The Wisconsin Sportscast

In this week's episode of The Wisconsin Sportscast, Mike Lucas highly recommends the new ESPN docuseries on college basketball stars Kamila Cardoso, Kiki Rice, and Caitlin Clark.

“Caitlin Clark is so huge. You just get a better feel for the people around her, the pressure that mounted throughout the season, and how she dealt with it all,” says Lucas, a Cap Times sports free...

In this week's episode of The Wisconsin Sportscast, Mike Lucas and Tom Oates recap the Milwaukee Bucks’ messy season. Oates says the Bucks’ defensive game got better once Doc Rivers became head coach in the middle of the season. But he didn’t think the combination of Damian Lillard and Giannis Antetokounmpo was ever going to work. 

“Giannis dominated the ba...

In this week's episode of The Wisconsin Sportscast, Mike Lucas and Tom Oates don’t have many complaints about how Green Bay handled this year’s NFL Draft. Oates says keep an eye on second-round pick, linebacker Edgerrin Cooper. 

“Cooper will be the star of this particular draft.  If they are going to go to four down lineman they need speed at linebacker to r...

In this week's episode of The Wisconsin Sportscast, Mike Lucas and Tom Oates assess how the transfer portal and name, image, likeness (NIL) money are impacting the Badgers men’s basketball team. Since the season ended, stars Connor Essegian, AJ Storr, and Chucky Hepburn have all sought greener pastures. 

“You know what the most sobering thing is for Wisconsin? They are...

In this week's episode of The Wisconsin Sportscast, Mike Lucas and Tom Oates review the 2024 Masters Tournament in which Scottie Scheffler won another green jacket. Tiger Woods made the cut at the Augusta Nationals for a record-setting 24th consecutive time but finished with one of the worst scores of his long career. 

“Watching Tiger play was kind of painful. He finished, l...

In this week's episode of The Wisconsin Sportscast, Mike Lucas and Tom Oates debrief the men’s and women’s NCAA championship games. Purdue and Iowa both lost to UConn and South Carolina respectively, but at least the Big Ten was represented in the finals of both tournaments. 

“I think what happened — if you want to draw parallels between the two —&nbs...

In this week's episode of The Wisconsin Sportscast, Mike Lucas and Tom Oates analyze the men’s NCAA Final Four. Oates thinks UConn is still the team to beat. 

“To some extent, the pressure is off Purdue and Alabama for getting to the Final Four. And even if there were pressure on NC State, they’d be oblivious to it. They don’t look like a team that was on t...

In this week's episode of The Wisconsin Sportscast, Mike Lucas and Tom Oates react to the news that the Badgers are losing sophomore guard Connor Essegian to the transfer portal. Last season, Essegian made the Big Ten’s All-Freshman team and played in every game. It was a different story this year. 

“When Essegian had chances, he didn’t make the most of it. But t...

In this week's episode of The Wisconsin Sportscast, Mike Lucas coaxes Tom Oates into divulging his tips for filling out a bracket in the NCAA men's basketball tournament.

“Take your Final Four and work backward. .... Remember the first weekend is always chaos,” advises Oates, the former Wisconsin State Journal sports co...

In this week's episode of The Wisconsin Sportscast, Mike Lucas and Tom Oates discuss Green Bay adding top-notch running back Josh Jacobs to its roster while releasing longtime Packer Aaron Jones.

“I thought Jones would have been a perfect match with Josh Jacobs,” says Oates, the former Wisconsin State Journal sports columnist. “However, the Packers have a lot of picks...

In this week's episode of The Wisconsin Sportscast, Mike Lucas and Tom Oates continue to wait for the Wisconsin men’s basketball team to shore up its defensive game. The Badgers scored 83 points against the Fighting Illini and still lost by eight points. 

“Wisconsin has to play defense for 40 minutes like they play for about 20 minutes every game,” says Oates, th...

In this week's episode of The Wisconsin Sportscast, Mike Lucas and Tom Oates talk about how to deal with college fans storming the basketball court after a big win. After Wake Forest’s recent upset against Duke, fans injured Blue Devils star Kyle Filipowski. 

“How do you even contain it? There were kids on the floor before the final second ticked off in that Duke game ...

In this week's episode of The Wisconsin Sportscast, Mike Lucas and Tom Oates provide the history for why former Wisconsin men’s basketball coach Bo Ryan deserves to be inducted in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. 

“What he did at UW-Platteville — alone — is worthy of getting him into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame,” says Oates, the...

In this week's episode of The Wisconsin Sportscast, Mike Lucas and Tom Oates recap the Kansas City Chiefs' victory over the San Francisco 49ers in Super Bowl LVIII. Lucas says the better quarterback won. 

“(Chiefs QB) Patrick Mahomes led the team in rushing. He’s got one of the most deceptive gates,” says Lucas, a Cap Times sports freelance writer and former radi...

In this week's episode of The Wisconsin Sportscast, Mike Lucas and Tom Oates mull over the Badgers’ close defeat to the Boilermakers at the Kohl Center. Lucas says Wisconsin did alright defensively against Purdue’s towering star center Zach Edey. 

“Purdue is a better team. I don’t think there is anything bold about that statement,” says Lucas, a Cap T...

In this week's episode of The Wisconsin Sportscast, Mike Lucas and Tom Oates aren’t surprised by the midseason hiring of Doc Rivers to coach the Milwaukee Bucks. Rivers, an NBA veteran, takes over after the Bucks fired first-time head coach Adrian Griffin after just 43 games. 

“When the players lose respect for the coach and tune him out, you just have to go a differen...

In this week's episode of The Wisconsin Sportscast, Mike Lucas and Tom Oates go over the Green Bay Packers’ playoff loss to the San Francisco 49ers. Oates says the Packers outplayed the heavily-favored 49ers most of the game. Even so, mistakes were made.

“The missed opportunities later in the game really hurt. The fourth-and-1. The missed field goal. The two interceptions, one of which was a bad thr...

In this week's episode of The Wisconsin Sportscast, Mike Lucas and Tom Oates breakdown Green Bay Packers’ unexpected drubbing of the Dallas Cowboys on their home turf. Oates says Packers’ head coach Matt LaFleur outwitted the Cowboys during the 48-32 playoff victory.

“LaFleur has really found himself in the second half of this season. His game plans and his play-calling — he destroyed Dan Quinn, the defense coo...

In this week's episode of The Wisconsin Sportscast, Mike Lucas and Tom Oates ring in the new year with an analysis of the playoff-bound Green Bay Packers. Oates says Jordan Love's steady improvement this season has won over fans who are used to Hall of Fame level quarterbacks at Lambeau.  

“He might just be our franchise quarterback of the future, “says Oates, the former Wisconsin State Journal sports columnist...