Dores A Tough Matchup For Badgers

The 4/5 matchup in the NCAA Tournament is by nature a tough one. But this year Wisconsin faces a unique test against 5^th seed Vanderbilt. While Vandy (XX-XX) was once labeled the most disappointing team in the country, losing non-conference games to Indiana State and Cleveland State, the senior-laden Dores seem to have finally found what they had been looking for all along, winning the SEC Tournament title last weekend with a win over No.1 Kentucky.

In many ways, Saturday’s matchup with VU is similar to last year’s third-round matchup against another 5^th seed, Kansas State. Just as last year’s Wildcats seemed to live and die by the play of senior guard Jacob Pullen, the fortunes of Vanderbilt this season seem to revolve around the sometimes inconsistent play of junior guard John Jenkins.

Jenkins, who led the team in scoring during the regular season with 19.9 points per game, had arguably his best game of the year in Thursday’s win over 12^th seed Harvard. The Hendersonville, Tenn native was virtually unconscious with his jump shot, lit the Crimson up for 27 points on 7-of-12 shooting. In the Commodore’s SEC Tournament win over Kentucky, Jenkins had 17 points and 7 rebounds as VU handed the Wildcats just their 2^nd loss of the season and their first since a last-second loss at Indiana back on December 10^th.

While Vandy can score in bunches when Jenkins and senior forward Jeffrey Taylor (16.4 PPG) are on their game, they have struggled at the defensive end throughout the year. This was especially the case early in the year when the Commodores were without 6’11” senior forward Festus Ezeli, out of action during the first 8 games because of NCAA suspension as well as lingering knee problems. Even in the time since Ezeli’s return, defense has been hit or miss, largely the product of the inconsistent performance on the part of the big man from Benin City, Nigeria.

Against Harvard, Ezeli took advantage of his size and shut down Harvard’s interior game for most of the afternoon. While the Crimson made a late run to hit the 70-point mark, Ezeli’s length had Harvard senior forward Keith Wright stifled for the majority of the contest.

But UW junior forward Jared Berggren is a different animal. Although a 6’11” forward capable of stepping out and shooting from distance is commonplace in the Big Ten, that type of versatility is virtually unknown in the SEC, save for the rare talent that is Kentucky freshman and likely national player-of-the-year winner Anthony Davis.

The Dores hope that their experience in three games against Davis and the Wildcats will translate as they face a similarly long but clearly not as athletic Wisconsin front line. After Davis torched VU for 28 points, 11 rebounds, and 5 blocks in Kentucky’s 83-74 win over Vandy back on February 25^th, the Dores clamped down and held the Chicago, Ill native to just 12 points, 10 rebounds, and 3 blocks in the championship game of the SEC Tournament last weekend.

It will be interesting to see how the Badgers handle Ezeli defensively. While the lengthy big man is not much of a threat to step out, his strength inside could become an issue should Berggren have similar struggles to those he had in Wisconsin’s first matchup with Ohio State back on February 4^th. On the other hand, if Berggren is able to handle Ezeli on his own as he did OSU sophomore Jared Sullinger in Columbus, the Badgers can then put fellow junior forwards Ryan Evans and Mike Bruesewitz on the more athletic Taylor and senior forward Lance Goulbourne, avoiding the type of mismatches that Vanderbilt has been able to expose throughout SEC play.