Wisconsin Basketball 2022-23

[RedStickBrew]

14 minutes ago, homer said:

Franimal makes an appearance too. 

You mean this guy?

 

[Samurai Bucky]

I'll admit -- I tend to see things through Cardinal and White colored glasses.  

However....

When, in previous games, I see the Badgers getting called for things like "In the Cylinder" and flopping (within associated hip thrust by the ref), I get really confused when other teams don't get called for that.  I do understand the stigma that Wisconsin has (e.g. the Brad Davidson effect).  Yesterday's game was physical.  Flat out physical.  The refs had a hard time.  However, year after year after year after year, pouty-faced Fran pulls the same stunts.

Here is a Hawkeye-based article:  https://www.blackheartgoldpants.com/2022/12/11/23504606/yuck-wisconsin-badgers-78-iowa-hawkeyes-basketball-75-connor-fran-patrick-mccaffery-bhgp

Quote

It drew the ire of Robbie Hummel multiple times and, by my count, every instance that happened went against Iowa. It’s the way it goes. But Fran’s first explosion in a good long while led to Connor Essegian free throws.

When Wahl was making his way from the lane to the corner, and the Iowa defender puts his arm out to block him, that was supposed to be a foul on Wahl?  Hummel even said, "Wahl initiated the contact."  Really?  Seriously?  Or is that my Cardinal and White colored glasses talking?

Fran, or should I say, "Walter," stop complaining.  This is getting very old and you are not representing your school well.

 

[yourout]

Good points.

Name any other time you've seen the cylinder rule applied other than the Badgers.

Name any other time you've seen a jump shot on a three-point attempt be called for extending his leg like Davidson was the one time.

 

[Cool Hand Lucroy]

That was just a massive win, capped off with typical toughness.

Made 3s in OT. Iowa really didn't (I think somebody hit one). Makes all the difference.

Wahl can't go 0 for 2 from the line late in games.

[Jim French Stepstool]

To me the reffing problems are a self-fulfilling prophecy. You add so much to the rule book in recent years, when there's going to be more to interpret, more to look for, of course there will be more screwups. So we go to the monitor. Maybe that "gets it right". Or maybe it's still inconclusive. Or maybe like last week in Milwaukee, it shows something you didn't see the first time, and you incorrectly use the technology to execute a makeup call. It does seem UW gets the short end of the stick, but my glasses are cardinal-colored, too.

The foul call on Wahl late in regulation might've been the worst of all. We're up eight, and he gets called for a foul on the made jumper for the and-1. No one can convince me that's called a foul midway in the 1st half, or with 14:00 to go in the game, or if we're up or down by 15 points. It's like the umpire in baseball calling an 0-2 pitch a ball, when on 2-0 or 3-0 the same pitch is a strike.

I don't know if any team or fan base emulates its' coach more than Fran. There never seems to be a call against them that's justified. But it IS kinda entertaining watching the volcano heat up, build pressure, and then erupt.

[Jim French Stepstool]

23 hours ago, homer said:

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. 

The game reminded me a little of the Michigan game when Brust hit the shot to send it into OT, except we were Michigan. Had it in hand, then a miracle run sends it into OT. Facing a hostile crowd, all the momentum with the opponent. Then Iowa comes out & runs some good stuff in the half court & scores 15 points in OT. For 5:00 of basketball that's really good.

But that's where the similarities end. We just kept answering, and answering, and answering. Wahl hits a 3pter. Davis, who hits the mammoth three in OT in Milwaukee last weekend, does it again in another hostile environment. Essegian puts the earlier miscue behind him & finishes strong. Crowl stops the bleeding--literally-- & comes up with an enormous hoop. And in two of Iowas' most important possessions of the game, Hepburn & Wahl come up with steals. And not someone fumbling the ball away or making a horrible pass either. They STOLE the ball. Gotta mention Gilmore in the 2nd half too. The possession where he picks up an offensive rebound, then corrals another a few seconds later for the putback.

Tough team, indeed.

[Oxy]

Ho-hum. Team sleep-walked through 27 minutes before waking up and basically doing exactly what was expected of them (20+ point victory).

McGee got some extra minutes, but I was hoping we could see more of Hodges/Ilver in this one.  Not seeing them makes me hope the enter the transfer portal this Spring.  They aren't Wisconsin natives and would likely be behind Yalden and Winter next year, let alone a transfer we bring in or Wahl coming back...Tea leaves are pointing to the portal...

[Jim French Stepstool]

4 hours ago, Oxy said:

Ho-hum. Team sleep-walked through 27 minutes before waking up and basically doing exactly what was expected of them (20+ point victory).

McGee got some extra minutes, but I was hoping we could see more of Hodges/Ilver in this one.  Not seeing them makes me hope the enter the transfer portal this Spring.  They aren't Wisconsin natives and would likely be behind Yalden and Winter next year, let alone a transfer we bring in or Wahl coming back...Tea leaves are pointing to the portal...

That's why you see games with opponents like this around exam time. Certainly weren't focused in the 1st half, which sucks but is understandable to a point. Throw in the fact that Lehigh IMO played pretty well, and it's a struggle. Defend & turn the ball over like they did tonite vs a majority of their last eight opponents & they're down double digits at half.

Right now they have only one big on the bench they trust, which is a little scary. Gard said in the presser he liked what Ilver did in his few minutes. Hoping he & Hodges get/earn an opportunity in the next two games. There's little doubt Winter & Yalden are more talented but let's not dismiss the value of being in the system & developing some reliability. That may not happen, but there's time for the light to come on for Ilver & Hodges.

[HarryDoyle]

LMAO at Iowa.

[AKCheesehead]

I’m bummed but not surprised tomorrow’s game got canceled. Bummed because Dad and I were going to go, that was my one chance to go to a game this year. 

[Samurai Bucky]

7 hours ago, HarryDoyle said:

LMAO at Iowa.

It appears the Hawkeye faithful are turning bitter with Fran.  My prediction -- when his kids graduate, he is gone.

[Samurai Bucky]

Translation to the Juwan Howard tirade:

"Where in the world is Greg Gard???!!!  I need to slap him up!"

 

[Jim French Stepstool]

On 12/22/2022 at 5:48 PM, Samurai Bucky said:

Translation to the Juwan Howard tirade:

"Where in the world is Greg Gard???!!!  I need to slap him up!"

 

While it's always easy to cheer against Michigan, I respected the work John Beilein did when he was there. Averaged 23 wins with a couple title game appearances. But this clown..........they must've thought he'd recruit at an ultra-high level because of his name & pro background cuz there ain't much else there, coaching-wise. Then you throw in the behavior. He's a detriment to the program if this continues.

[Jim French Stepstool]

On 12/22/2022 at 5:46 PM, Samurai Bucky said:

It appears the Hawkeye faithful are turning bitter with Fran.  My prediction -- when his kids graduate, he is gone.

That's quite the factoid. The UMBC-Virginia NCAA game was a lesser spread?

Iowa under Fran seems to be obsessed with the up-tempo style & press. It leads to them putting up some real impressive point totals against some overmatched non-con foes, but all it seems to do in the league is hurt their ability to defend in the half court because the game gets in scramble mode & they aren't THAT athletic.

Fran or Howard going first could make for a pretty good side bet.

[Samurai Bucky]

13 hours ago, Jim French Stepstool said:

Fran or Howard going first could make for a pretty good side bet.

I'll bank on Howard going first.  Iowa will keep Fran around because they don't want to disrespect him.  The program may suffer, but they can say they stuck with him.

Might be the same situation as Jim Leonhard, except Leonhard wasn't a good coach.  So many people were very mad that Fickell was hired because McIntosh should have honored the internal coach.  I say let Leonhard come back in 8-10 years.  He can sow his oats on somebody else's program.

[areacodes]

13 hours ago, Jim French Stepstool said:

That's quite the factoid. The UMBC-Virginia NCAA game was a lesser spread?

I read that the point spread for that game was only 20.5.

[Jim French Stepstool]

9 hours ago, areacodes said:

I read that the point spread for that game was only 20.5.

I guess so, since the Cavs usually keep the # of possessions down compared to a lot of others. Still surprised it wasn't more than that though.

[Jim French Stepstool]

9 hours ago, Samurai Bucky said:

I'll bank on Howard going first.  Iowa will keep Fran around because they don't want to disrespect him.  The program may suffer, but they can say they stuck with him.

Might be the same situation as Jim Leonhard, except Leonhard wasn't a good coach.  So many people were very mad that Fickell was hired because McIntosh should have honored the internal coach.  I say let Leonhard come back in 8-10 years.  He can sow his oats on somebody else's program.

Also McCaffery has one more son in the pipeline, although that's not a great reason to keep him around if it's the ONLY reason. They were burned once before when they moved from a proven commodity (Tom Davis) & had to suffer through the Alford soap opera & then Lickliter. 

So I think you're right.

[areacodes]

10 minutes ago, Jim French Stepstool said:

I guess so, since the Cavs usually keep the # of possessions down compared to a lot of others. Still surprised it wasn't more than that though.

Since I’m staying up to midnight to send my friend his yearly Birthmas text message, I went ahead and looked into this too much.

As far as I can tell, Iowa was ranked 21st per Ken Pom prior to losing to EIU (ranked 365th). Iowa dropped to 38th and EIU jumped up all the way to 356th.

Virginia was ranked 2nd and UMBC was ranked 166th.

[Jim French Stepstool]

11 hours ago, areacodes said:

Since I’m staying up to midnight to send my friend his yearly Birthmas text message, I went ahead and looked into this too much.

As far as I can tell, Iowa was ranked 21st per Ken Pom prior to losing to EIU (ranked 365th). Iowa dropped to 38th and EIU jumped up all the way to 356th.

Virginia was ranked 2nd and UMBC was ranked 166th.

OK, so 166 isn't all that horrible. I guess that game will always stick in everyone's memory banks due to the "1 vs 16" aspect.

[Jim French Stepstool]

So, it might be quite a sprint to the unemployment line shaping up btwn Howard & Fran. Iowa falls behind by 20 in the 1st half tonight in Lincoln & never recovers. And Michigan loses by 2 to Central Michigan, running the Chippewas' record to 5-8.

[Samurai Bucky]

10 hours ago, Jim French Stepstool said:

So, it might be quite a sprint to the unemployment line shaping up btwn Howard & Fran. Iowa falls behind by 20 in the 1st half tonight in Lincoln & never recovers. And Michigan loses by 2 to Central Michigan, running the Chippewas' record to 5-8.

I saw that and had to do a double take.  I think Howard had a good thing going up until he lost it against Greg Gard.  That publicly highlighted some character flaws that have hurt the program.  I'll bet Michigan was willing to overlook that.

Nebraska isn't terrible.  I saw Andy Katz suggested that Minnesota would be the only team not to play in the postseason.  The others would play in the NCAA or the NIT.

[nate82]

14 minutes ago, Samurai Bucky said:

I saw that and had to do a double take.  I think Howard had a good thing going up until he lost it against Greg Gard.  That publicly highlighted some character flaws that have hurt the program.  I'll bet Michigan was willing to overlook that.

At some point the boosters at Michigan are going to have enough of Howard especially if he is not producing results.  I think he will have one more year and if he doesn't bring some better results he will be gone.  You can deal with the character flaws (Bobby Knight) if the team is producing results but once those results start to tank then the character flaws become more annoying and more of a focal point.

[homer]

1 minute ago, nate82 said:

At some point the boosters at Michigan are going to have enough of Howard especially if he is not producing results.  I think he will have one more year and if he doesn't bring some better results he will be gone.  You can deal with the character flaws (Bobby Knight) if the team is producing results but once those results start to tank then the character flaws become more annoying and more of a focal point.

Has he had issues other than the Gard thing?

[nate82]

2 hours ago, homer said:

Has he had issues other than the Gard thing?

I thought there was another recent one not as bad as the Gard one but another outburst.