Jim French Stepstool

looks like Izzo's boys may have hit their stride. I don't know if they'll score enough to win, but that matchup with UConn should be extremely physical, and fun. I had the Johnnies knocking out Duke from the get-go. We'll see. If they wind up meeting in the Elite Eight, watching Lendeborg fight thru traffic & try to glue himself to Momcilovic will be worth the price of admission.

I think Kentucky blew any chance for an upset by turning the ball over twelve times in the 1st half. ISU was struggling to score. UK had a chance to be up a dozen or so heading into the locker room but went in down two.

Not as nationally acclaimed but I suspect Bruce Weber felt the same way.

They definitely got better as the season wore on. When you look at TCU, BYU, Villanova, Nebraska.........I'll admit it was disturbing when they seemed to 'backslide' a little (second OSU game, Oregon). But we're in a world where the defense has to be an on the fly, season-long process. Hopefully you retain enough of the talent that has it already somewhat ingrained that you get carryover.

THAT'S interesting to think about. The defensive 'rules'. Having to make them sink in while turning much of the roster over yearly? Once NIL/portal became the norm I think it would've been one more massage for the road & then hello, Florida.

It isn't false. There were people b****ing about Bo regarding that. It was unfounded. Also, they made the tournament 4 of the 5 years before Bo. Far & gone from 'basically never making the tourney'. You're right; Gards' resume is nothing like Ryans'. Neither are the resumes of somewhere from 325 to 350 of the 365 D-1 coaches out there. We're talking about a HOF coach. Maybe it's just me, but I think 'choking' is one of those lazy, overused terms in sports. There are reasons why things happen that IMO transcend that. In 2019 many Badger fans felt pessimistic even though they were the 5 going out west to play a much more athletic Oregon team, and weren't all that surprised at the result. In 2022 the 'choke' moniker might be most appropriate, in the 2nd round vs Iowa State. First off, they weren't very good in the opening round. VS ISU they were guarded well, but a horrible offensive performance while playing in Milwaukee. Of course they weren't helped by Hepburn going out in the 1st half w/an injury & having to turn to folks like Jacobi Neath, Jordan Davis & Isaac Lindsay. It put Johnny Davis in a little different role & he had a poor day. I don't think they were at all well prepared for what was a terrific half court overplay by JMU. I also wonder if everyone's head was where it should've been that day. Hepburn was a month away from bolting to Louisville, something no one expected. I imagine he was already handed the key to their vault, and since he didn't announce immediately was torn. Storr was most likely pondering who his 7th school in as many years would be. If that was the case & it's GG's fault for not mitigating it, OK then. There was no choking Thursday. I think the "HP played well" vs "UW wasn't as good as they should be" breakdown was like 85%--15%. HP performs in the final five minutes last night the way they did Thursday & they're prepping for (probably) Arizona. The criticism for GG will continue from the same corners until he advances more successfully. But most of it is overboard.

I'll share something that I heard; let me say I don't know if it's accurate or not. Wisconsin was willing to play Miami O but insisted on a particular date or window of dates, and they said no.🤷‍♂️🤷‍♂️🤷‍♂️ Gottlieb, hah!! Whenever he's mentioned I think back to HS. His dad used to coach UWM & for three years in a row we had a SR he was recruiting. So for that stretch he was as familiar a fixture in our gym as the ball racks & fold-up bleachers. GB seems to be in the same situation w/Junior as UWM was with Pearl, except Pearl had somewhat of a pedigree so it might be a lot tougher for Dougie to step up to a more lucrative job even if he IS successful.

Some folks who are expected to know more than most thought High Point was the worst of the twelves. I personally thought McNeese was more dangerous. Goes to show you, we're all geniuses---and all idiots🤪. One difference tonight was that Arky had bigs that could finish comfortably around the rim; Wisconsin's were more finesse. Other than that, like you said Johnston had a couple big misses while on Thursday we got to watch him be Steph Curry. Had UW won, I could've seen them get past the Hogs but it would've taken something like what we did in the four games vs Illinois & Michigan. You nailed Vandy-Nebraska. Fantastic game.

Happy for Texas. Third game in five days, they matched Gonzaga through crunch time, and had to overcome a couple of bad call/non calls by the zebras but still won.

I used to be a UWM fan. A friend of my nephews' was on the team years ago. That was a nice, solid mid-major conference. Then Butler left, Loyola left, UIC left, Valpo left. Keep that together, maybe attract a Saint Louis when they were looking for a home, & you'd have something. The Bud Haidet years w/Nancy Zimpher as the chancellor, fueled of course by Bruce Pearl, was the time to maximize their potential & perhaps find their way into the Missouri Valley. But it's been a mostly downward spiral since re their decision-makers. There's a somewhat passionate fan/alumni base there, but it's tiny & largely frustrated by an administration that seems to be some sort of combination of cluelessness & apathy. St Thomas finally adds a second D-I program to that state. You'd think it's a no-brainer they'd matchup with U-M eventually. But there again, a new coach at Minnesota, trying to establish the program---the last thing he needs is to lose to the only other D-1 in the state, and a relative D-1 newcomer at that. I think the most the Tommies could hope for is a game at the Target Center, but the barn would be more likely. As a fan, I'd like to see it though.

Apologies to Cal Baptist, who I underrated. Kansas IMO has had a lot of 'dog' in them over the years, but regardless CBU mounted a run & gave a heck of an effort.

You & me both😄. Do you make more from a buy game after the payout, then you would taking a guarantee from a Southern Illinois, Bradley, Western Ky, etc? Good question. My guess is you do make a bit more staying home; just a guess though. Do they make more on the TV deals? For sure. But that's a slice of the pie everyone in the B10 gets evenly. It would be the other stuff that could cause a little separation. GB DID beat a Bo-coached team up dere in Titletown, hey. He never lost to UWM home or road. One of those games was played at the Klotsche Center. Just insane to think of ANY B10 team going into that place (I think Dick Bennett took a Badger team in there, too). Great call on the Charleston Classic, by the way. UWM kinda-sorta did some similar stuff a time or three; but I suspect it wasn't totally their baby but had outside money backing it. Now that I think of it there was some kind of doubleheader years ago & Tony Bennett brought in Wazzou to play UWM at the MECCA. His dad was in the stands & I was lucky enough to have a short conversation. Such an incredibly nice man.

I didn't think of games with good mid-majors being that much of a discrepancy, home to neutral to road. But even given that, don't forget the money aspect. You have a payroll now. I would think there almost HAS to be some kind of guarantee to offset the home game "house" and I don't know how that would work, or if it even COULD work if you went into Oxford, Ohio or Peoria or wherever. I think the only thing they learned from the Campbell opener, is that if they played a good mid-major they would've started out 0-1. That was IIRC a 3 point game with about 6-7 minutes left. That's always going to carry a lot of weight; admittedly maybe more than it should given how the quad rating breaks things down, but still. I'm not some huge insider but I've had enough conversations with coaches that I think home-and-homes with some of these teams is never going to happen to any great extent if at all because in their world it just doesn't need to. It's a big part of the reason (along with salary obviously) why mid-major coaches make the jump when given the chance, and why assistants who get those gigs look at it as a steppingstone. That's how it worked with a former schoolmate of mine who recently hung up his whistle. It's interesting though to wonder how/if this would effect Bo if he were coaching in the current landscape. He went TO UWM four times. To UWGB three times. Played Ohio U twice in the state of Ohio. Went to Penn, Xavier, Temple, Pepperdine, UNLV. But like I said, now you have to pay players. You get a damn guarantee for an exhibition (Oklahoma), for crying out loud. The promoters send you to Salt Lake City and bring you back (probably) to Milwaukee for a rematch, neither team having to play a true 'road' game. Villanova comes into Milwaukee. Maybe next season they play 'Nova in New Jersey somewhere? And it's always a nice thing for recruiting to send the kids somewhere warm for 3-4 days. Not much sked remaining for high majors looking to do what some of us might see as the 'right thing'. I think if this were discussed among all high majors sitting at a table, Iowa would look at Minnesota who would look at Nebraska who would look at Wisconsin who would look at Indiana & they'd all be saying the same thing: "You first".

I'm skeptical about HP playing at the same level on Saturday, too. But Martin matching skills with Acuff might be worth the price of admission. Sometimes Illinois seems to forget they have a size advantage. If they do VCU might hang around. I agree Nebraska-Vandy is an intriguing matchup (I'd go Vandy). Also agree TCU has it in 'em to knock off Duke. If they do I think it'll have to be a 59-57 type deal. The loss of Cason might catch up to Michigan eventually. But not Saturday.

The recruiting strategy has changed at UW, along with the new landscape. The way GG would like to defend, the way Bo liked to defend, is largely dependent on guys being immersed in it for at least a year or two to where it's second nature. That's not as likely to happen now, so he's finding scorers that he thinks (hopes) are smart enough to pick up enough of the rudiments semi-quickly & allow you to maybe not hold people to 64 pts, but 70-75 while you score 85. In that regard I think Gard has succeeded, they improve defensively as the year goes along. But the consistency isn't what it used to be. Kamari McGee made himself into a real nice defender, Carter Gilmore was good at it & vastly under-rated. Nolan Winter has gotten to the point where he can even step out & defend on the wing a little. And Jack Janicki is an effective defender. All those folks spent 3 years at UW minimum. I guess I'm saying that unless you recruit someone with a natural knack for defending (or get guys to buy in & stick around), it is what it is.

I don't blame the HP coach for getting up on the soap box when he had the chance. And if I was him maybe I'd say the same things. But the simple fact is that high majors play in leagues that do more than enough for their SOS which makes games with good mid-majors a "no win" proposition. Four or eight-team tourneys in Hawaii or the Bahamas w/other high majors, sure. That's where the losses that don't hurt you too much w/the computers come from. Nowadays getting into the tourney is so important that no coach relishes hampering that by losing to someone who might be on the same 'bubble' as you on selection Sunday. He mentions how his team & Miami(O) are now 2-0 in quad one games. Yep. Well done. But does he really think that's going to inspire high major coaches to pick up the phone this summer asking him for a game? More likely the opposite. He also mentioned the NCAA "doing something" about it. What, exactly? We're talking about an organization that now has guys playing at four different schools in four years. For all intents and purposes being paid directly by schools. Guys are coming from pro leagues in Europe, in one or two cases the G-League. Those are the battles the NCAA should be fighting. Perhaps these promoters who set up some of the non-con games could factor in. Money talks. But even then, are they more likely to pump money into a Duke-St John's matchup, or Duke-High Point? LSU-UCLA, or LSU-McNeese? I agree with you regarding the Bracket Buster. Never should've gone away. I think the mid majors' best bet is to bring that back, create inter-conference matchups (Mid-American-A10 Challenge, Summit-MVC, Horizon-Patriot League, etc) And just keep making calls. Someday, the High Point coach may have the head job at Wake Forest, or Maryland. I suspect he'll view it a bit differently then.

Yeah, with the 8-point lead we drove the ball two or three times in a row, and had the right guys doing it. Came up empty. AFA the 3s on the other end were concerned, HP made five of their last seven shots from deep. Most were IMO guarded anywhere from reasonably well to very well--the one that was wide open, well, I guess that's on Greg Gard for not emphasizing enough that we need to get up in the shorts of a guy shooting a running 35-footer. Not a set shot, not a jump shot---a RUNNING 35 footer. Just another way of saying that yes, UW could have been better than they were but when you look at the last 6 minutes & check the game stats, this was much more a case of High Point winning then UW being 'embarrassing' or 'blowing it' or other nonsense. Refs giving a subconscious break to the team trailing, yeah, I've felt that way for a long while. And Bucky has benefitted from it at times too. Like you said, part of the game. Check out when a team is trailing late in a game & drives to the hoop for a layup. If the defender makes any kind of motion to defend--or looks at the opponent funny---whistle, and-1. Like the threes HP hit late. If we defended any closer there's a real good chance you're getting whistled for fouling a 3pt shooter. If High Point can hang around Saturday to where they're in the game late, and then finish like they did yesterday, they can win. Will they perform that well again? Doubtful.

Seems like Black has added some pop to his skillset. Looks to me like he'll have some headlines this year, either here or (more likely) by being involved in a trade.

True dat. And with his success rate it's not easy to go away from it in crunch time.

Good stuff. I mentioned it earlier too, about the 8pt lead not being extended. What was frustrating was that IIRC we got maybe 3 stops in a row at that juncture, which was kinda rare today. chance to go up 10-12---woulda, coulda, shoulda. Your last point is golden. Another way of looking at it----whatever Gards' record is since 15-16, I invite anyone to find a coach with that record or better, that's been canned. And guys getting fired for legal/behavioral issues don't count.

I know. The 'embarrassment' comment was in reference to another post. I thought UW mostly handled the pressure pretty well outside of the 5 TO from Blackwell---on this stage he needed to be better in ball security. He probably forced things a time or two in the 2nd half. AFA the shot quality, on the surface I agree but here's a nugget. They shot 23 3pt shots today---There was only ONE game this season when they shot fewer, and that was 22 (UWM). And their 3pt % today was higher than the season avg. So, maybe they should've put up more threes? It flies in the face of the size advantage they had, but that's never really been what they've hung their hats on this season. And that hat-hanger has beaten Michigan, Illinois twice, Purdue & MSU, with only one of those games at home. My final assessment is: UW wasn't good enough to win but they were far from horrible, HP was very, very good & obviously made more plays late, and there was some weirdness to the statistical breakdown. Frustrating way to end the season. Oh, and Gard sucks & needs to be fired🤪😆🤣🤪🤣😆.

Thanks, that means a lot. I used to post on a UW basketball board, but some of the herd mentality there, snarkiness, and toxic attitude toward newcomers (not me; I was there for awhile) turned me off. I'll still go there sometimes for info as there ARE knowledgeable posters there & a couple 'insiders'. This community is much, much more enjoyable though.

Point #1, definitely. Had looks from close in, from the right people, & didn't convert. Boyd was 100% taking matters into his own hands, and it looks bad when it fails. More often than not this season, it hasn't failed. Not letting him try to make plays late probably would've resulted in a lot of "Dance with who brung ya!!!!!" complaints. Swing it a time or two before some of the drives, yeah maybe. Winter could've been more of a factor, & Bieliauskas started out so-so but got better in the 2nd half. Overall though yeah, eleven shots from the bigs inside the arc isn't a terrible number given the structure of the offense. Would've liked Winter to get some more looks on screen & roll though.

Personally, I've never been a huge fan of the five-out. But for the lions' share of the season, it worked. Yeah, HP knew Boyd was going to have the ball in his hands late, and was going to try to make something happen. It was predictable. But it's been predictable all season, and he's mostly come through---including a # of times late in this very game. I'll agree though, I'd like to see more of a post presence down the road. Think of the shots HP made in the last 5 minutes. Miss one of them & we're probably all in a better mood. We weren't good enough today but I think this was much more a case of them winning than us blowing it, or being an "embarrassment" or other such nonsense.

I've seen the highs & the lows of UW in the tournament. And during the lows---I mean the REAL lows, like getting bounced early---I've never had as much trouble finding something to point out AFA negatives as this one. There were some. They didn't rebound all that well, but the #s were about even & there were a lot of long rebounds which are often coin flips. For the game UW wasn't outshot, they got to the FT line a little more. High Point was ridiculous from deep in the final minutes, and the only one that wasn't at least reasonably well-guarded was on the move, from 35 ft away. Nine TOs for the game isn't a horrible total. A few too many 2nd chance points. And 3 or 4 empty trips in a row after going up by 7-8, I thought at the time that hurt, and in retrospect it did. Blackwell turned it over five times. But when you look at Georgia State, SW Missouri, JMU---it was much, much easier to point fingers at shortcomings in those games. More than anything this was the opponent just getting it done late, in spades.