Big Red Rising
What a huge win for the Badgers Saturday against the #2 ranked Pittsburgh Panthers! Having attended the last game in which Wisconsin beat a #2 ranked team (versus Minnesota in the final Big Ten contest at the old Fieldhouse), this was definitely a different feeling. Back in 1997, the underdog Badgers desperately needed the win to solidify their NCAA tournament resume. This time, the Badgers were ranked almost as highly as their opponent, and demonstrated that they deserved to be classified among the best in the nation. The Badgers cruised to a relatively easy win, in which they maintained a double digit lead for the last 25 minutes of the game. Their best players, Tucker, Butch, and Taylor all stepped up their games in accordance with the task at hand. Butch and Tucker had career performances (which has become normal for Tucker), and Taylor came out in the second half and made some clutch shots to keep the Panthers at bay. The rest of the team contributed as they have throughout the year. Krabbenhoft with sheer hustle and determination, Chappell and Stiemsma with their big bodies in the paint (which was crucial to keeping Aaron Gray from dominating), and Landry and Flowers with solid minutes off the bench.
Getting back to Butch and Tucker; when these guys play like this consistently, there is truly no team in college basketball that the Badgers can’t beat. I am not saying Wisconsin is the best team in the nation, just that when they are clicking on all cylinders, they will be a formidable challenge for any team. This bodes very well for the Big Ten season. It is not unthinkable that they could win 14 conference games this year. Sure, this win came at the Kohl Center, where they seem to be much tougher to beat, but I sense that the experience and knowledge of each other as a team will be more of a factor than the location of the games.
So, after a week in which Wisconsin put away a pair of Panther teams, they may find themselves ranked as high or higher than they have ever been ranked before. (Another interesting tidbit: this is most likely the first time the football team and basketball team have identical 11-1 records at the same time. If I could afford a research department, I would have them check it) They have at least one more difficult non-conference game when they travel to Georgia on New Year’s Eve, but backing up what I said above, I believe they should go into Athens and emerge victorious.
It was an exciting game, and things are looking great in Badgerland right now. Let’s Go Red!
December 21st, 2006 at 8:35 am
I would want to elaborate on The Ranter’s point about Butch. Alando Tucker has received the vast majority of attention and rightly so, but i think the ascension of Butch needs to be recognized. He showed up for the biggest game of the year in a huge way. I was definitely an early skeptic of Butch, especially when he redshirted. And after watching his first year, i thought he would never reach the hype. While he’s still not quite there, his improvement has been visible and constant. He also benefits so well from the swing system since he can knock down the outside shot. So here’s to the Appleton native! Hopefully he enjoys as much success as Tony Shaloub and Harry Houdini.