jjfanec

For the most part I lack that killer competitive instinct that makes Americans Americans...but when Bo owns Izzo I make an exception. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gifThat was a great way to start a great sports day! Loved watching Izzo look like he had no answers as to why his team was getting pounded.

No doubt. Even though in most seasons i think Bo's teams lack of multiple diverse scorers, lack of great athletes to be shut down defenders, and the style of play causing them to almost never get any easy baskets in transition have all factored in to varying degrees for no Final Four berths and just overall disappointing results in the big dance, luck is certainly also some factor. There are simply times where a team in the NCAA Tournament will say face another team who is on fire from the perimeter and/or your team is unusually frigid. So even though i believe that Bo's overall recruiting is the biggest reason that he hasn't had more success in the NCAA Tournament, i do agree that if say they had been given a few different matchups or maybe had a hotter stretch of perimeter shooting, they could have made the FF in a previous season. This year Leuer and Taylor have developed into very good college players, but i just think their supporting cast offensively isn't good enough to make a deep run and they'll end up losing on one of those nights where they only score 48-55 points because the jumpers don't fall and they don't have anyway else to score enough points. Bo has missed a couple times with recruits recently including Timmy J, Evans, and Rob Wilson. None of those three guys are contributing on the offensive end. They are 2's or 3's but contributing very little on offense.

You are exactly right. Bo's offense has its issues but his insistence to play man to man when a guy his torching them has hurt them a lot too. However, it is hard to imagine a team running into so many sharp-shooting teams in 3 straight years.

This could be what you were saying but I think the reason the Badgers usually stall out at the sweet 16 or round of 32 is because that is how good they really are. A couple times their seed was just ridiculous. One year they were ranked like 8 and got a 6 seed and had to play Pittsburgh (who was top 10) in round 2. Rough draw. Outside of that though I think they are a team who will always be a run away from making a little noise, but will probably finish their season right at their ranking. If you lose in the Sweet 16 you are between the 9 and 16th best team and if you lose in the round of 32 you are between the 17th and 32 best team. Sounds about where I would have the Badgers. If you team is between the 9th and 32nd best team each year that is impressive considering the powerhouses in college basketball taking up all the recruits. You have Duke, Kansas, Kentucky, Texas, UNC, Villanova, Georgetown, Syracuse, Ohio State and Michigan State. Heck, I am probably missing a team or two. Wisconsin for numerous reason is just not as appealing as some of those schools - lack of tradition, offensive style, two other teams in conference that get more pub, Coach who is not going to be your best friend, me first attitude and not wanting to be forced to play defense, etc. Marquette is the same situation just different reasons for why the top recruits are not coming. They go to the JUCO well so much that it seems hard to get cohesion and player development. Yet, they are right in that same range (maybe one step down due to the first round losses) where they just need a couple breaks to make a run. That said a team like Wisconsin is a break here or there from slipping into a final four. Butler's team last year was not more athletic. They got hot and a good draw. Even Michigan State got pretty lucky last year to make the final four - that said Izzo gets his team ready at the right time. In the tournament Bo's teams come out flat and I am not sure why that is. I dont think it is our style but maybe it is.

You have to be joking. Yes, he wasn't a good shooter, but Dominic was an excellent PG, a great ballhandler, and a lockdown perimeter defender. He ran that team beautifully that year. Trust me, I watched every second that team played. Losing a 3 year starter at PG (the most important position in college ball) two weeks from the end of the season is a killer. Let's look at those remaining games. They were even with #1 UConn (the game he got hurt) with 5 minutes left and lost by 10 I think. They got beat handily at Nova and Pitt. Lost at UL by 2. Lost to Cuse in OT. And lost at the buzzer to Villanova in NYC. Lost to Mizzou by 4 in the Tournament. When a game comes down to a few possessions, you can be damn sure that having their starting PG would have made the difference. I really did not think James was that good. I actually had Marquette fan friends who thought the same thing. Thought he got worse over his career and took ill-advised shots. His injury hurt that team for sure, but I still think their lack of size was going to stop them come tournament time. The scores you posted show why I think Buzz is a good coach. His team always plays close. Maybe I am wrong and James would have made that difference to a deep run. I guess we can never tell. And maybe James was better than I give him credit for, but watching their games I always thought he was not at the same level as McNeal and Mathews.

Spin it however you want but Marquette has not been good in the tourney since the final four run. Heck they missed the tourney a couple times and are hovering around a 10 seed right now. I will give you the McNeal injury being a killer but Dominic James (nowhere near a Tucker or Harris) was an overrated player by his senior year. His scoring average went down every year, he was a terrible 3 point shooter, and become pretty bad from the line. It hurt but it was not a crippling injury. They were leading the way because they had played the poorer part the Big East to start that year. The finished at Nova, Louisville, Pitt and Cuse and UCONN at home. That would have been a bad stretch with him more than likely. I could try to spin Wisconsin tourney history - they lost Butch one year, ran into UNC one round before final four in their "lucky" Elite 8 run (played UNC extremely tough too), ran into a lights out Steph Curry one year, and a Cornell team that could not miss for a weekend. But the reality is they have not played that well in the tourney. It could be Bo's style - but Buzz's more up tempo style has not produced results either. I think they are both teams that around the 14th to 40th best teams in the NCAA year in and year out but that means they are likely to lose in the first 3 rounds.

I NEVER said Marquette players were dumb. Seriously, read what I wrote. I just brought up the facts that there are certain guys who just cant get in there. Also, Marquette is actually set up worse as a tournament team than Wisconsin, and it has shown with their success or lack there of in the tourney. I would love for there to be more athletes on the Badgers roster, just like I am sure Marquette fans would like some size but these two school are Elite schools so barring a "lucky class" neither team will be constant threats for final fours. There a couple teams in the country that would fit that bill. I like Buzz as a coach. I tell my Marquette friends he gets a lot out of his limited-size roster. They play almost every game close and show a lot of heart. My biggest issue with Buzz is that I cannot stand how he over recruits but that seems to be par for the course in college ball. Edit - I also am not implying Wisconsin is some ivy league type school that cant get athletes. There a guys who get into Wisconsin that could not get recruited to Northwestern. That does not mean the Wisconsin guys are dumb. Just means schools are different academically.

That's you saying this, not anyone here. There can surely be a middle ground between Marquette going largely all athlete and Wisconsin going mostly farm boys with a random top notch athlete sprinkled in here and there. Have DJO type of player on this current Badgers team and they might actually be a threat to advance a few rounds in the NCAA Tournament instead of hoping for a Sweet 16 finish at best. Bo Ryan has obviously done a great job at Wisconsin. He has lead the program to more NCAA Tournament bids under his tenure than the rest of UW coaches before him combined i believe. I'm not wanting him to be canned. I just wish he could add a little more athletic ability to his teams so that come tournament time, they don't have to score 100 percent of their points in half court sets. This leaves them prone to getting bounced by any team in the big dance if their jumper isn't falling because they rarely ever get any points from transition offense. None. You get in the NCAA Tournament and most teams there play good half court defense and are highly motivated to play very hard on defense. Thus, if your team never runs in transition offense which can lead to some easy points, you are forced each game in the tournament to execute great in half court offense and the jumper gods need to be on your side because there will be little margin for error left to score enough points to keep advancing. You are right. I probably put words in people's mouth. One thing people needs to realize about recruiting is not all schools are created equal. Not to get in a big argument over what schools is better but I have read numerous times that certain players such as a Maymon or Rodney Williams from Minnesota were initially recruited by Wisconsin but they did not have the grades for Wisconsin. These players ended up playing at high level schools but they could not have qualified. Now it is not like Wisconsin is Northwestern but you do lose out on some recruits when your university has higher academic standards. Again schools like Minnesota and Marquette are good schools but they have looser restrictions on qualifying.

They've always had at least 1-2 explosive/athletic players on the team. Yes, Jarmusz isn't that good. I'm sure he would be out of the game if there was a suitable replacement. Wisconsin players show some of the best progression year-to-year of any college basketball team in the nation. The reason we are puzzled with Evans and Wilson is because we are so used to seeing constant improvement. Every year I see comments like: "The Badgers are going to be in trouble next year because of recruiting...". It never is the case. Gasser and Berggren will play more important roles next year. Ryan Evans still has time. It would be nice if Wisconsin could advance farther in the tournament. But Marquette has the same problem--the class with Matthews and James never made the Sweet-16. The Marquette comparisons really bother me anyway because the Badgers continue to beat Marquette. This year's Badgers are #1 in the nation in fewest turnovers and #1 in free throw percentage. They play great defense--even better than usual. They haven't really gotten blown out at all this year, which has happened in the past with Bo Ryan teams. The main problem is that the Bo Ryan style does not translate well in road games/neutral court games. It works amazingly well at home because opposing teams in college basketball tend to rush play and throw up quick shots, which is exactly what Bo wants them to do. Great post. People here keep complaining about Wisconsin's lack of athleticism, but look what happens when all you do is recruit athletes like Marquette. They are the poster child for going out and getting guys who can wow you on film. Buzz gets solid athletes every year. Not the best ones because they go to Duke, Kansas, Kentucky, or North Carolina but good one's nonetheless. So here is how they have done recently. Since the Final 4 run Marquette missed the tourney 2 years, lost in the 1st round 3 years, and lost in the second round 2 years. They also are going to struggle to even make the tournament this year. In the same time period the unathletic Badgers have made the tourney every year. The lost in the first round 1 time, the second round 4 times, the sweet Sixteen 1 times and the Elite Eight 1 time. Yet, there are people on this board that would rather do what Marquette does. There is definitely truth to the fact that not everybody is going to want to come to a team focused team like Wisconsin. The guy who wants to jump to the NBA in a year (think Vander Blue here as he made comments about going pro already in the fall) is not going to Wisconsin because they are not going to put up crazy numbers and get to shoot as much as say a Kemba Walker does at Georgetown. But they just need to look at how almost every Badger improves mightily while they are at Wisconsin -- Rob Wilson not included, and how athletic guys like Alando Tucker and Devin Harris thrived in Bo's system.

I think Rob Wilson and Vander were supposed to provide athleticism. Rob just got worse as a player and Vander decommitted and went elsewhere (although he has not done much yet)

I expected him to do it...just didn't expect it to happen as a Freshman. First triple double ever at Wisconsin! First triple double by a big ten freshman since assists were recorded as stats. Impressive feat

Very impressive game for the Badgers. Northwestern's zone has given them fits before and the Badgers just shredded them. Gasser, Taylor, Keaton, Leuer, and Bruiser all came up big. The Badgers need to avoid a slip up at a tougher than expected Penn State team and they will be sitting pretty going into final stretch. At Penn St Purdue MSU at Iowa Ohio State at Purdue Penn State at Mich Northwestern at Indiana at Ohio State Tough home games down the stretch but road games at Penn State, Iowa, and Indiana are must wins.

I am not a big Marquette fan. In fact, a buddy and I have a friendly debate about the teams all the time and will send texts back and forth after wins and losses. But I could even bring myself to text him after that Marquette game. Too mean to do to a friend.

What a crushing week of blown chances by the Wisconsin big two teams. The badgers blow a late lead vs MSU and the Marquette somehow blows that late lead vs Louisville. Each team got big home wins this week (Illinois and Notre Dame respectively) but blew chances at really big weeks.

Pretty glad I had to work the last half of the game

This is pretty much exactly what happened. That and the Badgers quite turning the ball over. With 2:30 left in the 2nd half they have 0 turnovers. They are so good with the ball. Up 9 with 2 and half so hopefully they should be able to hold on to this one.

Very true about the guys for that system, but his best players are not his guys. Nolen and Hoff were recruited by Monson. Tubby's classes have left a lot to be desired. Williams has a ton of physical talent but no bball iq, Sampson is soft and inconsistent, Iverson is just okay. Not to mention all the off-the-court issues his team has had with Royce White (his recruit who had issues coming in) Mwbake (his recruit with issues coming in) and now Joseph who looks to be transferring. He also had 2 or 3 other recruits transfer. I am just not impressed.

While Tubby is a good coach I dont think he has done that great at Minnesota. He has done decent, but it is hard to get too excited about not winning a game in the tournament in his three years. They have yet to have a winning record in the Big Ten and have had a lot of issue with player conduct on the team. Now this could be the year all that changes but since their only good win is against a 9-4 North Carolina team, it is hard to know how good them are. They sure can pound the glass, but they are a poor perimeter shooting and defending team.

The Perfect World scenario for Rogers is much better than he makes it sound in my mind. His perfect world sounds like the realist world. However, if Rogers can limit his walks he has very high upside with his strikeout potential and batters inability to make good contact against him. Outside of that I would say Gindl, Schafer, and Komatsu have more than just bench potential but Goldstein scouts a lot more than I do

This is the thing that we need to keep in mind. We know are where we dream to be. We have the starting pitching other teams would want. I bet we could get a lot for Greinke on a midseason trade in a year and a half. Look at what we gave up for CC and what was given up for guys like Lee and even Oswalt

I wonder how big of pieces. I saw Garza is not a FA until 2014. Three years of a young pitcher with very good numbers seems like it would cost a lot. If Marcum cost Lawrie what should we assume Garza will cost?

Cain does not seem like a ton for Garza or am I mistaken?

Yeah it says the supposedly untouchable Matt Cain. Neither one of those guys seem untouchable. I am not a fan of trading Gamel with Prince looking like he is gone and no replacement for him. I like Cain a lot too. But a rotation of Garza, Yo, Marcum, Wolfe, and whomever for the next couple years would be very good.

Just because we are not mentioned does not mean we are not trying to contact Webb. Look at all the false rumors floating - ie Prince to LA which made no sense with their financial situation. We could easily have inquired about Webb and he could have said I either want to stay where I am - Arizona - go to a playoff team - Texas, Cincy and St louis - or go to a team willing to overpay - Chicago or Washington. Maybe we dont fit his plans. Why do people always assume if we dont get a guy or are not mentioned with a guy that Melvin did not make an effort to get him. No one heard anything about the Marcum trade until it went down. The media does not know everything

How about bringing back the Wisconsin boy Jordan Zimmerman in a trade? I mainly just say that because I have an autographed rookie card of his. I have no clue what Washington has to trade, but they seem delusional enough to think they can compete and sign Fielder to a long deal so it would be worth a shot.