2024 - 25 Wisconsin Basketball Thread

[Oxy]

2 hours ago, LouisEly said:

Then all that does is prevent you from being down less than 8.  Why act like it's a guarantee that they'll make a shot?  It's not.  Play good defense after making the shot so that they, at best, have a low percentage shot.

If you're down 8 to a good team, you need to take some chances.

The problem wasn't necessarily taking A shot with 12 seconds left, it was taking THAT shot.  Although only a dunk or uncontested layup would be an excusable shot in that situation. Crowl was wide open for .5 seconds, Unfortunately it takes Crowl 1.5 seconds to get a shot off, and in that time the defender got in his grill.  Then it became a difficult shot, but the die was cast...

This was a long discussion for a possession that was less than ideal but not nearly worthy of all this hand wringing.  It was far far far from a game losing decision/possession even if it could have been handled better.

[Brewin]

Owen Freeman would be a great get out of the portal. UW finished second to Iowa in his original recruitment and he would be a great fit with WInter moving forward IMO 

[adambr2]

1 hour ago, Oxy said:

The problem wasn't necessarily taking A shot with 12 seconds left, it was taking THAT shot.  Although only a dunk or uncontested layup would be an excusable shot in that situation. Crowl was wide open for .5 seconds, Unfortunately it takes Crowl 1.5 seconds to get a shot off, and in that time the defender got in his grill.  Then it became a difficult shot, but the die was cast...

This was a long discussion for a possession that was less than ideal but not nearly worthy of all this hand wringing.  It was far far far from a game losing decision/possession even if it could have been handled better.

Well, it was stated even before the 2nd half that if we lost by 3 or less, that particularly play would loom large. That’s exactly what ended up happening.

I do understand that you can’t just subtract 3 points from BYU’s score and state that we would have won 89-88 without the play, though.

[homer]

5 hours ago, Jim French Stepstool said:

Me too. Mods.......maybe the off-season portal should be a separate thread, as opposed to continuing it here?

Sure. Start a thread!

[Cool Hand Lucroy]

One question I have in the wake of this Badger season is:

Going forward, is this about where the expectations for the Badgers should be? Does losing a really good regular season, a B1G tournament title game appearance, an NCAAT win, and a close, round of 32 game loss against a team that was probably a little bit underseeded constitute success?

I would say: yes.

I'm curious what others think. Bo had the two FFs and hit S16s and E8s a few times before. Gard has the two S16s since. We're now pushing a decade without a S16, so I understand wanting a little more. On the other hand, the landscape has changed so much, and I think being at this level is about where we want to be. As long as Gard keeps this up, I could see another 10-12 years of this kind of situation, and I would take that. He's still only 54. Even 5 or 6 years (coaches age more quickly in the NIL era) is great with me, hopefully with a graceful exit and transfer to the next dude.

All to say, I think this program is in a good spot. I'm also a little worried the ceiling isn't as high as it once was. Marquette certainly seems to have a higher ceiling in some ways. I think the BEast was down this year, but Pitino, Shaka, Cooley at Georgetown, even Holtman looking to turn around DePaul, Nova getting a needed new coaching hire, and that's not even mentioning "the best ***** coach in the sport" (he ain't wrong), I think that league is on a rocket for the next couple years. We'll see what comes, but definitely curious what the smarter-than-me, more behind-the-scenes Badger followers on this board think.

[bjkrautk]

The Badgers are positioned to keep getting bites at the apple, to use the phrase we've become accustomed to on the baseball side of things.  Their willingness to open up the offense, and embrace new players in the transfer portal, plus the University's being reasonably competitive in NIL means they will be good enough to make the tournament in most years.  This year's team was a legitimate contender for the Final Four, but it came up a bit short, and ran into a lower seed that hit 3s at an above-average rate.

 

Realistically, this team is going to be in about the same place in the NIL era that they were before: they're never going to have a bench full of All Americans like Duke, Kansas, UConn, or Kentucky, but they can still bring together enough talent to be competitive with those teams in a 1-and-done setting.

[Cool Hand Lucroy]

Gophs hiring Medved, Iowa gets McCollum. The neighbors made good hires. I like that, honestly. Makes things more fun and competitive.

[LouisEly]

Iowa and Minnesota have new coaches.

Iowa hasn't made it to the Sweet 16 since 1999.

Minnesota hasn't make it to the Sweet 16 since 1997.

We're doing just fine.

[Oxy]

Overall I am very satisfied with the state of the program and the job that Gard has done.  My measure of success is that going into every game on the schedule I want to have a reasonable chance at a victory.  That doesn't mean they will be favorites in every game (although it does mean MOST games).  Gard has had teams of that caliber almost every year--2018 excepted.  If you have teams of that quality, postseason success WILL eventually come.

However, if the talent level of Wisconsin and Minnesota HS basketball is the same in the next 10 years as it was in the last 10 years, I honestly think that there is another tier higher UW basketball could achieve--or at least the next decade could get back to the level it was from 2003-2017 when UW made the Sweet 16 nine out of 15 years...and the down years they were an 8 or 9 seed.

UW got their fair share of Wisconsin recruits this last decade, but with a more appealing style of play I am hoping UW could nab a few more of the blue chippers that our great state and the slightly lesser state to our West produces.  Bo was able to regularly turn two and three star recruits into All-Americans; Gard just hasn't quite gotten to that type of development with those types of recruits (although Ethan Happ was a Gard guy).

Gard HAS definitely shown that he and the staff knows what they are doing in the portal though, which could make up for not getting the likes of JP Tokoto, Tyler Herro, Tyrese Halliburton, Joey/Sam Houser, Dawson Garcia, Seth Trimble, Jalen Johnson, Kon Knueppel, Amari Allen, Davion Hannah, etc.

[LouisEly]

38 minutes ago, Oxy said:

Gard HAS definitely shown that he and the staff knows what they are doing in the portal though, which could make up for not getting the likes of JP Tokoto, Tyler Herro, Tyrese Halliburton, Joey/Sam Houser, Dawson Garcia, Seth Trimble, Jalen Johnson, Kon Knueppel, Amari Allen, Davion Hannah, etc.

Dawson Garcia is from Minneapolis, but then again, Minnesota might as well be home state.

Perhaps the biggest challenge with these kids is that they go to Nike camps and UW is an Under Armour school.  There is A LOT of politicking and steering kids towards Nike schools, and with NIL now being legal, there could be legitimate contracts for them to go to Nike schools if they want to be sponsored ("NIL'd"?) by Nike.

[Jim French Stepstool]

it isn't easy to lose a HOF-caliber coach & continue to have success, outside of a select few programs. I'm very happy with the state of Badger basketball, not only because of the level they've been able to compete at under Gard, but because he's changed much of the offensive style w/o much of a blip in W-L, if any. And he seems to be about as comfortable with the portal aspect as you could hope to expect.

Rather than constantly robbing Peter to pay Paul, it's a huge plus if you can add a piece here, a piece there in the portal while still keeping your key guys. Early indications for next season seem to suggest that. John Blackwell made some comments right after the BYU game that strongly suggest he isn't going anywhere, and for awhile now reports on Winter have suggested the same. Anyone who remembers some of the quotes from Essegian last year at this time realize nothing is etched in stone, but it sounds encouraging.

This was a successful season, that at the same time leaves you wanting. Which is fine.

[Jim French Stepstool]

1 hour ago, Oxy said:

Overall I am very satisfied with the state of the program and the job that Gard has done.  My measure of success is that going into every game on the schedule I want to have a reasonable chance at a victory.  That doesn't mean they will be favorites in every game (although it does mean MOST games).  Gard has had teams of that caliber almost every year--2018 excepted.  If you have teams of that quality, postseason success WILL eventually come.

However, if the talent level of Wisconsin and Minnesota HS basketball is the same in the next 10 years as it was in the last 10 years, I honestly think that there is another tier higher UW basketball could achieve--or at least the next decade could get back to the level it was from 2003-2017 when UW made the Sweet 16 nine out of 15 years...and the down years they were an 8 or 9 seed.

UW got their fair share of Wisconsin recruits this last decade, but with a more appealing style of play I am hoping UW could nab a few more of the blue chippers that our great state and the slightly lesser state to our West produces.  Bo was able to regularly turn two and three star recruits into All-Americans; Gard just hasn't quite gotten to that type of development with those types of recruits (although Ethan Happ was a Gard guy).

Gard HAS definitely shown that he and the staff knows what they are doing in the portal though, which could make up for not getting the likes of JP Tokoto, Tyler Herro, Tyrese Halliburton, Joey/Sam Houser, Dawson Garcia, Seth Trimble, Jalen Johnson, Kon Knueppel, Amari Allen, Davion Hannah, etc.

Years ago, I never anticipated the # of high-level HS recruits we now see coming out of Wisconsin. Thanks largely to AAU, the line has been blurred to the extent where home-state allegiance isn't the thing it maybe once was (there are exceptions---Dekker, Stiemsma & Butch could've gone to a lot of places, Johnny Davis was coveted, Zach Kinziger is a 4-star). As you said, perhaps the increase in tempo could tilt that. I'd love to snag Donovan Davis of Freedom HS.

I think they'll continue to do pretty well in Minnesota, in the suburbs if not Minneapolis itself.

[NeedMoreFans]

10 minutes ago, Jim French Stepstool said:

it isn't easy to lose a HOF-caliber coach & continue to have success, outside of a select few programs.

I look at what's happened to Syracuse, Georgetown, Villanova, and a handful of other very successful teams in recent decades, then look at Wisconsin.  I'm happy Wisconsin is still relevant and making the tourney most years.  They were good enough to win Saturday, just a few bounces didn't go our way.  I'm very pleased with what Gard has done with transfers in his tenure. 

[nate82]

The Badgers are fine though it looked like Gard was on the verge of being fired like PC.  Unlike PC Gard was willing to change and made those changes rather successfully.  I have no problem continuing with Gard when he made those changes it showed a lot about him.  He is willing to change things and do things he may not be comfortable doing.  I think Gard could become a special coach like Alvarez was for the football program.

[yourout]

On a side note.. is that really the best Mac could do for a women's basketball coach? 

I got that it's a really awful job in most coaches eyes but I would have rather rolled the dice with an up-and-comer

[Samurai Bucky]

16 hours ago, yourout said:

On a side note.. is that really the best Mac could do for a women's basketball coach? 

I got that it's a really awful job in most coaches eyes but I would have rather rolled the dice with an up-and-comer

Mac needs to remember that he is the Athletic Director, not just the Football Director.