Only one team will end the D1 college season with a W, and every year I want that to be the Badgers. Sadly, every year since 1942ish it hasn't been the Badgers annnnddddd this year is no different. The Badgers season came to a crashing halt Thursday night against Butler thanks to an awful shooting night from the field.. 17-56 overall, 7-29 from 3, and a paltry 13-19 from the line which dropped their FT % below the national record. Butler's defense had something to do with it as did a few missed open looks that went in every game this year (well, except Penn State).
As ugly as the game was offensively for Wisconsin they did some great things down the stretch. They showed heart being down 20 and charging back to 4 with 1:30 left in the game. Tim Jarmusz played his best basketball of the season the last few games aggressively looking for his shot, which was what Badger fans have clamored for all year long. Trusting your system and your style got them back into the game, when they rushed, things fell apart and they missed shots because they took them out of their personal flow (not the flow of the offense, out of their personal mental flow).
Jon Leuer clearly didn't go out the way he wanted and played maybe his worst overall game of the season in arguably the year's biggest game. 1-12 from the field, 1-6 from 3, 3 points, 6 boards, 2 dimes and 2 turnovers as he fouled out. Yikes. In addition to that, Andrew Smith (who) beat him up on the block a few times.. including once with a horribly gimpy ankle. Keaton was Keaton.. few nice j's then long stretches where he wasn't part of the offense.. and a few in and out 3-balls that could have changed the complexion of the game. However, when all was said and done, Butler walked off the floor victorious, playing enough defense, winning enough 50-50 balls with their hustle, and hitting enough shots to advance. Congrats to them and Brad Stevens, what a fun team to watch.
Naturally, Jordan Taylor's emergence this year (despite his last two games on the offensive end), The Ginja Ninja's blow up during March, Jared Berggren being a legit low post threat and hopefully development of Josh Gasser's outside shot make me optimistic about next year.
Keys to a successful 2011-2012 season:
1. Give Jordan Taylor help (not just offensively, but in minutes played per game, he was clearly worn out to finish the year)
2. Find a legit low-post scorer. The swing typically relies on at least somebody being a legit low block scorer, Leuer was a finesse block player that had to turn and face or go over his left shoulder every time. I think Berggren can fill this role.
3. Josh Gasser: shoot 82973204802834029384 jump shots per day this summer.
4. Ben Brust/Duje Dukan becoming a 3-point shooter off the bench.
5. Huge, consistent minutes from Ryan Evans.
6. X-Factor (Again): Rob Wilson
Early next season's projections:
Starting 5: Taylor, Gasser, Rob Wilson, Ginja Ninja, Jared Berggren
Best Badgers off bench: Brust, Dukan, Evans
Must Have: Uthoff, Anderson or Kaminsky play meaningful minutes
Leading Scorer: Taylor
Leading Rebounder: Ginja Ninja
Best outside shooter: Brust
Best scorer in the paint: Berggren
Freshman that gets minutes: Traevon Jackson (backing up Taylor)
Media projections: 4th-6th in the Big 10
Real Finish: 3rd
Record: 26-8
Amount of times fans whine about losing recruits like JP Tokoto: 898723984729387402384092384
Amount of times media says Wisconsin is slow and plodding: 99923084724872398742937429872
Amount of times I get annoyed by above comments: Every single time I hear it.
Amount of times Bo Ryan gets investigated for cheating: 0
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