Tonight I write not as a journalist but simply as a
Wisconsin fan, a Wisconsin fan still unable to comprehend what exactly the
Badgers have for a 2012-2013 team. After knocking off No. 2 Indiana on Tuesday,
it seemed as if the sky was the limit. UW was 4-0 in Big Ten play and in the
midst of a 7-game winning streak with Iowa the final opponent on a three-game “road
trip”. The Badgers were alone on top of the conference standings and poised to
move into the rankings and potentially into the top 15 or 20.
Then the game started in Iowa City.
From the opening tip, well I guess more like from the
opening defensive possession, the Badgers lacked energy. It would have been one
thing to see UW shoot 22% from the field during the first 20 minutes (which
they did), but it is an entirely different and far less excusable issue when
that poor shooting is accompanied but a lack of hustle and defensive intensity.
Ultimately that lethal cocktail of awful put the Badgers in a 30-10 hole that
proved simply too deep even for George Marshall to climb out of.
Despite fighting an illness I thought Bo Ryan and his staff
coached a Brad Stevens-esque game in Bloomington. The game plan for the Badgers
was flawless and the in-game adjustments made, especially with regard to keeping
Cody Zeller at bay, were off the charts good. But when it came time to face
Iowa Saturday night, the coaching staff did not seem nearing as well prepared.
First and foremost, Ryan allowed the deficit to reach 30-10
without calling a timeout. Now I recognize that Coach Ryan’s style is to let his
players, specifically his seniors, work themselves out of funks, Iowa was
running them out of the gym before they even realized they were inside. There
was zero rhythm offensively, the ball control was shaky at best, and the
defense lacked any ounce of integrity when it came to rotations and to stopping
penetration. A timeout was just begging to be called and unfortunately it was
simply too late by the time Ryan finally pulled the trigger.
Second, and I hate to beat a dead horse here; George
Marshall needs to be on the floor, especially when UW begins to struggle.
Marshall is going to make mistakes, after all he is a freshman and freshman
have a tendency to do that. But for every mistake Marshall makes he makes two
plays. He is by far the most dynamic player UW has in the back court and except
for flashes from Brust and Jackson, is the only guard capable of creating
penetration any time he touches the ball.
After the win at Indiana, Jackson was getting plenty of
praise. Don’t get me wrong he was worthy of that praise for sure. Though he didn’t
exactly light up the box score like many came away believing (3-for-9 from the
field, 2 assists, 2 TO), Jackson hit clutch free throws and was stone cold on a
big jump shot late when the Badgers were looking to put the game away. This was
the 2nd straight solid performance for the once-maligned sophomore
and seemed to mark the beginning of the end of UW’s backcourt inconsistency.
Saturday Jackson took regression to a whole new level. Against
an energized Iowa defense the Westerville, OH native fouled out with just 3
points on 1-for-10 shooting, adding just 1 assist and 2 rebounds. Meanwhile
Marshall, his counterpart in the backcourt, nearly brought Wisconsin back all the
way from that early 20-point deficit. Getting consistent playing time in large
part thanks to significant foul trouble up and down the UW roster, Marshall
took advantage and played without fear for the first time all year. That
allowed him to open up his game and knock down 20 second-half points on 7-of-10
shooting, adding an assist to the stat line as well. So let the Rob Wilson
comparisons commence.
Yes, once again we are seeing one of Bo Ryan’s most glaring
weaknesses on full display. Ryan is one of the best coaches in the country but
he has an almost unavoidable tendency to lock in on his rotations early in the
season, becoming unwilling to change things up when certain players fail to
perform. Certainly Ryan will ride the hot hand, but it just seems that with
some on the roster he does so reluctantly. Wilson was that guy last year and unfortunately
it appears like Marshall has stepped right in and taken his place.
The problem isn’t that Marshall doesn’t get his chances; it
is that his leash is DRAMATICALLY shorter than Jackson’s. Marshall is an aggressive
player and is set up for failure each and every time he is forced to come into
the game and remain mistake-free in order to avoid being sent right back to the
bench. The disparity between Ryan’s leash on Marshall and his leash on Jackson
is quite honestly holding the Badgers back at this point, stunting not only
their development as individual players but also stunting the development of the
team as a whole.
Having said that, this senior class is every bit as culpable
as Ryan when it comes to the failure to develop any semblance of consistency in
the 2012-2013 UW season. Tuesday night that senior class led the way in the
upset of Indiana. Mike Brusewitz brought the energy from the beginning and both
Evans and Berggren followed suit, making plays when UW needed them most.
Although Bruesewitz brought that same energy again in Iowa City (fouled out
with 7 points and 9 rebounds), Berggren was nowhere to be found the entire
first half and Evans was largely non-existent the entire game. When Wisconsin
needed its seniors to step up, they just flat out didn’t do it.
Thankfully I am sitting here ranting while UW sits atop the
Big Ten standings at 4-1. That being said, the next month consists of nothing
but NCAA Tournament-caliber opponents and UW’s good start to conference play
means nothing if the Badgers are unable to keep it up. This team has talent,
has fight, and has a coach who is better than anyone else on this planet at
maximizing talent and getting a team to play to the best of its ability.
Losing to Iowa is getting old but in splitting two difficult
conference road games this is not a terrible week. Tuesday is the first day of
class and hopefully the first time Wisconsin fans will see in person what I saw
this week in Bloomington. Having seen what this team is capable of and knowing
how adept Bo Ryan is at getting the most out of his players, I see no reason
why Wisconsin should not find itself in the thick of the Big Ten title race and
comfortable when Selection Sunday comes around.
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