The Wisconsin Cavilers and TreBron Hughes

Took in the UWGB over #14 Wisconsin (now unranked) game last night. This is an odd rivalry game to me because I live in Green Bay, occasionally get to go to some of the Pheonix games, and generally want them to do well. But, Badger basketball is appointment viewing. While I foudnd the upset fascinating, if someone put a gun to my head, I would have been rooting for the bad guys (Badgers).

I'm pretty dismayed by Bucky's performance last night. I have never seen them play a game like that. I shared about an hour worth of texts with my brother about this last night, but I want to reiterate those points for the other two people that care.

First, the defense was asleep. While the Pheonix are pretty athletic, there is no excuse for a Big Ten team to surrender 88 points. Especially when you held Duke to 61. And it wasn't like this was crowd driven. While the crowd was the largest in UWGB history (9,700+) and it was probably pretty loud. I can tell you three things for certain: 1) 75% of the crowd was either completely Badger fans or was on the fence; 2) UWGB crowds have not been at all intimidating since the days of Dick Bennett at the old arena; 3) The student section is abysmal. So it was not being on the road that caused UW to not play any defense whatsoever.

It was also not the crowd that caused UW to employ the Cleveland Cavilers offense, or for Bo Ryan to turn into Mike Brown. That is, Trevon Hughes going one on five, and everyone else standing around while he drives to the hoop and either scores or hopes to get fouled or he dribbles around and takes an ill-advised three. Trevon is their best player, but he is much better when he gets others invovled, and certainly not good enough to take every shot. I've never seen less passing in a Wisconsin basketball game. UW had the best three to four players on the court at all times. They also had a size advantage at nearly all positions. And they did nothing about it. The game was just mind boggling.

Was it the snow? Maybe, but its not as if UWGB was sitting on a beach until right before the game. UW was in town well before the storm hit. They just didn't show up and were completely unprepared. As I told my brother, UW has a game like this every year (see: SDSU loss, Long Beach three pointer at the buzzer at home, Missouri St. loss). They are probably closer to the Duke game than the UWGB game. And maybe UWGB is really good. I guess we'll find out when they play Butler twice.

Holiday Tailgate

So I guess I have a Holiday Tailgating party tonight. My wife's employer is having their holiday party, but due to the tough economic times, they are having a strange one. We are gathering at a local sports bar for a buffet with tailgating fare to watch the Jets v. Bills tonight. I'm going to do my best to get them to put on the "Civil War" game between Oregon and Oregon St since it will probably be better. Either way, it is going to be a tad awkward. Especially since I can pretty much guarantee that there will be a total of zero people giving a shit who wins the game, and a total of one person (me) who will even pay the slightest attention. The biggest downfall of this party is that I won't be allowed to get drunk, which will suck. I am going to eat as much as I possibly can, I can tell you that much. All told, as awkward as tonight might be, it will be a marked improvement over the party every other year. Except last year, when they had casino night. That was pretty cool.

NFL PICKS

Last Week: 6-10
Season: 74-76-1
All-Time: 208-202-3

NYJ (-3), Cin (-13), Den (-5), Hou (Pk), Pit (-14.5), Car (-6.5), Ind (-7), NO (-9.5), NE (-5.5), St.L (+9), Phi (-5.5), SD (-13), Sea (Pk), NYG (+2.5), Ari (+5.5), GB (-3)

BUCKY

Well, color me shocked. Bucky looked GREAT last night. Not perfect, but really, really good. And that wasn't a lucky win (despite starting out on fire). They generally were on par with Duke. Duke is not that much better despite being the fifth most popular team in the nation. It was pretty much Singler against UW last night. Trevon Hughes is winning me over, even though he is old enough to be my dad. He forces too much sometimes, but he is clutch when it matters (unlike Bohanan who missed approximately 40 wide open threes last night). And the Big Ten won the "challenge"! Holy. Shit.

As an aside, storming the court was an embarrassment. Was it big win? You bet. But c'mon now. You've been to the tournament like every year for a decade. You probably beat a top 10 team every year. There is no excuse for storming the court. I've expounded on this before, please refer to "Storming the Court Etiquette". Please, stop. You are pretty much proving to Duke that you think they are that much better than you.

Classic

I think I've finally figured it out. Bob Sanders must be an assistant coach for the Badgers. That is the only logical explanation for why the Badgers have begun to remind me so much of the Green Bay Packers in that they are incapable of holding a lead late, or winning a close game.

Like last year when the Packers were the best 6-10 team in the NFL. The Badgers are the best 12-8 team in the NCAA. They could be 18-2 right now if they won every close game they played.

I think the part that bothers me the most was THAT was the shot that Bo Ryan called a timeout to get? A left handed floater, in traffic, from a freshman? If you are going to have someone drive to the basket, why not just let Trevon Hughes finish what it appeared like he was going to do before Ryan called the time out? It sure looked like he was breaking his man down off the dribble. I'll take my chances with the 7th year junior taking that shot all day. But if you are calling the time out, couldn't there have been a play drawn up for Nankivil, who out of the blue turned into Brian Butch and was 5-5 on threes? Or Landry, who has a pretty decent mid-range? I don't have a problem with Taylor taking the shot necessarily. I thought he did a really good job running the offense, and has some explosiveness and athleticism that nobody else on Wisconsin has. He was probably a little too eager in the last minute or so on the trigger, and that is probably because he hasn't played many crunch time minutes. My big problem was the lack of a playcall, and the horrible shot selection.

I still think we'll be OK. Need to finish up 7-3, which is doable.

CU is a mere 11 game winning streak away from a possible at large as well after the win last night.