Wisconsin has never been known to have a team of superstars. The Badger men's basketball program has been resurrected out of the ashes of the 1940's powerhouse program by a philosophy first developed by Dick Bennett and then perfected by current head coach Bo Ryan; a philosophy that teams of quality, hard-working players that buy into the system can win regardless of talent level.
But chief among the tenets of that winning philosophy is the notion that depth is the best weapon against superior talent. Wisconsin has made its name as the thorn in the side of Big Ten powerhouses Ohio State, Michigan State, and Purdue by ensuring that each and every game there is someone on the Badger roster ready to step up. If the "marquee" player has an off night, someone will certainly be ready to pick up the slack and get the Badgers another ho-hum victory at home over a highly-ranked opponent. We've seen the Badgers struggle at times in this light away from home, but at the Kohl Center this mantra of depth trumping talent seems to hold true nearly every night.
Until this week. Until the Badgers followed up a shocking defeat at home to unranked and unheralded Iowa (although the Hawkeyes did validate their win by knocking off Minnesota on the road last night) by once again struggling to find consistency on the offensive end as they fell in heartbreaking fashion to #11 Michigan State.
Yes, the loss to the Spartans will be remembered by the disallowed three-point shot by Ryan Evans that would have sent the game into double overtime, but the reason that Wisconsin now heads on a two-game road trip facing the prospect of a 1-4 start in Big Ten play has nothing to do with the discrepancy in the clocks at the Kohl Center.
In fact, the reason Wisconsin has quickly gone from title contender to bubble team is fairly simple: depth, or lack thereof. The Badgers have no depth whatsoever, something that flies directly in the face of all that is Badger basketball.
They continue to bring guys in that fit the system, guys willing to work hard and listen to coaching and hopefully form the nucleus of a title-contending team their junior/senior years. But this year, Ryan and his staff have failed their players by failing to hold onto the traditions of the very system they themselves have so diligently used in order to take Wisconsin to 13 straight NCAA Tournaments.
They have failed to build depth not because they dont have depth, but because they didnt take the time to build it when they had the chance. In essence, Wisconsin didnt lose their first two Big Ten home contests this week, they lost them in blowout wins over Colgate, over Wofford, over Savannah State. They lost them by having three starters on the court with less than four minutes left and the Badgers clinging to forty-plus point leads.
Wisconsin has players that could have been ready to step up in the face of an off night by Ben Brust, foul trouble for Ryan Evans, etc. The problem now is that the UW coaching staff didnt allow them to see the floor in games that were decided well before their conclusion. By letting starters stay on the floor during blowout wins in non-conference play, Wisconsin's staff not only wore down those players just a bit more prior to Big Ten play, but more importantly failed to give that second tier of players the on-court experience they need to be ready when duty comes calling.
Right now, the Badgers need a spark plug. Before his recent cold spell, many would think that spark plug could be sophomore guard Ben Brust, but right now it doesnt seem Brust is in a position to take the lead, dealing with a sophomore slump that was bound to come at some point. Wisconsin needs Brust to start making shots again and that will happen eventually. But more importantly, Wisconsin needs more bodies to make an impact.
The Badgers cannot expect to compete in the Big Ten going just seven deep. Late in the losses to Michigan State and Iowa, it was apparent that even lock down defenders like Jordan Taylor and Jared Berggren were beginning to show signs of clear fatigue. Iowa senior guard Bryce Cartwright made a mockery out of Taylor in the second half last Saturday (Taylor finished the game having played all 40 minutes) and on Tuesday, Spartan sophomore Keith Appling did much of the same (Taylor played 44 minutes against Michigan State). While Taylor's offensive firepower finally reared its head and kept Wisconsin in the game literally until the final second, the impact that fatigue is having on what was the nation's top defense is clear as day.
Though many will point to the three-point shooting and say that the Badgers are going to have to both live and die by the three, the reality is that they are a team defined by defense. They are certainly going to need to shoot the three well enough to win, but they will live and die not by the deep ball, but by their defense. Against Iowa, they managed to put up 65 points, good enough to win all but one of their games thus far this season. The 72 points allowed on Wisconsin's home floor more than outweighed the 3-for-28 performance from beyond the arc in terms of leading to UW's demise.
With defense being the calling card of the 2011-2012 Wisconsin men's basketball season, it is fairly obvious that they have to limit the minutes being played by their starters. Including the many blowout victories UW had during non-conference play, two players are averaging over 30 minutes per game, with three more clocking in at 27 or more per contest. Starting forward Mike Bruesewitz is actually sixth on the team in minutes with just over 24 per game and beyond him, only senior guard Rob Wilson has notched a double-digit average, coming in at just 10.0 minutes per game.
So their is an argument to be made that Wisconsin only goes six deep but with Wilson playing a part in the past two losses, I will give it seven for the sake of the argument.
Now compare this to Michigan State. The Spartans have a star in Draymond Green. He is playing just over 32 minutes a game. Beyond Green, MSU has a full 8 players coming in a 18 minutes or more per game. And the Spartans havent had the cushy schedule of Wisconsin, with only 4 games thus far finishing with a margin of greater than 20 points.
At this point in the season, there is probably little that Ryan and company can do to alleviate the depth issue. They are going to face stiff competition from here on in during Big Ten play and cannot afford to throw unexperienced players into the fire. They had that chance and they likely missed it.
But if there is a staff capable of turning things around, the Badgers have them. Bo Ryan has yet to miss an NCAA Tournament while in Madison and has faced mid-season adversity on more than a few occasions during that run. But he is going to have to figure out how his thin roster can compete in the Big Ten and the answer to that problem will not be easy to find.
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