2023-24 Wisconsin Basketball season thread

[Oxy]

Game Day!!

[Jim French Stepstool]

Arkansas State has played 2 exhibitions. As is almost always the case the competition wasn't strong, but they scored 112 points in both games, which should indicate how they want to play. They've shot the ball really well from 3-PT range in those games as well.

They've also given up almost 80 ppg in the exhibitions. Run your stuff & you should be able to get a lot of good looks.

[Oxy]

Yikes.  Interesting half.

No issues with the offense other than the missed FTs.  The defense leaves a lot to be desired, however.  Had Ark St. not gifted us multiple TOs it would be a tight game.

[Oxy]

That seemed like a throw away game. Neither "team" played anything resembling a team basketball game...it was much closer to Saturday morning at the REC or an AAU game than  a DI basketball game.  No team defense on either side, but there were some decent offensive players and thus a whistle fest/free throw fest.

We had the majority of better players so we won easily, but Hicks and Fields had their own advantages at times.  If we play this way in the B1G we'll go 7-13.

It's not all negative though. Obviously, Storr and Blackwell and even Winter definitely look like they belong, and that's really important as the rest of the roster is a known commodity.

If the defense comes together this team has a very high upside. If it doesn't, it has a very low downside...

[homer]

dang. that was like a 78 possession game. crazy fast pace for UW

[Jim French Stepstool]

It looked like they wanted to take away the 3-pt looks as Arky State shot it well from out there in their exhibitions. They did an OK job of that, but the transition D, switching & foot movement to prevent penetration left a lot to be desired. Resulted in a lot of reaching & out-of-position fouls from Wahl & Crowl, which resulted in foul issues & some extra minutes from the bench, and it snowballed a little. I've seen early season issues of this ilk before, it'll get corrected. If it doesn't before Friday it'll be tough to beat Tennessee, which guards well.

Storr might be an all-B10 type if he gets more consistent on the defensive end.

Winter had a pretty nice debut, Isaac Lindsey took advantage of his minutes with a solid game, and John Blackwell was just terrific.

Arkansas State may wind up being a force in the Sun Belt simply by outscoring people. It won't happen based on getting a lot of key stops, that's pretty certain.

[Oxy]

LOL@MSU

[Jim French Stepstool]

15 hours ago, Oxy said:

LOL@MSU

I saw your post & flipped on BTN. Holy crap.

That's another Sun Belt team. Arkansas State may have trouble being the force I suggested lol.

[wildcat83]

Gus was cited on two separate occasions in Madison.  Once underage drinking with a fake ID and once weed.  Guessing he would have some sort of team rules violation with the tickets.  Not sure why you need to take a leave of absence from the team over tickets.  Work hard in practice while you serve your suspension which would probably be very brief and move on.  This seems a little dramatic.

[Oxy]

1 hour ago, wildcat83 said:

Gus was cited on two separate occasions in Madison.  Once underage drinking with a fake ID and once weed.  Guessing he would have some sort of team rules violation with the tickets.  Not sure why you need to take a leave of absence from the team over tickets.  Work hard in practice while you serve your suspension which would probably be very brief and move on.  This seems a little dramatic.

Well.  Maybe Nolan Winter is a straight arrow but impressionable.  Maybe Gus is influential.

Gus got in trouble for being a college kid....but clearly not a very bright college kid.  It's not hard to not get ticketed by the police for being a college kid in Madison unless you are obnoxious about it.  He's a basketball player so he is going to have a microscope on him...ESPECIALLY as a freshmen.  ONCE is dumb...TWICE is inexcusable and something needs to be done about it, like a leave of absence/counseling/etc.

[homer]

2 hours ago, wildcat83 said:

Gus was cited on two separate occasions in Madison.  Once underage drinking with a fake ID and once weed.  Guessing he would have some sort of team rules violation with the tickets.  Not sure why you need to take a leave of absence from the team over tickets.  Work hard in practice while you serve your suspension which would probably be very brief and move on.  This seems a little dramatic.

Maybe it's "Hey you need to be away from the team for a few weeks, buddy." A suspension that isn't a suspension.

[MrTPlush]

Classic over punishment in the PR world to look good and make NCAA happy. 

[Jim French Stepstool]

2 hours ago, Oxy said:

Well.  Maybe Nolan Winter is a straight arrow but impressionable.  Maybe Gus is influential.

Gus got in trouble for being a college kid....but clearly not a very bright college kid.  It's not hard to not get ticketed by the police for being a college kid in Madison unless you are obnoxious about it.  He's a basketball player so he is going to have a microscope on him...ESPECIALLY as a freshmen.  ONCE is dumb...TWICE is inexcusable and something needs to be done about it, like a leave of absence/counseling/etc.

I agree with this. His underage drinking adventure was at the opening football game at Camp Randall. You hafta "stand out" to draw the attention of authorities there with everything else that's going on. Throw in the fact that you're 6'8" or whatever he is......not smart

None of us know the answer to this, but it's possible he's had issues with this stuff since he was fifteen, and now that he's thrown into a college atmosphere it's accelerated. There are many levels of attention that could be necessary to deal with this. Hopefully it isn't of the more serious vein, but either way at least some time away from the team seems appropriate. 

 

 

[yourout]

Storr certainly brings an athletic score that they haven't had since JD left but they still don't have the horses to match up with Tennessee.

Got it to even but then that last 5 minutes of the half was pretty ugly.

[yourout]

second half looking awful lot like last year.

 

[homer]

43 minutes ago, yourout said:

second half looking awful lot like last year.

 

 

 

[Oxy]

Storr and Winter are bad defenders...they are both young and have the capability to be good defenders but they just got abused by a team full of grown men who know how to play basketball.

There is more offensive capability on  this team than any Badger team since '15.  The increase in pace is interesting and something I'm just not used to after the last 30 years of Badger ball.  I don't have a problem with it if they can hold up on the defensive end...unfortunately I don't think they have enough horses to consistently push it AND play with the defensive intensity necessary to...say...win the B1G.

Both Tennessee and Ark St played hyper aggressive on the ball one on one extended defense, which made driving the ball necessary.  It will be fun to play a team like Virginia that will pack it in and slow everything down and see how we adjust.  The lack of open 3 pointers is almost weird...I guess basketball is cyclical and the 3 ball has been SO prominent the last dozen years perhaps the pendulum is swinging away from the perimeter.

It should be a fun year.

[valpocrewsader]

This Vols team is a veteran group that was already great before getting an influx of top notch transfers. Very skilled, very strong, very well coached, deep, experienced, etc.  Knecht (sp) was a monster tonight, but if we had held him in check someone else would have stepped up.  It may have said Tennessee across the front of their jerseys, but it felt like a prime UNC or Kansas team. 

[Jim French Stepstool]

On the way home from the KC tonight I heard something that I thought was pretty incredible. There were 13 times tonight that Wisconsin scored to make it a one-possession game. Tennessee followed up those successful trips by answering with a score.......all thirteen times. Sometimes it was too much penetration allowed or another defensive breakdown, 2-3 of those times I thought they got the short end of the stick on a call, and a couple other times I thought they had great defensive possessions. Once there was a bucket just ahead of the shot clock, another time someone (I think it was Wahl) was out-fought & gave up a putback. Tennessee's just a really good team.

Defense was much better in the 2nd half after a mediocre first 20 minutes, and I liked the way they took the ball to the hole, just not enough finishes.

They'll get blasted for the FT shooting, but IMO that criticism needs to focus on Wahl. The rest of the team shot 75% from the line. Wahl was 2-7, and really struggled on both ends the last 5-6 minutes. Otherwise I have no major complaints about individual performances (Winter & Blackwell were mostly non-factors, but that wasn't surprising given the opponent & the fact it was their 2nd game.

I'd have felt good going in if I knew how much of a non-factor Vescovi was going to be, but Knecht just kept making plays. Did not see that coming.

[Jim French Stepstool]

2 hours ago, Oxy said:

Storr and Winter are bad defenders...they are both young and have the capability to be good defenders but they just got abused by a team full of grown men who know how to play basketball.

There is more offensive capability on  this team than any Badger team since '15.  The increase in pace is interesting and something I'm just not used to after the last 30 years of Badger ball.  I don't have a problem with it if they can hold up on the defensive end...unfortunately I don't think they have enough horses to consistently push it AND play with the defensive intensity necessary to...say...win the B1G.

Both Tennessee and Ark St played hyper aggressive on the ball one on one extended defense, which made driving the ball necessary.  It will be fun to play a team like Virginia that will pack it in and slow everything down and see how we adjust.  The lack of open 3 pointers is almost weird...I guess basketball is cyclical and the 3 ball has been SO prominent the last dozen years perhaps the pendulum is swinging away from the perimeter.

It should be a fun year.

I thought Storr was much better defensively in half 2 after a poor first 20 minutes. Winter just isn't ready yet for that kind of strength & experience.

That was pretty sticky perimeter defense, for sure. But I think they would've put a premium on trying to drive the ball anyway. I know one thing Gard is emphasizing is not "settling" for jumpers & trying to get them by going inside-out. I think he felt they had a possible advantage driving & also scoring in the paint with Crowl & Wahl. Obviously not enough finishes though.

I expect them to get better defensively as the season unfolds. Too many guys who have guarded well in the past not to.

Agree about Virginia & going against the pack-line defense. Really hoping Essegian is 100% by then. He didn't look like himself to me tonight.

[Oxy]

@Providence.  On the 3rd game of the season. 4 days after losing at home the Tennessee.

This season is going to be just as stupidly dramatic as last season.

That's why college basketball is the best.  Every game matters...yet it doesn't REALLY matter...cuz you'll play another game to redeem yourself in like 3-5 days.  And for the Badgers, I get the feeling 25 more toss-ups are coming out of the next 30 games, and then every game after that they are lucky enough to win.

This game almost feels bigger after that loss on Friday though.  1-2 isn't a good start, and the schedule doesn't exactly get softer.

[Jim French Stepstool]

As is usually the case when playing a P5 on the road, defending well gives you a chance. I expect that end of the floor to get better as we go; it certainly wasn't good in the 1st half last Friday.

Decent Friar team, but not at the consistency/depth level of a Tennessee. Make them score in the half court, do a better job with the rules---over/under screens as needed, switching, helping, hedging---and you can pick up a nice road win. Hope Essegian is at or close to 100%.

[yourout]

Woof. tough 1st half.

[yourout]

Upper classmen a complete no show so far

[yourout]

I feel like i have time traveled back to the 70s we're the only UW men's sport that didn't stink was hockey.