In a year that has been nothing short of a total roller coaster ride, the Wisconsin Badgers enter the NCAA Tournament coming off one of the lower points of their up-and-down season.
After suffering a shocking loss to Nebraska in the Big Ten Tournament last week, No. 7 seed Wisconsin (20-12) will look to shake it off and regroup as it looks to make a run in the NCAA Tournament, starting with its first-round matchup with No. 10 seed Pittsburgh (21-11) Friday at 5:50 p.m. in St. Louis.
The Badgers and the Panthers have met twice before in The NCAA Tournament, including in 1941, when UW won its only national title. The other meeting occurred in 2004, current Pitt head coach Jamie Dixon’s first season on the job, a second-round matchup that ended in a 59-55 victory for the Panthers.
While 12 years can feel like an eternity in the world of college athletics, Wisconsin head coach Greg Gard noted that the way Pittsburgh plays has not changed too dramatically over that period of time.
“Pitt’s a good team. Obviously, we’ve seen them before. They’re a team that I think, identity wise, is very similar to what this program has been over the course of time,” Gard said. “Obviously, faces change, names change, but how they play and how they go about constructing their success hasn’t changed too much, even from 2004.”
In many ways, Pittsburgh is a program that is similar to Wisconsin. Though they have taken a bit of a step back over the last five years, the Panthers were among the top programs in the Big East for years under Dixon and predecessor Ben Howland when it was widely considered to be among the toughest conferences in college basketball. Like the Badgers, Pitt plays at a deliberate pace, prides itself on tough, physical defense and runs a highly efficient offense.
The Panthers have ranked in the top 50 of Ken Pomeroy’s adjusted offensive efficiency rating every year under Dixon, including a current ranking of 30th. They are particularly good at cleaning up on the offensive glass, as they rebound on 37.5 percent of their misses, tied for the 16th-highest percentage in the country.
Pittsburgh isn’t quite as stout on defense this season, ranking just 86th in KenPom’s adjusted defensive efficiency rating. By comparison, the Badgers rank 65th and 24th, respectively, in KenPom’s offensive and defensive ratings.
The Panthers get a healthy amount of their production from a trio of starters — junior forwards Michael Young and Jamel Artis and senior guard James Robinson. Young leads the team in both points per game (16) and rebounds per game (7), while Artis is averaging 14.4 points and 4.8 rebounds per game. Meanwhile, Robinson, a four-year starter, is scoring 10.3 points per game and boasts a 3.95 assist-to-turnover ration that ranks fourth in the entire country.
But while this trio of starters is the cog in Pittsburgh’s engine, this is an extremely deep team and Dixon will regularly go 10 or 11 deep in his rotation. Of course, the Badgers have utilized their bench more since Gard took over for Bo Ryan in mid-December, but their reserves have not been quite as productive in recent games.
Over the last four contests, the UW bench played just 18.4 percent of the team’s total minutes and produced just 5.3 points per game. In the first 16 games of Gard’s tenure, Wisconsin’s reserves were playing 26.4 percent of the team’s minutes and contributing 11.7 points per game.
Eight days will have passed since the Nebraska game when the Badgers take the court at the Scottrade Center Friday, so their starters will be well rested. Still, improved bench play could be key for Wisconsin against Pittsburgh and potentially beyond.
“I’ve leaned on more experience recently. Part of it is because [bench] productivity has gone down, and I’ve tried to rely on guys who have been in those situations a little bit more,” Gard said. “We worked on some things with some of the younger guys, trying to get some of their confidence back and get them used to what’s going to happen here in the next week or so. Hopefully we can be in a position where we can use that.”
Regardless of how much bench production either team gets, the one thing you can count on is a deliberate pace of play.
Among all 351 NCAA Division I teams, Wisconsin ranks 344th with an average of 64.2 possessions per 40 minutes. While the Panthers’ tempo isn’t quite that slow, they still rank tied for 293rd in the country with 66.7 possessions per 40 minutes.
With possessions expected to be at a premium in this one, offensive efficiency and limiting turnovers will obviously be key. And given the identities of the two programs that have remained consistent throughout the years, fans can expect a highly physical battle that could end up coming down to the wire.
