Wisconsin Basketball 2022-23

[yourout]

An improved Gilmore is still below average.

[homer]

this Essegian kid is gonna be an assassin

[yourout]

6 minutes ago, homer said:

this Essegian kid is gonna be an assassin

Yep. By this time next year this might be one of the best guard tandems Bucky has had in a while.

[wildcat83]

36 minutes ago, homer said:

this Essegian kid is gonna be an assassin

That kid has a lot of tools.  He’s undersized right now, just not being physically developed yet, but he does all the little things right.  Once he fills out, think he could be a big time scorer.  

[yourout]

One thing for sure if Chucky ever gets in foul trouble or gets hurt bucky is pretty much screwed.

[Oxy]

Good showing. This team looks to be better than projected, but about where they should be...i.e. barring injury they will be in the tournament.  I doubt they compete for a B1G title, but I've said that for at least a half dozen other UW teams in the last 20 years who ended up at least competing for a title if not winning it (see: '19-'20 and '21-'22...among others....)

[Cool Hand Lucroy]

Toughness and good shooting. That's what will do it for this crew.

Obviously, you'll miss Johnny Davis' athleticism, but replacing with two reliable shooters may end up a net positive because college basketball is much more about cohesion and tempo than anything else.

[MrTPlush]

1 hour ago, Oxy said:

Good showing. This team looks to be better than projected, but about where they should be...i.e. barring injury they will be in the tournament.  I doubt they compete for a B1G title, but I've said that for at least a half dozen other UW teams in the last 20 years who ended up at least competing for a title if not winning it (see: '19-'20 and '21-'22...among others....)

Doesn’t really take much to compete for a Big Ten title many years. No one really dominates year to year. Pretty rare there is a 2 loss team. The last two titles the Badgers had were 5 and 6 loss teams.

I mean to open the year the Big Ten has Indiana at #13 and Illini/Mich barely in the Top 25. Seems destined for another multi winner title of 5+ losses.

[yourout]

Pretty crappy performance so far against UWGB.

Will still probably win but games like this are a loss against anyone with a pulse.

 

On edit.....what a putrid 2nd half.

[Jim French Stepstool]

On 11/11/2022 at 11:05 PM, MrTPlush said:

Doesn’t really take much to compete for a Big Ten title many years. No one really dominates year to year. Pretty rare there is a 2 loss team. The last two titles the Badgers had were 5 and 6 loss teams.

I mean to open the year the Big Ten has Indiana at #13 and Illini/Mich barely in the Top 25. Seems destined for another multi winner title of 5+ losses.

 

It's not easy to compare conferences, but a champ finishing with 5 losses is far from a red flag as to its' overall strength. Illinois had the dominating season in '05 (1 loss in league) and most of that season there were only two other B10 schools in the top 25. I also wouldn't be surprised if the winner is around 5-6 losses this year, but there were plenty of years where that happened & it took plenty to compete. It's still a strong group. Having said that, top 2-3 conferences in the nation? IMO not this year.

There's a lot of relying on inexperience & transfers throughout the league. UW should be involved in March, but I think depth questions could/should keep them from the top echelon of the B10.

[Jim French Stepstool]

19 hours ago, yourout said:

Pretty crappy performance so far against UWGB.

Will still probably win but games like this are a loss against anyone with a pulse.

 

On edit.....what a putrid 2nd half.

Here's hoping some intangibles had a lot to do with the performance. Like looking forward to going somewhere warm next week, and having a weak opponent to get out of the way (overlook) beforehand. It's a bad excuse, and (on the offensive end) it WAS putrid. But it happens sometimes, and it's worth it if you can still get away with a win while learning from it.

The worst part of a game like that is you give the opponent momentum & confidence the longer they hang around. Fortunately GB wasn't good enough to turn it into an upset.

[MrTPlush]

17 hours ago, Jim French Stepstool said:

 

It's not easy to compare conferences, but a champ finishing with 5 losses is far from a red flag as to its' overall strength. Illinois had the dominating season in '05 (1 loss in league) and most of that season there were only two other B10 schools in the top 25. I also wouldn't be surprised if the winner is around 5-6 losses this year, but there were plenty of years where that happened & it took plenty to compete. It's still a strong group. Having said that, top 2-3 conferences in the nation? IMO not this year.

There's a lot of relying on inexperience & transfers throughout the league. UW should be involved in March, but I think depth questions could/should keep them from the top echelon of the B10.

I wasn’t referring to the Big Ten not being a strong conference. Just that they aren’t going into the year with some team likely to maybe lose 2-3 games…where then yah, the Badgers have zero shot at the title.

However, this year, I don’t even know if there is a Top 10 basketball team in the league. Maybe not even a true (not looking at rankings) Top 15 team. That really waters down the league and everyone is much closer matched. Considering historically (I think) the Badgers have played amazing at home, they are in the mix…in my opinion. 
 

They won’t see any of the big threats in the conference until almost the second week of January. That gives them time to really round out before those big conference tests.

[Jim French Stepstool]

1 hour ago, MrTPlush said:

I wasn’t referring to the Big Ten not being a strong conference. Just that they aren’t going into the year with some team likely to maybe lose 2-3 games…where then yah, the Badgers have zero shot at the title.

However, this year, I don’t even know if there is a Top 10 basketball team in the league. Maybe not even a true (not looking at rankings) Top 15 team. That really waters down the league and everyone is much closer matched. Considering historically (I think) the Badgers have played amazing at home, they are in the mix…in my opinion. 
 

They won’t see any of the big threats in the conference until almost the second week of January. That gives them time to really round out before those big conference tests.

I was with you as far as there not being a top 10 squad until I got my first look at Michigan State the other day. I've been an Izzo fan for a long time; he runs a developmental program while still recruiting at a pretty high level. That's a rare combo.

After that you have some people who have a shot (at being ranked) but IMO aren't nearly as well coached. Iowa is experienced & finally seems to be starting to guard people. Indiana seems to under-achieve but has enough talent. And the people who do the voting will bend over backwards to put Michigan up there if they can help it.

[MrTPlush]

9 hours ago, Jim French Stepstool said:

I was with you as far as there not being a top 10 squad until I got my first look at Michigan State the other day. I've been an Izzo fan for a long time; he runs a developmental program while still recruiting at a pretty high level. That's a rare combo.

 

Is it that rare though? No one really churns through one and dones outside of Duke and Kentucky. Most teams are developmental teams these days. I think a mix of a lot of one and dones just staying closer to home and some of the elite schools are chasing guys who will stay for a few years. Seems those guys are being spread out among lower level teams than they used to be.

I think MSU is in a great spot these days. They recruit well, but don’t have to worry about one and done playing time. Good development and a good coach is the winning formula moving forward, imo. That is what recent championship teams have had. You would have to go all the way back to 2018 to find a team with a freshman starter that left afterwards.

[Jim French Stepstool]

2 hours ago, MrTPlush said:

Is it that rare though? No one really churns through one and dones outside of Duke and Kentucky. Most teams are developmental teams these days. I think a mix of a lot of one and dones just staying closer to home and some of the elite schools are chasing guys who will stay for a few years. Seems those guys are being spread out among lower level teams than they used to be.

I think MSU is in a great spot these days. They recruit well, but don’t have to worry about one and done playing time. Good development and a good coach is the winning formula moving forward, imo. That is what recent championship teams have had. You would have to go all the way back to 2018 to find a team with a freshman starter that left afterwards.

I think it's relatively rare, in the sense that I question how much "development" is actually going on. Izzo does it; UW has hung their hats on it for a long time. Villanova. I'm sure there are others, especially among the mid-majors. I've just seen a lot of squads over the years that IMO don't get a whole lot better as they gain experience, particularly on the defensive end. Mixing together a transfer (or 3 or 4) on an almost seasonal basis will make it even more challenging.

I think the one-and-doners mostly don't find MSU all that attractive compared to Duke, UK, Kansas & that ilk, and Izzo is fine with that. Based on some of his comments from years ago I suspect he hates the automatic eligibility for transfers too.

[Jim French Stepstool]

On 11/11/2022 at 8:00 PM, yourout said:

One thing for sure if Chucky ever gets in foul trouble or gets hurt bucky is pretty much screwed.

Maybe the single biggest disappointment so far this season is McGee not taking hold of the backup spot to Hepburn. He played PG at Green Bay but there's obviously a lot he needs to learn, and probably "unlearn" from his year up there.

What makes it especially disappointing is he had the entire summer trip to acclimate, as well as this fall. Hopefully the light goes on at some point.

[Oxy]

Among the most UW type Ws of any W UW ever W-ed.

Haters gunna hate.  I'll take the W.

Somewhere, Bo Ryan is smiling.

[Brewcrew82]

Nice win. Wasn't pretty whatsoever, but could make a difference come Selection Sunday. 

[MrTPlush]

As a Kansas fan, Wisconsin has a better shot on paper than Wisconsin fans probably think. Kansas really hasn’t been great offensively and defensively is still pretty rocky. They have a freshman getting major minutes for the first time in years and it really shows on defense. The announcers will gush over Dick (…the player), but he has been atrocious and often lost on defense.

Crowl is going to be a massive size advantage. The tallest player that will get major minutes for Kansas is 6-8. Kansas sucks at grabbing rebounds as is, before mixing in a size disadvantage.

Of course Wisconsin actually has to hit some shots. Everyone is talking about how pathetic the Dayton game was…well, imo, the one prior was even worse considering the opponent and being at home.

[yourout]

This team is almost unwatchable right now.

[young guns]

I'm not sure if it's a lack of hustle or just a lot bad bounces, but way to many missed opportunities on defensive rebounds.  That and now Kansas is making shots, fun while it lasted.

[yourout]

They might scratch and claw their way to the dance but this group will not bring home any meaning full hardware.

Hepburn and Wahl have regressed from last year 

[homer]

man heck of an effort against KU. that ending was just bad luck. 

[yourout]

Heck of a second half.

If they're going to call flop technicals then it can't be only on non Blue blood teams.

[Brewcrew82]

That's how the ball bounces sometimes, though the refs deserve condemnation for their performance. Terrific effort against the defending national champions and #3 team in the country. If Hepburn gets his act together, this team will be competing for the BIG title once again.