Wisconsin Basketball 2025-26

[Jim French Stepstool]

3 hours ago, RedStickBrew said:

What is impressive to me is that they are still really efficient offensively. They are not turning it over at a much higher rate either. Maybe some more lazy defensive possessions. But they have mostly still adhered to Wisconsin principles while modernizing the offense. 

Agreed. The TO bug & defensive issues come more often but in recent years seem to get cleaned up eventually (defense as the season unfolds; TO's often come in opening halves then get cleaned up in the locker room). And when the shot selection is smart, they can really cook.

[Samurai Bucky]

2 hours ago, Jim French Stepstool said:

Agreed. The TO bug & defensive issues come more often but in recent years seem to get cleaned up eventually (defense as the season unfolds; TO's often come in opening halves then get cleaned up in the locker room). And when the shot selection is smart, they can really cook.

Janicki still gets me nervous.  He has been playing better defense, but his offense is lacking.  He does seem to be hustling more, though.

[Jim French Stepstool]

On 1/23/2026 at 3:38 PM, Samurai Bucky said:

Janicki still gets me nervous.  He has been playing better defense, but his offense is lacking.  He does seem to be hustling more, though.

 I think he moves the ball real well in the half court & makes mostly good decisions. And at times his defense is off-the-charts good. But yeah, the off-season reports that his shot is better seem to be wishful thinking right now. Eventually a defense-first guy like Gilmore came around (a little) w/his shot. Hopefully the same with Janicki.

[Jim French Stepstool]

USC next. If we maintain the positive trend defensively I like our chances of shutting down the Trojans, although Chad Baker-Mazara can score in a variety of ways & has one of those 'tweener' type bodies that might make him a tough matchup. Ezra Ausar & Jacob Cofie have bulk & can score but are primarily an inside presence. Alijah Arenas was a 5-star recruit who was rehabbing from a knee injury. He made his season debut on Wednesday & apparently remembered where the hoop was located--he put up 15 shots in 29 minutes. He made three.

They have length & are capable of defending at a high level. They have 17 players on their roster. Three are freshmen. Of the other fourteen, all but two have come from other D-1 schools.

The last time USC played in Madison was December of 1946. No, I wasn't there😛.

[homer]

8 hours ago, Jim French Stepstool said:

USC next. If we maintain the positive trend defensively I like our chances of shutting down the Trojans, although Chad Baker-Mazara can score in a variety of ways & has one of those 'tweener' type bodies that might make him a tough matchup. Ezra Ausar & Jacob Cofie have bulk & can score but are primarily an inside presence. Alijah Arenas was a 5-star recruit who was rehabbing from a knee injury. He made his season debut on Wednesday & seemed to remember where the hoop was located--he put up 15 shots in 29 minutes. He made three.

They have length & are capable of defending at a high level. They have 17 players on their roster. Three are freshmen. Of the other fourteen, all but two have come from other D-1 schools.

The last time USC played in Madison was December of 1946. No, I wasn't there😛.

USC gets to the line a LOT. Gotta stay out of foul trouble.

[Playing Catch]

On 1/23/2026 at 8:59 AM, homer said:

UW is playing at the fastest tempo since KenPom started (1997). Last year was 2nd fastest. Gard has really changed the offensive philosophy. I don't know what they're giving up to do that, but it's interesting nonetheless.

I think they are giving up a lot of ball-fakes, once a staple of Bo's teams. Sometimes I get pissed at some of the seemingly sloppy perimeter passing, but I think there's such an onus on quick ball movement, that they have to do without the pass-fakes, and just do a better job of spacing, and making better catches to give the passer more to work with. But I think they've been doing a much better job of that lately. Rohde, in particular, has looked better to me in this regard, I think his cuts have been much better and on-time, and I'm also not seeing him turn the ball over on the pass as much, perhaps other guys, too are doing a better job receiving?

I fear, though, that this simply reflects the level of defensive play they've been seeing lately. Penn State was particularly pathetic, defensively.

[Jim French Stepstool]

22 hours ago, Playing Catch said:

I think they are giving up a lot of ball-fakes, once a staple of Bo's teams. Sometimes I get pissed at some of the seemingly sloppy perimeter passing, but I think there's such an onus on quick ball movement, that they have to do without the pass-fakes, and just do a better job of spacing, and making better catches to give the passer more to work with. But I think they've been doing a much better job of that lately. Rohde, in particular, has looked better to me in this regard, I think his cuts have been much better and on-time, and I'm also not seeing him turn the ball over on the pass as much, perhaps other guys, too are doing a better job receiving?

I fear, though, that this simply reflects the level of defensive play they've been seeing lately. Penn State was particularly pathetic, defensively.

I had to sit through a game where they were particularly lousy in this regard---the game in Milwaukee vs Villanova. It HAS been much better, and Rohde is certainly a big part of that--sort of like Janicki in the effect that he can be a big positive w/o scoring many points. I tend to credit increased familiarity with each other, Blackwell shaking off his slump, and Boyd (more often than not) sensing when to defer. And Carrington being a microwave off the bench doesn't hurt. And if they can continue to get good performances from the '2nd big', that goes a long way.

Agree, Rutgers & PSU didn't defend much. But in the two roadies before that you had 91 at Michigan & tallied 17 assists vs 7 TO (78pts) at Minnesota, who IMO guards pretty well. So things are looking up. But when Musselman has their interest, USC can make it tough to score. So definitely a stiffer challenge today.

[yourout]

Off to a craptastic start.

[RedStickBrew]

Threes aren’t falling in the first half so far. But they are still hanging in there

[Jim French Stepstool]

I'm gonna give SC credit. They were getting good shots early & hitting them, but after we shook off the sluggishness & started defending much better they still ran their stuff, Baker-Mazara made some tough shots & they hit the offensive boards & cashed in some putbacks. If we can maintain the defensive level of the last 5 minutes & clean up the boards I feel OK. But USC can be tough if they're on and for a large part of the half they were.

I like how we're pushing the ball, but let's not settle early if the primary break isn't there. It looks like SC has some fouls to commit; let's draw them. I love Boyds' aggressiveness but I don't want to see it devolve into him-against-three guys. Create spacing.

Nice effort on the OREBs. Blackwell looks like he's emerged after a rough start.

Let's get the 3rd foul on Arenas quickly.

[yourout]

Bad loss with the way they finish the game

[Jim French Stepstool]

Long story short, SC really, really focused on stopping the Boyd penetration, that left some open threes, and we shot 24% from there. Guys not named Nick Boyd shot 13-50 from the floor. Add in the second-chance points for them, and there you are. 

Two or three times in the 2nd half Winter got the ball down low & was denied by some excellent defensive play.

As I mentioned, Baker-Mazara is a tough assignment due to the size-skill combination. I thought we mostly had the right people on him, but once he hit some 3-pointers it made it almost impossible because now you have to play him honest & he adds the mid-range, too. A bad day for him to play like an all-American.

Maybe a few questionable whistles against UW. But SC usually put the basketball in a good position to draw whistles, so meh. We were called for only two more fouls than they were. This was 90% about Baker-Mazara making plays. Absorbing the UW run & coming back from twelve down---on the road---is sorta un USC-like. Sucks, but they were impressive.

[RedStickBrew]

Not going to beat good teams when they don’t get scoring from more than one guy. It was Boyd today and everyone else was held down. 

[homer]

AI has a ways to go

[Jim French Stepstool]

Cade Tyson, who is having a terrific season for Minnesota, is listed as questionable to doubtful (depending on who you want to believe) for their game Wednesday in Madison. It would be a blow to a team w/o much depth. But hopefully, the lesson learned not only by UW but the entire conference is to take nothing for granted regardless of opponent, who's hurt, etc. Indiana beat Purdue Tuesday. They recently had lost four in a row. The same night, MSU was fortunate to beat Rutgers in OT. Time to right the ship.

[Samurai Bucky]

14 hours ago, Jim French Stepstool said:

Cade Tyson, who is having a terrific season for Minnesota, is listed as questionable to doubtful (depending on who you want to believe) for their game Wednesday in Madison. It would be a blow to a team w/o much depth. But hopefully, the lesson learned not only by UW but the entire conference is to take nothing for granted regardless of opponent, who's hurt, etc. Indiana beat Purdue Tuesday. They recently had lost four in a row. The same night, MSU was fortunate to beat Rutgers in OT. Time to right the ship.

Dude... I am not taking anything for granted anymore... 🤪

[RedStickBrew]

16 hours ago, Jim French Stepstool said:

Cade Tyson, who is having a terrific season for Minnesota, is listed as questionable to doubtful (depending on who you want to believe) for their game Wednesday in Madison. It would be a blow to a team w/o much depth. But hopefully, the lesson learned not only by UW but the entire conference is to take nothing for granted regardless of opponent, who's hurt, etc. Indiana beat Purdue Tuesday. They recently had lost four in a row. The same night, MSU was fortunate to beat Rutgers in OT. Time to right the ship.

If I were a betting man I’d take UW tonight pretty easily. I don’t think MN can impose their Dick Bennett pace against us at home for 40 minutes. We would have to play two bad halves to lose IMO.

[Jim French Stepstool]

1 hour ago, RedStickBrew said:

If I were a betting man I’d take UW tonight pretty easily. I don’t think MN can impose their Dick Bennett pace against us at home for 40 minutes. We would have to play two bad halves to lose IMO.

If we execute I could see that. Minn regularly plays 7. If Tyson is indeed out, that not only removes a 20PPG scorer but really stresses their depth. I expect to see at least some zone from them, and if we come out firing blanks from beyond the arc we might see it exclusively. Either way I hope to see us attack the rim & force them to be physical. Let the refs try to 'control' things & blow the whistle. A lot of fouls both ways benefits UW tonite.

[Jim French Stepstool]

----Tyson officially ruled out for tonight's game----

[Jim French Stepstool]

Early on, Rohde gets a little seam on a drive. Instead of going strong, he goes in as if he's waiting to get cut off so he can pass the ball. He does, and throws it away. Around the same time, Winter gets a rebound ripped away for a bucket. It's been crap since that. Really uninspiring start.

[yourout]

14 minutes ago, Jim French Stepstool said:

Early on, Rohde gets a little seam on a drive. Instead of going strong, he goes in as if he's waiting to get cut off so he can pass the ball. He does, and throws it away. Around the same time, Winter gets a rebound ripped away for a bucket. It's been crap since that. Really uninspiring start.

I turned it off. I can't watch this. 

They're laying a big stinky turd right in the middle of the Kohl center.

[RedStickBrew]

Turnovers+ Defensive Breakdowns + Bad Offensive Possessions + Poor Effort = worst half of basketball I’ve seen in a while. 

[Jim French Stepstool]

Minnesotas' effort & energy is impressive, but if you can't match that---and we haven't---it's pretty inexcusable coming off a disappointing loss. And, officials are human. Hard for me to believe they aren't aware of their short bench & are allowing a little more physicality, but that isn't really the problem. One 2PT FG in a half. I doubt I've ever seen that. Maybe when my nephews' kids played in HS.

Given Minnesotas' short bench & reluctance to play fast, I'd have considered pressing about midway in the half----we were playing ten anyway---just to speed things up a bit & get some energy going. Not that I expected it.

Twenty minutes in, it's like the Villanova game on steroids, minus the fact we started defending better tonite about halfway through. But again, coming off the SC game I have no idea why it should take that long.

And the cherry on the crap sandwich is Durkin, who scored 17 in the half & missed (I think) one shot. On the season he's shooting under 40% & 31% from three.

[valpocrewsader]

Wow, late start time on this one. I just tuned in to watch the comeback.

[Jim French Stepstool]

11 minutes ago, RedStickBrew said:

Turnovers+ Defensive Breakdowns + Bad Offensive Possessions + Poor Effort = worst half of basketball I’ve seen in a while. 

Felt good when they got it to 14 & started guarding. Then they immediately put up three horrible possessions in a row. Uggghhhh.