We all know what's on the line tomorrow, right? A win for Bucky and it's another road trip to Indy for Wisconsin, but what if a loss happens? We will be exploring that topic and so much more as we give you the latest Wisconsin SoundOFF LIVE! tomorrow from The Vault in downtown De Pere, WI starting at 10am CT.

May we suggest getting down there as it's also our editor Andy's Birthday on Saturday (seriously, talk about dedication though - working on your Birthday on the weekend too? lol.) so there will be drink specials galore, the best Camp Randall music experience outside of Camp Randall, and of course the best Badger bash anywhere in Northeast Wisconsin to boot! We'll even be giving you an exclusive immediate post game reaction as well, you won't hear this anywhere else but LIVE and in person!

Andy and Nate will be coming to you live at 10am Central and we'll be bringing you an exclusive interview with Badger Nation's Ben Worgull along with our insight and breakdowns of everything leading you directly up to the 11am kickoff of the game! All of this can be listened to in person or online here. 

Don't miss this opportunity to watch the game with good friends and fellow crazy Badger fans as well! Just one opportunity left following this game, so let's make this place rock! Of course, if you can't be there in person you can listen to it all online at the home of Wisconsin SoundOFF LIVE on blogtalkradio.com! 

See you there and as always.... ON WISCONSIN!

The Badger fanbase is used to seeing Wisconsin football played a certain way. We all know what it looks like - pound the football, use play action and throw an occasional deep ball. Well, that could all be changing with the confirmation of Curt Phillips being the starting QB by head coach Bret Bielema on Thursday. 

What's got Badger Nation all abuzz this morning? Well, it was a single comment by Bielema at his press conference following Thursday's practice. 

On Monday Bielema made it pretty clear things weren't going to change no matter who the quarterback was going to be, but yesterday he sang a completely different tune.

"May not be a traditional Wisconsin offense, (we'll) do some different things but it's obviously something we're excited to see," said Bielema. 

Finally the Badgers saw opponents not wearing red and white on Wednesday night and it was a truly enjoyable experience for Wisconsin as they took down Wisconsin-Oshkosh 96-44 at the Kohl Center. The Badgers had 5 players in double figures on the way to an easy victory over the overmatched division 3 Titans. 

Wisconsin was led on the scoring front by senior forward Jared Berggren's game high 16 points. He was joined in double digits by the rest of the starters with Frank Kaminsky and Ben Brust scoring 12 points each and Ryan Evans  and George Marshall adding 11 points each.

Evans had perhaps the most complete game of any Badger, earning a double double by grabbing 10 rebounds to go with his 11 point performance in the win.

UW-Oshkosh was led by Dylan Wurtz's 15 points in the losing effort and was joined by fellow guard Corey Nicol (11) as a double digit scorer for the Titans.

Things didn't get off to a spectacular start for the Badgers though as UWO got off to a 7-0 lead to start the game. However, that would be the end of things as Wisconsin began to wear down the smaller Titans and took their first lead, 14-12, with 14:46 left in the 1st half and it was all downhill from there. Wisconsin had a 13 point run going in the half to blow things wide open, leading 44-18 at the half. 

The latest episode of Badgers Power Hour is now available for your consumption and it was a jam packed episode where we broke down the following topics:

• Curt Phillips being named starting QB
• the game against Indiana on Saturday
• Badgers football recruiting w/ Evan Flood of Badger247.
• Wisconsin's Exhibition Victory over UW-Oshkosh
• Badgers Basketball Season Preview
• and much, much, more.

So make sure you give it a listen as there was a lot of insight and good stuff presented.

According to a report by ESPN Wisconsin's Tom Lea the Badgers have named Curt Phillips the starting quarterback for Saturday against the Indiana Hoosiers. It would be Phillips' first career start and according to the report the decision wasn't an easy one for head coach Bret Bielema and offensive coordinator Matt Canada. 

In the report Lea stats that "One source said Philips has been receiving the bulk of the reps in practice and that it should 'be fun to watch' when the Badgers play the Hoosiers."

My hunch, and we'll expound on this more during tonight's Badgers Power Hour, is that this was about comfort level. I mean the comfort level of the players around the quarterback and the comfort level of the offensive coordinator to the player. 

It's been no secret that since coming on board Matt Canada has been very intrigued by what Curt Phillips could bring to this offense as that has been stated several times by Bielema and Canada themselves. Hell, even Bielema mentioned it as late as this week's Monday press conference.

That is what I believe separated these two in the end. Wisconsin saw what Danny O'Brien was and wasn't capable of on the field and in the end they just weren't sold on his ability to lead this offense to enough points. 

If there is one thing that this year's UW men's hockey team has been good at generating, it's been headlines.

Another major story broke early Wednesday afternoon as the school announced that assistant coach Bill Butters will no longer be with the team, effective immediately. Butters was in his third year as a member of Mike Eaves' coaching staff. The process to replace him is already underway.

It appears as though Butters will pursue his interests outside of the coaching realm.

"I believe it's time for me to move on from coaching," Butters said in a release from the UW athletic department. "I have appreciated Coach Eaves' support and friendship as I have come to this conclusion. Mike and I believe it will be in the best interests of both myself and the program if I take this step and return to my family and continue to develop the other pursuits on my horizon. It has been a fantastic opportunity to coach our players and work with the staff at Wisconsin.”

"I can't thank Bill enough for the time he spent with our program," Eaves said in the release. "He has decided that it is in his best interest to return home to Minnesota to be with his family and to pursue other passions in his life. Bill is a good friend and a great hockey man. He has had a long and successful career in the game and, though I'm sad to see him go, I'm happy he will be able to move onto this next chapter in his life."

Tonight a lot of the speculation and conjuncture finally can come to an end as fans will get their first real glimpse of what the 2012-13 Badgers are going to take to the court for a real game! Granted it's an exhibition game against D3 in-state foe Wisconsin-Oshkosh, but at least it's not someone on your own roster you'll be playing against. 

Having said that, we'll be doing a feature here each game with a few things and keys we'll be watching for in that day's contest. So, with a lot of questions still left to be answered let's dive into what we'll be watching for!

1) Point Guard Battle: After the annual Red/White scrimmage it's clear that George Marshall will get the first crack at the starting PG spot, but it's also becoming clear that Traeveon Jackson is also pushing hard for playing time and could possibly overtake Marshall if things go well against UW-O. Marshall needs to show he can be a good distributor of the ball and avoid turnovers to earn the trust of head coach Bo Ryan and the fanbase as well. It's Marshall's first time to showcase what he's got to the fans as well and as the saying goes - first impressions are everything.

Over at Delany's Dozen they are putting together a nice little Big Ten Basketball Power Rankings Poll on a weekly basis throughout the season. The difference is that unlike most power polls out there it's not just the staff on board (full disclosure I am the co-managing editor there) that votes on the power poll, but rather a gathering of Big Ten bloggers from all over the place. 

With the release of the preseason Power Poll I thought it a good idea to give you my ballot and the reasons behind it. In fact as the poll is released I will give you my ballot each and every Monday throughout the season.

So, with that, here is my preseason Power Poll rankings:

Amazingly we are just 5 days away from the start of the Badgers basketball season and tomorrow night is the exhibition game. All this means we are just Ryan Evans from things getting going and his play could be a key indicator of the season Wisconsin is about to have. He certainly was a key cog in last season's Sweet 16 run.

* 30.5
Evans was 2nd on the team last year in minutes played per game averaging 30.5 minutes a game. He was only behind Jordan Taylor's 36.0 minutes per game average. Those two were the only ones to average over 30 minutes played a game last season as well. Could Evans play even more minutes this season?

* 6.75
Last season Evans upped his rebounding to levels he's never seen in his career, averaging 6.75 rebounds a game compared to his previous high of 3.03 rebounds a game in his redshirt freshman season. 

* 58
Evans is the 3rd leading returner in assists with 58. He was topped by returning guard Josh Gasser (67), and fellow forward Mike Bruesewitz (63). Jordan Taylor paced the group last year with 147. Evans should start the season as the leader in assists as both Gasser (out for season with ACL tear) and Bruesewitz (laceration to right leg) aren't going to start the season on the court.

Andy's Projections: 29.5 min., 12.6ppg, 6.0rpg, 50 assists

Final Thoughts: Evans was a complete surprise to start last season and real catalyst to this team. If Taylor wasn't going it was Evans picking up the scoring slack. As one of three seniors in the frontcourt expect Evans to be a big time scorer again, but he may see fewer minutes because of the depth Wisconsin now has at all spots up front. It wouldn't surprise me to see Evans' numbers be pretty close to what he put up last season and if that's the case this team will be just fine.

Apologies to those following this countdown as I got a bit sidetracked on it but we're back today to look at #10 Senior Guard Dan Fahey. There's just 6 days left until the Badgers' season opener on Sunday!

* 17

Fahey has appeared in 17 games in his 3 year career at UW, including 9 last season. He's tallied up 23 minutes, 2 points and 8 rebounds in his career.

* 2 

While Fahey's contributions on the court haven't been too significant, he has had great success in the class room. Fahey boasts back to back all-Big Ten academic selections. Guys like Fahey really help Wisconsin Basketball keep up its great academic reputation. 

Cole's Projected Stats for Dan Fahey: 1.4 mpg, 0.3 ppg, 0.1 apg

Analysis: 

While Dan Fahey may not see many minutes on the floor this season, he can still make a big contribution to this team. Championship teams are made of every player contributing, from the superstar to the last guy on the bench (which might just be Fahey). With UW's depth at guard, it's unlikely we'll see Fahey getting a lot of time this season besides garbage minutes. But with the injury to Josh Gasser, Fahey could get some burn, especially if Zak Showalter takes a redshirt year.