Two months ago, tonight's match-up between the Wisconsin Badgers and the Iowa Hawkeyes would have featured one of the Big Ten's most prolific scorers going head to head against one of the Big Ten's best shut-down defenders.
What a difference two months have made.
On Jan. 6, former Badger guard Boo Wade was officially released from the basketball team for what a majority in the sports world believe was due to his academic problems and recent legal problems stemming from a previous charge of fighting with his girlfriend and bail jumping.
Almost a month after Wade's departure, Iowa guard Pierre Pierce was dismissed from the basketball team permanently for his involvement in a recent investigation by the West Des Moines police department. Head coach Steve Alford said the dismissal of the 6'4\ 195-pound junior was for ""betraying the trust"" of the program.
Similar to the rap sheet of Wade, this was not the first time Pierce found himself at the center of controversy and problems with the law.
Before he sat out the entire 2002-03 season after a plea bargain for third degree sexual assault, he was arrested in June 2001 on charges of criminal defacement and mob action for an incident that occurred while he was still in high school. However, his recent charges, which he acknowledges were the result of a fight he had recently with his girlfriend, were all the University of Iowa could tolerate from their troubled superstar.
In 20 games this season, Pierce averaged a team high 17.8 points per game and was the third leading scorer in the Big Ten. No one player on the Hawkeye's roster will be able to fill the void. Rather, they must turn to a group of players who can step up and lead their team through the rest of the season.
Alford need only look to the opposing bench this evening to find solutions to cope with this loss of their most experienced guard. Wisconsin head coach Bo Ryan may have been able to predict that Devin Harris would forego his senior season and opt for the NBA draft, but the recent news of Wade surely caught the Badgers front man off guard.
The result has forced the Badgers to slide senior Shariff Chambliss from his natural position of shooting guard to the point position and also give extended minutes to sophomore Kammron Taylor and freshman Michael Flowers.
The results have been adequate at best for the Badgers, as all three players have experienced up and down seasons thus far. Wisconsin has never found an answer for Wade's play on the defensive end, and they continue to struggle without a natural point guard on their roster.
Iowa fans can expect similar results as their team finishes the rest of their conference schedule. The only thing more difficult than adjusting to the loss of 18 points per game is losing that production in the middle of your season.
While even the best coaches in the country struggle against graduation and early entries to the NBA, no coach is ever prepared when situations like this occur. In the NCAA, it has become commonplace to see players dismissed from the team, as coaches and their athletic departments are forced to take action when players begin to have more run-ins with the law than minutes played in a game.
As long as players neglect the responsibility they have to their school and their program, outside related actions like this will continue to take ink away from the real competition on the court.
Jon is a junior majoring in english and journalism. He can be reached for comment at jrmcnamara@wisc.edu
