With multimillionaire development firm proprietor Tim Michels’ announcement Monday that he’s becoming a member of the Republican main for governor, yet one more “outsider” is vying to “take again” Wisconsin from the “radical left” in addition to “institution Republicans.”
Michels, who challenged former Democratic Sen. Russ Feingold unsuccessfully in 2004, then dropped out of sight, is working in opposition to former Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch, Rep. Tim Ramthun (R-Campbellsport), and former Marine Kevin Nicholson. Like all of them he has professed his loyalty to former President Donald Trump, supported the false declare that the 2020 election was riddled with fraud and is avidly pursuing tradition conflict matters, searching for to make abortion unlawful in Wisconsin and taking a stand in opposition to the supposedly anti-white, pro-LGBTQ agenda in Wisconsin public faculties. Who, you would possibly ask, are the institution varieties this crowd is working in opposition to?
It may have been former Gov. Tommy Thompson — the state’s longest-serving governor. However Tommy is out. The remainder of the candidates are all working as fight-the-power rebels. Apparently Republican main voters, having drunk an excessive amount of election-conspiracy KoolAid, are in no temper for the candidate Wisconsinites would most wish to have a beer with. The following most institution candidate is rightwing radical Rebecca Kleefisch.
“Michels’ entry principally alerts a way of discontent amongst Republicans with frontrunner Rebecca Kleefisch,” says College of Wisconsin political scientist Barry Burden. “She is the chief for the nomination when it comes to conventional indicators akin to fundraising, visibility, and conservative credentials. In an earlier political period, her connections to Scott Walker and success as a statewide candidate would have made her a no brainer for the nomination. Many within the GOP are actually pining for somebody who will problem the occasion institution and tackle different acquainted establishments.”
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However, Burden provides, “There may be an irony on this posture as a result of the 4 Republican candidates are in settlement on the large points, are all exhibiting unwavering help for former President Trump, and need to prioritize lots of the identical points akin to new election guidelines and limiting how lecturers can cowl racial points within the classroom. Other than Ramthun’s single-minded give attention to the 2020 election, the coverage disagreements among the many candidates are minor.”
Michels agrees that there’s not a lot daylight between his positions and people of the opposite GOP contenders. “I don’t suppose folks will discover a lot distinction in our points,” he stated of his opponents on Monday, throughout his first interview after he introduced, with conservative radio host Jay Weber of WISN 1130.
“The distinction,” he stated, “is I’m an outsider.”
However what does that imply?
Ramthun and Nicholson are explicitly working in opposition to the occasion management, attacking Meeting Speaker Robin Vos and his most well-liked candidate, Kleefisch, on the grounds that Vos ought to have carried out the legally not possible feat of recalling Wisconsin’s electoral votes for President Joe Biden.
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Michels managed to dodge Weber’s query about whether or not he’s within the Vos/Kleefisch wing or the “Toss Vos” crowd. He professes to have nice respect for everybody.
He did say, nonetheless, that he would signal the raft of payments handed by the Republican Legislature and vetoed by Gov. Tony Evers that aimed to scrub up Wisconsin’s nonexistent drawback of voter fraud.
“Lots of people have questions concerning the final election,” he informed Weber. “So do I.”
He went on to enumerate the measures he would help as governor, together with banning “Zuckerbucks” — rightwing shorthand for the grants awarded by the Middle for Tech and Civic Life, partially supported by Fb founder Mark Zuckerberg, that helped municipalities throughout the state run elections throughout the pandemic, and which haven’t, regardless of huge consideration centered on the grants, been proven to have something to do with influencing the end result of the election. Likewise Michels got here out in opposition to “unlawful poll harvesting” — i.e. guidelines permitting absentee ballots to be deposited in dropboxes or turned in by a voter’s partner.
As a part of his pitch that he’s an “outsider” Michels makes a lot of his enterprise background. “I’m not a profession politician,” he says. And he proudly declares that he gained’t take any cash from PACs or particular pursuits.
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However he has an extended report of giving large donations to high-level Republican politicians as a part of a classy, coordinated effort. In 2018, members of the Michels household gave checks starting from $5,000 to $10,000 to the marketing campaign of former Republican Lawyer Normal Brad Schimel, based on a evaluate of marketing campaign finance studies by the group One Wisconsin Now. (The state-based analysis and communications hub for progressives has been renamed A Higher Wisconsin Collectively.) Between July and August main as much as the election he misplaced to present AG Josh Kaul, Schimel collected $50,000 from Tim Michels and his rapid members of the family — making the Michels household answerable for 35% of all the cash Schimel raised from people.
“I’m curious if he could make his ‘outsider’ act stick,” says Mike Browne of A Higher Wisconsin Collectively.
“He has a reasonably savvy donation historical past, like supporting co-chairs of JFC, investing in focused GOP races, and it appears the household will get collectively occasionally to write down large checks to the identical candidate(s) on the identical day.” (The donation checks from the Michels household to Schimel have been all written on Aug. 23, 2018. An earlier spherical of massive checks to Schimel from the Michels household have been all written on New Yr’s Eve 2013.)
“Along with his and his household/enterprise political giving,” Browne provides, “there’s the entire charade round refusing to take cash from lobbyists, as a man who has been concerned with the largest company particular curiosity lobbying outfit within the state as a WMC board member.”
Michels was elected to the 53-member board of administrators of Wisconsin Producers & Commerce (WMC), the state’s highly effective enterprise foyer, in 2019. His donations to Republican candidates and his membership on the board of the state’s strongest foyer group is straight tied to his enterprise pursuits.
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Michels Company, the most important development agency in Wisconsin, will get some huge cash via public contracts. The agency was chosen by then-Gov. Scott Walker to do vital work on Foxconn and has additionally labored on the Keystone Pipeline and made a bid to assemble Trump’s border wall, which Michels says he “would have been proud to construct.”
All in all, Tim Michels informed Weber, his firm has made about $1.3 billion from street contracts since 2008. In September 2018, a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel exposé discovered that the Michels’ company was a part of a gaggle of contractors that have been double paid for development work on a bit of Milwaukee’s Zoo Interchange throughout Walker’s administration.
Alarms raised by the federal authorities, which withdrew federal funds due to the overpayment, resulted in guarantees by the Walker administration to repair the “error,” however, based on the Journal Sentinel, the state unaccountably reversed itself and paid the total quantity, leaving state taxpayers on the hook for greater than $400,000 for work that was by no means accomplished. Weber solely briefly alluded to that awkward scenario within the interview Monday, permitting Michels to wave it away by saying all his contracts have been “clear” and his firm’s low bids have saved taxpayers tons of of thousands and thousands of {dollars} through the years.
Weber compares Michels favorably to Trump — a non-politician with enterprise expertise who’s so wealthy he doesn’t must get into politics besides to shake issues up.
Michels favored Weber with an outline of his latest pilgrimage to Mar-a-Lago. “The rumors are true,” he stated. “We went to Mar-a-Lago about three weeks in the past.” The assembly went “fabulously,” he stated, describing an hour spent speaking with Trump about constructing and pipeline work. “I would definitely welcome any help from President Trump,” Michels stated, including, ruefully that Trump’s promise to “drain the swamp,” was nonetheless unfulfilled. “I want he was president at this time,” Michels stated. “4 extra years of President Trump may need acquired the job accomplished.”
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He concluded by promising by no means to ask for a dime from anybody. “I’m gonna be an unbiased governor,” he stated.
And if you happen to imagine that, I’ve some work on the Zoo Interchange I’d wish to promote you.
MADISON, Wis. – Admitting to having a case of tunnel vision during games, Wisconsin head coach Greg Gard had no idea that the Badgers had set a new program record of 20 made three-pointers until the announcement appeared on the Kohl Center video board. No sooner did it appear than reserve point guard Camren Hunter hit three-pointer number 21, the final punctuation point to Wisconsin’s 116-85 victory over Iowa.
Not only were the 21 three-pointers a new Big Ten record, but the 116 points were a program record in a Big Ten game for Wisconsin (11-3, 1-2 Big Ten), not to mention the second-most points the program has scored in a game in its 126 seasons of basketball.
That kind of point total at Wisconsin would have been unthinkable as little as five years ago. Not this year to Gard considering the Badgers have built an offense with an analytical approach that has yielded dividends.
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“When you’re following the plan of how we’ve tried to build this team and play, as we’ve made this offensive evolution, this is a byproduct of it,” said Gard, as UW shot 64.5 percent from the field and averaged 1.611 points per possession. “It’s part spacing. It’s part the talent of the players. You have five guys who can all shoot the three and they share the ball. They are really unselfish.
“All those things added together give you an opportunity to do something like this.”
In the last 25 seasons of Division 1 men’s and women’s basketball, only one team has scored at least 115 points by shooting better than 60 percent from the field, 65 percent from three, and 85 percent from the free throw line. Take a bow, Wisconsin.
Here are my takeaways from a record night at the Kohl Center.
Blackwell’s Confidence Is Growing
Sophomore guard John Blackwell doesn’t care what you label him – point guard, shooting guard, center, or whatever. In his words, he can do it.
Blackwell hinted that his game was turning a corner in the final weeks of 2024. After two rough Big Ten outings, resulting in too many turnovers and not enough high-quality shots, Blackwell had 10 assists and no turnovers against Butler and Detroit Mercy, all the while shooting 44.4 percent from the floor.
He elevated himself against Iowa with a career-high 32 points, knocking down a career-best six 3FGs (6-for-10). He was effective in putting the ball on the floor and attacking the rim (3-for-5 in the paint), pulling up for paint jumpers (2-for-3), or drilling shots from the perimeter. For the third straight game, Blackwell had five assists.
On UW’s decisive 19-2 run in the first half, Blackwell scored or assisted on 10 consecutive points to turn a close game into the beginning of a rout.
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“He’s becoming more and more comfortable with the ball in his hands,” Gard said of Blackwell. “The last three games he has 15 assists to two turnovers, so he is seeing things faster and quicker earlier. I think he’s getting more comfortable in that role … He’s evolving as a player and when you surround him with really good players, we become much more difficult to cover and to guard because we got guys who can score at other positions.”
That balance was on full display against the Hawkeyes. Nolan Winter (18) and Steven Crowl (14) reached double figures in the frontcourt for the third straight game, while John Tonje quietly had 12 points, three steals, three rebounds, and two assists. Even the slumping Max Klesmit got going early with eight points, hitting two threes on passes from Blackwell.
“He wasn’t used to playing the point guard for us, specifically (last season) … but each game he’s gotten better,” said senior point guard Kamari McGee, who had 12 points (4-for-5 3FGs off the bench). “People may say he’s not a point guard. Honestly, in today’s game, there aren’t really any point guards. He’s just a good playmaker and a great scorer for us.”
Having scored in double figures in 12 of 14 games this season, Blackwell added eight rebounds and had a plus/minus ratio of +28.
“Whether it’s Jordan Taylor or Chucky (Hepburn), they’ve had good players at that position,” Iowa coach Fran McCaffery said. “He’s maybe a little bit different or a combination of all of them, but he can score. He’s playing with pace. He’s got really good feel, and he’s powerful. He’s a tough cover.”
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Gard said Blackwell has a quiet confidence about him. It’s evident that it’s growing by the game.
Defense Locks In After A Slow Start
Defense was optional for both teams through the first 10 minutes. Iowa started 6-for-9 from the floor and was 10-for-17 entering the under-12 media timeout. UW wasn’t far behind at 5-for-7 and 9-for-16, respectively, but were giving up open threes and easy looks in the paint.
The final 30 minutes were drastically different, as UW adjusted some ball screen coverages, were better in limiting its live-ball turnovers, and slowed transition opportunities by taking some better shots. The result was the second-highest scoring offense in the country at 89.7 points per game was 22-for-49 (44.9 percent) from that point on.
“Once we realized they were just coming in here to try and outscore us and they really didn’t care much about the defensive end, we took advantage of that,” McGee said. “We didn’t know we were going to shoot this great tonight, but we trust our teammates and trust our players. We know we can score the ball in bunches. All we had to play a little more defense than them and the game is ours.”
UW managed to curtail many of Iowa’s power scores. While the Badgers let Drew Thelwell score a season-high 25 points, the Badgers held Payton Sandfort (16.5 ppg) to 1-for-9 shooting. UW got Josh Dix under control after he went 6-for-8 in the first half, holding him to 1-for-4 after halftime.
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Most importantly, the Badgers made Owen Freeman work. Freeman leads the Hawkeyes in points (17.1) and rebounds (6.5) and had two double-doubles against UW last year. The Badgers made Freeman work Friday, as he needed 11 shots to get 14 points and finished with just three rebounds.
“I thought we did a decent job of keeping the ball out of his hands,” Gard said of UW’s defense on Freeman. “We were able to stop dribble penetration for the most part. At times you got to pick your poison with them because they have so many shooters around him. There was a shift at times between do we need to squeeze and play him more with help or do we need stay attached to more shooters. We did a combination of both.
“The other end was make good offensive players work on the defensive end. I think our movement and our unselfishness, especially with our bigs putting pressure on the rim … could have an effect.”
Carter Gilmore Was An Unsung Hero
Every great team needs a player like Carter Gilmore. That was Gard’s message when asked about Gilmore’s impact on Wisconsin improving its defense in the first half.
With Wisconsin wanting to be more mobile at the four, the Badgers played Gilmore over 12 minutes in the first half and 22:41 for the game, using him as a spy in the paint and on the perimeter at times in certain matchups.
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The results speak for themselves. When Gilmore wasn’t on the floor in the first half, Iowa was 8-for-11 from the field. The Hawkeyes were 11-for-21 when Gilmore was on the court. The numbers could have been a lot better. Thelwell made an acrobatic layup high off the backboard on a play where Gilmore played textbook defense. He also took a lowered shoulder from Freeman in the chest as he stood outside the restrictive circle, a play that likely would have drawn a charge call two years ago (and perhaps should have still) but was whistled for a block.
In the second half, Gilmore helped hold Iowa to 6-for-17 when he was on the floor.
“He can really quarterback a defense in terms of what he can talk about, how he plugs holes, how he covers up mistakes for others,” Gard said of Gilmore. “The really good teams have a guy like that who understands their role and thrive in their role and make their team better when they’re on the floor.”
By The Numbers
26 – Wisconsin had a season-high 26 assists on 40 baskets. The Badgers have had at least 15 assists in 10 games.
17.8 – Scoring in double figures for the ninth time this season, Winter has now scored 15+ points in four straight games and is averaging 17.8 ppg and 8.5 rebounds over that stretch.
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64.5 – Wisconsin shot 40-for-62 from the field. That’s UW’s best clip in a Big Ten game since shooting 64.9 percent against Minnesota on 1/3/87. The last time UW shot better than 64.5 percent from the field was a 105-76 win over Arkansas State on 11/6/2023.
67.7 – The Badgers poured in 21-of-31 attempts from deep, their best mark when attempting 10+ threes since an 8-for-11 (72.7 percent) output in a win over Indiana on 2/25/2010.
1993 – Wisconsin scored 100+ points in a Big Ten for the first time since a 101-87 win over Northwestern on 2/3/1993. It’s the most points scored by a Big Ten since Iowa scored 116 versus Northwestern on 2/8/1995.
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After a 1-1 introduction to Big Ten play last month (beating Northwestern on Josh Dix’s buzzer-beater and losing to Michigan after a spirited comeback attempt fell short), the proper conference season gets underway for Iowa tonight. No more non-conference distractions — it’s Big Ten opponents from here until March.
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First up? A border battle with Wisconsin, who enters this game with an identical 10-3 record. The Badgers started the season 8-0, including notable wins over Arizona, UCF, and Pitt. They lost three in a row a month ago, including both of their early season Big Ten games, falling to Michigan and Illinois (and sandwiching a road loss at Marquette between those defeats).
The Badgers rebounded with wins over Butler and Detroit Mercy after that brief losing skid, but the Badgers have also been out of action since December 22, enjoying an almost two-week layoff before tonight’s game. Having opened conference play 0-2 and with road games to Rutgers, USC, and UCLA coming up, Wisconsin will be very eager to avoid an 0-3 start to league action.
C Steven Crowl (7’0″, 248; 8.8 ppg, 5.2 rpg, 2.5 apg, 48.9 FG%, 23.8 3FG%)
PREVIEW
The 2024-25 Wisconsin Badgers aren’t quite like the Badger teams of yore, at least in one notable regard: they’re playing at a faster tempo than any Wisconsin team in almost 20 years. This Badger team checks in at 181st in the tempo rankings, which is the fastest Wisconsin has been in the Greg Gard era and the fastest for any Wisconsin team since 2005-06.
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Granted, they’re still the fifth-slowest team in the Big Ten and no one’s going to mistake them for Illinois or Iowa (17th and 23rd, respectively, in the tempo rankings), but still — this is not the same poky Wisconsin team you’ve seen in the past.
The strength of this Badger team is its offense; the Badgers rank 16th in offensive efficiency (third-best in the Big Ten, behind Purdue and Illinois), thanks to an offense that avoids turnovers, shoots reasonably well, and is excellent at getting to the free throw line. Wisconsin turns the ball over on just 13.8% of possessions (15th nationally) and concedes steals on only 6.3% (2nd) of possessions.
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The Badgers have been a decent shooting team — 52.3% in effective FG% (126th), with most of their success coming from inside the arc. Wisconsin has made 55.2% (74th) of 2-point attempts this season, but they’ve been much cooler from outside — only 32.5% (216th) from 3-point range. The Badgers rank 71st in free throw rate, but they’ve been lights out when they get to the stripe, making 85.1% of free throw attempts, best in the nation. Keeping the Badgers off the foul line on Friday night will be imperative for Iowa.
On defense, Wisconsin doesn’t force many turnovers (15.5% of opponent possessions, 296th nationally), but the Badgers have been good at contesting shots, denying offensive rebounds, and keeping teams off the free throw line. Opponents have an effective FG% of just 47.3% against Wisconsin (67th) and the Badgers have been adept at contesting both 2-point shots (48.5%, 101st) and 3-point tries (30.2%, 60th). Opponents have rebounded only 27.9% of their missed shots (106th) this season as well.
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After losing standout forward Tyler Wahl to graduation and fellow forward AJ Storr to the transfer portal, the Badgers hit the portal themselves and landed John Tonje, a skilled forward from Missouri (by way of Colorado State) who has been a difference-maker for Wisconsin this season. Tonje leads the team in scoring (19.2 ppg), ranks third in rebounds (5.0 rpg), and has been the team’s best outside shooter (23-of-62, 37.1%). Tonje also gets to the free throw line a lot (100 attempts already this season) and hardly misses when he gets there (94%). He’s been everything the Badgers could ask for out of the portal.
He joined a Badger team that returned an experienced backcourt in Max Klesmit and John Blackwell. Blackwell (14.2 ppg) and Klesmit (11.2 ppg) are two of the other three Wisconsin players averaging double figures in scoring, though neither has been able to find a consistent outside shot yet (both shooting around 28% from long range). Like Tonje, they’re very good at the free throw line (86.7% for Klesmit, 80.4% for Blackwell).
Up front Wisconsin has been starting a pair of twin towers this season in Nolan Winter (6’11”) and Steven Crowl (7’0″). Winter (6.0 rpg) and Crowl (5.2 rpg) and they’ve combined to average 20 ppg this season. Both bigs also have some floor-stretching capabilities — they’ve each attempted 20+ 3-pointers this season — though Winter is the more dangerous of the two from deep; his 34.4% 3-point clip (11-of-32) is actually second-best on the team.
Carter Gilmore and Xavier Amos (both 6’7″) have been getting a fair amount of minutes in the forward rotation as well, but any lineup with both Winters and Crowl will pose some definite matchup headaches for the Hawkeyes, who may need to utilize Riley Mulvey and Even Brauns for longer stretches during this game if Iowa’s other forwards have difficulty against Wisconsin bigs.
Michigan State hockey added Charlie Stramel for the 2024-25 season after the forward spent two seasons in Madison playing for the Wisconsin Badgers.
Things didn’t end well between Stramel and the Badgers, leaving a bad taste in the mouth of the new Spartan. That taste got a little sweeter on Thursday.
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Stramel scored the game winning goal for his new team on his new home ice on Thursday to defeat his former team, while he shines for his new team, a welcomed addition to the Michigan State program.
Contact/Follow us @The SpartansWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Michigan State news, notes, and opinion. You can also follow Cory Linsner on Twitter @Cory_Linsner
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