Jim French Stepstool

I'll get a couple negatives out of the way first. When MSU came back from 7 down to make it tight, there were a lot of 50-50 rebounds & they got just about every one. Frustrating, but really no one does that crap better than Izzos' teams. And when we were up seven & had the ball, Blackwell found a seam but blew the layup, apparently anticipating a phantom block. Other than that I got nuthin'. Poise, poise, poise. Really impressive. Loved seeing the work turned in during the stretch of the 2nd half when we were going w/Tonje & four subs. Gard always talks about 'growth'. Growth, guts, and smarts personified. Hard to imagine this is the same group that spit the bit vs Penn State. I imagine someday there will be a dictionary published and under definition for "Last laugh" there will be a pic of Carter Gilmore. I just hope that with all the crap & nonsense prevalent in the college game, there will always be a niche for people like him. Damn, that's a tough team to beat. Just can't say enough.

Halfway through, I don't have a lot of complaints. Badgers are playing a real strong team (emphasis on TEAM) that's been playing well for quite some time now. I loved the poise after falling behind by eight & not seeing a lot of 3pt shots drop. Looked like the emphasis on driving the ball was renewed a little later in the half, fortunately. Blackwell was short-changed on what as it turned out should've been a goal tend. Live, I thought it was a good block. But KEEP YOUR POISE. The dropping-the-ball-on-the-opponent stuff can't happen. I think they guarded about as well as you can ask in the last 6 min or so of the half. Keep looking to penetrate, and show the veteran poise when the inevitable push comes from MSU. All the bench guys did some real nice work in the 1st half.

Yep. It's the way of the world for mid-majors, made worse in that it now includes players. UWM is losing two of their starters to the portal, a guy that scored just under 15 a game & another that averaged a double-double. It would be a real challenge for me to be an alum of a school like that & be asked to contribute to & cheer for what amounts to a AAA farm team. Sad.

Agreed. They have to shoot them well enough to make MSU guard the line. But limiting TOs, keeping them from runouts & rebounding are all more important IMO. Tomorrows' game is on CBS. As good as he is at his job I'm hoping Gus Johnson isn't behind the mike. I really don't want to listen to two hours of Gus with his nose up Coen Carrs' shorts.

I just don't see him being an NBA-type guy. But I agree with everything else in your post.

I don't have a link, but apparently ESPN is hearing rumblings that Iowa is looking to move on from the Franster. If so, I think the only way McCollum isn't immediately moved to the head of their wish list is if he plays the 'not interested' card (which would surprise me).

(Refs)......"Oh, NOOOO!!! UCLA is playing physical. And they're trailing by a lot, so we kinda have to let them!!!!! But we can't lose control of the game!!!!! That guy just looked at his opponent funny!!!! We better go to the monitor!!!!!!!" When someone for them (I forget who) rode Klesmit up the floor early in the 2nd half & it took them like 30 feet before finally blowing the whistle, you could see it coming. Once they tried to 'take control' I was fine with it b/c we were the ones with the big lead & we shoot FTs well. But it certainly can make it tough to watch sometimes.

You knew, you just KNEW, that Cronin was going to have them come out really physical in the second half, and to an extent the refs were going to let them get away with some of it because down nineteen. But once we built it back from eleven or whatever they cut it to back up to nineteen & got into the one-and-one very early, that was pretty much it. I would've liked to see us press up better on a few of the threes in the 2nd half but I'm nitpicking. Nineteen threes, and it may sound funny but I don't think we ever fell in love with the shot too much. Just some really good looks. And Amos was forced to actually play like a 'big' w/Crowl & Winter both sitting. Mixed results, but the guy's a willing soul who stuck his nose in there a little in addition to knocking down a couple from deep. Good to see. Boy is it great to get McGee back in his old role. It might be a blessing to have Crowl & Winter sitting some today. They'll be needed bigtime tomorrow. MSU is playing really well. The way they respond to what Izzo wants is just so impressive. Not important (and actually kinda funny), but I don't know if in the last few years I've seen a team more adept than UW at building a big lead, clearing the bench, then giving up the final 9-10 points of the game. Feel for those guys a little, especially Chris Hodges. People like him who spend so much effort for virtually no glory deserve to see the ball go through the hoop. And if he sticks around Freitag needs a real bump in his 'feel' for the game. He's just really all over the map.

One of the two times a day the stopped clock was correct.😁. Don't want to see them fall in love w/the three TOO much in the 2nd half. Keep probing.

As for todays' matchup, I still have trouble wrapping my brain around how we had the defensive issues we experienced at Pauley, but still managed to score 83 pts & hang in until the end. I expect points to be tougher to come by today. Hopefully we do a better job of keeping Mack out of the lane than the first meeting. It would also be nice if Mara doesn't do the Wilt Chamberlain impersonation he pulled in LA. It would be great to see UW start another hot stretch from 3pt range because right now, they're pretty much OK to very good in just about all other areas.

It's an interesting idea. But would you survive any scrutinization of having a roster that's 80% from overseas, or 100%, or whatever it would be. We hear about the guys who come over here successfully, but not the ones that don't qualify (UW had one during the most recent off-season). It's one thing for a kid to come over & have the support from teammates to help acclimate. It's another to look to your left, your right, and see a roster full of people that have the same needs. Some real obstacles to overcome. I will say that for such an experiment, Minneapolis might not be a bad test lab.

Yeah, I imagine Medved will at least receive lip service. I remember in the 70s-80s, Minnesota was usually very good under Jim Dutcher & Clem Haskins & Williams Arena was an absolute house of horrors. Haskins' later antics did them no favors, of course. I get the feeling the Iowa braintrust would just like to see Fran go away on his own.

Minny has had issues recruiting the TC area---city & suburbs--- for a long time. Among their more recent hires, the guy that had the closest thing to a 'local connection' was probably Johnson. I don't see UWs' success there drying up anytime soon (fingers crossed). None of the guys I hear rumored IMO would make a big difference in changing that. Brian Dutcher is a UM grad but has never coached in the area, and you could argue San Diego State would be a tough place to pry him away from. If I were them I'd go hard after Ben McCollum, but I don't see them getting him. I actually could see Tony Bennett working out there. But the conditions in college hoops that soured him are the same in the BIG as in the ACC, and if he didn't want to work at Virginia........ If/when Fran pulls out of IC, I'm sure they'd be quite interested in McCollum, too.

I like how he isn't forcing the issue w/bad shots, trying to get on the board. They defended him pretty well so far. Stay smart, probe when it's there.

So it looked a little ugly on the offensive end early, and once we got into a rhythm NU extended the defense which mucked things up briefly. But through it all UW is really looking to drive the ball, and lots of fouls & FTs are the payoff. Badger defense has gotten better as the half rolled on, too. My biggest fear is Blackwell committing a 3rd foul early in the 2nd half. Save for that, things looking OK.

After watching NU-Minn yesterday, I think NU will be the bigger challenge today. The good news is that their starters played a lot of minutes, which could be telling once we get into the last 10-12 minutes. You kinda feel like Martinelli is going to play his unconventional game & score his 20 or 25 pts regardless of how you guard him. Just keep their guards (particularly Berry) from getting comfortable, and hopefully Crowl & Winter can make Nicholson guard them in uncomfortable spots on the floor, which would also open up some driving lanes. Mostly, I just want to see the doldrums that cropped up vs Oregon & Penn State expunged forever. Collins can be pretty annoying. A damn good coach who, when things aren't going his way, is quick to make a big show of blaming officials. Maybe that derives from his days as a player & assistant, when he was living in a world where he seldom had to be concerned about such things.

Max Klesmit has returned to practice & while there's been no official announcement, it sounds like he'll be returning for the BTT. No update re Nolan Winter.

I liked the toughness they showed at times during the season, in particular vs Pitt, in Minneapolis & in WL. But when compared to what Bo instilled, I think it's a fair question to ask. Still, when I look at crunch time (that didn't need to be) vs Oregon & the way they closed out the half vs PSU, is it toughness? Lack of focus at inopportune times? Just dumb basketball? You shrink the # possessions when protecting a lead. Vs Oregon, we could've had the same issues w/TOs, but if they don't happen so quickly they either have no time to come back, or are putting us on the line before the TOs occur. Toughness & smarts, especially with this program, need to be intertwined.

IMO the late-season stuff needs to be tempered.....to a point. Yes, there have been disappointments. What I see tourney-wise: 19-20) Arguably his best team of the last half decade is playing their best ball at the end of the season & gets the post season cancelled on them. 20-21) They blow out UNC, then lose to the eventual nat'l champ by 13. 21-22) A very subpar two games in Milwaukee. But they find a way to avoid the upset in round one, then lose Hepburn for over half the ISU game. 22-23) An NIT team that probably was at the level they deserved, after losing Davis prematurely. 23-24) I'm as aware as anyone about the shortcomings they had offensively w/Tyler Wahl on the floor. But he wasn't close to 100% for a # of games, and that didn't help. JMU was a 12 seed that is giving a lot of people fits if they play well, and they did. The End. Maybe it's just me, but what overshadows all of this is how they so drastically changed the pace/philosophy of the offense without really missing a beat AFA wins & losses My biggest concern right now is Klesmit & Winter.

To me there was a lot of similarity between the final 5-6 minutes of regulation vs Oregon, and the final 5 minutes of the 1st half Saturday. And yes, I think the effort/intensity level changing had a LOT to do with it. It's one of those things that's dangerous because it can happen very subtly, and if your opponent doesn't buy into the idea that it's time to coast then you wasted a lot of effort building the advantage. 'Killer instinct' is one of those cliches the media throws out there, but it's really just maintaining the effort/smarts that put you in the drivers' seat to begin with. In two recent instances now, IMO we went into "Up by 20 w/two minutes left" mode. Now that it's repeated itself, the coaches need to be on top of it. But it's on the players, really. I would doubt the game prep changes on Sr Days compared to other games. Like I said, to me it was eerily similar to late in regulation vs Oregon. Foot off the gas......mentally as much as anything else......has to be addressed.

Since the aforementioned foul Blackwell committed, I think they were outscored something like 59-35 over the last 25 minutes or so. It didn't cost them the game all by itself, but it epitomized the mindset they fell into after (apparently) thinking that after building a lead this was simply a Senior Day celebration. To Penn State, it was a damn basketball game. You can be coached by Dick Bennett, Tarkanian or any pace of play in-between. It doesn't matter; if you lose your intensity & your desire to make the right decisions & let yourself get lazy it can be real hard to get it back. They turned UW into a team that needed to hit threes & even when they drop, that's not us. It didn't help that Konan-Niederhauser was pretty much relegated to waiting at the rim for whatever drives were attempted. IMO the chances of them making a tournament run are the same as they've always been. Get healthy. And the probing, the ball-man movement, the 'smarts' can't ever go away. A fast pace can grab you a big lead. If you aren't smart, it'll give it right back. Learn from it.

Halftime note to John Blackwell; Yes, you were fouled by a defender on your way to the cup & it wasn't called. That DOES NOT give you a free pass to shove a guy out of the way in front of the officials a minute later. His 2nd foul, which resulted in PSU attacking on the other end causing Janicki to commit HIS 2nd foul. It fueled the whole sequence that got PSU within 5 at the half, really. At this time of the season, you just can't afford to be that dumb.

Funny game. PU was taking control late, which wasn't surprising. Then Jakucionis made a huge three, and PU did exactly what they needed to do. Keep it in Smiths' hands. He just missed shots; and one time got it in Kaufmann-Renns' hands in a great spot & Riley made maybe the play of the game to strip him. The Fighting Underwoods just owned the last three minutes & I didn't see it coming.

Obviously a game they should win today, on paper. But the memory of the egg they laid on SR Day vs Nebraska a couple years back is fresh enough in my memory. UW has had just enough trouble with TOs vs perimeter pressure that a PSU team that isn't bad at it will probably give that a try. They have enough length & athleticism to cause problems for stretches. Klesmit still out. That's too damn bad. Sr Day was made for a kid like him. Konan-Niederhauser is a non-physical big that has very impressive length, athletic ability and a decent amount of skill. In this era of committing to a program w/o actually committing, I can't help but wonder if during his previous season at Northern Illinois maybe he developed enough of a friendship with Xavier Amos that he'd consider another move. With a little more muscle he could be a real defensive game-changer.

I don't follow the womens' program closely, but it seems to me that there is some similarity to the Minnesota mens' program-----enough talent produced by the state, but it's taken for granted that the top crust of that talent has no chance of staying home. When Arike Ogunbowale was at Milwaukee DSHA we saw her often as I coached in the Greater Metro Conference at the time. The narrative was that there was no real chance for UW, and she had a brother on the FB team at the time. I suppose, if there's an assistant coach at a high-powered program somewhere & he/she has state ties, I'd go in that direction. I have no idea if anyone fits that profile.