Wisconsin Badgers Basketball

[Fatter than Joey]

What was that technical all about -- was that on Bo?

[brwrsfan]

I was at the game last night, and there were 3-4 consecutive calls made against the Badgers from an official that was completely out of position. One play was a strip by Hughes that was clearly all ball (I was about 10 feet away from it) and the official right there staring right at it doesn't call a foul, but the official out at the top of the key (behind the play, called it a foul). Then there was ruling the foul against Brain Butch a non-shooting foul. Then he blew a gasket when a Purdue guy slipped and fell by the hoop and they called a push on the Badgers...Bo was screaming but I couldn't make out what he said. But he got T'd up by an official radghly 40 feet away, so either he was swearing at him profusely or the official had a quick trigger.

 

Despite the alarming desparity in free throw attempts, there really were some horrendous calls last night. Tough loss...if Purdue didn't shoot 70% in the first half we probably win last night, but the Badgers came out flat, turned it over and it cost them dearly. Just hope they can pull it out on Wednesday. Purdue still has a lot of tough games.

[danzig6767]

Purdue= 8-19

 

Wisconsin= 3-18

 

Hard to win a game vs fairly comparable teams when one team shoots well from three point land and the other shoots terrible

[Baldkin]

Its rare you lose a game when you shoot make 20 more free throws than your opponent.

 

The thing was, the fouls weren't being called in the first half. I'm not sure what happened at halftime, but the ref's finally started calling the clutching, grabbing and hand checking that Purdue used to slow down the swing O in the first half.

 

And, honestly. I hate the Big Ten network even more now. Announcers were terrible, and they kept cutting to that floor-angle camera where you can't see any of the action for extended periods of time!

 

They didn't even say what happened when Bo got T'd up. They said it was an intentional foul or something.

[hauser42]

Its rare you lose a game when you shoot make 20 more free throws than your opponent.

 

The thing was, the fouls weren't being called in the first half. I'm not sure what happened at halftime, but the ref's finally started calling the clutching, grabbing and hand checking that Purdue used to slow down the swing O in the first half.

 

And, honestly. I hate the Big Ten network even more now. Announcers were terrible, and they kept cutting to that floor-angle camera where you can't see any of the action for extended periods of time!

 

They didn't even say what happened when Bo got T'd up. They said it was an intentional foul or something.

 

Yes the Big Ten Network is a joke when it comes to annoucers and they miss plays because they are showing replays. Need time to learn how to communicate from the production truck to the live action. Still not sure why they thought they would get a deal that the NFL could not get.

 

Just seemed like one of those bad games for the Badgers on Sat no matter what they tried to do. I wish both big guys would take the ball to the hoop stronger, so many times our big centers miss from 2 feet in in.

[brwrsfan]

Wisconsin drops to 14 in the poll this afternoon, Marquette falls to 25.

 

It still really, really bothers me how little respect Wisconsin gets. Sure, we lost at home to Purdue (who is now ranked 23 by the way). I can see us falling, but in perspective with the other top 10 teams that lost, it's a bit of a slap in the face.

 

We lost at home to a ranked team, and slid 6 spots (which is a pretty large drop considering we also had a road win last week and had other ranked teams around us lose). For example...

 

UCLA loses to a pretty average Washington team and dropped a whopping 2 spots...from 4 to 6. Georgetown loses to an unranked Louisville team (who is now 26th) and they also dropped only 2 spots...from 6 to 8. Other teams in the top 10 have lost to much worse teams than Purdue (MSU to Penn State comes to mind) yet they remained in the top 10. Two teams with incredibly lousy/lucky wins actually move up this week: Tennessee (which really should have lost to LSU) and Indiana (which had no business beating Illinois). We're also behind both Texas and Indiana, who both have similar records and both lost to Wisconsin.

 

I guess the polls don't matter, but it just seems like we never seem to get the respect we deserve. Bracketology had us as a 3 seed, and he's pretty accurate for the most part, so that would still be OK with me.

 

Sorry for the rant...

[brwrsfan]

Just noticed also that there are a ton of big games in the Big Ten this week so we should get a better picture of our conference title hopes in the next week or so:

 

Michigan State plays at Purdue and Indiana

 

Wisconsin plays at Indiana

 

Indiana hosts MSU and Wisconsin

 

Purdue hosts MSU (and they are certainly due for a let-down sooner or later)

[TooLiveBrew]

It still really, really bothers me how little respect Wisconsin gets. Sure, we lost at home to Purdue (who is now ranked 23 by the way). I can see us falling, but in perspective with the other top 10 teams that lost, it's a bit of a slap in the face.

 

Meh, when I stopped paying attention to the top-25 polls week by week, not only did I start to enjoy MCBB more, I feel like I get a better grasp on who the best teams are. Wash. St. is an example - I wouldn't count them as a top team, but they poll extremely well.

 

UCLA loses to a pretty average Washington team and dropped a whopping 2 spots...from 4 to 6. Georgetown loses to an unranked Louisville team (who is now 26th) and they also dropped only 2 spots...from 6 to 8. Other teams in the top 10 have lost to much worse teams than Purdue (MSU to Penn State comes to mind) yet they remained in the top 10. Two teams with incredibly lousy/lucky wins actually move up this week: Tennessee (which really should have lost to LSU) and Indiana (which had no business beating Illinois). We're also behind both Texas and Indiana, who both have similar records and both lost to Wisconsin.

UCLA is an elite team this year. Washington is better than "pretty average", and UCLA lost 71-61 in Seattle. We lost to a team probably (at worst) on par with Wash. at our home court. I can understand us falling more than UCLA did, though 6 spots is a bit much. Also, Louisville is hardly a pedestrian squad, either - they've beaten Marquette twice already iirc.

 

As for the last (boldfaced) part, that's just another prime example of why I ignore the top-25 polls completely until late March - there's not really a logical reason for them being ahead of us aside from voter ignorance... which is unfortunately rampant.

[homer]

I prefer using Ken Pomeroy's rankings. It's based on actual statistical acheivement rather than some sports writer's idea of who's better than whom.

 

http://kenpom.com/stats.php

[Glennron]

Devin Harris's last year, the Badgers finished the regular season ranked 6th, yet received a 6 seed. The rankings don't mean anything for the actual selection.

[heresrobin]

The fact that Louisville is only ranked 26th by the ESPN/USA Today poll is a joke in my opinion. I think they are a top 10 team. This past week they trounced Marquette in Milwaukee and then handled Georgetown pretty soundly at home. Also, consider 3 of their early season losses:

 

78-76 loss against BYU (perhaps the best team in the Mountain West) - no Padgett, no Palacios

70-65 loss against Dayton (at the time, Dayton was at full strength and playing fantastic ball) - no Padgett, no Palacios

67-59 loss against Purdue (we know how good this team is) - no Padgett, no Palacios, and no Caracter

 

I will admit that their losses at home against Cincinnati and at Seton Hall are a bit puzzling though.

 

Concerning Wisconsin, I think they are right about where they should be now. I would put them a little lower - maybe 16th or 17th, but that's nitpicking. The Badgers are now 2-4 against teams that are going to be in the NCAA Tournament this year. How they fare against Indiana, Ohio State and Michigan State from here on out will provide a better picture as to how good they are.

[jordanmuehl]

The fact that Louisville is only ranked 26th by the ESPN/USA Today poll is a joke in my opinion. I think they are a top 10 team. This past week they trounced Marquette in Milwaukee and then handled Georgetown pretty soundly at home. Also, consider 3 of their early season losses:

 

78-76 loss against BYU (perhaps the best team in the Mountain West) - no Padgett, no Palacios

70-65 loss against Dayton (at the time, Dayton was at full strength and playing fantastic ball) - no Padgett, no Palacios

67-59 loss against Purdue (we know how good this team is) - no Padgett, no Palacios, and no Caracter

It's fun to watch to watch Louisville play -- their D is tenacious!

 

[heresrobin]

In this article, John Gasaway touches on something to keep in mind when looking at PAC-10 games. That conference is a pretty vast geographical conference. They bunch together the in-state school games so that every team plays them consecutively. That means that a southern California team has to go to the state of Washington for consecutive road games. That's one hell of a jaunt for these college kids - plus those are two very tough places to play right now. That would be like Wisconsin going to the state of Texas or Florida for two consecutive road games during the regular season. That's one reason I don't look at the UCLA loss to Washington as that big of a deal. They're still one of the best and most talented teams in the country regardless of that loss. They are also without 2 of their top 8 players right now due to injuries - Michael Roll and Luc Richard Mbah A Moute.

[TooLiveBrew]

Luc Richard Mbah A Moute

 

Man - I hope you can get that grape jelly cleaned out from your keyboard! http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/wink.gif

[heresrobin]

I'm beginning to wonder if I overstated the effects of a southern California team traveling to Washington. That's what, maybe a 2 hour flight?

 

Then I began to wonder how Wisconsin gets to their Big 10 opponents' venues. Do they fly or drive to most places? Because if they drive, then some of their bus rides are much longer than say 2 hours. Does flying for 2 hours have more of an adverse physical effect on you compared to driving for 2 hours?

 

Just rambling - pay no attention.

[brwrsfan]

UCLA loses to a pretty average Washington team and dropped a whopping 2 spots...from 4 to 6. Georgetown loses to an unranked Louisville team (who is now 26th) and they also dropped only 2 spots...from 6 to 8. Other teams in the top 10 have lost to much worse teams than Purdue (MSU to Penn State comes to mind) yet they remained in the top 10. Two teams with incredibly lousy/lucky wins actually move up this week: Tennessee (which really should have lost to LSU) and Indiana (which had no business beating Illinois). We're also behind both Texas and Indiana, who both have similar records and both lost to Wisconsin.

UCLA is an elite team this year. Washington is better than "pretty average", and UCLA lost 71-61 in Seattle. We lost to a team probably (at worst) on par with Wash. at our home court. I can understand us falling more than UCLA did, though 6 spots is a bit much. Also, Louisville is hardly a pedestrian squad, either - they've beaten Marquette twice already iirc.

 

As for the last (boldfaced) part, that's just another prime example of why I ignore the top-25 polls completely until late March - there's not really a logical reason for them being ahead of us aside from voter ignorance... which is unfortunately rampant.

I agree with most of what you're saying here, but I'm going to have to disagree on Washington being anything other than "pretty average". They're currently sitting at 13-11 (4-7 in the Pac 10). Granted, they don't have any really bad losses, but outside of UCLA, they don't have any decent wins either (well Arizona St is decent), but still losing 11 out of 24 games is pretty average in my opinion. I agree with you that UCLA is still an extremely good team, but that loss is at least as bad as losing to Purdue I think and we took a major dive.

 

As many others have said, it doesn't really make a whole lot of difference until the brackets come out, it's just very annoying.

[TooLiveBrew]

I agree with most of what you're saying here, but I'm going to have to disagree on Washington being anything other than "pretty average". They're currently sitting at 13-11 (4-7 in the Pac 10). Granted, they don't have any really bad losses, but outside of UCLA, they don't have any decent wins either (well Arizona St is decent), but still losing 11 out of 24 games is pretty average in my opinion.

 

http://www.bangitout.com/uploads/61aliG.jpg

 

Respeck!

 

 

I can say my opinion on Washington is heavily colored by watching them play (TV) a few times here in the NW. I'll admit I had no idea their record didn't reflect how well I've seen them play. That said, the Pac-10 is a total meat-grinder this season... and you already pointed out how they don't have any "bad losses" yet. I agree though that they need a couple "good wins" to move into NCAA tourney consideration, regardless of how tough the Pac-10 is.

[Glennron]

Any of the top 9 teams in the Pac 10 have at least an outside chance of making the tournament. It might be the only conference where you can say that about 90% of its teams. The top 5 are pretty much locks, while teams like ASU, Oregon, Cal, and UW have to win a bunch of games yet to make it. If Washington was in the Big Ten, I personally believe they'd be right where Ohio State is, which is 5th.

[heresrobin]

I just like saying Ree-SHARD instead of RICH-ird.

 

9th best team in the PAC-10 this year = NCAA Tournament bubble team in any other conference this year.

 

Edit: Sorry Glennron, I didn't see your post before I made mine. You beat me to it.

[TooLiveBrew]

The top 5 are pretty much locks, while teams like ASU, Oregon, Cal, and UW have to win a bunch of games yet to make it.

I'd bet at least one of those teams ends up dancin'. My gut tells me two of them, but you never know.

[brwrsfan]

I'm beginning to wonder if I overstated the effects of a southern California team traveling to Washington. That's what, maybe a 2 hour flight?

 

Then I began to wonder how Wisconsin gets to their Big 10 opponents' venues. Do they fly or drive to most places? Because if they drive, then some of their bus rides are much longer than say 2 hours. Does flying for 2 hours have more of an adverse physical effect on you compared to driving for 2 hours?

 

Just rambling - pay no attention.

I'm pretty sure that they take a bus to some of the locations. For sure Northwestern. I know for the NCAA tournament, anything over 250 miles is a plane ride and anything less is a bus ride for the teams. With that standard (though I can't gurantee that holds true for the regular season), they would take a bus to Northwestern, Minnesota (which is probably like 230 or so, so thats all of 4-5 hours on a bus), Illinois and possibly Indiana. I'd much rather have a 2-3 hour flight than a 5 hour bus ride.

[Glennron]

TooLiveBrew wrote:

 

I'd bet at least one of those teams ends up dancin'. My gut tells me two of them, but you never know.

If ASU gets to 9-9, I think they have to be a lock. They already have a sweep of Arizona, plus a huge blowout win over Xavier. Oregon would probably have to go 9-9 plus maybe win a Pac 10 tourney game to feel safe. They have a win at Kansas State back in November which should help. Cal probably needs to do the same. They don't have a big OOC win, but the win at Wazzu should give them a boost. I wish Pac 10 games would be televised more often in the Midwest. Unfortunately when they are on, it's FSN so it's kind of crappy boradcasting

[TooLiveBrew]

Ha! Well, if it makes you feel any better, they're broadcast here mostly on FSN, so you can guess how 'great' of quality broadcasts I've been catching...

 

I'm very much interested in college hoops in general, and (outside of Big Ten hoops, of course) am particularly interested in how the Pac-10 shakes out this season. I can do my best to try & lend some semi-reliable observations on P-10 ball, as I can obviously catch a helluva lot more action out here on the west coast. That, of course, requires I remember to watch the dang games!

 

I'd just advise to catch as many P-10 games as you can wherever you are this season, bc imo it's far & away the best conference.

[heresrobin]

Thanks for the info Brwrsfan. It makes me reconsider the initial thought I had about road games being more difficult in the PAC-10 because of the travel. I think with the flights though, you may have to tack on at least an additional hour for: drive to the airport, checking in at the airport, waiting at your gate, time spent on the runway, retrieving luggage, and the drive from the airport. With that being said, one conference's road games are not any more difficult than another's. It's always tough. It all depends on the quality of teams and the depth of the conference.

 

I've been in Atlanta during this college basketball season, but last year I know that people in the Milwaukee area got to see PAC-10 games on FSN on Tuesday and Thursday nights - if you didn't mind the 9 or 10pm start times. I'm not sure if it's like that this year or not.

 

Somebody tell Kevin Love to shave his little beard/mustache thing he has. He reminds me of the guy from Color Me Bad with it.

[Glennron]

Wisconsin drops down to a 5 seed in Lunardi's Bracketology this week. I thought they were a 2 last week, so I'm not sure where the huge drop comes from. I mean 5 isn't bad but they pretty much dropped 8-12 spots due to 1 loss to the first place team. Also, Marquette's a 7, and at this point it's hard to believe they'd be better than a 9. I actually disagree with a lot of his seeding's this week. Louisville a 5 after they've been playing like a top 10 team the past 3 weeks.