College Basketball Thread 2013-14

[TooLiveBrew]

UW looked quite good, albeit with the given that they're very thin on post depth. Hayes was a relief to watch, because even though he's not all that tall or big, his assertiveness in the post is going to be very needed this season. He played well against bigger UF players.

 

I still firmly believe that Dekker will wind up being the best player so far under Bo. He's just tremendous in so many ways on offense, & you have to assume his D is going to take a big step forward in his second year under Bo & in the B1G.

 

Jackson looks like he's going to be extremely valuable as a bigger & stronger PG. He *should* be a matchup nightmare at PG for most of our opponents. And I think the duo of Jackson & Dekker alone is going to win them a bunch of games this season.

 

Having happy thoughts about this year's squad... only nagging issue is lack of post depth. Overall, they not only have a good mix of talent, but they have good cohesion very early in the campaign too.

[brwrsfan]

I was there, and I didn't mind the intro. I liked the lights off, could have done without the dry ice stuff. That was a tad over the top for me too.

 

UW should be fine, though the lack of size is very concerning. Just how bad is Evan Anderson that he can't even sniff the court with his size?

[DHonks]

MU looking fine so far. My favorite frosh the last two years (Mayo and Taylor) have been looking good against weaker competition. I really don't see much to like about Derrick Wilson. I think Otule is a bigger outside shooting threat. Dawson looked quick and able to drive and dish on Tuesday. I'm assuming Duane Wilson won't be back until late December, and up-to-speed until February. So unless Mayo plays plenty of PG or Dawson impresses, I'm a bit worried. Jamil Wilson shows flashes but seems to leave every game without ever reaching his highest gear. Until the NCAA tourney last year, he reminded me of the Bucks' bust, Tim Thomas. Too many outside shots and not really using his athleticism to blow past guys. Hopefully he plays better as he gets more time in games against better opponents. Lots to like about Marquette this year.

[FVBrewerFan]

Jamil Wilson = Tim Thomas. Jamil reminded me of somebody, and I couldn't put my finger on it- you nailed it! Nice to see Jake Thomas hit some 3s, and look confident. If he and Mayo can be consistent shooters, that makes this a completely different team- and a much better team. Then you can live with Derrick Wilson at PG. I hope Dawson pushes him for playing time regardless.

 

How does the red-shirt rule work? If Duane Wilson isn't ready to go until Feb, seems like a good idea to red-shirt him. Maybe it depends on how Dawson plats, and they can make that decision later? Again, not sure how this works.

[brwrsfan]

MU didn't exactly look so good against OSU. Maybe just a fluke bad game, but they had issues shooting last year too. They just completely went away from Gardner too, which made little sense to me. I was a tad frustrated by the officiating. As with most games I've watched, if you go to the hoop, you'll get a foul called more often than not with the new rules. MU was attacking all game and wasn't rewarded for it much. Maybe it was great defense, but it sure seemed like they should have gotten to the line more.

 

Badgers got a tough road win at GB (who I think will win the Horizon League) but they fought back from 7 down in the second half to get the win. Struggled mightly in the last 3 minutes but managed to hang on. I think they're over-rated being in the top 12-15 in the polls, but they're off to a solid start once again.

[Baldkin]

Traevon Jackson is going to get benched if he keeps playing the way he has. I don't know why Bo went away from going big against GB, when the Badgers absolutely dominated the game when they went that way. Koenig looked solid getting his first real burn this season (Marshall was out with a concussion). A few times, he turned the ball over throwing it to a guy who wasn't expecting it... I think if guys get used to his ability to find the open man, it will really create more for the team.

[homer]

Badgers will be top four in the B1G again this year - no higher than 3rd and more likely 4th. But next year they will vie for the conference title. They're gonna be pretty good the next two or three years.

[trwi7]

Blast from the past. Cory Provus doing play-by-play for the Badgers on BTN with Mike Kelley as the analyst.

[pitchleague]

heh, I had the game on my computer using the slingbox for a good portion of the first half. I never even noticed it was Provus.

[TooLiveBrew]

Sooo... Frank Kaminsky.

[homer]

http://stream1.gifsoup.com/view/918310/frank-the-tank-o.gif

[DuWayne Steurer]

I have no idea how to respond to the Badgers dropping triple digits in regulation, much less Kaminsky putting up FORTY-THREE on only 19 shots.

 

Hopefully a few of my snarky facebook friends from Minnesota can shut it about Wisconsin's offense. At least for a little while.

[fondybrewfan]

The WI team is certainly different this year. I think Bo realizes he doesn't have the inside presence to run a real drawn out half court offense. They have so many good perimeter players that he is really just letting them play. They don't have the big guys to bang down low so they are pushing it more and taking quicker shots. I don't think they ever got close to a shot clock violation last night.

 

The defense clearly isn't as good as it has been in the past but everyone on that team can shoot. Kaminsky was pretty incredible last night. I also thought the Koenigs has looked pretty good in the minutes he has gotten so far.

 

The Big Ten is a whole different ball game so we will see if they can play like this against the Michigan States and Ohio States of the world.

[hawing]

I wish Frank Kaminsky would visit my library so I could climb up on a chair and high five him. That's why even uninspiring-on-the-surface games like UND/Wisconsin can be worth going to: You never know what you'll see.

 

I'd be pleased if Cory Provus called some UW road games or weekend home games so I could catch his call.

[brwrsfan]

Provus was average at best I thought. Though it was weird to actually see him and hear him talking about basketball.

 

I think this Badgers team will have the ability to play both types of games - the Florida game was a lot slower with more of a grind it out type of attack, whereas last night, they were getting and hitting open shots and ND really was pushing the tempo. I'd rather they dictated the tempo a bit more, but it's nice to see them open it up from time to time. Kaminsky looked great last night, but in the second half he had a major, major advantage inside and to his credit, he exploited it almost every time he touched the ball. We'll see if he can do anything similar against better inside competition. It was cool of Bo to put him back in when he learned he was a point short of the record too. Hard to believe that with all the guys they've had (Harris, Tucker, Taylor, Finley) that Frank Kaminksy has that record.

 

Koening has looked great in his limited minutes, and if he can play defense and not turn it over, I really think he's going to steal a ton of minutes from Gasser and/or Jackson. Jackson has had a ton of turnovers and questionable plays and Gasser just doesn't look that good to me.

[fondybrewfan]

Gasser is more of a SG now though and has been hitting his shots. Koenigs should take away some PG minutes from Jackson and Marshall. Gasser has taken on a complimentary role and is probably the 4th or 5th option on offense. He really seems like a spot up shooter at the moment but perhaps over the course of the year he will start to get more comfortable with the ball again.

[RobDeer 45]

http://stream1.gifsoup.com/view/918310/frank-the-tank-o.gif

 

nuf said

[TooLiveBrew]

Nice win for the Badgers last night. They definitely didn't look great, but in not looking great they beat a decent opponent in SLU. The WVU matchup in the Cancún Challenge final should be a good game.

 

As an aside, it was cool to see Tanner Bronson on the SLU coaching staff. He & Bo shared a nice smile & moment in the post-game handshake line.

[fondybrewfan]

Badgers are putting together a pretty solid resume thus far. St Johns, Florida, St Louis, UWG are all solid wins. Potential wins against West Virginia, Marquette, and Virginia would make a really strong non conference season.

 

Marquette played much better against Arizona State the other day despite the loss. I have a feeling there will be a lot of ups and downs for the team this year.

[yoshii8]

I was impressed w/ Traveon Jackson at the end of the game vs. Saint Louis. He hit some big time shots. The Badgers are fun to watch this season. Next season's going to be even more fun though w/ them losing only Brust (assuming Dekker stays).

[jjfanec]

Huge game for Wisconsin tonight. On the road against a team that is just outside the top 25 (next team receiving votes). Virginia has one loss on a last second shot against VCU. They should be a tough matchup for the Badgers. If they Badgers get through Virginia and Marquette they have a shot to be undefeated heading into conference season

[brwrsfan]

This should be a good test for the Badgers. It's basically their first road game of the year (they played at GB, but there were plenty of Badger fans there). It's a quality opponent on the road, one that will likely be ranked by the end of the season. it would be a nice quality resume building road win if they can get it.

 

While the Big Ten hasn't faired well so far this year in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge, I still think the Big Ten is fully loaded and will likely be the best league in the country. 3 teams in the top ten, 2 more in the top 25 and a solid middle with Illinois, Indiana and Minnesota.

[jjfanec]

This should be a good test for the Badgers. It's basically their first road game of the year (they played at GB, but there were plenty of Badger fans there). It's a quality opponent on the road, one that will likely be ranked by the end of the season. it would be a nice quality resume building road win if they can get it.

 

While the Big Ten hasn't faired well so far this year in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge, I still think the Big Ten is fully loaded and will likely be the best league in the country. 3 teams in the top ten, 2 more in the top 25 and a solid middle with Illinois, Indiana and Minnesota.

 

The Big 10/ACC challenge was frontloaded with the good ACC teams. Duke and Cuse have played while MSU, and OSU have not. The Big 10 will more than likely win those 2 games especially with MSU and OSU playing at home. The Big Ten has a chance for some of lower teams to pick up wins with Nebraska and Purdue playing at home against the worst two ACC teams. The Wisconsin vs Virginia game will probably decide it. Virginia is a really solid team and very tough test

[fondybrewfan]

Another solid win last night. They have shown they can win high and low scoring games. Defense was great last night and they didn't foul a ton doing it. Obviously they were crazy broke last night but they won in spite of it.

 

They get Marquette at home and should be a solid favorite in that game. If they beat Marquette they don't have another losable game until they open B10 play in January. They would be 13-0 by then. The start of their B10 schedule isn't all that daunting either @NW, Iowa, Illinois, @Indiana,

[brwrsfan]

Ugly game last night, but it was good to see that they could play a lower scoring game and play some defense. That's going to be a high quality resume building win come March I think. Virginia was ranked 26th coming into last night.

 

If they beat Marquette, their next three games are Milwaukee, Eastern Kentucky and Prairie View A&M, all at home. They should be heavy favorites and will all those games. Considering they're already ranked 8/9, they could very easily be approaching the top 5 when conference play starts.

 

How about UNC last night? I can't figure that team out. Wins over Louisville and MSU, but a home loss to Belmont and a loss to UAB?