The Wisconsin men's basketball team opened up the 2004-'05 season in familiar fashion with Wednesday's 81-42 clobbering of University of Wisconsin-Parkside.
Though the win was characteristic of the Badgers, the team did it with a different look from last season. Among the starting five, senior forward Mike Wilkinson was the only player to start every game last season. Alongside him were players who typically came off the bench last season, like sophomore forward/center Andreas Helmigk, senior guard Clayton Hanson, sophomore point guard Kammron Taylor and, fully recovered from last year's foot injury, sophomore forward Alando Tucker.
Taylor opened up the game with a three-pointer and immediately after, the Badgers put the pressure on the Rangers. Parkside tried to rely on its outside shot early in the game but went a shaky 1-for-10 from beyond the arc in the first half. The pressure in the first half fueled an 18-0 run and kept Parkside at the 10 point tally for more than nine minutes.
\We had actually prepared for it a little bit,"" Parkside Head Coach Luke Reigel said. ""We thought they would throw some pressure at us and what happened was we have two guys that take the ball out of bounds that just don't have a lot of experience yet ... this was trial by fire for them.""
Parkside committed 10 turnovers in the first half and the Badgers in turn scored 14 points off the turnovers.
Tucker proved that he was back for good during his play in the first half. He tallied nine points and nine rebounds in the opening half. By the end of the game, he led all scorers with 14 points and 10 rebounds.
""Very rarely do you see athletes like that,"" Reigel said. ""I actually thought we did a pretty good job on him. He was our biggest concern...When he has some room to operate, he'll be real dynamic on the boards and slashing to the basket.""
Besides the new faces in the starting lineup, the Badgers also had five players making their Wisconsin debuts. Two of three freshmen saw action Wednesday. Guard Michael Flowers and center Greg Stiemsma received significant minutes off the bench. Because they played in this exhibition game, they are no longer allowed to redshirt. Freshman forward DeAaron Williams, on the other hand, was not in uniform and is still deciding about redshirting. Freshman guard Tanner Bronson, who was a manager for the team last season, also got in during the end of the game.
For two other highly anticipated players, it was finally time to play after sitting out last season. After redshirting, freshman center Brian Butch and senior Penn State transfer Sharif Chambliss both made an early impression. Butch ended the night with 13 points and gave the Badgers an inside presence alongside Stiemsma while Chambliss rotated point guard duties with Taylor and ended up with seven points.
The point guard spot is still the biggest area of concern for the Badgers and Head Coach Bo Ryan. After relying on Devin Harris last season, and with the sudden news of junior Boo Wade taking an indefinite leave of absence, finding the right rhythm at the spot with relatively new players is still a work in progress.
One thing that the Badgers can look forward to for the upcoming season is the amount of depth they will have at all the positions. Besides the guard rotation, they were able to rotate big players like Butch, Stiemsma and Wilkinson, who ended the night with 13 points and 10 rebounds.
""They're just going to wear down people,"" Reigel said of Wisconsin's depth.
The Badgers will have more opportunities to improve before they start the regular season. They will have their final exhibition game next Tuesday against Ryan's old team, UW-Platteville.
""It's a start ... there are some things that show ... but each guy picked up for the other guy on the court and that's important,"" Ryan said.
