Wisconsin Basketball Thread 2019 - 20: BIG TEN CHAMPS & BPI NCAA Champs!

[Oxy]

I don't mind when UW has a double digit lead and go into the "hold the ball" mode without even trying to run offense for the first 20 seconds of the shot clock, but a 5 point lead with 3:50 left is not that time. Getting the ball into Reuvers in the post was working well...even when PU doubled him it led to a wide, wide open look by Pritzl in the corner that rattled out.

 

EDIT: After re-watching the last 5:00, there was really only 1 possession where they were too passive. Running the high screen to get a mis-match (which they did) is fine and reliable offense...and PU did a nice job of denying Reuvers from getting the ball. Trice got decent looks he just missed them. If any one of his 3 or 4 shots go down there is no complaint. Thankfully Pritzl and Davison and Ford bailed the team out with Offensive rebounds anyway.

[Samurai Bucky]

It helps when the make their FT at the end of the game. Much better than the "Hack-a-Happ" of the last few years.

[Samurai Bucky]

It helps when the make their FT at the end of the game. Much better than the "Hack-a-Happ" of the last few years.

[LouisEly]

And Pritzl and Davison were cold-blooded from the free throw line. As much as I think Dokich is a knob, I loved listening to him say, "the net hasn't even moved" and "... impressive..." after making their free throws without even touching the rim.

[LouisEly]

And Pritzl and Davison were cold-blooded from the free throw line. As much as I think Dokich is a knob, I loved listening to him say, "the net hasn't even moved" and "... impressive..." after making their free throws without even touching the rim.

[homer]

Solid first half. Bucky rolling up 13.

[OldHeidelberg]

Big shot by Potter at end of half, hopefully took the fight out of Rutgers. He has really helped this team on offense.

[homer]

Badgers have a legit shot for 2nd in conference. Didn't think that was possible after the Rutgers loss way back in Dec.

[adambr2]

Badgers have a legit shot for 2nd in conference. Didn't think that was possible after the Rutgers loss way back in Dec.

 

Top 4 would be good just to get the tourney double bye. Ideally top 3 to avoid Maryland til the final.

[OldHeidelberg]

4 in a row, it seems they have moved themselves off the bubble and are now moving up the brackets. I know the schedule has been favorable but after the King saga and the Iowa and Minnesota debacles Gard has done a great job getting things pointed in the right direction. A nice tourney run would be great for a team that has so many seniors next year, Pritzl looks like he will be a bigger loss than we thought but it still could be a special year next season. Still lacking an all conference caliber star though, I thought Reuvers may be that guy but he still seems up and down.

[owbc]

Yep they are probably around 6-seed territory now and might sneak into the top-25. Big one at Michigan this week.

[pacopete4]

Top 4 would be awesome with all things considered. I'm glad this team looks to have turned the tides of the season and is finding some consistency at the right time.

[bjkrautk]

I don't know that the team is much more consistent, or if they just have a friendly bubble in their schedule (3 home games & Nebraska on the road), but it has been nice to see the team hitting big shots and hitting the glass in rematches where they were badly out-rebounded in the road games (Purdue, Rutgers).

[Oxy]

Kind of a watershed game for Bucky on Thursday. Win @Michigan when Michigan is playing like a top 10 team and a little more hope is fostered to make a nice run in the next month--plus it keeps the slight chance of a conference title alive. I think Maryland loses two more to get to the 6 losses that UW currently has.

[brwrsfan]

Those Illinois and Iowa games certainly hurt right now (and to some extent the first Rutgers game), but they definitely should have beaten Illinois and Iowa - just lost focus with a few dumb mistakes and couldn't score for 5 minutes to end the games.

[Samurai Bucky]

Is their performance a bit of a surprise -- especially with people calling for Gard's head?

[stoutdude04]

Is their performance a bit of a surprise -- especially with people calling for Gard's head?

 

I just assume it's the same people calling for a new football coach cuz they cant beat OSU.

[Oxy]

Is their performance a bit of a surprise -- especially with people calling for Gard's head?

 

I just assume it's the same people calling for a new football coach cuz they cant beat OSU.

 

Yeah, I highly question how many "people" are actually calling for Gard's head as opposed to how many Twitter profiles are calling for more attention/hottakes. Gard is among the all-time leaders in B1G winning % for guys with his experience. It's downright laughable that his job would be questioned.

 

Trolls used to be an annoying subset of the internet population (and a significant portion of the actual population). Social media has brought the internet to the masses (including the opposition/enemy/non-fans/Russia).

 

Long live the republic, let democracy be questioned...

[superfly]

Is their performance a bit of a surprise -- especially with people calling for Gard's head?

 

I just assume it's the same people calling for a new football coach cuz they cant beat OSU.

 

Yeah, I highly question how many "people" are actually calling for Gard's head as opposed to how many Twitter profiles are calling for more attention/hottakes. Gard is among the all-time leaders in B1G winning % for guys with his experience. It's downright laughable that his job would be questioned.

 

Trolls used to be an annoying subset of the internet population (and a significant portion of the actual population). Social media has brought the internet to the masses (including the opposition/enemy/non-fans/Russia).

 

Long live the republic, let democracy be questioned...

 

I was one questioning if he needed to go because of the apparent dysfunction. It appears however that one Kobe King may have been the cause for it the further time goes on however rather than Gard.

[pacopete4]

I mean, after the first reports, how could you not question Gard? So far it seems as though much of it was a big nothing burger which is great to hear. But this idea that you can never question a coach is absurd, to say the least.

[Oxy]

I mean, after the first reports, how could you not question Gard? So far it seems as though much of it was a big nothing burger which is great to hear. But this idea that you can never question a coach is absurd, to say the least.

 

If they just hired the guy then it would be one thing to wonder what kind of culture he is instilling...but he's been coaching at UW since 2001, and I've heard nothing but rave reviews about the guy for that entire time. And he wasn't even implicated in the initial reports that came out...in fact nobody was implicated..

 

It's much safer and likelier to dismiss the head hunters as either trolls or young knee-jerk ignorami who watched 3 games in December and thought UW was boring and bad, then started shaking their pitchforks and tiki torches mainly for the fun of it.

Edited February 26, 2020 by Oxy

[stoutdude04]

Kobe King to Nebraska - per sources on the interwebs.

 

Seems like...a step down.

[wallus]

Kobe King to Nebraska - per sources on the interwebs.

 

Seems like...a step down.

 

Odd choice but best of luck.

[bjkrautk]

...at least he did not end up at MSU or Marquette; when he gets his waiver and is immediately eligible (since he's not Micah Potter), I will take some solace in the destination. I wish him well, except for the 1-3 games a year in which he squares off against the Badgers.

 

I will also say - as someone who wasn't calling for Gard to be fired, but certainly noticed the seat warming up - a big part of the criticism came from players not progressing in the system. Davison is effectively the same player he's been since his Freshman year. Lately, we've seen a few players stepping up: Trice has been more effective as a distributor (significant increase in assist / turnover ratio recently), and Aleem Ford has ticked upward significantly in the games since King left the program. Winning fixes a lot of things.

Here's hoping the Badgers don't re-forget how to shoot in neutral site / road games, since that's where most of March is played.

[tmwiese55]

Even that really wasn't too accurate though if you dug into it. Of the new guys

 

Davison: Yea more or less the same, marginal improvement

King: Had clearly improved a lot in spite of a major injury

Reavers: Clearly big improvement since his fresh yea. Really wish he didn't have to use his RS

Trice/Ford: Scrapheap nothing recruits that, the fact he'd even gotten them to competent high major rotation players was a major accomplishment.

 

Any 'development' issues would be on that 5 person class that basically flopped and led to the large talent gap that he's been dealing with. The new guys since he took over have all basically been fine, it's that class sucking that put them in a big hole.