Kulning the Herd: Holiday Road

Welcome to “Kulning the Herd,” our weekly recap and preview of everything going on with the Milwaukee Bucks’ G-League affiliate, the Wisconsin Herd. What is kulning exactly? It’s an old Scandinavian herding call/song form. Take a listen to a small sample here.

In off the court news, the MECCA Game floor has made its way up to Oshkosh and Menominee Nation Arena. The floor will serve as a special events surface and will not permanently usurp the current Herd court. It’s great that the organization is able to keep the court intact and spread Milwaukee’s history to the Fox Valley.

Before we recap last week’s game, we bid farewell to the holiday season with James Young really getting into Mariah Carey:

Tuesday, December 26th @ Greensboro Swarm (Charlotte Hornets)

The first of a two game set in Greensboro saw the Swarm add Charlotte Hornets’ first round pick, Malik Monk, to their roster. The volume shooting rookie made enough of an impact as the Herd dropped this game, 103-96. Monk had 25 points and attempted 21(!) three-pointers, only converting on seven of them. Joel Bolomboy recorded another double-double for the Herd, scoring 20 points and snagging 14 rebounds.

Xavier Munford led the Herd with 26 points on 10/21 shooting from the floor. James Young had a rough night from beyond the three-point line. He failed to connect on any of his eleven three-point attempts, finishing with an inefficient 19 points on the night.

Thursday, December 28th @ Greensboro Swarm (Charlotte Hornets)

The Herd exhibited a short memory as they came right back out and toppled the Swarm, 125-115. James Young shook off any frustration from the first match-up and knocked down six of 12 three-point attempts and finishing with 28 points.

Cliff Alexander came off the bench and ended up scoring a team high 29 points in just 26 minutes of action. Xavier Munford and Cameron Oliver recorded double-doubles in the victory. Munford finished with 19 points and 11 assists, while Oliver carded 10 points and 18 rebounds. For the second straight game, the Swarm’s roster featured a NBA talent as Dwayne Bacon dropped 45 points on 18/40 shooting. If Jabari Parker ever gets a rehab stint with the Herd I can’t wait to see what his stat line will look like.

Saturday, December 30th @ Canton Charge (Cleveland Cavaliers)

The Herd finally left the state of North Carolina and traveled on up to blustery northeastern Ohio to take on the last place Charge. Wisconsin was able to pile on the points and leave Canton with a 139-119 victory. James Young had a game high 31 points while only taking 14 total shots. A very efficient night for the former first round pick.

Two-way guy, Joel Bolomboy, recorded yet another double-double for the Herd. This time he finished with 18 points and 10 rebounds. Cliff Alexander continued where he picked up in Greensboro as the Herd’s sixth man scored 19 points on nine shot attempts in 26 minutes. The Herd converted on 58 percent of their shots, including 42 percent from three-point range.

Another three game slate for the Herd this week, with just one of those three being a home game. The games can be heard on 99.1FM in Oshkosh and 95.3FM in the Fox Cities and seen on Facebook Live and Twitch. So let’s dive into this week’s upcoming Herd action.

Wednesday, January 3rd vs. Canton Charge (Cleveland Cavaliers)

The Herd see the Charge a few days after easily disposing of them in Ohio. With this being the first home game in awhile, and only home game this week, I believe the Herd will feed off the Oshkosh crowd and cruise to an easy win.

Friday, January 5th @ Grand Rapids Drive (Detroit Pistons)

Part three in this series figures to be just as close as the previous two meetings. The road team has taken the win in each of the last two games, so I can safely assume that the trend will continue and Wisconsin waltzes out of Grand Rapids with a hard-fought victory.

Saturday, January 6th @ Windy City Bulls (Chicago Bulls)

As of today, the Bulls are tied with the Charge for last place in the Central Division. I know the Herd will have played in Grand Rapids against a stingy Drive team 24 hours before this game begins. However, the Herd will come out and make this one laugher early. I’m sure the Bulls will make a late surge, but the Herd will hang on.

Once again I correctly prognosticated that the Herd would go 2-1 last week. Since I have been spot on the last few weeks, I can only assume that what I say will actually happen for the Herd. In that case, I have the Herd going 3-0 this week and sweeping their bottom feeding divisional rivals.

Any predictions of your own? General comments or questions about the Herd, or even the G-League? Share them in the comments below and stop by next week as we recap the games above and look forward to week number four of the Herd’s inaugural season.