Wisconsin Basketball 2022-23

[bjkrautk]

…on the plus side, Chucky drove the lane late, and passed the ball!  (Tendency breaker.). Fortunately he also made a big steal at the end of the game, and Essegian took most of the shots from the line late (which explains the percentage).

An ugly win is still a win; now get another one this weekend!

[Brewcrew82]

If Gard can get this team to the tournament, we should give him a lifetime extension, as opposed to trying to can him. Granted, some of this is his fault (he failed to add enough frontcourt depth in the transfer portal), but this was always supposed to be a "reset" type of year, when you take into account Davis leaving early and Carlson, Bowman, and Mors all bailing. For most programs, a reset year means they're nowhere close to the tournament. Yet, despite all of our issues, we're somehow still right on the bubble with a chance to play ourselves into the dance with a series of home games. 

This time period over the remainder of the season and into the spring/summer will be a huge stretch both on and off the court. We should have pretty much everyone returning, sprinkled in with one of Gard's better recruiting classes. The key will be whether we can get a meaningful transfer or two to keep our walk-ons on the bench where they belong (sorry Gilmore) and hopefully nail down at least one of our top 2024 targets in Knueppel or Freitag. Gard has some work to do....

[Jim French Stepstool]

1 hour ago, Brewcrew82 said:

If Gard can get this team to the tournament, we should give him a lifetime extension, as opposed to trying to can him. Granted, some of this is his fault (he failed to add enough frontcourt depth in the transfer portal), but this was always supposed to be a "reset" type of year, when you take into account Davis leaving early and Carlson, Bowman, and Mors all bailing. For most programs, a reset year means they're nowhere close to the tournament. Yet, despite all of our issues, we're somehow still right on the bubble with a chance to play ourselves into the dance with a series of home games. 

This time period over the remainder of the season and into the spring/summer will be a huge stretch both on and off the court. We should have pretty much everyone returning, sprinkled in with one of Gard's better recruiting classes. The key will be whether we can get a meaningful transfer or two to keep our walk-ons on the bench where they belong (sorry Gilmore) and hopefully nail down at least one of our top 2024 targets in Knueppel or Freitag. Gard has some work to do....

I'm not president of the Carter Gilmore Fan Club or anything, and I'd like to see minutes harder for him to come by because it'll mean the frontcourt depth is better. But I think anyone expecting him to be buried on the bench next year will be surprised. There are things he does well that don't show up in the stat sheet & certainly don't get noticed by the talking suits. If Ilver & Hodges did those things more consistently they'd be ahead of him. It WOULD be nice if next year there was a different bench option to guard seven-footers. I agree the next couple recruiting classes are extremely important.

As for the Michigan game, I thought they looked very similar to a lot of their recent outings, the major exception being that they really showed a lot of energy on the 50-50 balls. The offensive rebounding was astoundingly good. In their 2nd half run, two buckets by Essegian---on drives. And TEN FT attempts. If he keeps on this trend he'll be incredibly tough to guard.

[MrTPlush]

Gard returned three major starters and the Big Ten has ended up pretty 'meh' across the board outside of Purdue. This seems about what one would expect. 

[LouisEly]

The portal is really leveling the playing field in CBB.  There's mediocrity everywhere.  Teams with six losses are in the top 10, teams with 8 losses are in the top 20.  Players don't want to transfer somewhere to sit on the bench (maybe unless they are grad transfers and want to play their last year close to home or for a team that is a legit final four contender).  UW was in on several power forwards, but they chose to go elsewhere because of more playing time (one to Virginia because of personal relationships, and a legit Final Four team).

Note that Northwestern just missed out on the top 25 in the AP (#27) and Coaches (#26) polls.

[Jim French Stepstool]

3 hours ago, MrTPlush said:

the Big Ten has ended up pretty 'meh' across the board outside of Purdue. 

Couldn't disagree more. If you're basing it on not having a lot of teams in the top ten or fifteen, OK. Or if you feel a team simply having a shot at making it into the tourney means their "meh", duly noted. I think it's a tough league, top to bottom.

[Samurai Bucky]

10 hours ago, Jim French Stepstool said:

As for the Michigan game, I thought they looked very similar to a lot of their recent outings, the major exception being that they really showed a lot of energy on the 50-50 balls. The offensive rebounding was astoundingly good. In their 2nd half run, two buckets by Essegian---on drives. And TEN FT attempts. If he keeps on this trend he'll be incredibly tough to guard.

I did not see the Nebraska game, so I cannot comment on what happened there.

There are two distinct things that I saw that haven't been part of the Badger mindset:  offensive rebounds and not as many post backdowns.  Up to this point, I thought Jordan Davis was the only one who was a quality rebounder.  Crowl is "a rebounder" simply because he is 7'.  There are players that seem to be able to find holes, position themselves, etc. when rebounding.  Also, there was less of the, "we put up a shot, so let's turn our heads and run the other way."  You don't get to be at the bottom of the entire NCAA (349th, IIRC) in offensive rebounding unless it is based on a philosophy instead of physical ability.

I do not recall too many times where the ball was in the post and it was the "I'll back down and everybody else stand around" approach.  Crowl did it a few times with some nice moves, and I think Wahl did it a few times.  They decided to use better motion, back passes, better screens, and getting momentum towards the basket.  Hmmm... maybe that helped with the better offensive rebound production, too?

Like others on the board, we were thinking that Chuckie was going to single-handedly shoot up off-balanced bricks and give the game back to the Wolverines.  Good for him for not forcing up as many as he did in the past.  Good for the Badgers to trust somebody else to get the job done -- although nobody made a FG in the last, what was it, five minutes?

On a side note -- I was impressed at the quick handshake by the coaches 😉

[Jim French Stepstool]

1 hour ago, Samurai Bucky said:

I did not see the Nebraska game, so I cannot comment on what happened there.

There are two distinct things that I saw that haven't been part of the Badger mindset:  offensive rebounds and not as many post backdowns.  Up to this point, I thought Jordan Davis was the only one who was a quality rebounder.  Crowl is "a rebounder" simply because he is 7'.  There are players that seem to be able to find holes, position themselves, etc. when rebounding.  Also, there was less of the, "we put up a shot, so let's turn our heads and run the other way."  You don't get to be at the bottom of the entire NCAA (349th, IIRC) in offensive rebounding unless it is based on a philosophy instead of physical ability.

I do not recall too many times where the ball was in the post and it was the "I'll back down and everybody else stand around" approach.  Crowl did it a few times with some nice moves, and I think Wahl did it a few times.  They decided to use better motion, back passes, better screens, and getting momentum towards the basket.  Hmmm... maybe that helped with the better offensive rebound production, too?

Like others on the board, we were thinking that Chuckie was going to single-handedly shoot up off-balanced bricks and give the game back to the Wolverines.  Good for him for not forcing up as many as he did in the past.  Good for the Badgers to trust somebody else to get the job done -- although nobody made a FG in the last, what was it, five minutes?

On a side note -- I was impressed at the quick handshake by the coaches 😉

UWs bigs pass pretty well. The backdoor cuts & flashes down the lane off-ball were really effective last night, which I attribute to good scouting/coaching. UM is certainly a team that leaves itself open to that stuff.

Wahl at times "appears" to be a good rebounder IMO. But he's just shown so much inconsistency this season, in all areas. Still has ample time to be an X factor.

It was nice to see McGee step up on a day Hepburn just wasn't feeling it. Maybe the "consistency" light is finally coming on there, after changing programs.

Believe it or not, the FG drought was something like 10:45. Fortunately the FT bugaboo went away, at least for one night.

Here's what I would've liked to see during the handshake......Gard approaching Howard with right hand extended, and his entire left arm tied to his torso, just to point out the absurdity of the whole "he put his hands on me" garbage from last year. Between Howards' tantrum issues & Dickinson acting like a nine-year-old, a real satisfying win.

EDIT: My apologies to nine-year-olds everywhere for the insult I just laid on them.

[Jim French Stepstool]

2 hours ago, LouisEly said:

The portal is really leveling the playing field in CBB.  There's mediocrity everywhere.  Teams with six losses are in the top 10, teams with 8 losses are in the top 20.  Players don't want to transfer somewhere to sit on the bench (maybe unless they are grad transfers and want to play their last year close to home or for a team that is a legit final four contender).  UW was in on several power forwards, but they chose to go elsewhere because of more playing time (one to Virginia because of personal relationships, and a legit Final Four team).

Note that Northwestern just missed out on the top 25 in the AP (#27) and Coaches (#26) polls.

Yeah. VanderPlas & Basile weren't coming w/o assurances, Vander Plas probably not even with them. And when you factor in both ends of the floor the kid from Brookfield East who's at Colorado State might very well not even be ahead of Gilmore. It was early in the portal era so we had no way of knowing at the time, but it might prove to be a pretty rare thing to have been able to secure a commendable backup like Vogt.

[LouisEly]

The Badgers defensive rebounding philosophy has always been team rebounding and that the job of the people under/around the basket is to box out/seal off.  Guards have always gotten decent amounts of rebounds.  Davison is 6th all time in defensive rebounds; Gasser is 9th.  Also, the game has evolved and is more about spreading the floor now which often brings bigs away from the basket and thus fewer rebounds.

Offensive rebounds tend to be more luck than skill.  They say that the best offensive rebounds come from the worst shots.  Often hard to predict which way the ball is going to go after it hits the rim.  UW does focus more on getting back and not giving up the easy transition.

[MrTPlush]

7 hours ago, Jim French Stepstool said:

Couldn't disagree more. If you're basing it on not having a lot of teams in the top ten or fifteen, OK. Or if you feel a team simply having a shot at making it into the tourney means their "meh", duly noted. I think it's a tough league, top to bottom.

I was basing it off no elite teams. Every game is very winnable. They aren’t playing a bunch of elite teams twice a year to really rack up losses like that. Now on the flip side, yes, I acknowledge they also don’t much for cupcakes either.

They brought back three starters from a team that was a three seed last year, all of which were decent contributors. Acting like Gard deserves a statue because he has the team on the bubble is really glorifying things. Most teams in the country lose a couple starters…often times some of their better players. 

[Jim French Stepstool]

21 hours ago, MrTPlush said:

I was basing it off no elite teams. Every game is very winnable. They aren’t playing a bunch of elite teams twice a year to really rack up losses like that. Now on the flip side, yes, I acknowledge they also don’t much for cupcakes either.

They brought back three starters from a team that was a three seed last year, all of which were decent contributors. Acting like Gard deserves a statue because he has the team on the bubble is really glorifying things. Most teams in the country lose a couple starters…often times some of their better players. 

The short answer is they lost 34ppg, 19-20 of which couldn't possibly be pre-planned to replace. Nevertheless they have 15 wins, and the 2-3 they could have in addition to that but didn't win weren't due to any shortcomings on Gard's part. 

  Deserves a statue? So far this season, nah. But if anyone wants to rip him for the last six weeks, to me the only argument that comes close to holding water is he didn't automatically replace Davis via free agency. At this point in time that line of criticism doesn't sit well with me.

Pardon me if this isn't accurate because I haven't paid much attention to it but I thought I saw a graphic that their schedule was like the eighth toughest in the nation or something like that. You don't need to face a ton of helmet schools to have a very hard road. Everyone in the Big Ten save for Minnesota has proven that at one time or another this season (Now that I said that, if UW goes into Minneapolis & lays an egg it's all on me lol).

[MrTPlush]

7 hours ago, Jim French Stepstool said:

The short answer is they lost 34ppg, 19-20 of which couldn't possibly be pre-planned to replace. Nevertheless they have 15 wins, and the 2-3 they could have in addition to that but didn't win weren't due to any shortcomings on Gard's part. 

  Deserves a statue? So far this season, nah. But if anyone wants to rip him for the last six weeks, to me the only argument that comes close to holding water is he didn't automatically replace Davis via free agency. At this point in time that line of criticism doesn't sit well with me.

Pardon me if this isn't accurate because I haven't paid much attention to it but I thought I saw a graphic that their schedule was like the eighth toughest in the nation or something like that. You don't need to face a ton of helmet schools to have a very hard road. Everyone in the Big Ten save for Minnesota has proven that at one time or another this season (Now that I said that, if UW goes into Minneapolis & lays an egg it's all on me lol).

I’m not saying their schedule isn’t tough. They don’t have much for easy games, much like the Big 12 (though nowhere near the insanity of the Big 12). But the Big Ten has one in the Top Ten and the one team there may be trending out. Most of the teams are on the Badgers level, thus, fending your way to the bubble should not be a crazy surprise.

They beat Michigan, okay cool, at home against a nearly even opponent. That really isn’t that game changing. The next three weeks are more telling and will probably define their chances at the tourney. Can you defend your home court against (on paper) better opponents. Also, can they beat a similar opponent on the road in Michigan. If they beat Michigan they likely can have a winning record in the road with a MN win…that will go a long way on a resume.

It is a nice season by Gard if he can get them to the tourney…but I gotta imagine that takes 4/5 wins barring a really notable conference tourney run.

[Samurai Bucky]

Purdue loses three of the past four games.  Maybe there is something to the strength of the B1G?

[Brewcrew82]

17 hours ago, MrTPlush said:

I’m not saying their schedule isn’t tough. They don’t have much for easy games, much like the Big 12 (though nowhere near the insanity of the Big 12). But the Big Ten has one in the Top Ten and the one team there may be trending out. Most of the teams are on the Badgers level, thus, fending your way to the bubble should not be a crazy surprise.

They beat Michigan, okay cool, at home against a nearly even opponent. That really isn’t that game changing. The next three weeks are more telling and will probably define their chances at the tourney. Can you defend your home court against (on paper) better opponents. Also, can they beat a similar opponent on the road in Michigan. If they beat Michigan they likely can have a winning record in the road with a MN win…that will go a long way on a resume.

It is a nice season by Gard if he can get them to the tourney…but I gotta imagine that takes 4/5 wins barring a really notable conference tourney run.

They’ll almost certainly get in with three more conference wins regardless of what they do in the conference tournament, so long as they don’t lose at Minnesota. That would put them at 18-13 overall and 10-10 in the BIG with a relatively high number of Q1 wins and 0 Q3/Q4 losses.

[yourout]

These are the worst refs i have seen this year.

Terrible.

[Brewcrew82]

3 minutes ago, yourout said:

These are the worst refs i have seen this year.

Terrible.

Yep. That and-1 they gave to Rutgers was absolutely horrendous. 

[yourout]

Famous 5 minute scoring drought

[Jim French Stepstool]

The drought when it was 45-all..........I'm not excusing them for it, they had some decent shots that were missed. But almost all of them were from long range, without real great inside-out ball movement. That's mainly because the defense Rutgers played inside of 15 feet was about as good as you can play. RU was cold at the same time, it was that kind of game. It came down to a couple of possessions late where they got something going to the hoop, something we were unable to do vs the wall they built with Omoruyi & company. Not a good day for Essegian to struggle, because it was obvious we were going to have to make shots from outside, and we weren't getting to the line.

The play Gard drew up with 11 seconds left was terrific. I thought he really caught Pikiell with his pants down; Essegian just didn't make the shot. Then thanks to Klesmit he gets another look & someone (Hyatt?) gets a finger on the ball. 

Kudos to the bench guys, obviously. I did get ticked off at Davis for when he tipped someone's miss instead of grabbing it, gathering & either going back up or kicking it out. But overall one of his best games. And the way McGee has looked, maybe all the backup point guards on the market & their agents will have to look elsewhere.

[MrTPlush]

Wisconsin has not beaten a likely tourney team since…December 11th. Not really a good look. 

[yourout]

27 minutes ago, MrTPlush said:

Wisconsin has not beaten a likely tourney team since…December 11th. Not really a good look. 

I don't see this group winning 2 games in a row the rest of the way.

[yourout]

A 7+ minute scoring drought midway through the ²nd half along with the last 3.36 of the game.

So essentially they went 10 out of the 20 second half minutes without scoring.

[RedStickBrew]

1 hour ago, yourout said:

A 7+ minute scoring drought midway through the ²nd half along with the last 3.36 of the game.

So essentially they went 10 out of the 20 second half minutes without scoring.

This has been a theme with this team much of the year it seems. Pretty frustrating to watch, yet if they even get close to an average game scoring from either Hepburn or Essegian they could have pulled off the win.

I am trying to be hopeful about next year, but the recruiting class while solid is likely not going to have someone step up and improve them that much. I think they are really going to need to hit the transfer portal for an experienced player or two.

[Jim French Stepstool]

15 hours ago, RedStickBrew said:

This has been a theme with this team much of the year it seems. Pretty frustrating to watch, yet if they even get close to an average game scoring from either Hepburn or Essegian they could have pulled off the win.

I am trying to be hopeful about next year, but the recruiting class while solid is likely not going to have someone step up and improve them that much. I think they are really going to need to hit the transfer portal for an experienced player or two.

There was a time in college hoops...not so long ago, actually.....where improvement from one year to the next was in large part based on returnees getting better. Being more consistent. Adding something to their game. Benefitting from experience. In the current climate, I probably sound like I'm crawling out of a peach basket by bringing up these things. But there are different ways to improve from one year to the next, and the above points will always be vital. 

 

[yourout]

1 minute ago, Jim French Stepstool said:

There was a time in college hoops...not so long ago, actually.....where improvement from one year to the next was in large part based on returnees getting better. Being more consistent. Adding something to their game. Benefitting from experience. In the current climate, I probably sound like I'm crawling out of a peach basket by bringing up these things. But there are different ways to improve from one year to the next, and the above points will always be vital. 

 

NIL and the portal has drastically changed the landscape for college basketball.

And not for the better.