa 64 – Duke 79

Big Ten 4 – ACC 10, oof