2023-24 Wisconsin Basketball season thread

[Jim French Stepstool]

For the life of me, if I can only find the person who created the rule that they have to wait several minutes before guarding anyone when on the road........

In fairness, this is what Ware is capable of. Of course, I've seen many times where he isn't nearly this engaged on offense, and his teammates forget he's out there. Murphys' Law, neither happened today. He's much more talented than Crowl, and most other college centers for that matter, but that doesn't excuse the poor start. I'm so sick & tired of seeing opponents look comfortable on offense. Gard even had Winter & Crowl in tandem, which I've never seen work. Just searching, searching, searching.

At least most of the mountain has been scaled, 6 pt game at half. Klesmit & Hepburn HAVE to make the perimeter guys uncomfortable.

[RedStickBrew]

4 minutes ago, Jim French Stepstool said:

For the life of me, if I can only find the person who created the rule that they have to wait several minutes before guarding anyone when on the 

[RedStickBrew]

Have I mentioned I love Blackwell. No idea how this game is tied. Feels like we should be down 20

[yourout]

1 minute ago, RedStickBrew said:

Have I mentioned I love Blackwell. No idea how this game is tied. Feels like we should be down 20

While getting hacked to pieces without a whistle.

[RedStickBrew]

Just now, yourout said:

While getting hacked to pieces without a whistle.

Another reason I love his game. He plays through contact

[RedStickBrew]

1 hour ago, yourout said:

They are not well coached but Indiana has some athletes.

Their bigs are light years better than ours.

I think Crowl and the boys read this post at halftime. They have been much better the second half

[RedStickBrew]

Chucky has really asserted himself in this game

[yourout]

The contact not called on one end is mind blowing.

[RedStickBrew]

1 minute ago, yourout said:

The contact not called on one end is mine blowing.

Have the Badgers shot a free throw this game?

[yourout]

8 minutes ago, RedStickBrew said:

Have the Badgers shot a free throw this game?

3 for the game. None this half

[RedStickBrew]

They did not play well and deserved to lose this one unfortunately 

[yourout]

Going to finish no better than 5th.

Not beating Illinois or Purdue.

I think they beat Rutgers at home but that's probably the last win for the year.

[Playing Catch]

3 FTAs, 2 TOs... we saw the game... not sure what the coaches could do differently, or better. They missed some open looks and Indiana made them. The home team got the benefit of the officiating.

But Indiana shot 62%. The defense needs to be better. I feel like so many poor outcomes this season have come down to how the officials call the game for Crowl. Either he gets into foul trouble for ticky-tack stuff or he gets dominated physically because he's afraid to get into foul trouble. He's the Rodney Dangerfield of B1G senior post players.

[Jim French Stepstool]

I was curious about something so I looked it up. Indiana shot just over 69% on 2pt FGs. They haven't done that all season, and they've played Kennesaw State, North Alabama, and West Point. I guess my point is yeah, our defense in the 1st 15 minutes was poor, but you can play against Jamal Gravelbutt & Harvey Fiddlethumbs for 40 min & not shoot that well. UW needs to come out much better, especially on the road, but I'm becoming convinced the hoops gods owe this team big time. Wahl's defense was so much better in the 2nd half, and Reneau has 3-4 baseline shots crawl in, without any benefit from the backboard. Frustrating.

Indiana also came one make from hitting half of their 3pt shots, which they also did the first time they played UW. On the year they shoot 31% from three.

Hepburn deserved a much better fate today. Kudos to Storr for stepping up after a non-existent 1st half. Blackwell was guilty of defensive miscues (who wasn't?) early, but the kid really showed his mettle. Oh, and they appeared to play better when Gilmore was on the floor, as opposed to Ilver & Winter, at the four. I'm fine with Ilver being given a shot, just sayin'.

[Jim French Stepstool]

1 hour ago, Playing Catch said:

3 FTAs, 2 TOs... we saw the game... not sure what the coaches could do differently, or better. They missed some open looks and Indiana made them. The home team got the benefit of the officiating.

But Indiana shot 62%. The defense needs to be better. I feel like so many poor outcomes this season have come down to how the officials call the game for Crowl. Either he gets into foul trouble for ticky-tack stuff or he gets dominated physically because he's afraid to get into foul trouble. He's the Rodney Dangerfield of B1G senior post players.

Agreed. I hate making an issue of the officiating because the team needs to play much more consistently on the defensive end. Maybe if you get some early stops it sorta sets the tone. But it wasn't a fun day for Crowl. Of course the way things are going lately, IU actually looks to go to Ware early & often, which they haven't always done. Then he performs like Wilt Chamberlain and oh yeah, hits a 23-footer too. Give me a break.

I didn't realize until reading your post that they only turned it over twice. That's superb.

[RobDeer 45]

I mean what the heck happened to these guys?  I love watching them play no matter what but our mojo is off right now.  I hope they get some momentum going here quick or we are going to be in trouble in the tournament.  

[yourout]

1 hour ago, RobDeer 45 said:

I mean what the heck happened to these guys?  I love watching them play no matter what but our mojo is off right now.  I hope they get some momentum going here quick or we are going to be in trouble in the tournament.  

I think they've just hit the ceiling of this team as it currently is built.

They do a nice job with off-season prep and early season they're already playing about as well as they can but eventually everybody else's roster is so much more athletic that they get overtaken.

[Jim French Stepstool]

6 hours ago, yourout said:

I think they've just hit the ceiling of this team as it currently is built.

They do a nice job with off-season prep and early season they're already playing about as well as they can but eventually everybody else's roster is so much more athletic that they get overtaken.

Except that with Storr & Blackwell (and McGee, who was playing well before getting hurt) they're more athletic than they had been. I still think it's more about finding consistency. I mean, Crowl isn't overly athletic, we all know that. But he's 7 feet tall. You can be that size & skilled, and get a lot done (I admit this is a bad time to raise that point because he faced someone the same size & much more athletic yesterday). I don't think Iowa or Purdue are all that athletic, but Purdue has shown consistency on both ends, even w/o the advantage Edey gives them. Iowa, to my surprise, is just playing better than I expected. Sandfort, Krikke, Freeman, McCaffrey----there's nothing overly athletic about any of those guys. Northwestern is 19-8, and Buie is their only guy with supreme athleticism. But they guard people.

I'll keep beating the same drum---they need to solve this equation of how to get off to better starts on the road, and guard people more than just intermittently. Also make plays late in games, on both ends--they've now failed to do that five times in close league games on the road. Change just a couple of those, and I doubt anyone is complaining all that much.

How you're playing, rather than who. That's never been more true in the B10 than it is now. Unless you're playing Michigan at home w/o McDaniel there are truly no nights off. It's why consistency is so critical.

[Frisbee Slider]

Other than Marquette and Virginia, does UW have any other impressive wins?

[Jim French Stepstool]

3 hours ago, Frisbee Slider said:

Other than Marquette and Virginia, does UW have any other impressive wins?

Virginia is #46 in NET. UW has wins over three teams in that neighborhood---SMU(44), Northwestern(48) & Nebraska(41). I would assume Northwestern would be above all in that group if not for their loss to Chicago State,

They also have two wins over Michigan State, which is #24.

[Cool Hand Lucroy]

I'm getting a lot of mixed signals from this Badger team, both in terms of metrics and eye-test stuff. 

The good:

They have 12 Q1 and Q2 wins. That's like fourth in the country.

They've played a top-5 schedule, according to KenPom.

They're hard to play against and can beat you with a lot of different guys (though maybe not in a lot of different ways). 

When Klesmit or Storr are playing assertive, confident basketball (Klexmit from the perimeter, Storr getting to the rim), the offense is incredibly efficient. 

The bad:

A 3-8 road record is hurting them. They're usually able to pick off one or two more of those B1G games. Even 5-7, and you're feeling great about this resume (the silver lining is there aren't true road games in the NCAAT). 

Storr has struggled lately, since Purdue, I'd say. Without that athletic dynamism, the offense can get very stagnant and limited.

Only 54 in defensive efficiency at KenPom. Ouch. Some of that is that they've played some incredible offenses (schedule is 4th in offensive rating in the country), some is luck, some is just what Jim French has been plugged into for a while--they just don't seem quite as together in the defensive half court as past iterations. Chuckie's got great hands, but Crowl is a pretty limited defender, and teams are very, very good at putting Klesmit in pick-and-roll situations.

Essegian is the best pure shooter on the roster but has no role because he's limited defensively. I'd like to see him get more minutes, but I worry he's a transfer candidate.

Overall:

I think this is just what this team is. I think it's important they get on a bit of a roll heading into the tournament. Today's game is very important. Namely, they need a confident Klesmit and a confident Storr. Wahl, Chuckie, and Crowl are going to give you a lot of consistency. Those other two need to score. As others have said, it's a good team, but not a great team, with a very good resume. I think they've slightly overachieved relative to talent. But the B1G is a well-scouted league, and they've known how to expose the Badgers, especially in road games. The good news is: we're not going to see any B1G teams in the first weekend. That alone boosts my confidence in a Sweet 16 run.

 

[yourout]

The lack of any kind of inside shot blocker has really been a problem over the last month.

The only way this team gets much better next year is if they portal in a big dynamic replacement for Wahl. 

Crowl is what he is. Ok player but this is his ceiling. He's never going to be a Frank or an Ethan. Hell he's never going to even be a Nate.

When he's done Winter is going to be a far better player than Crowl but it will take some time. He's going to need at least another year of development before he can start asserting himself.

[RedStickBrew]

Another factor for this team has been 3 point FGs. When they shoot a good 3 point percentage they usually win, bad percentage they usually lose. 

[Playing Catch]

1 hour ago, yourout said:

Hell he's never going to even be a Nate

I'd take Crowl over Reuvers. Not even sour grapes.

Optimist- This team is good but unlucky... F4 is possible with parity in NCAA and a lucky draw.

Pessimist- I hate this team. They are hurting me so, so much.

[RedStickBrew]

Who is that #22 with the put back dunk?