In this week's episode of The Wisconsin Sportscast, we have to celebrate Mark Johnson on his ninth career NCAA Women’s Hockey National Championship. That puts him in the running for most national championships in college sports, and he’s in some good company. Mark Johnson has really created a dynasty in Madison, fostering a serious program that develops and recruits perfectly and contends for titles nearly every year. Some credit has to be due to Ohio State; the past four years have been a duel between Wisconsin and Ohio State in the National Championship and it’s always a close and competitive game. Johnson was much more demonstrative than his usual calm and cool self this last weekend. Ohio State went on a bit of a run, and he had to do something to get them to stand back up. The UW isn’t exactly one to honor their legends too much, but something should be done for Mark Johnson. There’s even the perfect plaza between the Kohl Center and LaBahn Arena that would be a great spot for a statue.

Meanwhile in Badgers Men’s Basketball, Greg Gard’s team once again failed to make it to the second weekend after their first round loss to High Point. They shouldn’t feel too terrible, High Point is a pretty good team! It’s one thing to say that when they beat the Badgers, but then they went toe-to-toe with Arkansas, even if they ultimately lost in the second round. Their point guard, Rob Martin, shows some real speed on the floor, and High Point has a little money to throw around. The game came down to athleticism, and High Point won out in the end. It was talked about before Thursday that the Badgers would have a tough game and they did. It would have helped, though, if they had gone on one of their three-point runs. They hit their second fewest threes all season, lacking all energy behind the line. Then they got out-rebounded too, against a team that isn’t very big! It was a game of athleticism, and ultimately the Badgers couldn’t hack it.

The Badgers have had a pretty bad run of NCAA Tournament outings in recent years; the last time they made it to the second weekend was in 2017. But now that Madison’s tournament is over, it’s time to look ahead. There are two big questions in front of the Badgers: can Gard find success in the portal again, and who can they get to stick around? On the portal front, they should be able to manage that. That leaves the questions of who’s staying, particularly Blackwell and Winter. They’ll both probably have some real money thrown at them, but the Badgers have some money to throw around too. Blackwell at least might be thinking of the NBA too, but if he were to stay in Madison he might be able to develop just a little more to further his chances. There is a lot of future ahead of the Badgers still, and only time will tell what the team looks like next year. Oates’ hope? There are less than nine big new players on the team next year.

The Wisconsin Sportscast with Lucas & Oates is a Cap Times podcast produced by Nate Wegehaupt. Find it on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.