At the beginning of last week the Wisconsin men’s basketball (6-2 overall) team was playing as well as any team in the country.
Coming off a Chicago Invitational where they scored wins over Brigham Young and Bradley the Badgers were ranked No. 7 by the coaches poll heading into their toughest week of the young college basketball season.
Whatever momentum the team had built going into last week was lost following two defeats by the No. 6 North Carolina Tar Heels and the No. 11 Marquette Golden Eagles.
“It certainly was not for a lack of effort,” head coach Bo Ryan said. We were in a position twice where we came back to get within a point [in both games]. I liked some of the things I saw, but there are some things we have to work on.”
The biggest difference between last week’s games against North Carolina and Marquette and the rest of the season was the team’s three-point shooting. The Badgers shot a combined 27 percent behind the arc last week, whereas prior to that week Wisconsin had been averaging well above 40 percent from long range.
“All shooters are somewhat streaky,” Ryan said. “But some shooters have proven that they are streakier than others. Certainly [sophomore guard] Ben [Brust] is like that, [senior guard] Jordan [Taylor] and [sophomore guard] Josh [Gasser] are like that also.”
Guard play was a point of weakness for the Badgers, as they often looked overmatched off the dribble by the faster and more athletic guards of Marquette and North Carolina. Marquette guards senior Darius Johnson-Odom, sophomore Vander Blue and freshman Todd Mayo were consistently able to drive to the basket and combined to score 40 of the Golden Eagles’ 61 points. One player who was cited as a potential difference maker for Badger backcourt was super-sub Brust.
“We’ve had sixth men in the past who brought things to the court,” Ryan said. “Michael Flowers brought defense. Jason Bohannon was like that in the beginning of his career. But like the rest of the team Ben is improving on defense.”
At this stage in the season Ryan said that there are many aspects of the team that need to be developed before conference play begins.
“You’re always trying to reward the right things,” Ryan said. “If you want A you don’t reward B because that is what you will get on the court.”
“If you want a player who is good at both ends and is relatively skilled, you always need to develop the total player,” Ryan added. “We knew we had to replace a lot of minutes from last year with guys who need to get better. The key is to reward things that you want.”
Defensively, Ryan felt like the team performed well against the potent offenses of Marquette and North Carolina who, coming into their contests with the Badgers, were both ranked in the top 10 in the country in scoring.
“Defensively we stuck to our rules,” Ryan said. “But we didn’t do some things on the boards that I feel like we are better at that didn’t show. But we’ll shore that up and be ready for the rest of our schedule.”
Despite a week that would serve as a reality check for most teams, Ryan is optimistic and is keeping perspective on a pair of losses to opponents that could very well have Final Four-caliber seasons.
“We just played two very good teams,” Ryan said. “If you look at what Marquette did by beating a good Ole Miss team by 30. We played some great teams last week.”
The Badgers have a chance to rebound this week as they play two home games against in-state rival UW-Green Bay (4-4) as well as UNLV (8-1).
