The Wisconsin Sports Rant

What a game for Wisconsin. They may not be an offensive powerhouse, but man can they play some defense. Keyed by Michael Flowers’ superb effort against Drew Neitzel, the entire Badgers team gave the Michigan State Spartans no place to go with the ball. It seemed that almost every shot the Spartans took was a difficult one. The Badgers got through picks, cut off driving lanes, only committed 9 personal fouls (as usual), and simply kept the ball in front of them the whole game. Meanwhile, on offense, they rode a mini hot streak by Brian Butch in the second half to put the game away down the stretch. Of course, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the school record of only ONE turnover the entire game. Think about that. ONE TURNOVER. That is an amazing feat at any level of basketball. Mix those elements together, and you have a quality win against a tough opponent late in the season. At this point Wisconsin is in prime position to claim at least a share of the Big Ten regular season title, and perhaps with a few Big Ten Tournament wins, a second straight 2 seed. I don’t want to put the cart before the horse though. Sure, they end with games against Penn State and Northwestern, but UW has a history of laying an egg in Welsh-Ryan arena. While I can’t imagine it happening next week, I have never been able to imagine it, so let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves here.

Still, this Badgers team continues to show the value of quality team play from the coach on down. It’s ironic that as good as the Badgers were last year, the 2008 edition might have a better chance at playing deep into March.

Bucks blow a 17 point lead and lose to the Knicks

Overrated Marquette loses to Notre Dame

And the Badgers lose to Purdue…AT HOME

This, my friends, is not how I would have hoped Saturday would turn out. The first two items are definitely annoying, but not shocking. The third is. The Badgers have now been swept by a team that has proven to be underrated; yet this should still not have happened. The seasoned, veteran team that Wisconsin is should not be giving up 72 points on their home court. That is not Wisconsin basketball. The irony of my conversation with one of my friends before the game was thick. We talked about how this is a great “team” because they don’t have a single superstar, and they really don’t lose unless multiple guys have bad nights. What is even more disturbing than losing at home is losing a game that meant first place in the Big Ten. Now Wisconsin drops to into third, and has two losses on the record to the team in first. A date in Bloomington looms this week as well, so we may be looking at a 2 game losing streak. All I can say is this was a very disappointing evening.

Tonight we saw a Wisconsin Badger basketball team prove that a good defense beats a good offense. The high-scoring Indiana Hoosiers arrived notching nearly 75 points per game this year, and yet, couldn’t even get 50. That is a testament to how well the Badgers rotated, contained, rebounded, and generally frustrated Indiana’s offense for all but about 7 minutes in the 2nd half. Eric Gordon did have a spurt that, along with D.J. White’s powerful inside game, helped cut a 20 point lead to 5, but the Badgers righted the ship in time, holding the Hoosiers to only 6 more points the rest of the way. When Wisconsin puts on a defensive show as they did in this game, they are very tough to beat. Joe Krabbenhoft was a rebounding and hustle machine, providing the plays that kept the Badgers ahead when it counted. Trevon Hughes ran the offense very well, even showing some flash with an excellent around the back pass to Michael Flowers for an easy two. Wisconsin put themselves back in a four way tie for first place in the Big Ten, while defending their home turf yet again. This was a big win, and seems to reaffirm that they are right where they belong.

If the Badgers learn anything from this game, though, it is that no matter how well things are going, you need to play your game for the full 40 minutes. It got a little close for comfort in the 2nd half, and mostly that was because they had stopped executing their swing offense during Indiana’s run. It is not often that a team of Indiana’s caliber goes an entire game without some sort of run. As long as Wisconsin keeps playing solid defense and doesn’t get complacent on offense, they should be able to hang in there with almost anyone.

A tough game looms at Williams arena this weekend. Minnesota should be taken seriously, especially at home. Tubby Smith has them playing well, and they are fighting for their tournament lives with every game. Hopefully Wisconsin won’t suffer through a poor performance as they did this past weekend at Purdue, and will come out ready to play.

[The Ranter's note: I am not in denial about the end of the Packers season last week (anymore), but I am also not ready to write a meaningful post about it]