Plenty of attention is currently being paid to Wisconsin football and the rematch between the Badgers and Michigan State in Saturday's Big Ten Football Championship Game in Indianapolis. But just down Dayton Street, another Badger team has been flying under the radar all the way to a No. 7 ranking in the latest ESPN/USA Today Coaches' Poll.
Fresh off winning the Chicago Invitational Challenge with a 17-point victory Saturday night over a fellow 2011 Sweet 16 participant in BYU, the Badgers (6-0 overall) now face what is likely their toughest game of the season: a Wednesday night road matchup with No. 5 North Carolina (5-1) in Chapel Hill. This will be the first time Wisconsin has played the Tar Heels since the 2005 NCAA Tournament Elite Eight.
Although this finale to the Big Ten-ACC Challenge has been playing second fiddle to Tuesday night's game between No. 2 Duke and No. 4 Ohio State, the early season dominance displayed by the Badgers has diverted at least some of that attention to the closing act in Chapel Hill.
The main cause of the excitement for Wednesday's contest is the matchup between two top point guards: Wisconsin's Jordan Taylor and UNC's Kendall Marshall.
"Those two guys, they understand the game," head coach Bo Ryan said Monday. "They understand what their team needs. They bring that every night when they go on the floor."
Taylor, a preseason first-team All-American selection, has put together a solid start to the season. While the senior from Bloomington, Minn., is only the Badgers' third leading scorer at 11.0 PPG, Taylor has continued to handle the point with unparalleled efficiency, maintaining a 5.0 assist-to-turnover ratio through the season's first six games.
Marshall, a first-team freshman All-American selection last season, has picked up right where he left off. The Dumfries, Va., native has posted double-digit assist totals in three of his past five games and has dipped no lower than the five assists he had in the season opener against Michigan State.
"It's always fun to match up against different guys," Taylor said. "Obviously, Kendall Marshall is one of the better ones. The way he sees the floor, he is always finding the open guy. He's real unselfish and he's just the consummate point guard."
But the intrigue in this battle between the Badgers and Tar Heels goes far beyond the point guard position. Up front, UNC has perhaps more length than anyone in college basketball, whereas Wisconsin has a front line that is focused more on strength and athleticism than on length and size.
The Tar Heels start not one, but two seven-foot forwards and go no smaller than 6-foot, 8-inch Harrison Barnes, last year's ACC rookie of the year. The three UNC forwards, Barnes, John Henson and Tyler Zeller, have combined for 46.6 PPG thus far this season, adding 21.8 rebounds to that total, as well.
"Finishing around the rim is a little tougher because a couple extra inches makes all the difference in the world, especially when they've got guys that are as athletic as they are," junior forward Mike Bruesewitz said. "The way you deal with length and athleticism [are] counters and being more fundamental and sound, making the right play and not always the spectacular play."
Shot selection will be vital as the Badgers not only try to capitalize on opportunities at the offensive end, but perhaps more importantly, as they try to slow down the vaunted fast break attack of the Tar Heels. The ability of Wisconsin to slow down the Carolina fast break both with good shot selection and solid defense will ultimately determine what sort of chance the Badgers have at returning home with a win.
"If you are in an open area of 3-on-3, Carolina will win 3-on-3. Carolina will beat anybody in the nation 3-on-3, 4-on-4," Ryan said. "5-on-5 is your best chance."
"Nobody likes to stand in a defensive stance for 35 seconds, I don't care who you are," Bruesewitz said. "If you don't turn the ball over and take good shots, it's always a challenge for teams to run."
However, the Tar Heels are coming off a surprising loss Saturday night to current No. 20 UNLV, bumping UNC out of the top position in the national polls. The Tar Heels also have a trip to Lexington, Ky., on Saturday to face the top-ranked Wildcats and are determined not to allow this stretch to finish with three consecutive losses.
"Carolina is still Carolina," Ryan said. "North Carolina isn't any different than when they went to Vegas."
For the Badgers, Wednesday also falls in the middle of arguably the toughest stretch of the 2011-'12 schedule. Wisconsin just finished polishing off a tournament team in BYU, and will face two more with home dates against Marquette and UNLV slated for the next two Saturdays. A Wednesday matchup with UW-Green Bay is fit in between. Depending on the outcome of these games, the Badgers could easily be either unranked or in the top five in the nation come Dec. 11.
"The challenge is that you have to go the night that you say," Ryan said of the schedule. "[Marquette and North Carolina] are the two we have this week and we'll see what we can do."
But this trip is a chance for Wisconsin to grab a signature win early in the season, something that will certainly come in handy come tournament selection time. Even though they are putting their unblemished record on the line, the reality is that the Badgers have little to lose and much to gain by making this trip.
"Last year we weren't a very good road team and that is one of the biggest things we wanted to change, to win on the road," Bruesewitz said. "It's just another regular season game, but this one means a little more."
