2024 - 25 Wisconsin Basketball Thread

[yourout]

Must be getting close to Halloween with all the phantoms the refs are seeing on one end.

[yourout]

Nice win. 

I really like this team.

[Oxy]

Great win...had the blip AGAIN in the first 6 minutes of the 2nd half but responded in kind to close it out easily.  Is Tonje sick? injured?

[Jim French Stepstool]

1 hour ago, Oxy said:

Great half...again. Can we avoid the typical let down in defensive intensity in the 2nd half?

The offense will basically take care of itself, PARTICULARLY if we avoid TOs.

Kinda like the Ohio State game, one guy got going---in this case Claude---and his teammates fed off it. A few possessions by UW where the trigger was a little quick fed it, too. Probably more than anything, USC is a little too good to NOT put up a run at some point. But yeah, too many TOs by Bucky.

[Jim French Stepstool]

So much fun to have a team that picks each other up, like with Tonje being shut off today. Whether it was scoring, setting up teammates, or being bothersome on defense, Klesmit had about as productive a second half as you could hope for. Blackwell was all over the floor offensively. And I'm running out of superlatives for McGee.

A decent game from Crowl, but one of the announcing team made a good point about his maybe being more aggressive in a few instances.

This many TOs & still scoring in the 80s. Definitely not your dads' Badgers.

[Jim French Stepstool]

14 minutes ago, Oxy said:

Great win...had the blip AGAIN in the first 6 minutes of the 2nd half but responded in kind to close it out easily.  Is Tonje sick? injured?

I thought SC just did a real nice job of keeping him out of the lane & off the FT line. He got a little impatient & forced a time or two, and by crunch time the right lineup to finish it out--this time-- simply didn't include him. It's great to have enough depth to deal with that.

[Oxy]

9 minutes ago, Jim French Stepstool said:

A decent game from Crowl, but one of the announcing team made a good point about his maybe being more aggressive in a few instances.

He is 100% correct...yet that has been the gripe against Steve for 4 years running now.  The guy just doesn't have a quick move to the hoop in his makeup.  He'd RATHER get doubled so he can pass, and he does that well.  At this point he is what he is, and that is pretty good.

Winter, on the other hand, can see a crack and take advantage immediately--as long as he is facing the hoop.  If he can keep that mindset AND develop a back to the basket low post game (then develop the passing out of double teams like Happ/Crowl) Winter could be REALLY special.

[Cool Hand Lucroy]

4 hours ago, Jim French Stepstool said:

So much fun to have a team that picks each other up, like with Tonje being shut off today. Whether it was scoring, setting up teammates, or being bothersome on defense, Klesmit had about as productive a second half as you could hope for. Blackwell was all over the floor offensively. And I'm running out of superlatives for McGee.

A decent game from Crowl, but one of the announcing team made a good point about his maybe being more aggressive in a few instances.

This many TOs & still scoring in the 80s. Definitely not your dads' Badgers.

Agree on all of this.

I will say, they are starting to defend, and if they figure things out on that end of the floor, look out. Anyone in the backcourt can get hot and go for 25, and that's a great place to be.

Amos should something in the first half, which was good to see, and Winter, as others have said, looks like he might be something really impressive.

I was hoping for a split in CA. Now I'm greedy, of course, and I wouldn't call at UCLA a "house money" game, but the Badgers will definitely be underdogs.

I'm still not sure how good this team IS, but I'm getting a little fired up imaging what it CAN be. They're going to be a lot of teams playing like they did in the first half these past two nights. And they closed strong today.

The schedule is....not that bad? You look at it and think, "These guys will probably lose at Purdue and MSU, but they should have a good shot in every other game."

We'll see.

EDIT: rewatching a little bit, and maybe this will make me sound like a total homer, but John Blackwell might legit be one of the most underrated players in the country. That dude can do so many things it's ridiculous.

[Jim French Stepstool]

7 hours ago, Cool Hand Lucroy said:

Agree on all of this.

I will say, they are starting to defend, and if they figure things out on that end of the floor, look out. Anyone in the backcourt can get hot and go for 25, and that's a great place to be.

Amos should something in the first half, which was good to see, and Winter, as others have said, looks like he might be something really impressive.

I was hoping for a split in CA. Now I'm greedy, of course, and I wouldn't call at UCLA a "house money" game, but the Badgers will definitely be underdogs.

I'm still not sure how good this team IS, but I'm getting a little fired up imaging what it CAN be. They're going to be a lot of teams playing like they did in the first half these past two nights. And they closed strong today.

The schedule is....not that bad? You look at it and think, "These guys will probably lose at Purdue and MSU, but they should have a good shot in every other game."

We'll see.

EDIT: rewatching a little bit, and maybe this will make me sound like a total homer, but John Blackwell might legit be one of the most underrated players in the country. That dude can do so many things it's ridiculous.

Definitely starting to defend more consistently. And what's nice is you go to the bench, and those guys are guarding well, sometimes exceptionally so. Amos was a weak link there but he's getting better & not shying away from contact. Even starting to move his feet pretty well on the perimeter. Just like with Winter, if he can add a little good weight & strength while keeping the athleticism, look out.

Blackwell, nationally, probably IS under the radar. Throw in that he's running point--something he wasn't really recruited to do--and it's even more impressive.

[Jim French Stepstool]

Finally looked at the game box. I guess the stat of the day would hafta be UW going 22-27 on 2PT FGA.

After 18 games, five players averaging over 10 PPG. Gotta love that.

[yourout]

Playing Iowa level defense so far in this one. 

Bo would have subbed all five with the way they are guarding so far 

[yourout]

UCLA coach seems like kind of a whiny little douche nozzle

[Jim French Stepstool]

6 minutes ago, yourout said:

UCLA coach seems like kind of a whiny little douche nozzle

Cronin is one of those guys that preaches a hard-nosed type of play, which made me wonder how he'd fit at a place like UCLA. Right now both teams are probably getting a little better looks than both coaches want to see. 

B****ing about the supposed pushoff by Tonje on his 3pt that wasn't called, right in front of Cronin, may have gotten him the intentional call late in the half. I mean, it WAS intentional, but I don't remember the last time something like that was whistled when a team is giving fouls late in a half.

[Jim French Stepstool]

Rebounding & protecting the ball are the big bugaboos so far.

[yourout]

These guys play purdue-like defense. Clutch grab hack and dare the refs to call everything

[yourout]

Dupe

[yourout]

There is some serious home cooking by the zebras in this one.

[Oxy]

Lots and lots and lots of ifs and buts this game.  In the end it is a close excusable loss, unlike all the other losses by B1G teams tonight.  Hopefully Washington can contribute in that category vs Oregon.

Great fight by UW.

[Jim French Stepstool]

Three significant things happened. They had people---primarily Mack---getting into the lane pretty much at will, getting fouled, and when not getting fouled making shots. Those weren't all layups either, a lot of 8-10 footers, comfortable takes because........

no one could help off the bigs. Bilodeau is just too good, and the 7'3" kid came in averaging a bit more than 4PPG, scored 22 & didn't miss a shot from the floor. That's one of those deals where he probably wasn't even a focus on the scouting report. A SR-year Nolan Winter could've been a big help tonite; one of those games where a lack of strength hurt. I wasn't nuts about our defense in the 1st half, but late I thought it was OK, they just beat it.

And thirteen TOs is too many, if UCLA is only going to have six & shoot just over 50%. The rebounding numbers where closer than I thought. It seemed worse due to some timely OREB from the home team.

44 Fouls called, 23 on us. I thought the whistles were too plentiful, but that went both ways.

It wasn't for lack of effort, but I thought Kamari McGee was sort of nondescript tonite, which is rare.

From the "expert analysis isn't always expert" department, UCLA was up 3 with 6.8 seconds left & had one more FT coming. The PBP guy mentioned the strategy of fouling if it stays a 3-pt lead, then mentioned how they go up 4 if the second FT is made. The analyst says "I'd foul either way". OK, boss...........

[Playing Catch]

There were plenty of talking points from last night's game, and even though the officiating wasn't the worst home-coooking I've seen, that stretch of play from about the 10-minute mark to about the 5-minute mark featured several frustrating calls/non-calls all going UCLA's way. The Badgers were called for about 4 pushing fouls on defensive rebounds, and UCLA was not called for a lot of physical play on the other end. This corresponded with UCLA switching the score right before free throws were to determine the game. Cronin knew it at about the 7-minute mark with a 7+ point lead, and he started bleeding clock.

Badgers were able to make a run, but alas...

After the game, Cronin thought the officiating was fair, which tells you all you need to know.

[Yaz19]

Why oh why didn't Gard call a timeout when the Badgers got the ball back with around :25 left?  They had 2 TO''s left.   Instead they ran 20 secs off clock and ran a very disjointed sequence with Blackwell getting rejected on shot.  

[Jim French Stepstool]

7 hours ago, Playing Catch said:

There were plenty of talking points from last night's game, and even though the officiating wasn't the worst home-coooking I've seen, that stretch of play from about the 10-minute mark to about the 5-minute mark featured several frustrating calls/non-calls all going UCLA's way. The Badgers were called for about 4 pushing fouls on defensive rebounds, and UCLA was not called for a lot of physical play on the other end. This corresponded with UCLA switching the score right before free throws were to determine the game. Cronin knew it at about the 7-minute mark with a 7+ point lead, and he started bleeding clock.

Badgers were able to make a run, but alas...

After the game, Cronin thought the officiating was fair, which tells you all you need to know.

That would be my biggest quibble with the refs; a few of the rebounding fouls that were called/not called in the 2nd half. Otherwise eh. They got in the lane & just about any contact was called but it was the same with us most of the time w/Blackwell. And like I mentioned previously, the 2-shots-and-the-ball call on Janicki late in the 1st half was sort of weird.

As long as any home cooking UCLA received is returned on Sunday. Nebraska has size that plays physically, something they haven't always had.

[Jim French Stepstool]

5 hours ago, Yaz19 said:

Why oh why didn't Gard call a timeout when the Badgers got the ball back with around :25 left?  They had 2 TO''s left.   Instead they ran 20 secs off clock and ran a very disjointed sequence with Blackwell getting rejected on shot.  

I thought if they TO'd they might very well have wound up with the same thing--the ball in Blackwells' hands. That worked much of the half, and the pullup he took is a good shot for him. Unfortunately the 2nd defender just came off his man & blocked the shot. Tonje would've been a good 2nd option but most of his damage was from 3pt range last nite. Down two I think they would've been happy going to OT w/UCLA having lost 2 starters to fouls.

It looked like he had someone (I think Klesmit) available for a three, but like I said he put up a shot he regularly makes. Just a nice comeback, the end of which sucked.

[Playing Catch]

20 hours ago, Yaz19 said:

Why oh why didn't Gard call a timeout when the Badgers got the ball back with around :25 left?  They had 2 TO''s left.   Instead they ran 20 secs off clock and ran a very disjointed sequence with Blackwell getting rejected on shot.  

I've noticed a number of teams these days that treat that situation (well, down 1, anyway), like a last shot opportunity and it drives me insane.

Blackwell screwed up. That's the only explanation for me. he wasted at least 10 seconds before shooting a horrendous shot. Just failure all around.

[Jim French Stepstool]

If we bring energy defensively today, the only big concern about Nebraska is matching up with Juwan Gary, who brings a lot of passion on both ends of the floor. Once again, Carter Gilmore is probably going to be important in trying to at least neutralize him.

That, and hope that whoever is chasing Essegian through screens got a real good nights' sleep.