College Basketball Thread 2013-14

[FVBrewerFan]

Badgers defense is terrible right now. Marquette's offense is horrible. The two Wisconsin teams are struggling. Luckily Wisconsin built up a nice buffer

 

Two are struggling, but UW- Green Bay is doing just fine. They are really fun to watch too, Phi Slamma Jamma.

[fondybrewfan]

The recipe to defeat UW in the tourney is definitely dribble penetration. That has proven to be their single biggest weakness so far. UW probably can score with just about anyone this year but if they run into a team with quick guards that can finish at the rim they are definitely in trouble.

 

Overall you still have to be happy sitting at 16-2 but the last 2 games have been pretty dissappointing.

[FVBrewerFan]

So Marquette plays Dawson/Taylor, Derek Wilson,Anderson sit and they win. What a concept. Too bad it took Buzz until the end of January to figure this out.

[jjfanec]

Nice win for Marquette. It will be interesting to see how much time Taylor and Dawson get going forward

[brwrsfan]

That's a win Marquette absolutely have to have. Maybe that can get them going a little. Another chance to get going with #4 Villanova coming into town, though that game loses some luster after the beating they took last night. That was crazy.

[DHonks]

Marquette looked solid last night. Many of us have clamored for Dawson....he pushes the ball better and can shoot outside. Derek Wilson is really a 10-15 minute per game backup. We need to limit the Otule-Gardner lineup to roughly 5 minutes per game. Our half-court game isn't great, so perhaps defense and running will be key. Dawson has the ability to push the ball. Thomas can start, but he also should be limited to around 10-15 min/game. Mayo deserves to play more, Burton deserves minutes, if Taylor is healthy he needs to play (he was a force last night...so energetic), and Johnson deserves time, too. I've never drank the Jamil Wilson kool-aid. I've viewed him as Tim Thomas 2.0...tall and super athletic, but rarely takes the correct shot or plays to his athletic ability.

[DHonks]

also, I should mention I was frustrated to break even on Marquette in Vegas last weekend (won 1st half bet, lost game). I did win nicely on the Wisconsin game, which was like a +220 line or so. I had a great parlay...until Creighton laid an egg. I won on 6 of 7 bets. It would have won $2300 had Creighton merely won...so it was frustrating to see them play so well last night.

[LouisEly]

Biggest game of the year on Saturday for Marquette. Best chance to knock off a top-10 team. Maybe Creighton exposed something with Villanova.

 

Speaking of Creighton, how in the heck to you even allow Wragge to attempt 14 3-point shots??? Or in Marquette's case, 9 3-point shots. Yeah, McDermott is their #1, but Wragge is a one-trick pony; he's attempted 154 shots this year and 148 of them have been 3-pointers; Wragge only attempted 12 non-3-point shots all last season. Rule #1 - put a guy on Wragge and tell him to stay no more than 5 feet from Wragge; if he gets the ball, make him dribble towards the hoop. Rule #2 - see rule #1. Rule #3 - double McDermott with someone not guarding Wragge.

[fondybrewfan]

Also an important game for UW at Minnesota tonight. Not optimistic they will go into the barn and win based off their last two performances. Minnesota gets some pretty solid guard play.

[jjfanec]

Also an important game for UW at Minnesota tonight. Not optimistic they will go into the barn and win based off their last two performances. Minnesota gets some pretty solid guard play.

 

The Badgers defense is terrible right now.

[brwrsfan]

It's beyond terrible. It's just flat out embarrassing. Not only are they not playing defense, they aren't hustling or boxing out. It's like the winning got to their heads or something. That or it's taken this long for them to be exposed, but that seems unlikely given the quality non-conference schedule they played. Last three games defensively:

 

Indiana - 52% shooting, 75 points

Michigan - 55% shooting, 77 points

Minnesota - 59% shooting, 81 points

 

I didn't look up the paint points (and I didn't see the MI game due to a wedding) but in both the IU and MN games, they were getting into the lane, and in most cases, all the way to the hoop at will. It's tough to win when you the other team is taking 75% of their shots from within 2 feet, and when they do miss, you let them destroy you on the offensive glass.

 

They better figure it out quick or this is going to be an EXTREMELY long conference season and a quick tourney exit. It's just hard to fathom how bad they are right now on the defensive end. Tonight they looked completely outplayed and outhustled on both ends of the floor.

[FVBrewerFan]

This is what happens when you refuse to play zone. Not that playing all man is the only problem on defense, but mixing in some zone would help.

[TooLiveBrew]

It's beyond terrible. It's just flat out embarrassing. Not only are they not playing defense, they aren't hustling or boxing out. It's like the winning got to their heads or something. That or it's taken this long for them to be exposed, but that seems unlikely given the quality non-conference schedule they played. Last three games defensively:

 

Indiana - 52% shooting, 75 points

Michigan - 55% shooting, 77 points

Minnesota - 59% shooting, 81 points

 

I didn't look up the paint points (and I didn't see the MI game due to a wedding) but in both the IU and MN games, they were getting into the lane, and in most cases, all the way to the hoop at will. It's tough to win when you the other team is taking 75% of their shots from within 2 feet, and when they do miss, you let them destroy you on the offensive glass.

 

They better figure it out quick or this is going to be an EXTREMELY long conference season and a quick tourney exit. It's just hard to fathom how bad they are right now on the defensive end. Tonight they looked completely outplayed and outhustled on both ends of the floor.

Has there even been a stretch of three games where opponents have scored 70 or more during Bo's tenure? Wow.

[brwrsfan]

Absolutely pathetic tonight by the Badgers. Not much else to say. Lost (convincingly) to a 10-11 NW team that they destroyed on the road earlier this year. They just aren't as good as I had hoped I guess. This loss alone is going to cost them a couple of seeds come March.

 

Again gave up almost 50% shooting. And in this one, the offense was atrocious. They came on somewhat strong at the end, but it was way too late. You can't shoot 26% for an entire game and expect to win. I though the other games were bad, but they should be utterly embarrassed by this one. This is a team that was supposed to have so many scoring weapons and then this happens.

[TooLiveBrew]

They... can't defend. It's surreal to watch.

[BillScottCanRake]

I thought that, given the number of different players who can score and the different ways they can do it, the Badgers would avoid having games like they did last night offensively. If you remove Brust from the stat-line, the rest of the team was 8 of 39 last night (20.5%) and 2 of 14 from three (14.3%). For a team that collectively shoots 46% (even after last night) and 37% from three, that's pretty appalling.

 

Given how last night went, I do wish Koenig would have gotten more than four minutes. I'm not sure it would have made a difference, but with Gasser/Jackson going a combined 2-16, it probably wouldn't have hurt.

 

Who'd have thought that Saturday's game would almost be a must win for Wisconsin and OSU?

[bani1717]

They lost by 9; if they instead shoot closer to their season average, they win by 15 or more. Obviously things would've been different if they wouldn't have needed to apply full-court press at the end of the game, but still... while their defense was disappointing, the lack of offense was easily the biggest factor in this game.

 

With that being said, I was encouraged by their ability to apply the press and nearly get back into the game at the end (albeit against an inferior opponent). I wonder if they'll go back to that in future games before the last couple minutes - maybe if they're down by more than a couple at some point in the 2nd half? Northwestern was clearly surprised and didn't know how to handle it. Other teams may be able to handle it better, but you still may catch them a little off-guard.

 

Maybe they start pressing full-court for most of the game and then drop back into a zone when the press fails...

[DHonks]

One thing is for sure, I'll be taking the Ohio St moneyline on Saturday in Vegas. Really good weekend for games. Should be a good one. I'll be happy for all of you if Wisconsin wins, but the last time I bet against them (vs Michigan) I won. Maybe I'll jinx their opponent!

[FVBrewerFan]

High treason to say probably, but I never thought Ryan is that good of a game coach. I think he uses the "just let them play" approach and whatever happens, happens. Refusal to mix in zone, FINALLY uses the press more, didn't use Koenig to see if he could spark the offense, let them keep shooting 3s instead of penetrating, could go on and on.

 

Minn and Michigan losses I can take. But there's just no way they should have lost the NW or IN games.

[LouisEly]

Of the 200 game minutes, UW's starters played 171. Of the 29 bench minutes, Hayes played 23. Kaminsky was the only starter who didn't play at least 35 minutes. In the Purdue game four of the five starters played at least 34 minutes. Tired legs don't shoot well, especially from 3.

[bjkrautk]

Trae Jackson is killing me...

[jjkoestler]

DFA Jackson

[DHonks]

well, I like seeing the Badgers do well, but as a Marquette fan (among other schools) I enjoy seeing them lose, too. Thanks to two underdogs on Saturday (Indiana St and Ohio St) I made some nice money in Vegas on sports. Now that I'm not in Vegas, the Badgers should do fine (I bet on the Michigan and Ohio St losses and won both)

[adamb100]

Wisconsin got booted from the rankings (yet still got more votes than OSU). Pretty silly a month ago we were #3.

[fondybrewfan]

They better start winning some games again; they aren't close to the bubble yet but with a few more bad losses they might be. They can also kiss playing in Milwaukee goodbye. They aren't nearly as bad as they are playing right and you never know if they get hot at the right time but I just don't seem them advancing very far. Just a complete inability to stop competent guard play