Wisconsin

Preview: No.5 Wisconsin meets No.4 UCLA in Big Ten Tournament Quarterfinals

Published

9 months ago

March 14, 2025

Press Room

Preview: No.5 Wisconsin meets No.4 UCLA in Big Ten Tournament Quarterfinals

No.5 Wisconsin (24-8, 13-7 Big Ten) vs. No.4 UCLA (22-9, 13-7 Big Ten)

Date/Time – Friday, March 14, 1:30 p.m.

Arena – Gainbridge Fieldhouse (18,345)

Watch – Big Ten Network (Guy Haberman, Stephen Bardo, Rick Pizzo)

Radio – Badgers Radio Network (Matt Lepay and Brian Butch), Sirius 106 or 195, stream online on iHeartRadio.

Series – UCLA leads 6-2 (UCLA leads 2-0 in neutral sites)

Last Meeting – UCLA won, 85-83, on January 23, 2025, in Los Angeles

Follow Online: The Badgers’ Den

Twitter: @Badger_Blitz

Betting line: Wisconsin -1.0

Projected Starting Five (Wisconsin)

Player to Watch: On only five shot attempts, Winter posted 18 points in Wisconsin’s Thursday win over Northwestern, matching the second-highest output of his career. Winter drew nine fouls, went a career-best 9-for-10 from the line, and added six rebounds in the 70-63 victory.

Projected Starting Five (UCLA)

Player to watch: Earning third-team All-Big Ten honors, Bilodeau leads UCLA in scoring and three-point shooting percentage (41.2 percent, 35-for-85). He has scored in double figures in 23 of 30 games this year, including scoring 16 points on 6-for-10 shooting earlier this season against the Badgers.

Series Notes

This will be the first postseason matchup between the two schools.

The Bruins have won the last six meetings, including neutral wins in the 1995 Maui Invitational and the 2017 Hall of Fame Classic.

Wisconsin Notes

With 24 wins, this season already equals the 11th-highest win total in Wisconsin history and the third-highest under Greg Gard. Another win would give the Badgers 25 wins for the third time under Gard and the 11th time in the last 22 seasons.

The Badgers are 16-8 against the top two quadrants of the NET rankings, going 6-7 in Quad 1 and 10-1 in Quad 2. UW is one of nine schools with 16+ Quad 1/2 wins.

Wisconsin is 10-5 away from home, including a mark of 6-5 in true road games and 4-0 in neutral site contests. Over the last two seasons, UW is 9-2 in neutral site games. Only two Major Conference teams have a better winning percentage in neutral site games over the last two seasons: Auburn and 2024 National Champion UConn.

Northwestern shot 37.0 percent from the field Thursday, the Badgers’ lowest by an opponent since holding Nebraska to 33.9 percent shooting on Jan. 26. UW is 10-2 this season when holding teams below 40 percent.

The Badgers finished the game with 10 turnovers against the Wildcats, marking the 20th game with 10 or fewer turnovers this season. UW is 16-4 in those games.

UCLA Notes

Through games played on March 11, the Bruins ranked No. 23 in the country in scoring defense (65.1 ppg), No. 17 in turnovers forced per game (15.3), and No. 8 in turnover margin (+4.5).

Through March 11, the Bruins ranked No. 8 in the nation in turnover margin (+4.5), having committed 334 turnovers and forced 474 turnovers by the opposition.

Nine of UCLA’s 10 rotation players have totaled more assists than turnovers through 31 games. Clark (87 assists, 35 turnovers) has recorded a team-best 2.5 assist-turnover ratio. Including Clark, the Bruins have three guards with an assist-turnover ratio better than 2.0-to-1 (Dylan Andrews and Johnson).

Johnson has been named a Big Ten All-Defensive Team selection (one of five), currently ranking sixth in the league in steals per game (1.7 spg, 53 steals in 31 games). Johnson, who hails from Milwaukee, earned Pac-12 All-Defensive Team honors as a sophomore in 2023 and junior in 2024.

The Bruins’ bench has outscored the opposition in 22 of 31 games this season (16-6 record in those 22 games). Sophomore Sebastian Mack has played in all 31 games, entering off the bench in 30 games. Mack has averaged 9.8 points and 2.2 rebounds per game, shooting 43.8 percent from the field and 73.8 percent at the free throw stripe.

Prediction

Before Saturday’s clunker against Penn State, Wisconsin’s last poor defensive effort came at Pauley Pavilion against the Bruins. The Badgers shot 51.0 percent from the field, 15-for-30 from three, and 18-for-21 from the line and lost by two. The reasons were simple: the Badgers committed 13 turnovers, saw the Bruins shoot 50.9 percent, and were picked apart by their ball-screen defense against reserves Sebastian Mack and Aday Mara. That latter fact resulted in 23 fouls as the Badgers were out of position and forced to chase and reach.

Mack scored 19 against the Badgers and hasn’t scored more than 14 since. Mara had 22 and also hasn’t scored more than 14 since playing UW. Crowl and Winter have seemed to be consistently outworked by true centers all season. Mara’s on that list with the Michigan combination of Vladislav Goldin and Danny Wolf, Oregon’s Nate Bittle, Michigan State’s Jaxon Kohler, and Penn State’s Yanic Konan Niederhauser. It’s optimistic to say UW has grown in the department, but the performances against Bittle, Kohler, and Niederhauser have come in the last three weeks. However, those three players are better than Mara.

UCLA has won 11 of its last 14 games and is quietly peaking at the right time. However, the Badgers don’t appear to have the same offensive rhythm as they did the last time these two teams met in Westwood. Furthermore, UW’s stellar defensive performance Thursday comes with the caveat that Northwestern was really beat up with injuries. UCLA hung 93 on USC in the season finale to claim the final double bye.

Initially planning to pick Wisconsin based on the Badgers getting their feet under them with their victory over the Wildcats, I feel UW’s offense won’t be able to crack UCLA’s tough defense.

Worgull’s Prediction: UCLA by 6

Record: 25-7 (23-9 ATS)

Points off Prediction: 267 (8.3 per game)

_________________________________________________

*Chat about this article in The Badgers’ Den

*Check out our videos, interviews, and Q&As on our YouTube channel

*Subscribe and listen to the BadgerBlitz.com podcast (as seen on Apple, Google, Spotify and wherever you listen to podcasts)

*Follow us on Twitter: @McNamaraRivals, @TheBadgerNation, @_Perko_, @seamus_rohrer, @DonnieSlusher_

*Like us on Facebook

Source link

Wisconsin

Wisconsin students can soon use Pell Grants to enroll in short-term programs

Published

8 hours ago

December 18, 2025

Press Room

Wisconsin students can soon use Pell Grants to enroll in short-term programs

Wisconsin students enrolled in short-term, workforce training programs will soon be able to use federal grants to pay their tuition.

Millions of low-income students rely on Pell Grants to pay for college, including more than 70,000 in Wisconsin. The awards have long been limited to courses that span a minimum of 15 weeks or 600 “clock hours.”

The Trump administration’s “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” signed into law this summer will extend Pell Grant eligiblity to include short-term nondegree programs as short as eight weeks beginning July 1, 2026. The expansion is the largest in decades, making programs previously paid out of pocket – from truck drivers to machinists to nursing assistants – more affordable to students.

These types of programs are mostly offered by community and technical colleges, which have long lobbied for the change. They are studying their programs and deciding which need adjustments ahead of the eligibility expansion.

“Opening up financial aid and making financial aid policy more flexible and relevant to how folks are accessing workplace today, I think it has the potential to be really exciting,” said Wisconsin Technical College System President Layla Merrifield. “How do we bundle these skills? How do we construct these programs and get students a credential that’s very relevant to their field that could potentially provide a great on-ramp to a further credential later on?”

Some education policy experts have reservations about the financial aid expansion and whether it will deliver for students. There’s concern about online training programs and for-profit institutions, some of which have a pattern of predatory practices and poor graduation outcomes. Research also shows short-term programs lead to less upward mobility and lower long-term earnings for students than associate or bachelor’s degrees.

“There is a big risk here,” said Wesley Whistle, the higher education project director at New America, a left-leaning think tank. “An eight-week program is really easy to crank out lots of people. You could have a lot of low-quality programs that don’t lead to much. Students could waste their time, exhaust their Pell eligibility and be left without the right skills to succeed in the workforce. That’s my worry.”

Short implementation timeline, outcome requirements among Workforce Pell challenges

Advocates say the proposed regulations approved Dec. 12 by the federal education department include accountability measures to prevent programs from taking advantage of students and wasting taxpayer money.

The programs must be run by an accredited institution of higher education, and be offered for more than one year before being approved. States must track outcomes, requiring programs meet a 70% completion and job-placement rate, and demonstrate they lead to in-demand, high-wage jobs.

The law includes no additional funding for states to take on the new role of approving individual programs, a worry of Whistle’s.

The tight timeline is also a concern to him. States could quickly throw together an approval process and never again look at it. Whistle advocated for states to start with a pilot approach and reassess in the coming years. He also suggested they creatively leverage state funding to target specific programs that serve high workforce needs.

“This could actually be a moment where we have laboratories for democracy,” Whistle said. “To see what works and what doesn’t.”

Merrifield said technical colleges are working closely with the state Department of Workforce Development on program approvals. She said she’d love to see the expansion in place for fall 2026 but it may realistically take a little longer than that.

Wisconsin technical colleges take stock of programs

State technical colleges already have some programs that will qualify for the expanded financial aid. But they are considering which ones to revamp.

Take the certified nursing assistant program, Merrifield offered as an example. Students pursuing their registered nursing degree earn their CNA as part of the program. But some students aren’t in the RN program and are seeking only their CNA.The program is 75 hours, which is not enough to meet the new financial aid criteria.

Do technical colleges keep the program short, meaning students continue paying out of pocket? Or do they overhaul it, add skills that hospitals and medical facilities may be looking for and allow students to qualify for Pell Grants?

“There’s potential to re-examine why is it that we package skills the way that we do,”Merrifield said. “What is it that employers are really loooking for in the marketplace?”

Merrifield said manufacturing and agriculture programs may also be ripe for revamp.

Milwaukee Area Technical College has identified eight technical diploma programs that will qualify for a Pell Grant under the expansion, said Barbara Cannell, the executive dean of academic systems and integrity. The programs include nail technician, office technology assistant, real estate broker associate, truck driver training, IT user support technician and food service assistant.

MATC has a number of other programs, mostly certificates, that are too short to qualify for the expansion, she said. College officials are deciding whether to keep the programs as-is or tweak them to allow students to qualify for Pell Grants.

Both Cannell and Merrifield see the Pell Grant expansion as a way to make work-force training more accessible to nontraditional students.

“This opens the door to populations of students who just never saw themselves in that way before,” Merrifield said.

Kelly Meyerhofer has covered higher education in Wisconsin since 2018. Contact her at kmeyerhofer@gannett.com or 414-223-5168. Follow her on X (Twitter) at @KellyMeyerhofer.

Source link

Wisconsin

Wisconsin to receive $750k in multistate Menards settlement

Published

20 hours ago

December 17, 2025

Press Room

Wisconsin to receive 0k in multistate Menards settlement

MADISON, Wis. (WMTV) – A more than $4 million multistate settlement was reached with Menards Wednesday over deceptive rebate advertising and price gouging, Wisconsin officials announced Wednesday.

Attorney General Josh Kaul and the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection said the settlement resolves claims that Menards falsely marketed its merchandise credit check program, also known as the Menards’ 11% Rebate Program, and allowed price gouging during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Wisconsin will receive $750,000 in the settlement, according to DATCP.

“Figuring out how much you’ll have to pay to buy something should be straightforward,” Kaul said. “It shouldn’t be an adventure.”

Investigators involved in the multi-state lawsuit, which included Illinois and Minnesota, reviewed several aspects of Menards’ sales practices.

Wisconsin officials said investigators reviewed allegations that Menards’ use of the 11% off rebate program falsely claimed a point-of purchase discount, when the home improvement chain only offered in-store merchandise credit for future use, among other advertising claims.

Officials also investigated price gouging on four-gallon bottles of purified water at two locations in Wisconsin, including in Johnson Creek.

As part of the settlement, Menards will need to follow several advertising and sales practices. The terms, noted by DATCP, are as follows (wording theirs):

Not advertising or representing that any program that offers store credit for making purchases at Menards provides consumers with a point-of-purchase discount;
Clearly and conspicuously disclosing material limitations of the rebate program and disclosing all applicable terms and conditions of the rebate program in a readily available manner;
Investigating whether and to what extent it can offer a process by which consumers can safely and securely submit rebate application forms and receipts online;
Investigating whether and to what extent it can offer a process by which consumers can safely and securely redeem their rebate for online purchases;
Clearly and conspicuously disclosing that Menards is doing business as Rebates International;
Allowing consumers at least one year from the date of purchase to submit a rebate claim;
Updating their online rebate tracker with information about the rebate claim within 48 hours of the application being input into Menards’ system;
Updating their online rebate tracker with additional information about the rebate, including updates about returns affecting the rebate; and
Not engaging in price gouging during a period of abnormal economic disruption.

Click here to download the WMTV15 News app or our WMTV15 First Alert weather app.

Source link

Wisconsin

Wisconsin’s minimum wage has been $7.25 an hour since 2009. Will it go up in 2026?

Published

1 day ago

December 17, 2025

Press Room

Wisconsin’s minimum wage has been .25 an hour since 2009. Will it go up in 2026?

With consumers still concerned about affordability, nearly two dozen states across the country will raise their minimum wage next year.

The minimum wage will increase in 19 states and 49 cities and counties on Jan. 1, 2026, plus four more states and 22 municipalities later in the year, USA TODAY reported, citing an annual report from the National Employment Law Project.

Wisconsin’s minimum wage has not changed since 2009, when the federal minimum wage was set at $7.25.

But will it be one of the states raising its minimum wage in 2026?

Here’s what to know:

Is Wisconsin increasing its minimum wage in 2026?

No, Wisconsin is not one of the states increasing its minimum wage in 2026.

What is Wisconsin’s minimum wage?

Wisconsin’s minimum wage is $7.25 an hour, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. That’s the same as the federal minimum wage.

What states are raising their minimum wage in 2026?

Here are the 19 states increasing their minimum wage on Jan. 1, 2026, according to USA TODAY:

Arizona
California
Colorado
Connecticut
Hawaii
Maine
Michigan
Minnesota
Missouri
Montana
Nebraska
New Jersey
New York
Ohio
Rhode Island
South Dakota
Vermont
Virginia
Washington

Alaska, Florida and Oregon will implement increases later in the year, according to the report. California also plans to enact a minimum wage increase specifically for health care workers.

Andrea Riquier of USA TODAY contributed to this report.

Source link