2023-24 Wisconsin Basketball season thread

[Jim French Stepstool]

2 hours ago, yourout said:

A Nebraska will in double OT would be nice.

I want nothing to do Illinois. To much talent.

 

On edit... Illinois is a F4 team. So much talent.

Nebraska looks like they can beat anyone the way they've been playing, if they can defend just a little bit. Missed most of the 2nd half of the 2nd game today, was more than a little surprised to learn it was 58-36 Illinois. I've felt Crowl, if aggressive, can get a lot done in the post vs them, but now Dainja is getting used more & looked good vs Ohio State. 

It's gonna be tough no matter how you slice it, but Illinois is playing for the 3rd day in a row themselves & I believe we have a little more effective depth. Maybe the 3-headed power forward steps up. Perhaps Winter (I like his increased aggressiveness) has a good day. Maybe a little more run from McGee.

And there's this guy on the bench with fresh legs who's been known to get hot from deep. Maybe...............

[RedStickBrew]

Love this

 

[LouisEly]

18 hours ago, brooks_quichenick said:

Can't wait for Purdue to not have B1G officials giving Edey every call next weekend.

Can't wait for Purdue to have a group of Pac-12 officials for their games next weekend.

[RedStickBrew]

Well UW hung with them for a half. Going to need to tighten up the D in the second half to have a chance

[yourout]

4 minutes ago, RedStickBrew said:

Well UW hung with them for a half. Going to need to tighten up the D in the second half to have a chance

Gave up to many offensive boards

[Jim French Stepstool]

Tighten up the D. Keep Illinois out of transition. If we shoot early in the clock fine, but it can't result in a long rebound. Keeping them from running also means cut back on the TOs (we usually do that after halftime). This might be a longshot because he's in a funk right now, but a good 2nd half from Wahl could be instrumental.

Gilmore doing the relentless hustle stuff he always does, except this time it's resulting in points for him. He deserves it.

I wonder what kind of SR year Hepburn could have if he builds on this. He's arguably playing the best ball of his career right now.

[RedStickBrew]

Probably a horrible idea but I wonder if Gard would go with both Crowl and Winter together to see if we can’t do some interior damage on these guys

[Jim French Stepstool]

4 minutes ago, yourout said:

Gave up to many offensive boards

Agreed, but that's a good OREB team. Keeping them in the halfcourt might give us a chance there. Would be nice if Wahl channels his inner Peter Frampton and Comes Alive. Fortunately we're hitting the offensive boards pretty well ourselves.

[RedStickBrew]

3 minutes ago, Jim French Stepstool said:

Tighten up the D. Keep Illinois out of transition. If we shoot early in the clock fine, but it can't result in a long rebound. Keeping them from running also means cut back on the TOs (we usually do that after halftime). This might be a longshot because he's in a funk right now, but a good 2nd half from Wahl could be instrumental.

Gilmore doing the relentless hustle stuff he always does, except this time it's resulting in points for him. He deserves it.

I wonder what kind of SR year Hepburn could have if he builds on this. He's arguably playing the best ball of his career right now.

Sounds like Wahl has been nursing an injury. He is in a bit of foul trouble again. Not sure how realistic it is but it would be nice to get that contribution from him

[Jim French Stepstool]

2 minutes ago, RedStickBrew said:

Probably a horrible idea but I wonder if Gard would go with both Crowl and Winter together to see if we can’t do some interior damage on these guys

Did it briefly in the 1st half, then went away from it. I just don't think he likes the offensive flow when he tries it, plus I don't know if there are two guys plodding enough in the Illinois lineup to make it work defensively.

[RedStickBrew]

This is fun. 

[AKCheesehead]

That was smooth from Chucky 

[yourout]

This illinois team would be my pick for the F4.

Loaded with talent.

Better than Purdue.

[Jim French Stepstool]

42 minutes ago, yourout said:

This illinois team would be my pick for the F4.

Loaded with talent.

Better than Purdue.

You called it re the offensive boards. A few second chances for them in the 2nd half kept it from UW maybe having a 4-5 point lead late. Other than that, they just made more plays once it was 85-85. Not too much to complain about. Couple questionable foul calls hurt. But the thing about Illinois, they're loaded with these 6-5 to 6-7 guys who can make plays and, when they feel like it, defend. I would've liked for Crowl to get a few more looks in the post, but can't complain when Hepburn & Storr dominate the shot chart with the way they got things done.

Big sigh of relief when Klesmit came back in.

A liiiiiiitle bit more from Wahl in the 2nd half. Maybe he's starting to feel a little better. An extra weapon, even a 10PPG one, can make a difference.

[yourout]

At least we'll likely never have to deal with Shannon again.

This time next year he will either be in the NBA or the Kansas penal League.

[nate82]

1 hour ago, yourout said:

This illinois team would be my pick for the F4.

Loaded with talent.

Better than Purdue.

Purdue is all one player and that is it.  Everyone else on that team screams average to below average to me.  If Edey is not scoring or impacting the game then that team is completely out of sync.  That offense and even their defense revolves around Edey. 

Storr for the Badgers looks like he should be a good NBA player though he needs to put on some more muscle though that will come in time.  I think he may leave after this season as he will get a mid to late 1st round grade.  If he has a good tournament that could move him to the 10-15 pick range. 

Hepburn probably also gets a late 1st or early 2nd round pick.  Though I would like to see Hepburn do what he did against Purdue more consistently on offense.  That late drive to the basket is what he really needs to work on.  I think Hepburn could be a good lock down PG in the NBA.  Defensively I think Hepburn could play in the NBA right now though he needs to add some muscle.  Hepburn probably returns for another year as he may be able to improve his draft grade to a mid 1st round pick if he works on his offensive game.

This may be a completely different team next year without Storr and possibly Hepburn.  

 

[yourout]

15 minutes ago, nate82 said:

Purdue is all one player and that is it.  Everyone else on that team screams average to below average to me.  If Edey is not scoring or impacting the game then that team is completely out of sync.  That offense and even their defense revolves around Edey. 

Storr for the Badgers looks like he should be a good NBA player though he needs to put on some more muscle though that will come in time.  I think he may leave after this season as he will get a mid to late 1st round grade.  If he has a good tournament that could move him to the 10-15 pick range. 

Hepburn probably also gets a late 1st or early 2nd round pick.  Though I would like to see Hepburn do what he did against Purdue more consistently on offense.  That late drive to the basket is what he really needs to work on.  I think Hepburn could be a good lock down PG in the NBA.  Defensively I think Hepburn could play in the NBA right now though he needs to add some muscle.  Hepburn probably returns for another year as he may be able to improve his draft grade to a mid 1st round pick if he works on his offensive game.

This may be a completely different team next year without Storr and possibly Hepburn.  

 

I don't think there's any way Chuckie gets a first round grade. His lack of size is going to be a problem in the NBA.

[nate82]

Just now, yourout said:

I don't think there's any way Chuckie gets a first round grade. His lack of size is going to be a problem in the NBA.

I don't believe that will be a problem.  He is close to the same size as Jevon Carter and Marcus Smart.  Though I don't he is as good as Smart was offensively.  I think his defense alone should get him a late 1st or mid 2nd round grade.  He could improve that offensively and be a guaranteed late 1st or early 2nd round pick.  Though if he comes out after his senior year that would mark him down a bit.  Without any offensive improvement in his senior year that puts him at a sold 2nd round grade either that being a mid or late 2nd.  He would have to have a really good tournament performance to move him to a guaranteed late 1st or an early 2nd round grade. 

I think it is possible for him to get a late 1st round grade due to his defense.  He isn't all that undersized at the PG.  Carter was a 2nd round pick at 32 in 2018.  I think that is where Hepburn is at right now and his stock could improve a bit to get him in the late 1st round conversation.  Somewhere around 28-38 is where I could see Hepburn going if he decided to come out this year but he would need to have a good tourney offensively.  It is his offensive game that is holding him back from getting this grade.  If he doesn't have a good offensive showing in the tourney then he is probably a late 2nd round pick if he is picked at all.  If he gets the late 2nd round grade then I think he returns as he could improve that to a mid or early 2nd round pick if he can improve offensively. 

[sveumrules]

Carter was an early 2nd (#32) after putting up 15.4 PPG / 4.8 RPG / 5.2 APG / 2.8 SPG on 430/391/821 shooting splits over his junior/senior seasons, both of which saw West Virginia advance to the Sweet 16 before losing to a pair of #1 seeds.

Hepburn doesn’t have quite that level of production at 10.6 PPG / 3.1 RPG / 3.3 APG / 1.8 SPG on 395/371/716 shooting splits over his last two years.

I think he’d need a huge tournament run this year, or to come back for his senior season and take a leap in production to approach Carter’s draft position.

[RedStickBrew]

Chucky is a good on ball defender and has a nice step back j that would play in the league. But he is no where near the athlete that Carter or Smart are which is his major limitation as far as getting drafted 

[LouisEly]

Really surprised to see Nebraska and Wisconsin in the same half of the same region.  Usually they try to separate conference opponents to at least different halves of the same region.  Nebraska I think got jobbed in their seeding; Nebraska and Houston will be a really good game.

Illinois is rolling.  Too bad they're in the same region as UCONN.  I think it's 50/50 that they can beat UCONN.  Illinois has so many weapons and size/length.  Clingan won't be able to push around Dainja, and Dainja can beat him down the court easily.

[patrickgpe]

You guys got a tough draw 

[Jim French Stepstool]

After watching the selection show, I didn't bother with much of the "expert analysis". I'm just assuming most if not all talking heads out there are going with James Madison & McNeese in popular 12-5 upsets. Without being well-versed on JMU, I'm sure they're capable of pulling off a win, but nationally I think what will be lost on most people is that UW is probably playing their best ball right now, IMO even a little better than during the 16-4 start. Watching them at Penn State, Michigan & Rutgers, it's hard to believe how good they looked especially yesterday & today. I suspect they win if the trend continues. And i'm sure the time off won't hurt.

JMU knocks down about 4 of every 11 3pt attempts, so that's a concern. And a # of different guys shoot them.

Oh, and if they advance to play Duke, anyone frustrated by thinking Edey gets away with a lot, wait'll you see Filipowski do mostly whatever he wants for 38 minutes w/o consequence.

[RedStickBrew]

18 minutes ago, patrickgpe said:

You guys got a tough draw 

That was my initial reaction as well. Looking at it more JMU has the lowest RPI of the 12 seeds and I’m glad to not get UAB or GCU in round 1. Getting Dook potentially in Round 2 is tough but they are beatable. UW is playing some good ball right now so should be fun

[Jim French Stepstool]

19 minutes ago, patrickgpe said:

You guys got a tough draw 

Certainly not easy. depends on how you view it, I guess. UAB would be the preferred 12 seed for me, but then you'd have Auburn which might be the best #4 unless Kansas suddenly gets healthy. Pick your poison I suppose.