College Basketball 2016-2017

[nate82]

Lol benching Happ. I've heard it all.

 

So don't bench him and only let him play 5 min of the first half because he has 2 fouls? It basically does the same thing as not starting him as he gets into foul trouble at about the 10 minute mark and then he is out for the first half. This has been going on all season and more so lately. Having him come off the bench after the first few minutes will actually get him more playing time in the 1st half than he has been getting in the last two games.

[pacopete4]

Lol benching Happ. I've heard it all.

 

So don't bench him and only let him play 5 min of the first half because he has 2 fouls? It basically does the same thing as not starting him as he gets into foul trouble at about the 10 minute mark and then he is out for the first half. This has been going on all season and more so lately. Having him come off the bench after the first few minutes will actually get him more playing time in the 1st half than he has been getting in the last two games.

 

 

Sorry man just don't get your logic one bit. He's either going to get in foul trouble or he's not. Starting him or having him come off the bench doesn't change that. Either way, I want one of the smartest players and best defensive players in the nation in my starting five, period. I'll leave this decision up to Gard. He seems pretty qualified.

[MrTPlush]

What's benching going to do? So he doesn't play for the first 10 minutes instead of sitting out the last 10 minutes of the first half?

[homer]

Happ had two bad games and the refs did him no favors. Not enough to warrant a benching.

[brewcrewdue80]

He's got 5days to adjust and have ingrained more discipline. Big Ten Conference play may let him have more active hands, more contact w/o a whistle. Just play more standing up and reach in less. Let the score dictate need on aggressiveness or your fouls-Time remaining

[DHonks]

Congrats to Bucky fans out there. I thought Nova was the far better team. Even though I felt the calls favored Wisconsin (several missed travels, lots of slaps on shots, and pushes on rebounds in the paint), they deserved to win the game. They definitely outplayed Nova. They're a physical team, and with refs letting them play, Wisconsin shined and was able to be the grittier team.

 

Weird trend we noticed the first 3 days was refs were not calling many "and 1's." They often were waiting until shots missed and were rebounded before calling shooting fouls. We guessed there was a decision to keep the games moving by the officiating committee.

[stoutdude04]

Congrats to Bucky fans out there. I thought Nova was the far better team. Even though I felt the calls favored Wisconsin (several missed travels, lots of slaps on shots, and pushes on rebounds in the paint), they deserved to win the game. They definitely outplayed Nova. They're a physical team, and with refs letting them play, Wisconsin shined and was able to be the grittier team.

 

Weird trend we noticed the first 3 days was refs were not calling many "and 1's." They often were waiting until shots missed and were rebounded before calling shooting fouls. We guessed there was a decision to keep the games moving by the officiating committee.

 

I don't necessarily disagree, but I think the refs weren't great both ways. The badgers hottest player had to sit 10 minutes in the 4th quartery because of a hilarious charge and there were plenty of other missed calls.

[MrTPlush]

What a hideous finish for Witchita State. Down by 1 they just sit there with the ball winding the clock down just to shoot a three. Of course the guy gets stuffed. Why do so many teams shoot a three down by 1? Make matters worse after fouling they went and shot a three(needing it this time) and got stuffed again. Which isn't surprising. They had 12 seconds and couldn't set anything up decent.

[DuWayne Steurer]

What a down year for the Big 10.....

[homer]

Congrats to Bucky fans out there. I thought was the far better team.

 

 

This is literally the exact same thing every losing opponent of Wisconsin has said since the Dick Bennett era.

[DuWayne Steurer]

Congrats to Bucky fans out there. I thought Nova was the far better team.

 

 

Better team? I'll give them that. Far better team? Nah. The Badgers have been to the sweet 16 4 years in a row. They went to the Final four twice. Barely lost in the Nat'l Title Game. Mostly with this team, minus Kaminsky and Dekker (but without Happ).

 

I know people don't want to think of Wisconsin as an elite program, but they kind of are, until they aren't.

[MrTPlush]

Villanova is/was quite a bit better than Wisconsin. I think Villanova was a bit overhyped this year, but still a very good team. Villanova had an off day shooting and it opened the door for an upset. Wisconsin shot the ball well and made it happen which is no easy feat. Wisconsin is looking good with an easy looking bracket that still remains. Florida and Baylor are two very good teams though. If a Baylor match-up happens Baylor could really give them fits.

 

 

Wisconsin is not an elite program though. At least not by my standards. It has been a phenomenal run of 4 years, but elite programs are made on sustained success much longer than that. We will see what the coming years provide, but as you mentioned they are still living off one recruiting class to some extent. They also need much better performance during the regular season to be considered an elite program. The Badgers have been first only two times in the last 10 years and has been 3rd/4th six times. Elite, but can't even be 2bd in their own conference let alone 1st? Wisconsin certainly could be elite, but let's see if they can keep finding gems recruiting and start winning a bit more in the regular season.

[RobDeer 45]

I'm personally not ready to call them elite. As consistent as they come lately and very much a great program, but not elite. I think there need to be championships in there right? I love Wisconsin and love what they are but I don't think I can make that argument to someone who is a Duke, North Carolina, or Kansas fan.

[tmwiese55]

Yea the true blue bloods of Kentucky, Duke, UNC, Kansas will always be in a separate class due to their history and mass recruiting advantage because of it. We're right there in the next tier with the AZ, MSU, UCLA, Nova, FL type programs.

 

I'm not saying I predict us to win the regional. But no team scares me in the sense that I feel we're a large underdog. Basically I view all 3 teams as coinflip games for us and expect to be in the game with a few mins left, at which point anything can happen. Playing a Duke, UNC, Kansas etc I would not have said that. For Baylor, I watched them more this weekend than the year and seems like they still play a lot of zone, which in recent years we've done very well against and Nigel thrives against. Including the blowout we laid on them in the tourney a couple years ago. Seems like they have at least one or two guys with length that could be a problem for Happ though. Still, a game vs Baylor for the FF is about as good of a realistic matchup you could ask for. They struggled late this year too and have been a tourney choker for years now with questionable coaching in the process.

[rwa12]

I would call them elite, with a caveat. They are an elite program and elite team that rarely has elite talent. They are a system team, the system works, and others struggle. I would not put them up with the recruiting giants, they will never be a team of one and done athletes. This recent run can only be considered elite. Final Four, close loss in a championship game, 4 straight Sweet 16s. I don't know about the long term, however. I guess it will depend on how Gard's guys do.

[fondybrewfan]

Florida is a tough matchup; I think overall it will be a very low scoring game. They just beat the tar out of Virginia. They are not a particularly good offensive team but they are very good defensively and have some size to combat Hayes and Happ. Badgers have to win 55-50 or something like that I think.

 

If and a BIG IF Wisconsin can get by Florida I really like the matchup of Baylor or South Carolina. UW usually eats teams like Baylor for breakfast and South Carolina is only there because it was a home game. Get them on a neutral court and they will be decidedly average like they were all year.

 

I like West Virginia over Gonzaga and Michigan is a good bet to knock off Oregon. UCLA and Kentucky will be a fantastic game. I would love Butler to knock off North Carolina for very personal selfish reasons but I just can't see it happening.

[FVBrewerFan]

Of course Wisconsin is elite. I think they have like the 4th longest streak of making the NCAA Tournament. Four Sweet 16s in a row. Final four twice. Barely lost in the Nat'l Title Game. That is elite. Will they continue to be elite the next couple years? Probably not, but look at Mich St., they had a down year this season. Duke doesn't make Sweet 16.

 

I guess it all depends on how you define elite, but by any measure they have been recently. And that's far more than one recruiting class, it was several.

[Baldkin]

In the last 10 years, Duke has won the ACC once - that season they finished tied with Maryland, who's now in the Big10.

They finished tied for 5th each of the last two years.

 

The idea that somehow it's easy to win conference titles in really good conferences is, well, silly.

[brwrsfan]

Conference titles aren't what they used to be. For starters, most conferences don't play a true round robin any more because they have so many teams. So schedules certainly make a HUGE difference. You also get in the spot in major conferences, where there easily could be 5-6 teams in the top 25, winning a conference like that is simply not an easy thing to do. Finishing in the top 4 for 15 years in a row or whatever it is, that's pretty impressive. Wisconsin has made 19 straight tournaments, 3 final fours (also very difficult to do), the sweet 16 6 of 7 years, etc. The one thing probably missing is that national title, but again, that's incredibly hard to do.

 

Without the title, they maybe aren't "elite" but they're certainly about as close as you can get. They don't seem to get the recognition they deserve maybe due to the type of players we get and we rarely have any leave early (and no one and dones) but WI basketball has been consistently very good for the better part of 2 decades, and even better the last 5 years.

 

Moving forward, going to really depend on the freshman but they have some good ones coming, nationally ranked guys like King, Herro, Reuvers (maybe Hauser?) so it's not dire straights, but they'll have to rely on freshman a lot more than usually.

[superfly]

Considering how we can't even recruit for the top HS players annually (who are leaving after one year), Wisconsin is absolutely an elite basketball program. Not in the top 4-5 programs, but they are definitely in the top 10. Look at the player development of a guy like Zac Showalter...walk on to a serious contributor as a starter. Bohannon, Wilkinson, etc. We are elite at maximizing talent.

 

Watch now as everybody craps on them again next summer (everybody left, freshmen blah blah blah) and we will be right there again in Feb/March contending for the B1G. Happens every year. Khalil Iverson is a clone of Hayes but probably better.

[DuWayne Steurer]

19 straight NCAA apperaances, they're perrenially in the Sweet 16, 3 Final Four appearances.... I mean, that's pretty elite. They don't get one-and-done players, no, but they are about as close to elite without being Duke or Kentucky or Kansas as you can get.

[fondybrewfan]

Next year will be a transition year for sure. They will be relying heavily on Happ, Trice, and some of the younger guys to develop. The incoming freshman class I think is fantastic. I am guessing at least 2 of the 3 will play big minutes immediately and there have been stories about the redshirt Ford being a good player.

 

Gard has done a heck of a job recruiting thus far including getting Trice and Ford basically at the last minute in 2016. I don't think they get Hauser but ultimately I think Gard will consistently get good players coming in. They have Herro for 2018 already and he is very highly regarded.

[homer]

"Elite" is subjective but I'd say Wisconsin is up in the top 10 - 15 for sure. The blue bloods get their pick of the McDonald's All Americans - Duke, Kentucky, Kansas, North Carolina, Arizona, and maybe UCLA - and basically have a shot at a national title every year based on who they bring in to that season's recruiting class. UW is in that next tier after those guys, IMO.

[brwrsfan]

Next year will be a transition year for sure. They will be relying heavily on Happ, Trice, and some of the younger guys to develop. The incoming freshman class I think is fantastic. I am guessing at least 2 of the 3 will play big minutes immediately and there have been stories about the redshirt Ford being a good player.

 

Gard has done a heck of a job recruiting thus far including getting Trice and Ford basically at the last minute in 2016. I don't think they get Hauser but ultimately I think Gard will consistently get good players coming in. They have Herro for 2018 already and he is very highly regarded.

 

All three freshman coming in next year are very highly regarded. And considering that after Happ, Iverson and Trice, there's really no guaranteed minutes to anyone currently on the bench, I think they're all going to have a real shot at playing. Kobe King I think has a chance to be really special.

[FVBrewerFan]

Getting "one and done" athletes doesn't necessarily make the program elite. With all the talent Kentucky, Kansas, NC, Duke, UCLA, etc. get it's hard NOT to be competitive. But very often all that talent results in early exits from the tournament. Being the best recruit means being a lottery pick after a year, it doesn't mean they'll be a great college basketball player while they're there.

 

That's how UW competes with the other top programs. They have guys that generally play 4 years and become very good, or even great, COLLEGE basketball players. So come tourney time, you have a team of very mature, smart, fundamental players who also happen to have plenty of skill. Bottom line, recruiting elite players (or not) is not the same thing as being an elite program.

 

As for the Hausers, I've always thought it was odd the older brother went to MU, guessing the younger one will too. They're not likely to get much better at Marquette just running around for 4 years. At UW, they would still be good shooters, but they would also learn how to post, rebound, play defense on your man, play defense off the ball, and just get better overall each year. But they have their reasons I guess.