Wisconsin Basketball 2022-23

[Oxy]

Wow. Heckuva W vs Marquette.  Shot the lights out in the first half, withstood the inevitable comeback with Chucky recuperating, and held on again in OT.  Lots of "what ifs?" for both sides here.  Looks like a couple of tournament teams, anyway.

[Brewcrew82]

I don't get Marquette fans. They always come across as a bunch of WI wannabes with a sizable inferiority complex. Like they're incensed they didn't get into the better school.

Great game, though, and a huge bounce-back win early in the season after the late-game Wake Forest collapse. Another big game this week with undefeated Maryland coming to town. 

[OldSchoolSnapper]

.

[Cool Hand Lucroy]

Man, was Chucky incredible. And that bucket from Klismet was really tough. A strong finish.

Badgers are gonna lose some games they shouldn't (see Wake), but they'll win enough to get a decent seed.

[RedStickBrew]

1 hour ago, Cool Hand Lucroy said:

Man, was Chucky incredible. And that bucket from Klismet was really tough. A strong finish.

Badgers are gonna lose some games they shouldn't (see Wake), but they'll win enough to get a decent seed.

Klesmit has been better than I expected.  He has been the glue guy for this team.  I would still like to see him be more assertive on the offensive end though- I think he defers too much to others when he has open looks

It would have been nice to have that win versus Wake Forest, especially at home, but I would guess when we look back at that loss at the end of the season it won't look too bad.  Wake has a chance to be really good IMO.

[yourout]

2 hours ago, RedStickBrew said:

Klesmit has been better than I expected.  He has been the glue guy for this team.  I would still like to see him be more assertive on the offensive end though- I think he defers too much to others when he has open looks

It would have been nice to have that win versus Wake Forest, especially at home, but I would guess when we look back at that loss at the end of the season it won't look too bad.  Wake has a chance to be really good IMO.

He reminds me of Josh Gasser in many ways. What kind of do whatever it takes at the moment to help the team.

[Jim French Stepstool]

18 hours ago, Brewcrew82 said:

I don't get Marquette fans. They always come across as a bunch of WI wannabes with a sizable inferiority complex. Like they're incensed they didn't get into the better school.

Great game, though, and a huge bounce-back win early in the season after the late-game Wake Forest collapse. Another big game this week with undefeated Maryland coming to town. 

I've known a lot of people who have gone there over the years. Obviously a quality school. But I remember years ago talking to an alum I've known since about 8th grade. We got to talking about his experiences there (he's a big HS/college hoops fan) & I mentioned how I thought their fan base has a real sense of paranoia regarding UW & Notre Dame. He chuckled & said "yeah, they really do" or words to that effect.

I noticed a sprinkling of red in the stands yesterday, so maybe they've gotten past their "policy" of trying to limit people wearing Badger gear & where they sit. A fan base is one thing, but in that case you're talking about people who are actual representatives of the university, which is sort of sad.

Anyway, a terrific road win. Agree with the above comments, and would like to throw in a few words about McGee. It sounds like he's starting to "get it", very nice contribution yesterday when they really needed it.

[Samurai Bucky]

My son went to the game with his girlfriend and sat in the student section.  He is a Wisconsin fan and she attends Marquette.  Reluctantly, he wore a gold-colored shirt.  There were other Badger fans in the student section who wore the Cardinal and White.

I guess if there were any issues between Marquette fans and Wisconsin fans in the student section, the Wisconsin fan was removed from the section.

The F-Wisconsin chant was quite telling, too.

[Oxy]

UW basketball. The most over-achieving sports franchise in the last 25 years.  To wildly over-perform pre-season expectations and predictions year after year after year after year for like 25 years now.  Unbelievable.

Sure, it's only early December, but is anybody going to bet against these guys?

[Jim French Stepstool]

1 hour ago, Oxy said:

UW basketball. The most over-achieving sports franchise in the last 25 years.  To wildly over-perform pre-season expectations and predictions year after year after year after year for like 25 years now.  Unbelievable.

Sure, it's only early December, but is anybody going to bet against these guys?

Over-achieving to the national media types, the guys who get easily swayed by spectacular highlights & eye candy. Folks who can't recognize solid basketball skills & IQ due to the obsession with athleticism & recruiting "stars". 

Very nice win tonite. Other than a few too many turnovers Maryland impressed me. Willard has that group organized & making mostly good decisions on the floor. But when you guard like UW did tonight you always have a chance. 

Wahl is struggling a bit right now, so it's great to see the recent games Crowl has turned in. Growing confidence around the hoop on both ends. And the usual strong floor game & defense by Gilmore augmented by seeing the ball go in a few times. Maybe his best career game.

[MrTPlush]

The Badgers style of basketball and ability to play defense is going to keep them in a ton of games and lead to a lot of wins. 

They have yet to really play a road game though. So it will be interesting to see how the Badgers do in more hostile environments. Which they will see once this month before a bunch of cupcake games. Always thought it was dumb the Big Ten tosses in a few early conference games just to go back to crap games. 

[Brewcrew82]

2 hours ago, MrTPlush said:

The Badgers style of basketball and ability to play defense is going to keep them in a ton of games and lead to a lot of wins. 

They have yet to really play a road game though. So it will be interesting to see how the Badgers do in more hostile environments. Which they will see once this month before a bunch of cupcake games. Always thought it was dumb the Big Ten tosses in a few early conference games just to go back to crap games. 

Marquette doesn't count as a road game to you? I get it's still in Wisconsin, but that's always a hostile crowd...

[Brewcrew82]

12 hours ago, Jim French Stepstool said:

Over-achieving to the national media types, the guys who get easily swayed by spectacular highlights & eye candy. Folks who can't recognize solid basketball skills & IQ due to the obsession with athleticism & recruiting "stars". 

Very nice win tonite. Other than a few too many turnovers Maryland impressed me. Willard has that group organized & making mostly good decisions on the floor. But when you guard like UW did tonight you always have a chance. 

Wahl is struggling a bit right now, so it's great to see the recent games Crowl has turned in. Growing confidence around the hoop on both ends. And the usual strong floor game & defense by Gilmore augmented by seeing the ball go in a few times. Maybe his best career game.

I think if Wahl can find his late-season form from last year we have a great shot at repeating for the BIG title. Hepburn and Crowl have really stepped up lately. And then Essegian continues to be the bucket-getter this team needs. Klesmit is also up there with Showalter and Gasser as high-level glue guys who can defend and score when called upon. Love how this team is shaping up. 

[Jim French Stepstool]

7 minutes ago, Brewcrew82 said:

Marquette doesn't count as a road game to you? I get it's still in Wisconsin, but that's always a hostile crowd...

Yeah. I've been to UW-MU games in Milwaukee. That's a road game in every way, shape & form. Only one true road game thus far. But another way of looking at it is they've played nine games, four of them on their home floor.

[Jim French Stepstool]

2 hours ago, MrTPlush said:

 Always thought it was dumb the Big Ten tosses in a few early conference games just to go back to crap games. 

I don't like it either. It supposedly has to do with the extra conference games brought about by conference expansion. You could just start the conference season a couple weeks earlier & keep it self-contained, but I think they want to avoid going in-conference during exams/Christmas. That's a big part of the reason you don't see as many tough non-league games at that time of the year. Exams going on, students leaving.                                                                                                                                     These more unattractive games have a purpose. A MEAC, SWAC or other such school pays the lions' share of it's athletic budget expenses by being the visitor for 4-5 of these games. And if I'm UW, after the eight-game stretch they went through once they get done playing Iowa I'd welcome a lesser challenge.

I'd love to go back to conference starting in January, with a balanced home-and-away sked. The obsession with conference expansion probably makes that impossible.

[Jim French Stepstool]

38 minutes ago, Brewcrew82 said:

I think if Wahl can find his late-season form from last year we have a great shot at repeating for the BIG title. Hepburn and Crowl have really stepped up lately. And then Essegian continues to be the bucket-getter this team needs. Klesmit is also up there with Showalter and Gasser as high-level glue guys who can defend and score when called upon. Love how this team is shaping up. 

I'll add Davis to your Klesmit remarks. Decision-making is huge. Klesmit has a knack for it; I think Davis is getting there. And they play, in essence, three guards. Davis has the chops to rebound well enough to allow them to do that, I hope he continues to grow in that area.

Still hoping at some point Ilver or Hodges emerges as a 4-5 mpg guy in the front court to help with the depth when there are foul issues.

The way Essegian comes off screens & shoots without hesitation, yeah, that's quite a weapon.

[Brewcrew82]

15 minutes ago, Jim French Stepstool said:

I'll add Davis to your Klesmit remarks. Decision-making is huge. Klesmit has a knack for it; I think Davis is getting there. And they play, in essence, three guards. Davis has the chops to rebound well enough to allow them to do that, I hope he continues to grow in that area.

Still hoping at some point Ilver or Hodges emerges as a 4-5 mpg guy in the front court to help with the depth when there are foul issues.

The way Essegian comes off screens & shoots without hesitation, yeah, that's quite a weapon.

Yeah, trying to think of a comparison for Essegian, I initially thought Herro. But the more I think about it, the more JJ Reddick comes to my head. Says a lot about his confidence and swagger on the court. 

[Oxy]

I think there will be a game this year where Essegian goes all Jimmer Fredette or Steph Curry and just cans a bunch of 30 footers because he feels like it.  Mostly he has stayed within a couple feet of the line, but reports are he has the LONG range bomb in his bag as well.

[Jim French Stepstool]

38 minutes ago, Brewcrew82 said:

Yeah, trying to think of a comparison for Essegian, I initially thought Herro. But the more I think about it, the more JJ Reddick comes to my head. Says a lot about his confidence and swagger on the court. 

I saw Herro play quite a bit when he was at Whitnall. One of the things he did real well was moving w/o the ball, being in constant motion working to get open. To me that's maybe the biggest comp btwn him & Essegian. Connor always seems to be  moving. It's gotten him some nice looks on backdoor cuts.

There's some fearlessness a la Reddick, for sure.

[RedStickBrew]

35 minutes ago, Brewcrew82 said:

Yeah, trying to think of a comparison for Essegian, I initially thought Herro. But the more I think about it, the more JJ Reddick comes to my head. Says a lot about his confidence and swagger on the court. 

I can't think of a Badger in the last 30 years that compares to Connor Essegian. Herro is longer, more explosive athletically, and has a more complete offensive game than CE.  For me Reddick is closer comparison. CE to this point is mostly a catch and shoot guy. He has a pretty quick release, comes off screens well and has a bit of a mid range game.  To this point he hasn't shown much in the way of an ability to get to the rim and finish yet. He is young and raw but his future at the college level is bright. Should be fun to watch him develop.

[Jim French Stepstool]

8 hours ago, RedStickBrew said:

I can't think of a Badger in the last 30 years that compares to Connor Essegian. Herro is longer, more explosive athletically, and has a more complete offensive game than CE.  For me Reddick is closer comparison. CE to this point is mostly a catch and shoot guy. He has a pretty quick release, comes off screens well and has a bit of a mid range game.  To this point he hasn't shown much in the way of an ability to get to the rim and finish yet. He is young and raw but his future at the college level is bright. Should be fun to watch him develop.

This goes back a little more than 30 years, but there's some similarity to Tim Locum. About the same size, similar ability to catch-and-shoot off screens. But Locums' off the ball movement wasn't as good as CE, and Essegian is much more athletic & has a higher ceiling.

Rick Olson, who was smaller, had similar scoring ability. But that's going back to the stone age.?

[Samurai Bucky]

11 hours ago, Jim French Stepstool said:

This goes back a little more than 30 years, but there's some similarity to Tim Locum.

Essegian needs to work on the mullet, for sure.

[homer]

39 minutes ago, Samurai Bucky said:

Essegian needs to work on the mullet, for sure.

[homer]

whew. looked like they were gonna choke that one away but did what they had to in OT. tough team 

 

Franimal makes an appearance too. 

[Brewcrew82]

WI basketball the last two years is worse than a heart attack. Can't complain too much about winning, though. They just know how to get it done in the final minutes, save for the end of regulation tonight. Expect to see them in the top 25 tomorrow!