Tough To Stomach But Good For the Soul

For Badgers, It Really Is All About Winning

I’ve been a staunch apologist of Wisconsin basketball since well before I set foot on campus last year. As a true basketball purist, I can appreciate the value of a system that has produced (13) consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances and a decade of top-four finishes in the Big Ten.

But this year, the Badgers have been flat out tough to watch. Even when they win, watching a Badger game is like watching a slow death march, one that you can only hope comes to an end with the defense plucking its long lost offensive counterpart out of the depths of defeat.

Yet somehow, despite an offense for which the description “anemic” would be generous, Wisconsin sits at 19-6 on the year, 8-4 in Big Ten play. The Badgers are two plays from first place in the most competitive conference in the country.

Last night was perhaps the best example of what the 2011-2012 season is all about for UW. After the Badgers escaped with 68-61 overtime win on the road in Minnesota, I honestly was disgusted. They had exactly one field goal over the final 12:41 of play and didn’t score a single point over the final 7:41 of regulation.

To me, that isn’t deserving of a happy ride home.

Yet somehow the Badgers came home with a win.

And maybe that is what it really is all about. All it took was a hot start and some solid defense down the stretch to get Wisconsin its first win at The Barn in three tries. All it has taken is a determination to win wherever the game is played for UW to capture 6 true road wins this season.

That is why as hard as it is to watch the Badgers this season, the 2011-2012 squad might just be the one that Badger nation should be most proud of.

Think about it: If you told me Jordan Taylor would shoot barely 40% from the field and that UW would lose four games at home, I would have gone ahead and made plans for an NIT trip in a heartbeat. The way things have gone this season, the Badgers truly have no business contending for the conference title.

But again, they are doing just that. Despite losing three straight early in conference play, despite shooting under 40% from the field in Big Ten games, Wisconsin is back in their familiar role at the top end of the conference standings.

There are many ways to be successful in college basketball, or basketball of any sort for that matter. You can dominate athletically or take advantage of size. You can play fast or play slow. You can rely on a zone or play hard man-to-man. The options are endless.

This year it seems that Wisconsin doesn’t have any of the things you generally need to win and win consistently. But the one thing they do have is the ability to defend better than anyone in the country. Maybe they don’t have the most talent and maybe watching Wisconsin play basketball is more excruciating than having a colonoscopy without anesthesia. But the Badgers have bought into the notion of winning tough and winning ugly. They have decided as a team that the only number that matters is the number next to “Wisconsin” in the conference standings. It might not be pretty, but it is basketball at its finest and that in itself is fun to watch.