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The Hottest Ticket: Badger Volleyball - Jon Arias Checks-In · Ask The Experts

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  Thirteen ten WIBA Madison in the morning, Big Sports Weekend Ahead of course,
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  we've got the Badgers playing some football. We've got the Packers playing some football.
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  We've also got the Badgers playing volleyball starting tonight and joining us the voice
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  of Badger Volleyball, John Audius, John, how you been my man?
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  What's up, Sean? How are you doing well? It's good to see
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  you, great to talk with you. And it doesn't get much more exciting
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  than Badger Volleyball right now. And for folks that have been living under a
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  rock, because you have to be not to be excited about this team,
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  let's talk about the season that they've had. It's been. It's been a
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  pretty amazing year so far for him, hasn't it. It's been outstanding.
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  They set a school record by winning their first eighteen matches of the season until
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  falling most recently last week at Nebraska in front of a record crowd for the
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  Cornhuskers nine thousand, one hundred I believe or thereabouts watched a five set thriller.
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  In fact, you know a lot of people around the country watch that
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  on Big ten Network. They dropped their first match of the season, unfortunately,
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  on a net violation in the fifth set that gave Nebraska after a replay
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  by the way, which gave Nebraska to win. But they've had an outstanding
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  season. They're one of the best teams in the country offensively, their their
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  attack percentage is very high, top ten in the nation. But it's not
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  just their offense sn defensively, they've got at times on the court a block
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  up at the net of six foot seven Carter Booth, who leads the conference
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  in blocks percent and she's top ten in the country, and six foot nine
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  Anna Smrek who plays on the right side. So there are times where the
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  opponents have to go up against sixty seven and six' nine at the net.
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  That's just unheard of in college volleyball. It's almost like it's like a
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  wall, like they're they're literally going up against a wall. And other impressive
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  stat is, what is that thirty thirty sets in a row without uh?
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  Was when I remembering that properly, how they you would know? Yet?
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  No? Yeah, no, it was. Well, they set a Big
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  Ten record for twenty seven in a row, part of the overall thirty until
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  they dropped that first against Nebraska, so that streak came to an end three,
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  shy of tying the school record, which was set twenty three years ago
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  with my radio partners team Pete Waite in two thousand, that team that made
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  it to the national championship. But anyway, so that stopped at thirty.
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  But that's just another one of these streaks that they've had. In fact,
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  before that lost to Nebraska, Shawn I mentioned eighteen and l they had won
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  thirty straight sets. Also dating back to the year before, I think it
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  was twenty seven or twenty eight straight wins over Big Ten opponents. Like,
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  it's not just this season and the start they've had. It dates back to
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  last season when they won their fourth straight Big Ten championship. Now that is
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  not in jeopardy, but obviously we've got a race now with Nebraska at the
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  top spot of the Big Ten conference standings. But these two teams again Nebraska
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  and Wisconsin by the way, which by the also Wisconsin fell the number two
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  in the rankings. Nebraska's now the new number one. But these two teams
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  play again toward the end of the season, second to last match on Black
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  Friday at the Fieldhouse in Madison, and tickets for that one on stub Hub
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  already a month before the match. I just looked this morning. The last
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  ticket went for two fifty in the lower part of the field house in the
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  corner. So people are asking hundreds of dollars and I'm sure that's just going
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  to increase if these two teams keep winning all the way up until Thanksgiving.
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  Should be an exciting match. I'm gonna ask you about the environment at the
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  Fieldhouse and the energy that goes on there in just a moment. Ironically enough,
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  this morning I received an email from somebody saying, hey, you wouldn't
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  be able to track down two or four tickets for that match, And I'm
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  like, yeah, lol, good, Look well right now you can get
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  them for about a thousand bucks if you want four tickets, PROBA, we
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  should take that offer before it gets even worse, exactly. And speaking of
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  the Badgers, they're gonna play tonight at five forty five. They'll be taking
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  on Michigan State, and then Sunday three o'clock three thirty, actually the broadcast
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  starts will be taking on Minnesota. Both those games can be heard on ten
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  seventy the game as well as the iHeartRadio app also that Sunday game. And
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  this is a big thing, John, what a great lead in. They're
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  going to follow the Packers and they're going to be televised on network television.
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  Now, of course they're broadcast on cable, but this is over the air.
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  Fox Television Sunday going to be featuring that match Badger's against Minnesota. That's
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  got to be bring an extra level of excitement. It is so interesting from
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  a number of different perspectives. It's number one. Yes, it's the first
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  nationally televised college volleyball matchup. Believe well, actually technically Ohio State and Michigan
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  also will be on Fox, but not as many TVs. We'll have the
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  you know that game as opposed to the Vikings Packers followed by Gophers Badgers.
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  That one will have more televisions on Fox. But yeah, it's the first
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  time nationally volleyball will be featured on network television and sewn. It follows,
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  like I mentioned, the Nebraska match, So not to get too nerdy about
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  TV ray you're going to I'm going to it was the highest most watched volleyball
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  audience in Big Ten network history, six hundred and twelve thousand viewers. Now,
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  to give some perspective to that, that was on that Saturday. Just
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  you know, comparing that Saturday viewership more than a Premier League football match at
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  soccer Manchester City was in that one. It's more than a college football game
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  Texas Tech BYU. It drew more than the Nebraska football game versus Northwestern.
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  It drew bore that viewers than Sports Center on ESPN, and it almost equalled
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  the viewership for Wisconsin Illinois football. It is six't eighty four for Wisconsin Illinois,
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  six twelve for the volleyball match. So when you look at those numbers
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  and now you think of the national audience that will be tuning in to Vikings
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  Packers, you know, I would assume anywhere from what ten to twenty million
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  to be you know, estimate how many of those who are you know,
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  Minnesota, Wisconsin residents, how many of those are going to continue to keep
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  the television on. So this could be the most watched volleyball match ever.
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  The record is one point two million. That was Wisconsin Nebraska in the twenty
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  twenty one National Championship match and that was on cable on ESPN. So I
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  mean this is big, Sean. I think this is really big for the
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  sport because if that has a big number, and I don't know what that
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  would be. I would hope one to two million, you know, if
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  it's somewhere in that range. I think network television has to take notice,
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  Like they can't just say, oh, we've got an event that's going to
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  draw even you know, more millions of people on a slate Sunday afternoon when
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  we maybe you don't have that opportunity to put a football game on. Like,
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  they have to notice. So it's not only big a big match for
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  Wisconsin just you know in the season, it's big for the sport of volleyball
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  because this sport has been taking off this season, not only with viewership numbers,
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  but also just with attendance numbers. You know, we saw ninety two
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  thousand fans watching Lincoln. We saw seventeen thousand if I serve for him in
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  Milwaukee. All over the country, programs are setting attendance records. So it's
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  big. It is pretty big. It's pretty amazing to see. As we're
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  talking this morning with John Audia's voice of bad Your Volleyball, don't forget the
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  Badger's play tonight they're gonna be taking on Michigan State. Covered starts at five
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  forty five and the match we're just talking about taking place Sunday from the field
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  House three thirty. Both those games will beyond ten to seven. The game
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  also the iHeartRadio app also again that Sunday one will be on Fox TV following
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  that football game. And John, when we talk about we talk about the
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  attention that's being drawn, the type of numbers that are being drawn, a
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  lot of it goes back to their head coach Kelly Sheffield. Clearly an amazing
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  chalent. You get to spend some time with the coach. What's that like
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  and what has he really done? Obviously this is a program even before coach
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  Sheffield got here with a storied legacy, but he really seems to have taken
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  this on and of course mentioned the national championship and other things. What's that
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  Ben like? Seeing the transformation of this team under coach Sheffield. It's so
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  fun to watch every season and you know, ten years ago Sheffield and he'd
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  admit that is probably different than twenty twenty three Sheffield. You know, in
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  twenty thirteen he led the team to a national championship, although they fell just
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  short again and Penn State. But you know he's evolved as a coach.
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  It's awesome Number Number one to see the success right and to see the style
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  of coaching and the way he approaches it and the calm demeanor. You know,
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  when you think of coaches, you think of you know, I guess
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  I do sometimes at yelling and screaming and motivating and come on, let's go
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  and do that. Bet Like, No, he's a teacher. You know.
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  That doesn't work with everybody. You know, sometimes he has to get
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  on the team. Don't get me wrong, but I mean it's a very
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  calm demeanor. It's a very level headed approach to to how do we get
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  better? Like I'm going to teach you how to get better, but these
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  are the things you need to do. And if you do those things,
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  we have enough talent to be the best. And so I love that approach.
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  And number two, as far as the sport and growing the sport,
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  he has been so outspoken about growing this sport, especially the last few years.
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  I mean, he'll put out, he'll call he'll call out organizations and
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  be like, hey, listen, where's our coverage? Look at these numbers,
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  why aren't we getting the coverage that for example, women's basketball does whether
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  It's one of his big pushes, I think a year ago or maybe a
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  little bit longer now, but is that the first and second rounds of the
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  NCAA Volleyball tournament were on ESPN plus, they were online, and they they
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  didn't have any announcers, And so he's like, hey, listen, our
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  sport is getting a ton of people wanting to view it, and we don't
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  even we can't even get on TV number one and number two, We can't
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  even get announcers to broadcast the games. What are we doing here? He
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  just wants equal coverags because he sees what women's basketball, all women's basketball NCAA
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  tournament games are on television, all of them. So you know, he
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  just wants that equality. And he'll call out, for example, an espn
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  W social media account when they go an entire year with maybe two or three
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  posts on volleyball, and he'll be like, Hey, what about what about
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  this one over here? Why don't you guys talking about this? So he's
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  trying to grow the game too, and he's trying to point out to people,
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  like he listened, people want to watch this sport. It's one of
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  the fastest growing sports across the country. For girls and women to play number
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  one and then number two. Like people are tuning into this as well if
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  you give him a good match. And that's the other thing. Like we
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  were talking this year and he says, the next step we have to do
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  is really develop these storylines. I mean, there was a perfect storyline last
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  week eighteen and oh eighteen and O versus eighteen and oh number one versus number
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  two, So that kind of naturally fell into the hype machine. But he's
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  like, we have to find these these types of ways to hype up every
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  single match and and you know, promote it that way. As we talk
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  too, of course talking this morning with John Audis, voice of Bad Your
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  Volleyball. Of course you can hear the games on Fox Sports ten seventy tonight
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  of course, taking on Michigan State five forty five, and then Sunday three
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  point thirty you'll hear that again over on Fox Sports ten seventy the game and
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  of course the iHeartRadio app talked about the players, talked about the coach.
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  Let's talk a little bit about the field house and one of the experiences that
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  I think I'm really excited to see given that Fox coverage is the experience from
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  the field house. What's that like on game day for somebody that gets to
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  gets to walk in there and see all the matches and experience all the all
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  the home games. What's the field house like for volleyball? It's one of
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  the best in the nation, it really is. I mean, they're always
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  in the top three of attendance. Nebraska's got them this year because of that
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  ninety two thousand at their football stadium. The average then averages out well,
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  you know, way more, and the building holds a little bit more than
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  the Fieldhouse, but it's great. You know, there's seventy two hundred fans
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  almost every single match, and they can get loud at times, and it's
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  really intimidating for teams to go in there and have to face that, and
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  not only the seventy two hundred in the low But you know, I think
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  maybe some of our seasoned veteran listeners here who've been around this city for a
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  while remember going to basketball games there and they used to jam pack more than
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  seven thousand in there. But they understand the dementi of the fieldhouse and how
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  you're right on top of the court. Basically everybody's bunched in there, so
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  it's it's it's pretty intimidating for fans. And I really think that hey,
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  listen, if you're coming on Sunday for the Minnesota game, like you better
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  come and be loud because that that amps the level up with the coverage.
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  You know, if some random person and wherever in the USA is watching football
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  and then they say, hey, we'll check out volleyball, and you tune
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  in and you see the fieldhouse, and if we can amp it up another
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  level, like they're going to be like, what is going on? This
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  is crazy because it is one of the best atmospheres in college volleyball. And
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  that's one of the reasons why recruiting has benefited Wisconsin is because the top talent
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  want to play in front of the best fan bases, and Wisconsin has one
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  of, if not the best fan base in college volleyball. Wo'd be great
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  to be on a national showcase for sure. Talking this morning with John Audias,
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  of course with bad your volleyball, and before we wrap this this morning,
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  John, I do want to mention, of course we've got women's basketball
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  no exhibition and starts coming up very very soon. Coach Moseley, we talk
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  about we talk about expectations, We talk about teams that are that are looking
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  to make to make some big strides. Coach Mosley is a pretty impressive person.
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  And of course you call Badger women's basketball as well. What's that.
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  Have you seen tangible changes the past season or so with with the new coach?
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  Yeah, and the exhibition season starts on Sunday as well at one pm
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  against Whitewater. Reed Magnum will have the call of that one over the radio,
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  but because I'll be busy with the volleyball match. But yeah, I
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  mean, yeah, she last season, they ended the season with a huge
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  win. They upset number twelve Michigan. They got into the Big Ten tournament
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  with you know, really good momentum going and then they lost basically in a
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  three point buzzer beater to Purdue, and so that that abruptly ended any momentum
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  that they had. But I think this is a team that is just knocking
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  on the door and just waiting to make their move. Every year they're getting
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  a little bit better, and I think this is this is a season where
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  they are looking to propel themselves to that middle of the pack of the Big
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  Ten. If they can get there and above. You just keep on pressing
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  and you keep on getting better year after year. And I'll tell you what,
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  when when Marissa gets this team, when she'll eventually get this team to
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  a winning stature, that fandom that we see at the field House, I
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  think is absolutely going to translate over to the Coal Center and in fact,
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  get there now, Get there now, because you know, you don't want
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  to miss out on the ground floor of this, of this you know this
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  program and what she's going to be able to do with it as well.
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  So that excites me to know that this this is moving in the right direction
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  and that the support can be just as big or even bigger than than volleyball
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  once they once they get this going in the right direction. And I really
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  do think they are getting it moving in the right direction. I'm so excited.
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  There's a lot of young talent on this team. They've got a freshman
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  Sarah Williams, who you know, in a game against Michigan State last year
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  scored thirty one points and she's she's she's only going to get better and so
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  that's that's one big player to watch for them. And then they've got a
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  lot of young talent around her as well, it's it's a really exciting team.
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  And I'm looking forward to the basketball season too. It should be an
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  exciting season for women's basketball. And of course we talked volleyball. What a
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  great, great season so far as it continues on, don't forget. Badger's
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  play tonight five forty five taking on Michigan State. Then they're back home at
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  the field House for Sunday three point thirty broadcasts start taking on Minnesota. Listen
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  on ten seventy to the game the iHeartRadio app as well. John, It's
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  always great chatting with you, my friend. You enjoy this beautiful day.
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  SOA news is next year thirteen ten WIBA