Slow Starts and Poor Defense Hurt Badgers In Road Loss

Facing their first real test of the young season, No. 20/22 Wisconsin came out slow and never gained much speed, turning a quick 9-0 deficit into a 74-56 loss to No. 10 Florida in Gainesville.

While the Badgers (1-1) did eventually pull within two points midway through the first half, the Gators (2-0) never slowed down, putting up 43 points in the first half on an astounding 18-of-24 shooting. Florida senior forward Erik Murphy led the charge, making all 10 of his shots en route to a career-high 24 points to go along with 8 rebounds.

Having to play their first ranked opponent since the season-ending injury to projected starting guard Josh Gasser, the Badgers seemed unable to stop penetration by the Gator guards. Though star guard Kenny Boynton had an up-and-down night, senior guard Mike Rosario seemed to be getting to the basket every possession. The Jersey City, NJ native finished with 15 points, 4 assists, and 4 rebounds while playing the point most of the night.

“When they got chances,” UW head coach Bo Ryan said after the game. “They didn’t miss.”

Despite returning all three starters in the frontcourt, UW was manhandled on the rebounding front as well. While the raw numbers were impacted somewhat by the disparity in shooting, Wisconsin consistently allowed the Gators to get second-chance looks, ultimately getting outrebounded 40-21 and allowing Florida to capitalize with 12 2^nd chance points off 9 offensive rebounds.

For a team that led the nation last year in scoring defense (53.2 PPG), the effort on the defensive end was worrisome to say the least. Though many have focused on replacing Gasser’s scoring, the real impact of the injury is already being felt on the defensive end. Without arguably the best perimeter defender in the country (sorry, Aaron Craft is too handsy), the Badgers are forced to slide either freshman George Marshall or junior Ben Brust into the top defender spot, a position that neither appear ready to take hold of at the moment.

“We got away from our defensive scouting report,” UW senior forward Jared Berggren said. “We don’t have excuses but it comes down to being more disciplined.”

Last season, only two teams were able to break the 70-point mark against the Badgers, one of those being in a UW victory over Indiana in the Big Ten tournament. The Gators broke that mark with ease on Wednesday night, never allowing Wisconsin to even sniff the lead after that initial first half run.

Although UW doesn’t figure to see much more of it, the 2-3 zone employed by Florida forced the Badgers to settle for long jumpers, jumpers that just weren’t going down on Wednesday. After having handled a similar scheme in last season’s NCAA Tournament defeat at the hands of top-seeded Syracuse, UW took a step backward in Gainesville. The Badgers shot just over 35% from the field (21-of-59) and were just 7-of-24 (29.2%) from beyond the arc. By forcing 20 Gator turnovers, UW was able to take 17 more shots than Florida but failed to capitalize, making 5 less at the end of the day.

If there was a bright spot in the otherwise tough night, it was freshman Sam Dekker. The highly touted wing out of Sheboygan Lutheran gave the Badgers some much-needed offensive production off the bench, finishing with 11 points, 3 rebounds, and 3 assists on 4-of-8 shooting. Facing his first ranked opponent, it was clear that Dekker wasn’t afraid to be aggressive on the offensive end.

“I like what he and (freshman guard Zak) Showalter did,” Ryan said. “He played hard and with enthusiasm.”

Having gotten their wakeup call, the Badgers now must respond when they face Cornell at the Kohl Center on Sunday, kicking off the “regional” rounds of the Las Vegas Invitational.

With just over a week until UW faces its next ranked opponent (Creighton), the Badgers’ next two games will be crucial in getting the train back on the tracks and avoiding an early season skid.

“We have to compartmentalize this game,” UW senior forward Mike Bruesewitz said. “Take it as a loss. Learn from it, correct things and move on.”

UW Athletic Communications and @badgermbb contributed to this report

Badgers’ Remaining Depth on Display In Exhibition Win

After a preseason marred by injuries to projected starters Mike Bruesewitz and Josh Gasser, there was plenty of concern in the UW basketball program about the team’s ability to build the depth needed to withstand a grueling Big Ten season. And while UW-Oshkosh is no Indiana, the Badgers definitely outplayed expectation in their lone exhibition contest, a 96-44 win Wednesday night at the Kohl Center.

Despite the lopsided final tally, the Badgers did indeed face some early adversity with the Titans jumping out to a quick 7-0 lead. But after pushing that lead to 10-2, UW-O found itself powerless as the Badgers responded by closing out the first half on a 42-8 run, putting the game well out of reach at the halfway mark.

While many were looking to see how freshman Sam Dekker would perform in his first game at the college level, the surprise of the night was the impact of Air Force transfer Zach Bohannon. Having previously been known primarily for his family ties and political stances, Bohannon made his case for attention on the court Wednesday night, finishing with 7 points and 8 rebounds (6 offensive) in just 15 minutes of action.

Although Dekker had an unspectacular but productive 5 point, 5 rebound, and 3 assist effort, the Badgers got plenty of production elsewhere. All five starters crossed into double figures led by senior forward Jared Berggren’s 16 points and 7 rebounds. Filling in for Gasser, redshirt freshman guard George Marshall looked very much a capable replacement, ending the night with 11 points on 5-of-7 shooting.

Senior forward Ryan Evans picked up where he left off during the 2011-2012 campaign, notching another double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds.

Without a player over 6’7”, the Titans were simply outmanned. Wisconsin continued to hammer UW-O in the lane all night, finishing with a commanding 46-18 advantage rebounding, including 18 offensive rebounds that led to 21 2^nd chance points.

UW figures to face a stiffer test in the trenches next week when they face No. 10 Florida in Gainesville next Wednesday. But in the limited preview Wednesday at the Kohl Center, the Badgers certainly looked to be on top of their inside game and confident on the boards and in the lane. That is definitely a positive development for a team that last year seemed at times hesitant to get the ball inside.

While much of the attention now shifts to the marquee matchup with the Gators next week, Wisconsin will first open its regular season with a Sunday matinee against Southeastern Louisiana. The Lions (12-17 in 2011-2012) will also be opening their regular season on Sunday having won their lone exhibition contest 94-42 Wednesday over Millsaps College.

Certainly the temptation to overlook Sunday is there, but one thing that injury cannot take away from this Badger program is the mental discipline that head coach Bo Ryan has instilled throughout his tenure in Madison. So while you may decide to tune out and wait for Wednesday, the Badgers know there is plenty of work to be done in the meantime.

Badger Losses Tough To Handle, Not To Overcome

Last Saturday afternoon may have felt like the end of the world to the Badger faithful. At virtually the same moment (5:26 pm), UW lost its lead on Michigan State and lost its point guard to an ACL tear.

End of the world scenario, right?

Wrong.

First lets address what happened at Camp Randall. Sure, losing to Michigan State on the last play of the game (again) is tough to swallow. Having that loss snap a 21-game home win streak that dated back to 2009 made it that much worse.

But at the end of the day, Wisconsin is still one road win (at Indiana) away from clinching a spot in the Big Ten championship game. No matter what happened today, that was going to be the case.

Once the sanctions against two of UW’s leaders division foes were announced this summer, the Badgers knew that the road to Indianapolis lie simply in victories against Illinois, Purdue, and Indiana. The first two stops having been successfully completed, Wisconsin is still right where they needed to be heading into the month of November.

Should the Badgers have won at least one or two of the three games they’ve lost (by 3 points each) this year? Absolutely. But even if they had, they would still be in the position they are in right now. Nothing was lost in overtime on Saturday.

In fact, it might serve as a focusing mechanism if anything. No longer can Wisconsin even dream of a decent bowl bid without the Big Ten title. In a manner that is clearer than ever before, it is “Rose Bowl or bust”

“Obviously its not good at all,” UW senior running back Montee Ball said. “But we still have everything in front of us.”

More concerning is the injury Wisconsin freshman quarterback Joel Stave suffered on the opening play of the 2^nd half. Sacked on a second rush, Stave immediately knelt down clutching his left arm and was seen after the game with that arm immobilized in a sling. Given the continued ineffectiveness of former starter and current backup quarterback Danny O’Brien, the Badgers are surely concerned about the impact Stave’s injury will have going forward.

While Bielema didn’t go into much detail, he did admit that the loss of Stave put Obrien in a tough situation Saturday.

“It really didn’t matter what quarterback was in there,” Bielema said after the game. “But the change of the quarterback changes the game itself.”

Thankfully for Obrien, Stave, and the Badgers, a bye week looms ahead. With the pivotal game against Indiana on the horizon, that off week will be crucial for UW to get healthy and get ready to continue their quest to get back to Pasadena for a third straight year.

“I think the options we had before today are still there…” Bielema noted. “We can’t lose anybody that doesn’t want to believe in finishing this thing out the right way.”

The same mantra holds true for the Gasser injury.

Sure, the Badgers lose arguably their most consistent presence on the floor, the only player on the roster to have started for an extended stretch in each of the last two seasons. But at the same time, redshirt freshman George Marshall is more than capable of plugging that gap.

Marshall is a completely different player than Gasser and is sure to have his fair share of growing pains as he adjusts to life in the Big Ten. But he is also capable of giving the Badgers a level of explosiveness at the point guard position that is simply not in Gasser’s game.

Where the injury will hurt this season is in the depth department. Setting aside the Bruesewitz injury (which he should be back from around Thanksgiving), UW will now be left with at least two new starters and just one player (sophomore Frank Kaminsky) with meaningful game experience available off the bench.

In the backcourt even that experience is non-existent as Traevon Jackson will likely be thrust into the backup role having had just 92 minutes of playing time at the college level.

But while depth could be an issue, the easy remedy to that lies in a surprise player, perhaps the emergence of freshman Zac Showalter or a significant contribution from junior Duje Dukan. Thanks in large part to the versatility of freshman Sam Dekker, the Badgers can fill the void left by Gasser’s injury as much with the “bigs” as with the guards, perhaps moving Dekker into the two guard spot to give UW a small, athletic starting five.

Beyond this season, the Gasser injury could (assuming a full recovery) become a small blessing in disguise. With another guard set to join the team next year (Bronson Koenig), UW can now build a bit of the depth in the backcourt that has been sorely lacking in recent years. One look at Jordan Taylor’s minutes last season and its obvious that Wisconsin hasn’t had a viable option off the bench in quite some time.

Gasser going down obviously sends Wisconsin outside the ranks of the top 25 at this point. With Indiana, Michigan, Michigan State, and Ohio State all bringing back rosters more than deserving of their top-15 rankings, it figures to be a monumental task for head coach Bo Ryan to get his Badgers into the top-4 in the Big Ten for the 12^th straight season under his command.

But if there is a coach out there capable of turning this UW team into a contender when March rolls around, it is Bo Ryan. Having never finished outside the top-4 in the Big Ten while at Wisconsin, Ryan is a master at getting the most out of his limited resources.

Now faced with losing his starting point guard on the eve of the season, Ryan faces his toughest task yet as the Badger head coach. Is it a tough task? Sure. But by no means is it a task the school’s all-time winningest coach is unable to handle.

Badgers Release 2012-2013 Schedule

Although much of the college sports world will be focused on opening night in college football, Big Ten men’s basketball made headlines Thursday with the release of its 2012-2013 schedule. With conference matchups now set, the complete season schedule for Wisconsin is known.

Following a much improved non-conference slate highlighted by matchups with Florida, California, Creighton, Virginia, and Marquette, UW will begin the Big Ten slate at home on January 3rd, 2013 against Penn State, a team the Badgers swept in their 2012 season series.

“Its nice to have that first game at home,” UW junior guard Josh Gasser said. “But looking at the Big Ten schedule, there are no easy wins.”

The Badgers’ conference schedule is clearly highlighted by a January 15^th road date at Assembly Hall against national No. 1 Indiana. After winning both matchups last season (regular season in Madison and Big Ten Tournament in Indianapolis), Wisconsin has now taken 10 straight from the Hoosiers dating back to 2007.

“We didn’t play {at Assembly Hall} last year but its definitely one of the toughest environments to play in,” Gasser said. “Its going to be even tougher this year because they are one of the top teams in the country.”

Some of the marquee home dates include a January 22^nd game against Michigan State (the first game after students return from the winter break) and a President’s Day weekend matchup with Ohio State. Last season, UW faced the Spartans on January 3^rd, with most students still home for the holidays and most of Badger nation still in a daze from the previous night’s Rose Bowl loss.

“Our students are pretty good at coming to games but it’s a lot tougher over break,” Gasser added. “It’s a good thing to have those big games when the students are around.”

With the conference now composed of 12 members, UW will face four schools just once during the 2013 season: Indiana, Northwestern, Michigan, and Purdue. The matchups with Michigan and Purdue will be in Madison, with a February 20^th date in Evanston complementing the aforementioned trip to Bloomington earlier in the year.

The Badgers will close out the regular season just as they started conference play, visiting the Bryce-Jordan Center for a date with Penn State on March 10^th.

The Big Ten Tournament, moving this year to Chicago’s United Center, will begin Thursday, March 14^th and run through Selection Sunday, March 17th.

Although national expectations are once again down for this UW program, the Badgers have yet to finish outside the top 4 in the conference standings during Bo Ryan’s 11-year tenure in Madison. With the schedule pitting the Badgers against the highly touted teams from Indiana and Michigan just once, it seems unlikely that streak will come to an end, especially with Wisconsin returning four starters from a 2011-2012 team that wound up reaching the Sweet 16 for a 2^nd consecutive season.

“Its exciting because every game means something,” UW junior guard Ben Brust said. “We’ve got to bring it every night.”

Uthoff and The NCAA: Part 1

Uthoff Situation About The Wrongs of NCAA, Not Just UW

Since it became public knowledge that former UW men’s basketball player Jarrod Uthoff would be barred from transferring to some 25 D-1 schools as a condition of his scholarship release, there has been no shortage of outrage against the Badger program and specifically against head coach Bo Ryan. But if you take a step back and avoid allowing your emotions to guide your response, you quickly realize that this isn’t about Uthoff, Ryan, or even Wisconsin at all. It’s about a broken NCAA in dire need of reform.

Yes, per usual, it’s the rules that are at fault, not the actors subject to them.

Think about it this way: You come to Madison as a freshman and before you step foot on campus, you have already found a job working at Union South. You get there and start working, are on time and on task, but find after a few months that the job isn’t working out for you.

You could quit the job. You do have that option.

But lets say you have to work or you wont be able to afford school.

And there isn’t another job available.

So you keep working but in the mean time you spend some of your free time looking at other options. In the process, you come across a work study program at Indiana that would not only provide you with the funds necessary to stay in school, but also provide a job that is perfect and would work perfectly with your major.

You go and speak to your boss at Union South and tell them you are going to take the opportunity at Indiana next year. You offer to work the rest of the year and thank them for the opportunity but just as you are leaving your boss tells you….

We have restricted your release so you can’t go to Indiana. You are welcome to see if Purdue has a spot.

Wait, what?

This is absurd.

But this is exactly what the NCAA has set up for its precious “student athletes”. Pick a school while you are a senior in high school and sign away four years of your life to that school, whether you like it or not.

And it isn’t even a two way street. As Kentucky head coach John Calipari has demonstrated on more than one occasion, the schools themselves are not beholden to the restrictions placed on student athletes. If a player just doesn’t fit into the program anymore, they are thrown out into the cold. Scholarships are a one-year deal, renewable at the school’s option and the school’s only.

I dislike the growing “free agency” in college sports as much as anyone. In fact, my distain for it had blurred my ability to rationally think about the whole situation until now. In a perfect world, there would be no transfers.

But as a transfer student myself, I also realize that we do not live in a perfect world. I chose to attend UCLA while a bright-eyed high school senior, enticed by the allure of Southern California and the prestige that comes along with “being a Bruin”.

It took me a long freshman year to realize that wasn’t a good basis upon which to make a decision as important as where to go to college.

19-year-olds make mistakes and it is simply wrong for the NCAA to add fuel to the fire with transfer restrictions.

The other wrinkle in my own story is that I was technically an athletic transfer, subject to those same restrictions. Thankfully I had and continue to have a good report with the UCLA golf coaching staff, but had I done something to upset them prior to leaving the school (like I had done with the basketball program, another story)

Ultimately, as the NCAA loves to remind us, nearly all college basketball and football players will be “going pro in something other than sports”. If we are to take the NCAA at its word, then competitive considerations shouldn’t get in the way of a student-athlete’s future.