2024 - 25 Wisconsin Basketball Thread

[yourout]

28 minutes ago, Jim French Stepstool said:

It almost looked like they allowed a lot of physical play then decided "whoops" & started blowing the whistle more. We'll see I guess.

Tonje definitely needs to be judicious on the drives.

Man they reach and grab.

[yourout]

Phantom travel really hurt 

[yourout]

Not their night. 

Learn and move on.

[Cool Hand Lucroy]

Lot of inconsistent whistle all around tonight. Phantom fouls called, actual contact not.

My analysis of this one (before it even ends) is that Maryland was super hot from three, the Badgers couldn't match and missed too many at the line.

All in all, I thought UW played pretty well. This is why it's so tough to win on the road. If they can salvage the split in Evanston, that's a good week.

Obviously, some things to clean up. Turnovers in the first half. Couple of breakdowns that ended up in threes late. Seemed to run out of gas in the final five.

Good effort. Probably needed an A+ game tonight, and I think they only managed a B one.

Badgers haven't lost a game outside of Quad 1. If you could have one back, you'd want the Michigan win at home. Or maybe @UCLA. Still looking like a team that could actually be a 4-6 seed if they keep playing at the level they're capable of.

[yourout]

Maryland loaded with talent.

[Cool Hand Lucroy]

8 minutes ago, yourout said:

Maryland loaded with talent.

For sure. That's a good basketball team. No wonder the computers love them. The only thing that stings about losing is that it was chance to add a major quality win.

It's pretty hard for me to imagine this team missing the tournament at this point. My one concern seeding wise is that there are not a lot of high-end wins. Two of their Q1 victories are OSU and @USC, and both of those are the lowest Q1 ones you can get. We're rooting for those teams the rest of the way. Those two are going to wobble on the Q1/Q2 border I'd bet.

Arizona is a great win. The next best is....Pitt on a neutral? The OSU win? It's a weird resume because there is nothing even close to a bad loss and a bunch of good wins. There just aren't many great wins.

They'll have chances to fix that with Illinois and Oregon at the Kohl, plus @MSU and @Purdue. I kind of think the Northwestern game is pretty big. That one and @Iowa are likely to be very gettable Q1 games. I'm really hoping for that 4-6 line, which makes a S16 very doable.

[Oxy]

First poorish offensive game since the Michigan game.  Maryland didn't play great either other than their secondary pieces just flat out scorching the nets in the 2nd half.  UW guarded the paint and rebounded much better than I thought they would, and mostly contained Gillespie as well.  Basically we played the way we wanted to on D, making Rice and Miguel and their bench beat us, and beat us they did.  The looks were a little TOO open at times, but credit to them for knocking them down.

[Jim French Stepstool]

38 minutes ago, Cool Hand Lucroy said:

 

My analysis of this one (before it even ends) is that Maryland was super hot from three, the Badgers couldn't match and missed too many at the line.

 

Obviously, some things to clean up. Turnovers in the first half. Couple of breakdowns that ended up in threes late. Seemed to run out of gas in the final five.

 

That sums it up well. During the MD run in the 2nd half, it started with a three from a guy who hit 4 all season to that point. Then a 25 footer, then later on one that banked in. In a road game, raucous crowd, good opponent, that stuff kinda seals it.

I thought we defended pretty well, but MD guarded extremely well. Feeding Crowl in the post looked like a good counter but they started to double at times. And while I don't know the final numbers, it didn't seem like we were all THAT much stronger with the ball in the 2nd half. Queen & Reese just cause a LOT of issues & those two in the Badgers' heads were a big part of some of the missed 2 footers. And Gillespie got comfy & very effective as the game unfolded.

Not a good day from 3 for UW, but we never really got many comfortable looks either. And not a good night to have the FT% take a night off.

I kinda hope Crowl, in the home stretch of his career, limits the 3pt attempts to late-in-the-clock stuff. We need him to either score in the post, or draw doubles & pass out of them.

McGee spent much of the 2nd half as the primary ballhandler, which was smart. But at the end of the day the MD D was just too consistently good.

[Jim French Stepstool]

15 minutes ago, Cool Hand Lucroy said:

For sure. That's a good basketball team. No wonder the computers love them. The only thing that stings about losing is that it was chance to add a major quality win.

It's pretty hard for me to imagine this team missing the tournament at this point. My one concern seeding wise is that there are not a lot of high-end wins. Two of their Q1 victories are OSU and @USC, and both of those are the lowest Q1 ones you can get. We're rooting for those teams the rest of the way. Those two are going to wobble on the Q1/Q2 border I'd bet.

Arizona is a great win. The next best is....Pitt on a neutral? The OSU win? It's a weird resume because there is nothing even close to a bad loss and a bunch of good wins. There just aren't many great wins.

They'll have chances to fix that with Illinois and Oregon at the Kohl, plus @MSU and @Purdue. I kind of think the Northwestern game is pretty big. That one and @Iowa are likely to be very gettable Q1 games. I'm really hoping for that 4-6 line, which makes a S16 very doable.

Hopefully 'Zona keeps rolling. Big win for them over Iowa State. Not your fathers' UNC, but Pitt beating them was good to see.

[Playing Catch]

I think if one were to watch last night's game at Maryland, but have no idea what the outcome of the shots were, Badger fans would feel pretty good. Badgers just missed one or two too many 3s and free throws compared to this season's averages, and Maryland made one or two more 3's and free throws. Combining those would be a 12-point swing.

While individual calls may have left viewers scratching their heads, I thought the officiating was strong. I didn't think either team was unduly credited, nor hindered, by their style of play. Those games can be tough to officiate, but I'm sure Maryland fans can't believe that our post players didn't foul out, considering how many close twos Queen missed (FG - 3/14).

Obviously, the x-factor in this boxscore was Miguel and Rice combining for 7/11 behind the arc. Gillespie's banked in 30-footer, with 10 seconds left in the shot clock, at the 4-minute mark really symbolized life on the road in a jacked-up arena.

Great opponent. Good game played well by both teams and the officials.

[Cool Hand Lucroy]

13 hours ago, Jim French Stepstool said:

Hopefully 'Zona keeps rolling. Big win for them over Iowa State. Not your fathers' UNC, but Pitt beating them was good to see.

And Rutgers winning at NW makes that road win Q1, albeit (again) barely. It's weird that the Badgers could have anywhere from 5 (really good) to 2 (meh) Q1 wins depending on some arbitrary borders, but that just shows the kinds of wins they have. A lot of good wins and very few awesome wins.

Still, team looks good. Enjoyable to watch and capable of winning in March.

[RedStickBrew]

1 hour ago, Cool Hand Lucroy said:

Still, team looks good. Enjoyable to watch and capable of winning in March.

Pretty much sums it up for me. Badgers had some difficulty with MD defensive pressure but still had plenty of open looks later in the shot clock that they just didn’t knock down. MD made 12 threes- that was pretty much the ball game.

Would be nice to get Klesmit going before March comes around

[Underachiever]

1 hour ago, RedStickBrew said:

Would be nice to get Klesmit going before March comes around

I'm really down on Max. 1 of 8? I just don't believe it's going in when he shoots it. And if that's how you are shooting from the floor, don't miss both of your free throws.

That was such a typical Maryland game. Second half fouls, handsy defense, a guard getting hot (and banking in a three). I mean take your pick. Klesmit's shooting, team missing four of first six free throws, I think the radio postgame said they were 9 of 22 on layups, officials deciding that charges were going to be a thing again, Blackwell not a good enough PG to handle it against their defense, it was just not their night. Maryland is a good team.

[Jim French Stepstool]

14 hours ago, Cool Hand Lucroy said:

And Rutgers winning at NW makes that road win Q1, albeit (again) barely. It's weird that the Badgers could have anywhere from 5 (really good) to 2 (meh) Q1 wins depending on some arbitrary borders, but that just shows the kinds of wins they have. A lot of good wins and very few awesome wins.

Still, team looks good. Enjoyable to watch and capable of winning in March.

I acknowledge the Q1, Q2 stuff as being important, It's just a little too nebulous for me to follow it THAT closely. What's most important to me is to limit the 'bad' losses, and hopefully have zero. It's just the nature of this league that you're going to get chopped down if you don't come ready to play, or if the other team brings urgency. Illinois has fallen victim to that. Win the games the computers say they 'should' win & see what you can do with the rest. I think I'll be happy with that.

RU being Q1 now, that surprises me.

[Jim French Stepstool]

11 hours ago, Underachiever said:

I'm really down on Max. 1 of 8? I just don't believe it's going in when he shoots it. And if that's how you are shooting from the floor, don't miss both of your free throws.

 

A subpar year so far for him, for sure. But I suspect they stick with him AFA playing time, starting, etc. because he's shown what he's capable of, and the staff knows how valuable getting him in a groove would be. To combine "effective Max" with the ability of Blackwell & Tonje to get into the lane would be awesome. What I thought hurt even more than the poor shooting was when he combined it with some poor decisions & flat out dumb play earlier in the season. At least that's (mostly) been cleaned up.

It's his last go-around. hopefully he finds his stroke.

 

[Playing Catch]

I don't follow return dates for each school, but some of those road wins in the B1G took place before students returned. If the Maryland game is any judge, road wins will be hard to come by every night in the B1G, as Illinois found out last night. Boy, do they miss Ivicic.

[Cool Hand Lucroy]

11 hours ago, Jim French Stepstool said:

I acknowledge the Q1, Q2 stuff as being important, It's just a little too nebulous for me to follow it THAT closely. What's most important to me is to limit the 'bad' losses, and hopefully have zero. It's just the nature of this league that you're going to get chopped down if you don't come ready to play, or if the other team brings urgency. Illinois has fallen victim to that. Win the games the computers say they 'should' win & see what you can do with the rest. I think I'll be happy with that.

RU being Q1 now, that surprises me.

Yeah, it will work itself out. And there's still a lot of basketball between now and Selection Sunday.

I think, from a Badgers perspective, the team's seeding is going to be really vulnerable to fluctuations around Rutgers, USC, Ohio State, and UCF. I don't think those fluctuations should impact how we assess the Badgers one bit, but the committee, staring at so, so much data, will see a team with 6 or 7 Q1 wins, for example, so differently than one with 3 or 4. Like you said, one of the vagueries of the sport and trying to assess some 50 potential at-large teams.

Of course, if we just keep doing what we're doing, we should be able to get some big wins down the stretch. Not many "bad" loss opportunities left on the schedule. Really just home Washington and (to a lesser extent) home Indiana.

 

[Jim French Stepstool]

Northwestern. They always strike me as the type of opponent where how the scout team prepares you is really important. Martinelli & Barnhizer both play what many refer to as an 'old mans' game', relying on positioning, being in the right spot on the floor & making good decisions in the half court. Barnhizer is out with an injury today, so that is good news. If we can keep any of their guards from going off & having a hot game you'd think UW will be in good shape. But they usually defend well & this is a group that's beaten a couple of teams the Badgers have lost to, so hopefully that (plus it's a road game) has their attention.

NW has had some really effective post-doubles vs UW in the past, making life tough for people like Happ & Wahl. I'll be interested to see if they do that today or play Crowl sraightup with Nicholson. I'll guess the latter.

[yourout]

Worst half of the season. 

 

[young guns]

I would use the word ugly to describe the first half, but that would insult the word ugly.

[Jim French Stepstool]

Northwestern prepared for us very, very well. I've seen NW do this defensively to UW before, but you'd hope this Badger team wouldn't respond so poorly to excellent defense--and make no mistake, their defense WAS excellent. But I'm seeing cutters into the lane fumbling passes, passes at peoples' feet, etc. They've once again taken a UW post player out of the game--Crowl had only one good look all half--we just need the 'extra' pass to be executed better. And don't settle. Tonje had a couple really questionable 3pt shots. Fortunately one of them went in. Continue to at least look to drive. Only issue I had defensively was late closeouts on a handful of NW threes.

Let's get Blackwell back on the floor & go from there.

[Jim French Stepstool]

37 minutes ago, yourout said:

Worst half of the season. 

 

On the offensive end, no doubt.

Unless Klesmit can get & knock down a couple early looks in the 2nd half, this may be a game where McGee should get the lions' share of PT. 

[yourout]

I think the earth must be off it's axis. 

Gilmore with 14?

[yourout]

50 point 2nd half.

[Jim French Stepstool]

(exhale).

So for one wonderful, glorious hour in February of 2025, Carter Gilmore went back in time to his HS days when he was abusing Waukesha South, Mukwonago & Sussex Hamilton. To not only have the game of your career, but have it when it was desperately needed------there are no words. And he did it while trying to slow down Martinelli on the other end. Kudos also to Klesmit for a nice 2nd half, and to Tonje for being Tonje. 

The immediate concern is adjusting to what's going on early AFA how we're being defended. Too many 1st half TOs, again. Doubling the output in the 2nd half works though😎.