Like most of you, I witnessed what seemed in the moment to be an absolute heist of a loss for the Wisconsin Badgers in Bloomington in their 78-77 loss to the Indiana Hoosiers on Saturday afternoon.

At the end of both regulation and overtime, there were calls from a Michael Reed, Michael Irving, and Larry Scirotto crew that objectively seemed against Wisconsin, and it’s indisputable that Indiana would have suffered a tough home loss without a number of these whistles going the Hoosiers’ way, especially late.

The two calls that ended up being the flashpoints were: (1) a charge on Nick Boyd with 15.1 left in overtime after he’d been fouled at least twice dribbling with the ball, including by the Hoosier defender at the time of the whistle, and (2) a blocking violation whistled on John Blackwell when an apparently out of control Lamar Wilkerson went down in the lane with 2.8 seconds remaining (his free throws won the game for IU).

In real time, both calls appeared to be horrific and/or unusual and sent Wisconsin fans into a rage over a win that seemed to be stolen away.

With some time to reflect, here’s where I am.

The officiating in this contest definitely favored Indiana, especially in clutch moments. There were at least 10 occasions where a soft or apparently incorrect call went against Wisconsin. In a one-point overtime loss, it’s very hard to argue that this didn’t matter in the outcome. And typical Big Ten Home Cooking, which the Badgers themselves have benefited from many times, can’t fully explain things here.

For example, the charge whistled on Boyd with Indiana’s Conor Enright fused to him like a Siamese Twin is called a block on the defender 90+ percent of the time. It was a legitimately bad call in a big moment. The Blackwell foul is more nuanced, after another angle surfaced that showed him stepping on Wilkerson’s foot. The problem is that wasn’t why the foul was called. It was a simple blocking call on Blackwell, so in a sense, the refs were retroactively bailed out. It probably should have been a foul on Blackwell, but not for the reason the whistle blew.

Greg Gard and the Badgers were 100% correct to have felt cheated. Gard tersely noted in his postgame presser that, “I’ve never seen anything like that.” But it’s my responsibility to point out that the Badgers allowed a good team playing at home to race to a 14-point lead, as well as score oodles of points in the paint.

So, a good portion of the blame for this loss must rest at Wisconsin’s own feet. Playing really well for large stretches in the second half, especially on defense, isn’t a free pass for yet another subpar start by Gard’s squad. This simply must get fixed and quickly, given the gauntlet of top Big Ten teams the Badgers are about to face, starting at No. 8 Illinois Tuesday night.

If I’m Greg Gard, my advice to the team is to flush and move on from Bloomington and focus on playing a full game with no slow starts against Illinois. That’s the game that matters now, not Indiana.

MADISON, Wis. (WEAU) – WEAU obtained a copy of what’s called a Penalties Determination letter to one of Wisconsin’s largest Burger King franchise operators in a child labor and wage payment investigation.

The letter outlines what it says are penalties for the infractions. At this point, Cave Enterprises Operations LLC, has not been found guilty in a court of law. These are the results of an investigation by the Department of Workforce Development.

Cave Enterprises operates 105 Burger King franchises across Wisconsin, including five in the Eau Claire area.

Scope of Violations

The Department says it found more than 1,656 violations of Wisconsin’s child labor and wage payment laws during a two-year span ending in January 2025. The violations affect more than 600 young workers.

“This is the largest determination of child labor and wage payment violations in modern Wisconsin history,” according to a press release from the Office of Governor Tony Evers.

The allegations include illegal work hours and wage payment failures. According to the DWD, Cave failed to comply with Wisconsin’s Employment of Minors laws and related regulations.

Financial Penalties and Restitution

The Department of Workforce Development determined a penalty of $500 per violation—half the maximum allowed per violation penalty. That amounts to $828,000 in penalties.

Additionally, the Department says Cave Enterprises must pay $237,000 in unpaid wages to affected young workers. This includes unpaid regular wages, overtime wages, and penalty wages.

“If Cave Enterprises makes the payments within the specified timeframe, the Department will consider the matter resolved,” according to the DWD letter.

Next Steps

The State says Cave Enterprises must immediately come into compliance with Wisconsin’s child labor employment laws and regulations. The letter also says the company must pay the outstanding wages and penalties within the timeframe specified by the Department of Workforce Development.

Copyright 2026 WEAU. All rights reserved.

• Wisconsin guard Jack Janicki is frequently compared to former teammate Carter Gilmore because of his defensive impact.
• Coaches and teammates describe Janicki as a “defensive catalyst” and a versatile Swiss Army knife on the court.
• He has also embraced a vocal leadership role similar to the one Gilmore held in the previous season.

MADISON – Ask Greg Gard or seemingly anyone else around Wisconsin men’s basketball about redshirt sophomore guard Jack Janicki, and another name almost instinctively keeps coming up.

It’s a player in a different class and at a different position – former UW forward Carter Gilmore.

As Gard recently talked about Janicki’s role, he mentioned how “Gilly was like that” last year. Associate head coach Joe Krabbenhoft has likewise said Janicki’s contributions are “similar to what Carter Gilmore was able to bring to us last year.”

Even Janicki has unpromptedly drawn the parallel between himself and the 6-foot-7, 225-pound forward who suited up for the Badgers from 2020-25.

“I think guys like Carter Gilmore sort of showed the way in terms of how you can really find minutes on the court and find value for yourself in ways that are less apparent,” Janicki said.

All the comparisons to Gilmore are fitting, though, considering the way Janicki has been instrumental in the Badgers’ efforts on the defensive side of the ball in 2025-26 in a way that extends far beyond what box scores may show.

Janicki, Gard said, has been the 2025-26 team’s “defensive catalyst.”

“He can switch a lot of things,” Gard said after the Jan. 28 win over Minnesota. “He’s very astute. He covers up mistakes at times from others. He’s always typically in the right position. … He’s kind of developing into that multi-dimensional guy like Gilmore was.”

Gard and Krabbenhoft have both compared Janicki to a Swiss Army knife with the defensive versatility that he brings to the court. He has so much versatility that he has even channeled his inner Gilmore by often playing at the four-spot when UW operates with small-ball lineups.

“He can guard bigs,” Gard said. “He can guard smalls. He can chase guys, like he did [against Ohio State]. He covers. When he’s in a help position, if we can put him on a non-shooter, his ability to recognize where to kind of back-layer or insulate the defense – his security blankets, we call them, insurance policies, whatever you want to do – that prevents something bad from happening.”

Janicki “brings so much energy to this group,” teammate Austin Rapp said.

“He will lose a tooth,” Rapp said. “He’ll cut his mouth open just for this team to win.”

Janicki really did lose a tooth for the sake of a Wisconsin win, chipping a tooth in the final minute of the Badgers’ 74-67 road win last year against rival Minnesota.

The defensive-minded Janicki’s magnum opus perhaps was Wisconsin’s Jan. 28 win this season over Minnesota.

Janicki had several key plays on defense – “a lot of little things that don’t seem big, but can be like four-point swings,” as he aptly put it – that helped the Badgers overcome a 20-point deficit and pull off a 67-63 win.

Janicki took a charge in textbook fashion in the second half on the defensive possession following Nolan Winter’s go-ahead 3-pointer, with Boyd hyping up the Kohl Center crowd afterward.

The 6-foot-5 guard was credited with a block with 45 seconds remaining in the game after getting his fingertips on an Isaac Asuma 3-point shot attempt that could have given the Gophers the lead.

His biggest play might have been less than a minute before that, as he intercepted Asuma’s pass with 1:17 remaining. His steal set up an offensive possession that ended with a pair of John Blackwell free throws that recaptured the lead one last time for the Badgers.

“That steal he had – his instincts are phenomenal,” Krabbenhoft told reporters. “The charge. And then things that don’t stand on a stat sheet that he does, covering people up that we talked about with Carter with all you guys for so many years. He’s got that in his game.”

Janicki played a major enough role in the win to be one of the players sent to the media room for the postgame press conference despite finishing with zero points, one assist and one rebound.

“Obviously you look at the stat line, and you wouldn’t think much of my performance,” Janicki said after the Minnesota win while sitting next to teammates who scored 23, 21 and seven points. “But obviously I’m out there for a reason.”

Janicki – one of three rotational players to return from 2024-25 – has attempted to fill the leadership role in 2025-26 that Gilmore had in the previous season.

“There’s some voices in the locker room that definitely ring out in times when things are going poorly, and Gilly’s was the voice that we would turn to,” Janicki said.

After this season’s Jan. 6 loss to then-No. 6 Purdue at the Kohl Center – UW’s third consecutive loss to a high-major team at the time – Janicki told his teammates, “This season can go one of two ways.”