College Basketball 2011-2012

[jjfanec]

Yes, I mentioned that in the post directly above yours. You should have watched the second half. MU had 5 turnovers, and only 2 in the last 16 minutes when they played fantastic. Sure, its dangerous that they get on those kind of second half runs after they get down, but they've been so good when they do get hot that its gotten them this far. And that is really why its like watching a different sport, not just the first half of sloppiness. BTW, I wasn't the only one who felt that way, so I don't think it was me being an MU alumni.

And in the second half against Penn State the Badgers scored 35 points (Marquette had 40). So if you are going to give Marquette a pass for their sloppy first half it seems like you should give the Badgers a pass as well. The turnover thing is consistent all year. The Badgers are first in the nation and Marquette is 153rd.

I understand why people feel that way. It is a different preference in basketball. I watched the Marquette vs Villanova game and found it almost unbearable. I felt the same way about the Indiana vs Iowa game. I think Marquette is a really good team. The first half funk is strange, but they come out of the locker room ready to play.

 

[jjfanec]

homer]

I only watched the first half of the Marquette game and found it almost unwatchable sure they ran up and down really fast but they were so careless with the ball. Marquette scored 14 more points than the Badgers but turned it over 12 more times! To each their own I guess, but watching teams push just to turn it over all the time is hard to watch for me. In the Villanova game before that the teams combined for like 36 turnovers.

In a perfect world, a team would play fast, take care of the ball, and make shots. But it's extremely rare to find a team that can do all three of those things.

Yep it is so hard to find teams that can do that. Most teams seem to play fast to make up for a lack of size or defensive skill. Or they play slow to make up for a lack of athleticism or ability to win in a fast-paced game. You see it in sports like football as well. The Saints play a high tempo game to make up for a lack of a defense. The 49ers play a slow game because they dont have an offense to keep up.

[Glennron]

Five minutes into the Marquette game and I already hate Jack Cooley as much as I hated Harongody.

[Oldcity]

Wisconsin back to the chucker offense. 24 threes, no free throw attempts.

[owbc]

Wisconsin awakens with 5 minutes left, suddenly they are getting some action in the paint and hitting their shots. Going to go down to the wire.

[RockCoCougars]

I'd rather watch Marquette run up and down the court than watch a Badgers game where they are missing their threes. So boring watching four perimeter passes and a bad shot with 3 seconds left on the shot clock. The last couple of minutes were particularly excruciating to watch. They were down only four, but they were playing like they were up four. No execution or urgency with the offense.

[homer]

I'd rather watch Marquette run up and down the court than watch a Badgers game where they are missing their threes. So boring watching four perimeter passes and a bad shot with 3 seconds left on the shot clock. The last couple of minutes were particularly excruciating to watch. They were down only four, but they were playing like they were up four. No execution or urgency with the offense.

They only forced a handful of shots that whole game. They executed pretty well and got open looks but just missed the shots.

 

And Marquette shot worse than UW did today (both from three and overall). So essentially you like watching Marquette miss layups.

[RockCoCougars]

I'd rather watch Marquette run up and down the court than watch a Badgers game where they are missing their threes. So boring watching four perimeter passes and a bad shot with 3 seconds left on the shot clock. The last couple of minutes were particularly excruciating to watch. They were down only four, but they were playing like they were up four. No execution or urgency with the offense.

They only forced a handful of shots that whole game. They executed pretty well and got open looks but just missed the shots.

 

And Marquette shot worse than UW did today (both from three and overall). So essentially you like watching Marquette miss layups.

I don't think that there is any denying that Marquette plays a more exciting brand of basketball. I hear the whole 'winning isn't boring' thing, but the way the Badgers are constructed, the only way they will make a run in the tournament is by shooting the lights out every game. It seems they can score against weaker teams, but if they fall behind by a stretch against the good teams, it's curtains. You aren't going to win these types of games if you don't at least try to get something inside (yes, layups... even if you miss). They attempted three free throws today on their home court. Unacceptable.

[homer]

They also played the best defensive team in the country. I agree, they need to go inside more though.

[TooLiveBrew]

They only forced a handful of shots that whole game. They executed pretty well and got open looks but just missed the shots.

 

But this is the entire point, to me. Hit. Them. I don't buy the whole team whiffing on open looks as an excuse for it being fluky or that they still played well. They didn't play well on offense. They didn't play terribly, but they didn't play well. They're a team that absolutely needs the three-ball on offense, & currently doesn't have enough good distance shooters. I honestly think that if Taylor had one reliable scorer to play with, this team would have as good a shot as anyone to go all the way. It's too bad that player hasn't emerged this season.

[patrickgpe]

if reports are true and Memphis is joining the Big East, i think that is very good for Marquette. While they may never be as good as they were under Calipari, they are still a good basketball program. Id like the Big East to pluck away an Xavier or Temple. It makes sense regional and it adds another good basketball school to the mix. Not sure if there is an advantage staying in the A-10 when you have a chance to join the big east.

 

I understand adding CFU and Houston. I don't see what the advantage of adding SMU. If you are just trying to get into the Dallas market, fine but its not like they have been all that great in basketball and football of late. Houston at least has a track record of recent success.

 

Overall the changes do not make the big east better than they are right now, but it makes them a competitve conference once again instead of falling to the wayside which could have happened.

[homer]

They only forced a handful of shots that whole game. They executed pretty well and got open looks but just missed the shots.

 

But this is the entire point, to me. Hit. Them. I don't buy the whole team whiffing on open looks as an excuse for it being fluky or that they still played well. They didn't play well on offense. They didn't play terribly, but they didn't play well. They're a team that absolutely needs the three-ball on offense, & currently doesn't have enough good distance shooters. I honestly think that if Taylor had one reliable scorer to play with, this team would have as good a shot as anyone to go all the way. It's too bad that player hasn't emerged this season."ex

I think a team can execute well and not have a good offensive game. You can doing everything perfectly but if the shots don't go down you won't win all that often.

[TooLiveBrew]

I understand, but with basketball I can't give a team a pass for going 5-27 from three. It's not like baseball where you can crush a ball but it gets caught for an out. In basketball, with an open shot you either knock it down or you don't.

 

Unfortunately the 5-27 night isn't that big of an aberration for this season's Badgers. They just don't have enough good shooters, which is one more reason why it would seem like a good move to get Berggren more involved. I hope they can make a run in the postseason, though, thanks to their amazing defense.

[Baldkin]

I understand, but with basketball I can't give a team a pass for going 5-27 from three. It's not like baseball where you can crush a ball but it gets caught for an out. In basketball, with an open shot you either knock it down or you don't.

 

Unfortunately the 5-27 night isn't that big of an aberration for this season's Badgers. They just don't have enough good shooters, which is one more reason why it would seem like a good move to get Berggren more involved. I hope they can make a run in the postseason, though, thanks to their amazing defense.

1) Berggren wasn't getting anything against Sullinger inside, and he was giving Sullinger anything he wanted inside. That's why he sat the last 10 minutes of the game. They actually gave the ball to Evans on the post quite a bit, and he did well, but OSU's length really messed with the Badgers game. Guys would have position, but Evans was the only one who could reliably throw a pass inside. Brust and Gasser always had a guy 4" taller with 8" of reach on them.

 

I really wanted Bo to try to go big at some point, play both Frankie and Berggren and see what happened, but he stuck with Brust who had an awful, awful game.

 

2) They are shooting 36% from three on the year. Going 18% is going to happen from time to time. Yes, it sucks when it happens in a big game, or a game when they can't pound it inside -- which is what happened vs OSU. OSU was flat out the better basketball team, when the Badgers have 1 guy who might crack their top 7, it's amazing the game was as close as it was.

 

Oh, one other thought: If the refs are gonna let Craft do what he did to Taylor for

the whole game (grab, clutch, elbow on every single ball screen/pick and

roll), its going to be a long day for Wisconsin, no matter who they play.

[TooLiveBrew]

I wasn't referring just to the OSU game in talking about Berggren, but yes Sullinger had his way with him. Like you said, OSU just outmans the Badgers.

[Funketown]

You have to be kidding me.

 

Poor execution down the stretch from UNC, but that game doesn't even come down to that shot if the refs don't allow Curry to moonwalk his way to that 3 pointer in the last two minutes.

[Menotti80]

as a huge Duke fan, I was elated to see that they won, although I am upset I didn't DVR the end of the game (I was following it on my phone in bed).

 

I'm sure there were some questionable calls towards the end in Duke's favor, but the fact that they hung in there and battled back is encouraging, win or lose. UNC is still the better team, and will probably win in Durham next month, but still a great win and hopefully something they can build on.

 

Glad Georgetown lost though, which helps out Marquette as they try to finish 2nd in the Big East.

[brwrsfan]

There was a blatant travel not called on Curry on a three pointer in the last 2 minutes. Enough so that ESPN replayed it and even Dick Vitale agreed. That was pretty bad. There was also a very, very questionable charge called on Barnes at the end too. That being said, UNC deserved to lose. They missed FT, played horrible defense in the last 2 minutes.

 

On the last shot, Zeller was playing about 3-4 feet off of Rivers as time wound down. He's not going to go past you in that amount of time, and if he does, then at worst the game is tied. He should have been tight up on him and made him shoot over the top.

 

Tough loss as a UNC fan, but they got what they deserved, though the calls sure didn't help. Oh well. Hopefully WI can handle MN tonight.

[brwrsfan]

Despite an huge meltdown in the last 8 minutes (gettting outscored 10-0), the Badgers got the win on the road. Wins are wings, but this should have been an easy one. Kinda funny how the team scores 51 points in the first 40 minutes, then 17 in the last 5. Can't complain too much about the win, but it's those type of stretches that really, really make me worry about tournament time. They just simply don't have the guy to give the ball to when they really need a bucket...hence why every game there is a 4+ minute scoring drought.

[Glennron]

Yeah, this game was definitely a microcosm of their season in various points. Obviously the 8 minute stretch to end the game showed how poor their offense can look, although this was definitely to quite the extreme. At the same time I thought they played great defense for pretty much the entire game. They were absolutely hounding Minnesota on the Gophers first few offensive possessions in OT. They seemed to have quite a few blocks again too.

[Oldcity]

I think this was a microcosm of the team as a whole for the reasons you said, plus I'll add the free throw shooting which led to all the points in OT. They're not as great of a free throw shooting team as they were last year, but it's still good. That's still something that can win them close games going forward. It can help cover up those horrible field goal droughts too.

[brwrsfan]

The problem is that they don't get to the line consistently. You aren't going to get a ton of FT just simply shooting threes and long jumpers. When they get there, they shoot pretty well, they just don't work that to their advantage. They don't attack enough, don't work the post enough to consistently get to the line.

 

In most games, if you take away the last minute when we have the lead and teams have to foul, we probably only average like 8-10 FT attempts a game.

[jjfanec]

I do like that the Badgers are winning games on the road this year. They havent beaten anyone great but they have beaten teams that are bubble teams like Minnesota, Illinois and Purdue. That gives me hope as they move in the tournament and have neutral site games. Their defense is just incredible this year. They are right near the top or at the top in Field goal percentage against, points against and fewest fouls committed. Some try to say the Badgers defense looks good because they slow they game down but that just isnt the case. Their field goal percentage defense and lack of fouls show they simply play great defense.

[GoudaBrew]

I'm absolutely impressed with Ryan Evans. I never really believed he'd contribute offensively. He always seemed too passive or unsure. I had him pegged as the next Jason Chappell. It's so refreshing to see a big guy with the will and determination to get in good positions down low for a change. He has really good footwork and is quicker than one might suspect. He just needs to figure out how to finish now. That flat jumper and jump hook are pretty ugly, but he could be really good by this time next year.

[hawing]

I'm absolutely impressed with Ryan Evans. I never really believed he'd contribute offensively.

As the Badger Herald stated in a relatively clever headline last season, "Can't stop the flat-top." http://www.ezboard.com/intl/aenglish/images/emoticons/wink.gif

I fell asleep when UW was still ahead with 2:00-something left, then woke up well after the game ended. I was surprised when the SO told me the Badgers won in overtime.