After months of training and a two-game exhibition stint, the Wisconsin men's basketball team will kick off its season this Sunday night when they host Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne. With an extremely competitive Big Ten Conference this year and a challenging stretch in late November and early December, it's crucial the Badgers start off strong to set the tone for a successful season.
Recently, the media have portrayed Wisconsin as a team flying under the radar, one that could make some noise later on. However, I think this attribution has much more to do with the superiority of the Big Ten Conference than the team itself.
The Big Ten has strong representation in the AP Top 25 Preseason Poll with six schools listed—Michigan State, Purdue, Michigan, Ohio State, Illinois and Minnesota. This is especially impressive when adding the fact the Big Ten sent seven teams to last year's NCAA Tournament.
Needless to say, the Badgers will have their hands full when the conference season opens against Ohio State on Dec. 31. Furthermore, with the exceptions of Purdue and Minnesota, Wisconsin will have to play each of these ranked Big Ten opponents twice.
The early season schedule also presents a series of challenges. Right before Thanksgiving, the Badgers will head to Hawaii for the Maui Invitational, also full of competition. Last year in the Virgin Islands, the Badgers opened against a subpar San Diego team before falling to No. 2 Connecticut.
This time around things will be much tougher off the bat, as the Badgers face Arizona in the first round, with talented programs like Louisville, Maryland, Gonzaga and Vanderbilt also competing for the tourney championship.
Badger fans already have Dec. 2 circled on their calendars, when Wisconsin hosts Duke at the Kohl Center for the Big Ten-ACC Challenge. Despite the home court advantage, this matchup promises to be much more challenging than Wisconsin's road win over Virginia Tech last year.
So which factors will decide if this team is up to the challenge? One storyline to watch will be the depth of head coach Bo Ryan's roster. Last year the Badgers played fairly tight with an eight-man rotation. This year redshirt freshman forward Ryan Evans might be ready to contribute early in the regular season after playing a combined 33 minutes in Wisconsin's two exhibition games.
The focal point of the offense will start with senior point guard Trevon Hughes, who will need to take a big leadership role as one of only two senior starters. Hughes has already demonstrated how lethal he can be in game-ending situations with winning shots over Virginia Tech and Florida State last year. He certainly has the potential to be the Badgers' go-to scorer, but the real key for Hughes will be deciding when to be the distributor and when to be the finisher in select situations.
Senior guard Jason Bohannon showed great strides of improvement last year, particularly on the defensive end. He also became a big-time scorer, tallying 15 points or more on seven occasions. Still, he disappeared in several crucial road contests. With fewer offensive options this season, Wisconsin can't afford for that pattern to continue this time around.
It's unfair to ask anyone to try and duplicate graduating senior Joe Krabbenhoft's production, but junior forward Tim Jarmusz possesses many similar intangibles that could make him a reliable part of the Badgers' starting lineup. Last season Jarmusz shot nearly 50 percent from the field and 42 percent from beyond the arc.
The development of junior big men Jon Leuer and Keaton Nankivil could be the deciding factor for how far the Badgers go this season. Both players have the size and strength to match up in the paint, but also have shown streaky offensive games from the outside, which could be a major asset down the road.
But will these two players have enough help up front? Even in two exhibition blowouts, redshirt freshman forward Jared Berggren and sophomore center Ian Markolf received very little playing time.
Wisconsin is still an extremely young team, so the public will have to see if younger guys like Evans and sophomore guard Jordan Taylor are ready to step up. Bo Ryan's teams have always had a reputation for solid defense, but the Badgers desperately need someone to emerge as a consistent offensive weapon to keep up.
In the competitive Big Ten, no team can be taken for granted, and that type of mentality has to start from day one.
Excited for this season? E-mail Matt at mfox2@wisc.edu.
