Wisconsin Basketball 2025-26

[Jim French Stepstool]

6 hours ago, Jim French Stepstool said:

 ......noon matchup....... 

My bad; that's local time in Bloomington. 11AM Central.

[Jim French Stepstool]

3 hours ago, Cool Hand Lucroy said:

 I'm not at all impressed by DeVries defensively, so maybe the Badgers can get to the rim with some consistency and hang in even if they're not shooting lights out.

 

Never focused on him defensively when watching Indiana but it would make sense because he expends a lot of energy on the other end & quicks isn't really his game. If that's true (and considering how important he is to them) we'd most likely see him on Rohde & Janicki.

[Jim French Stepstool]

Wilkerson is a tough cover. He showed a really effective mid-range game in the 1st half, both with & w/o the ball. What I DIDN'T count on was Conor Enright constantly getting into the lane. We can't continue to allow that to happen.

I think back to Bieliauskas hitting the threes vs Michigan & how that affected things. Also Rapp vs OSU. Today Bieliauskas missed a few early & it really allowed IU to concentrate on stopping the drives to the hoop--something they were already putting an emphasis on. Fortunately Winter hit some & helped us pull back from the deficit.

I guess the best news is being in the game at half w/Blackwell turning in a poor performance. He obviously needs to step up.

[Cool Hand Lucroy]

8 minutes ago, Jim French Stepstool said:

Wilkerson is a tough cover. He showed a really effective mid-range game in the 1st half, both with & w/o the ball. What I DIDN'T count on was Conor Enright constantly getting into the lane. We can't continue to allow that to happen.

I think back to Bieliauskas hitting the threes vs Michigan & how that affected things. Also Rapp vs OSU. Today Bieliauskas missed a few early & it really allowed IU to concentrate on stopping the drives to the hoop--something they were already putting an emphasis on. Fortunately Winter hit some & helped us pull back from the deficit.

I guess the best news is being in the game at half w/Blackwell turning in a poor performance. He obviously needs to step up.

Ditto on Enright. His complete domination of Boyd on both ends of the floor is the difference so far in this one.

So far, Badgers are in the game despite a poor performance. Hope they can get it together for the last 15.

[homer]

refs making sure they insert themselves into the end here

[yourout]

3 minutes ago, homer said:

refs making sure they insert themselves into the end here

Got worked.

[brooks_quichenick]

One of the silliest offensive foul calls I've ever seen

[homer]

 

[yourout]

Just now, homer said:

 

The league should be embarrassed for that. 

That was a straight up gift to Indiana from the zebras.

[RedStickBrew]

Tough way to lose a game. Whistles had a big impact on the outcome for sure. Badgers played a gritty game. The big three did their thing. Winter was key on both ends. Indiana was destroying us in the paint for most of the game so credit Gard for benching Bieliauskas and going with Winter at the 5 which helped the D. 

[OldHeidelberg]

Just completely handed the game to them. Unbelievable.

[Cool Hand Lucroy]

Not just the final two calls, either. Soft fouls on Blackwell at the end, Boyd never getting calls, missed travel on Alexis in regulation. Ugh. Hard to win 5 on 8.

Badgers really locked down defensively over the last 5 minutes. If they play with that level of intensity and effort, they'll be fine. Lots of opportunities left.

[yourout]

4 minutes ago, Cool Hand Lucroy said:

Not just the final two calls, either. Soft fouls on Blackwell at the end, Boyd never getting calls, missed travel on Alexis in regulation. Ugh. Hard to win 5 on 8.

Badgers really locked down defensively over the last 5 minutes. If they play with that level of intensity and effort, they'll be fine. Lots of opportunities left.

Crap like that is why people wonder if the referees are on the take.  It's hard to be that bad without intent.

[Jim French Stepstool]

I've noticed something in CBB recently--when you're the team trailing---and the outcome is still in doubt--- you'll get some love. For example, drive the lane for a layup, all the defender has to do is move his hands, or have bad breath, and you'll get the and-1 call. Some of the fouls called on 3-point shots, that's been going on for a long time. It made an appearance today. The charge called on Boyd----when I saw the replay, I actually thought it was a 50-50 call. The arm did get extended. But it's the type of call I don't think you see go against the offensive player with, say, eleven minutes left in a 7-point game. Put it this way.......... If we're trailing by one I think the foul goes on Enright.

The call with 2.8 to go was sad in the sense that, during the TO, a coaching staff that coaches rings around a lot of other staffs prepared their team about as perfectly as you can for what Indiana was trying to do.,.. and the guys executed. But if you're down one, especially at home, I guess you can fall down & get sent to the line. The fact that Wilkerson fell while trying to back down tells you that if anything there was a 'pull out the chair' aspect to what Blackwell did. And it's really hard to do that and foul a guy. So I give the refs a C- on the first call---with an A+ in trying to create a dramatic finish. What followed was clearly an F.

As for the rest, Indiana did a terrific job defending the paint all day. They were also really good at creating & utilizing the favorable matchups---Alexis hurt us in that regard. For spending as much time as UW did trailing, not quite getting over the hump, they deserve a ton of credit for mostly owning the final 3-4 minutes & getting the lead. It was a terrific game on it's own; it didn't need any kind of late-game script to be followed to add to it. Sad.

I will say that I miss the old days, when you would either blow IU out or just hang around & wait for them to do something stupid.

[Jim French Stepstool]

23 minutes ago, RedStickBrew said:

Tough way to lose a game. Whistles had a big impact on the outcome for sure. Badgers played a gritty game. The big three did their thing. Winter was key on both ends. Indiana was destroying us in the paint for most of the game so credit Gard for benching Bieliauskas and going with Winter at the 5 which helped the D. 

Yeah. Rapp being out really was little to no factor as you were going small most of the time anyway. Would like to know how it might've affected things if Bieliauskas hit a couple of the early looks though. Might've loosened up the paint a bit.

Gotta feel for Winter after the work he turned in today.

[homer]

28 minutes ago, yourout said:

Crap like that is why people wonder if the referees are on the take.  It's hard to be that bad without intent.

It's home cookin'.  My theory is the Refs subconsciously want to please the crowd.

[ErnieRilesBrianGiles]

Is it just me, or did the Badgers miss Winters in the post alot today? Seems like he had quite of few good seals, or over the top looks that they just never passed to him.

[RedStickBrew]

55 minutes ago, ErnieRilesBrianGiles said:

Is it just me, or did the Badgers miss Winters in the post alot today? Seems like he had quite of few good seals, or over the top looks that they just never passed to him.

I noticed that too. My guess is that has not been a very utilized component of this offense. Winter has not typically been a low post, back to the basket player. So they just didn’t capitalize on those chances as they could have. 

[Cool Hand Lucroy]

Ultimately, we were up 72-68 with a minute left. Scored 5 points in the last six minutes. Gotta do better than that to get Ws on the road, especially against NCAAT-level competition.

[Cool Hand Lucroy]

40 minutes ago, RedStickBrew said:

I noticed that too. My guess is that has not been a very utilized component of this offense. Winter has not typically been a low post, back to the basket player. So they just didn’t capitalize on those chances as they could have. 

Indiana really got away from posting Alexis against Boyd in down the stretch too. We had Winter switched out on Enright a bunch of times, and he insisted on taking contested mid-range shots. 

This goes in the bucket with the Villanova game for me. It's just one you're going to wish you won, even if you didn't play anywhere near your best game. Flip two possessions, and this Badger team is 4-3 in Q1 instead of 2-5. That's a big difference in terms of how comfortable you feel about tourney participation and seeding. It's also just the nature of CBB.

Have to admire the effort, never feeling like they were out of it. Great play in the last few minutes to take the lead. Just couldn't hold on.

For all the talk about the refs (certainly warranted), Carrington's final heave was one of the worst decisions I've seen by a player this year. Of all the things you can do with a basketball in that spot, including call timeout, shooting was absolutely the wrong choice. You can kind of see why a guy with that level of talent has bounced around. I think he's super valuable. But it comes with a lot of half-baked choices.

[Jim French Stepstool]

1 hour ago, ErnieRilesBrianGiles said:

Is it just me, or did the Badgers miss Winters in the post alot today? Seems like he had quite of few good seals, or over the top looks that they just never passed to him.

Yeah. With the offense they run, Winter isn't going to post up in the traditional sense like a Happ or a Wahl, so the timing needs to be there---roll or duck in & have the ballhandler recognize that & hit you at the right time. I thought Rohde did a nice job of feeding him on a few occasions. But there were a few missed opportunities on some of the Boyd & Blackwell drives, for sure. Those drives are such a huge part of what they do though, and the more time Winter spends down low, the more clogged the driving lanes become. And IU clogged them up pretty well as it was. I think a bigger factor was Boyd not getting to the line on some of those drives, where maybe the whistle was swallowed.

But I agree, Winter scored 26 PTs, you'd like to see him get more opportunities in this one. He WAS getting nice position down low & IU didn't seem to have much of an answer.

[Jim French Stepstool]

16 minutes ago, Cool Hand Lucroy said:

Indiana really got away from posting Alexis against Boyd in down the stretch too. We had Winter switched out on Enright a bunch of times, and he insisted on taking contested mid-range shots. 

This goes in the bucket with the Villanova game for me. It's just one you're going to wish you won, even if you didn't play anywhere near your best game. Flip two possessions, and this Badger team is 4-3 in Q1 instead of 2-5. That's a big difference in terms of how comfortable you feel about tourney participation and seeding. It's also just the nature of CBB.

Have to admire the effort, never feeling like they were out of it. Great play in the last few minutes to take the lead. Just couldn't hold on.

For all the talk about the refs (certainly warranted), Carrington's final heave was one of the worst decisions I've seen by a player this year. Of all the things you can do with a basketball in that spot, including call timeout, shooting was absolutely the wrong choice. You can kind of see why a guy with that level of talent has bounced around. I think he's super valuable. But it comes with a lot of half-baked choices.

Because they blew a twelve PT lead in the 2nd half---at home---I'd put the SC game in the same bucket. But IU & 'Nova were bigger skins to hang on the wall, for sure.

As for Carrington, he certainly lost track of how much time he had left. I'd have preferred Boyd there. He was guarded closely on the inbound, but Janicki was basically standing there doing nothing & could've screened for him. And with his speed dribble you might've gotten a 25-30 FT shot before the horn.

[Jim French Stepstool]

7 hours ago, Cool Hand Lucroy said:

Not just the final two calls, either. Soft fouls on Blackwell at the end, Boyd never getting calls, missed travel on Alexis in regulation. Ugh. Hard to win 5 on 8.

Badgers really locked down defensively over the last 5 minutes. If they play with that level of intensity and effort, they'll be fine. Lots of opportunities left.

And Winter had a late block on someone where the ball never really got out of the guys' hands & he came down with it. How that isn't a held ball, or in a Cardinal-and-Red world even a travel, is beyond me. 

And the Blackwell 'foul' on the DeVries 3PT shot. All-in-all, 5 or 6 50-50ish calls in the latter stages that went the other way.

And yep, once again the defense looks for its' bearings early but settles in & really becomes tough to score on. IU with one FG in the last 6:00 of regulation, and one in OT.

[nate82]

Is it odd that Winter is averaging 30.6 minutes a game?  Only Blackwell is averaging more minutes per game than Winter is.  For a big that seems like a lot of minutes.  

[Jim French Stepstool]

36 minutes ago, nate82 said:

Is it odd that Winter is averaging 30.6 minutes a game?  Only Blackwell is averaging more minutes per game than Winter is.  For a big that seems like a lot of minutes.  

Yeah, in many games including today it's been even more than that. But Rapp & Bieliauskas haven't been enough of a presence on the boards or defensively, although they seem to be improving in that regard. And Garlocks' minutes have really shrunk. Gard has mentioned how they'd like to get him more of a blow, but he gives them the most consistency on both ends by far. Playing one big, you'd think that would give him more opportunities to get a rest but they've played a lot of close games. If he can average around 30 minutes from here on out I'd actually take that.

The other bigs are FR, FR, SOPH. That isn't ideal, but it is what it is.