Bucky Badger

[Section201]

Wisconsin is like a stone in my shoe that I just can't get rid of. They go into Happy Valley and take care of T. Battle and his boys 63-46. Leuer was 2-7 with 6 points and 2 rebounds but the Badgers shoot 42% from 3's.

I am quite happy only playing the Badgers once this year, barring a tourney matchup, and that one game is at the Barn to boot.

Why do the Badgers seem so much better this year than last?

 

[breadtree]

1) Jordan Taylor has come a very long way in the last 12 months offensively. He can get into the lane and shoot the 3.

2) Today notwithstanding, Leuer is also great improved, and is more of a threat than Landry was last year.

 

[book]

to beat Wis...

you can not sit back and play in a half court game. We will press and scramble them up when they come here!

 

[gopherbadgerman]

Wisconsin is like a stone in my shoe that I just can't get rid of. They go into Happy Valley and take care of T. Battle and his boys 63-46. Leuer was 2-7 with 6 points and 2 rebounds but the Badgers shoot 42% from 3's.

I am quite happy only playing the Badgers once this year, barring a tourney matchup, and that one game is at the Barn to boot.

Why do the Badgers seem so much better this year than last?

Bo Ryan has to be one of the top coaches in the country...it amazes me how much he gets out of what he has...

 

[UWOle]

UW has more talent than generally given credit for. Senior guards Hughes and Bohannon were both top 100, 4* kids in the 2006 class, as were junior forwards Leuer and Nankivil in the 2007 class. That said, Bo has had success because guys have come in and worked hard to get better during their time in Madison. As noted above, Leuer has developed into a very, very good player. Knock on wood, if he plays during the Big 10 season like he has through the first fourteen games of the season, it will be tough to keep him off the all Big 10 first team. Same can be said for Hughes. He has always had the talent, but he has put things together this season and is playing much more consistently. Jordan Taylor's development into a very solid Big 10 PG has also been very important. He is playing essentially starters minutes despite being the 6th man, which allows Hughes to slide to the SG and worry about scoring instead on handling the ball all the time. Taylor playing so many minutes has allowed Hughes and Taylor to share the responsibilities for guarding the opponent's best perimeter playing, keeping both out of foul trouble and giving each a breather. This year's team is also pretty deep, with Taylor and forward Ryan Evans playing good minutes in nearly every game, and Rob Wilson, Jared Berggren and Mike Bruesewitz playing spot minutes as necessary.

I think Minnesota is the kind of team that will give UW trouble, with their length and athlecisim. However, UW is better equipped to handle that sort of play this season due to Taylor's development. UW's best lineup is most games is Taylor, Hughes, Bohannon, Leuer and Nankivil. UW has a tough week with,Wednesday at Michigan St. and Saturday Purdue in Madison. Should be fun.

 

[GibsonSG]

The results of that game are not surprising, IMO. Bo Ryan is now 11-0 versus Ed DeChellis, I think. Obviously, Ed still can't figure out how to beat Bo's system.

What makes me want to throw up is just thinking about Wisconsin finishing at least 12-6 in conference play. They play such a controlled game and don't seem to ever lose on the road to the crappier Big Ten teams.

Wednesday's game at Michigan St. will really show us how good they are. Coincidentally, I will appear to be a lifelong passionate Spartan fan on that day as well.

 

[GophersOnTheRise]

Bo Ryan is a great coach no doubt, but I think people don't realize that a lot of his players were actually pretty highly ranked out of high school. Berggren, Bohannon, Hughes, Leuer, and Nankivil were all 4 stars and Bruesewitz and Taylor were in the Rivals 150. I think people also forget that guys like Krabbenhoft and Butch were 5 stars. Bo has had plenty of talent to work with.

 

[GophersOnTheRise]

Looks like UWOle beat me to it.

 

[Gopherholefan]

I said it at the start of the year and will say again now, Bo has seniors at both of the guard spots... that will take you a long way. To go along with Leuer and Nankivil (this guy has improved a ton from last year) inside, I don't know why people under-estimated this team.

 

[Section201]

I confess

I said it at the start of the year and will say again now, Bo has seniors at both of the guard spots... that will take you a long way. To go along with Leuer and Nankivil (this guy has improved a ton from last year) inside, I don't know why people under-estimated this team.

I confess to being overrun with confidence after our lads whipped Bo twice last year.

Bo drives me mad!

Where is that picture of the Wisconsin scoreboard from last year? I need a boost.

 

[UWOle]

I confess to being overrun with confidence after our lads whipped Bo twice last year.

Don't you think this is a bit of an overstatement? If UW makes one play in the last two minutes of each game, UW gets the sweep. Up 10 with 3 to go in Madison, up 5 with 2 to go in the Barn. Badgers had control of both games late and let them slip away. I would expect another tight one this year.

 

[GopherLady]

I confess to being overrun with confidence after our lads whipped Bo twice last year.

Bo drives me mad!

Where is that picture of the Wisconsin scoreboard from last year? I need a boost.

Just for you...

 

[Section201]

Ole

Don't you think this is a bit of an overstatement? If UW makes one play in the last two minutes of each game, UW gets the sweep. Up 10 with 3 to go in Madison, up 5 with 2 to go in the Barn. Badgers had control of both games late and let them slip away. I would expect another tight one this year.

My being overrun with confidence ater winning twice last year is NO overstatement! You can not underestimate my overconfidence.

Since I cant remember when we had last beaten Bucky twice in the regular season, no matter how and no matter what the score, it filled me with an insufferable overconfidence.

Forgive me my weaknesses.

 

[UWOle]

My being overrun with confidence ater winning twice last year is NO overstatement! You can not underestimate my overconfidence.

Since I cant remember when we had last beaten Bucky twice in the regular season, no matter how and no matter what the score, it filled me with an insufferable overconfidence.

Forgive me my weaknesses.

I was referring to you calling both games last season whippings, which was not accurate at all.

Before the season started, I thought UW was under-rated, but they are significantly better than I was expecting. At that time, I had very little confidence about the game in the Barn. Though I can't say I am expecting a UW victory, I feel much better about UW's chances.

 

[Section201]

uwole & GL

I was referring to you calling both games last season whippings, which was not accurate at all.

Before the season started, I thought UW was under-rated, but they are significantly better than I was expecting. At that time, I had very little confidence about the game in the Barn. Though I can't say I am expecting a UW victory, I feel much better about UW's chances.

Ole, along with being a realist you are being a buzzkill

Admittedly there were many good responses to my query regarding why Bucky seems so improved this year. The results can not be denied.

In any case, when we beat Bo by 1, it is a whipping !!

When we lose by 15, the refs cheated us and succumbed to Bo's whining...


And thank You GLady for the picture.

 

[GopherRock]

The phrase that best describes both games against the red weasels is as follows:

"When you say Wis-con-sin, you've said CHOKE CHOKE CHOKE!!!!"

That is all. Carry on.

 

[Ogee Ogilthorpe]

Well...

Don't you think this is a bit of an overstatement? If UW makes one play in the last two minutes of each game, UW gets the sweep. Up 10 with 3 to go in Madison, up 5 with 2 to go in the Barn. Badgers had control of both games late and let them slip away. I would expect another tight one this year.

No offense, UWOle because you have proved to be a pretty level-headed and objective poster but...

Couldn't you say the same for the Badgers' last two FIELD GOAL victories against the Gophers as well? I know I'm tired of banging on this a few times on the football board but two victories, a pair of FG losses and the blocked punt for a Bucky victory in '05 and all of the sudden the Gophers have won 5 games against Bucky in FB in the last 9 years.

There's a fine line between winning and losing in many games, regardless of the sport

 

[tjgopher]

In my opinion, one of the biggest misconceptions in the last decade in the Big Ten is that Bo Ryan's teams lack talent and it is all coaching. I do think Bo is a great coach, but let's not kid ourselves into thinking he's doing it with Missouri Valley Conference-level talent.

Bo's CURRENT ROSTER includes FIVE 4-star players and SIX 3-star players!! Why shouldn't they be good? There is plenty of talent there.

There always has been talent there. For example, his last seven classes:

2009 - two 3-star recruits
2008 - 4-star Jared Bergren (#74 nationally), plus three 3-star recruits
2007 - 4-star Jon Lueur (#82), 4-star Keaton Nankivil (#92), plus two 3-star recruits
2006 - 4-star Trevon Hughes (#58), 4-star Jason Bohannon (#88), plus one 3-star (#116)
2005 - 5-star Joe Krabbenhoft (#23), plus one 3-star
2004 - 4-star Greg Stiemsma (#45), plus two 3-star recruits (including #124)
2003 - 5-star Brian Butch (#9), plus two 3-star recruits

So, basically, he's hauled in a pair of 5-star guys, six 4-star guys, and 13 three-star players; almost all of which overlapped at one time or another. That's a good assembly of talent.

 

[GopherLady]

No offense, UWOle because you have proved to be a pretty level-headed and objective poster but...

Couldn't you say the same for the Badgers' last two FIELD GOAL victories against the Gophers as well? I know I'm tired of banging on this a few times on the football board but two victories, a pair of FG losses and the blocked punt for a Bucky victory in '05 and all of the sudden the Gophers have won 5 games against Bucky in FB in the last 9 years.

There's a fine line between winning and losing in many games, regardless of the sport

I think that's what Ole was saying (correct me if I'm wrong) - that they were very close games, and we, by no means, whipped the Badgers, as originally stated...we just beat them in close games.

Quite honestly - I'm not ready to talk trash to WI yet - in my span as a Gopher fan (14 years), I think we beat them twice in football, and last year was the 1st time I saw them win at the Kohl Center, and I'm not sure how many home wins we've had - I'd say about 3 or 4. I'm really confident that that trend will change in basketball and we'll win more than we lose during the next decade...but I'll refrain from trash talk for now .

 

[UWOle]

I think that's what Ole was saying (correct me if I'm wrong) - that they were very close games, and we, by no means, whipped the Badgers, as originally stated...we just beat them in close games.

Ogee, this is what I was attempting to say. I just did not think "whipped" was a fair way to describe the two UW/UM hoops games last season.

 

[GVBadger]

In my opinion, one of the biggest misconceptions in the last decade in the Big Ten is that Bo Ryan's teams lack talent and it is all coaching. I do think Bo is a great coach, but let's not kid ourselves into thinking he's doing it with Missouri Valley Conference-level talent.

Bo's CURRENT ROSTER includes FIVE 4-star players and SIX 3-star players!! Why shouldn't they be good? There is plenty of talent there.

There always has been talent there. For example, his last seven classes:

2009 - two 3-star recruits
2008 - 4-star Jared Bergren (#74 nationally), plus three 3-star recruits
2007 - 4-star Jon Lueur (#82), 4-star Keaton Nankivil (#92), plus two 3-star recruits
2006 - 4-star Trevon Hughes (#58), 4-star Jason Bohannon (#88), plus one 3-star (#116)
2005 - 5-star Joe Krabbenhoft (#23), plus one 3-star
2004 - 4-star Greg Stiemsma (#45), plus two 3-star recruits (including #124)
2003 - 5-star Brian Butch (#9), plus two 3-star recruits

So, basically, he's hauled in a pair of 5-star guys, six 4-star guys, and 13 three-star players; almost all of which overlapped at one time or another. That's a good assembly of talent.

Good stuff TJ. Funny that the two best players of the Bo era were both first team all americans and not one of the 4 or 5 star players mentioned.

The notion that Wisconsin has won all of these games under Ryan with average talent is absurd. They don't trot 4 NBA players out there at a time, but they certainly have talent. They also take advantage of players that improve and for the most part stay for four years. They have had one guy leave early in ten years under Bo.

That is a huge advantage when most of the best players leave early. It is a critical factor that levels the playing field and people forget that fact.

 

[Section201]

GL

I think that's what Ole was saying (correct me if I'm wrong) - that they were very close games, and we, by no means, whipped the Badgers, as originally stated...we just beat them in close games.

Quite honestly - I'm not ready to talk trash to WI yet - in my span as a Gopher fan (14 years), I think we beat them twice in football, and last year was the 1st time I saw them win at the Kohl Center, and I'm not sure how many home wins we've had - I'd say about 3 or 4. I'm really confident that that trend will change in basketball and we'll win more than we lose during the next decade...but I'll refrain from trash talk for now .

When the opportunity comes so seldom I just have to take advantage of the situation.

The Gophers whipped Bucky twice last year.

It still has me smiling and clapping!

 

[WanderingGopher]

Wisconsin's got to be the biggest surprise of the conference, by far. Forget about the star rankings from 4 years ago that others have posted, and look at it this way --

Wisconsin BARELY made the NCAA tourney last year, maybe the last team in, and lost two of their three most important players from last year -- Landry and Krabbenhoft. Sure they had some players with potential still on the roster, but so does every other Big Ten team. Plus, basically every other Big Ten contender had a considerably greater (at last on paper) influx of talent from transfers or frosh or guys returning from injury, so it was reasonable to assume that WI would struggle to finish 7th or 8th and would not make the tourney this year.

I can't lie, it's annoying to see Wisconsin still doing well this year. Especially since the Gophers haven't put it together yet. I thought we'd pretty much crush them this year (and going forward) with substantially better players. But yeah, the way things are shaping up now it looks like it'll be another tight battle.

 

[Ogee Ogilthorpe]

The difference

Wisconsin's got to be the biggest surprise of the conference, by far. Forget about the star rankings from 4 years ago that others have posted, and look at it this way --

Wisconsin BARELY made the NCAA tourney last year, maybe the last team in, and lost two of their three most important players from last year -- Landry and Krabbenhoft.

Wisky returned a SENIOR backcourt. Nobody should be surprised that they are doing well. I'll take a senior-laden backcourt over frontcourt ANY day. They're trotting out 2 Seniors and 3 Juniors for a starting lineup, arguably a more experienced lineup than most in the BT, particularly since after those 5, they're basically only playing 2 other guys significant minutes.

That being said, they did catch OSU without Evan Turner and they caught PSU after the Lions completely blew their wad in Williams Arena a few days prior.

I would never, ever, ever completely discount a team that has a backcourt returning with as much experience as Bohannon and Hughes.

With OSU in rough shape while Turner is out and Michigan struggling much moreso than anybody expected, and even Illinois showing their youth early on, that opens the door for Wisky to come up with a decent BT record and likely make the tournament.

 

[Holy Man]

The Badgers beat Puke. They are in the tourney, unless there is some '64 Phillies like collapse.

The upside is that a nice win against them will help us more than it did last year.

 

[GVBadger]

Wisky returned a SENIOR backcourt. Nobody should be surprised that they are doing well. I'll take a senior-laden backcourt over frontcourt ANY day. They're trotting out 2 Seniors and 3 Juniors for a starting lineup, arguably a more experienced lineup than most in the BT, particularly since after those 5, they're basically only playing 2 other guys significant minutes.

That being said, they did catch OSU without Evan Turner and they caught PSU after the Lions completely blew their wad in Williams Arena a few days prior.

I would never, ever, ever completely discount a team that has a backcourt returning with as much experience as Bohannon and Hughes.

With OSU in rough shape while Turner is out and Michigan struggling much moreso than anybody expected, and even Illinois showing their youth early on, that opens the door for Wisky to come up with a decent BT record and likely make the tournament.

Funny stuff. You posted a treatise a couple weeks ago about how the Badgers were done because their success was based on a weak Big 10 and now the Big 10 is stronger so the party is over in Madison. Now, the Badgers look like one of the better teams in the Big 10 again and you go back to the Big 10 is weak again argument. Keep it up. Makes the entertainment on this board far too hard to give up.

All I have to say is thank goodness the Big 10 has been so bad the last 11 years or the Badgers would have never made the NCAA. This year it is going to make 12 in a row. Let me know when the Gophers have 12 appearences in their history. And since Gophers football fans love this one so much: National Championships in Basketball, Wisconsin 1, Minnesota 0.

Good luck against Purdue tonight. Maybe the Gophers will make Purdue blow their wad also so the Badgers can beat them Saturday.

 

[GoGoGophers]

Funny stuff. You posted a treatise a couple weeks ago about how the Badgers were done because their success was based on a weak Big 10 and now the Big 10 is stronger so the party is over in Madison. Now, the Badgers look like one of the better teams in the Big 10 again and you go back to the Big 10 is weak again argument. Keep it up. Makes the entertainment on this board far too hard to give up.

All I have to say is thank goodness the Big 10 has been so bad the last 11 years or the Badgers would have never made the NCAA. This year it is going to make 12 in a row. Let me know when the Gophers have 12 appearences in their history. And since Gophers football fans love this one so much: National Championships in Basketball, Wisconsin 1, Minnesota 0.

Good luck against Purdue tonight. Maybe the Gophers will make Purdue blow their wad also so the Badgers can beat them Saturday.

I love how you are continually amazed that the Badgers don't get respected here, and proceed to respond with considerable angst every time something negative is posted. You've done this for years and I laugh every time. Are you truly this dense? They will be slighted here, period. Forever. This is a rival message board, that's what happens on the interwebs.

On Buckyville your guy Myles spouts racist rants about Tubby and the players' families, Rent-a-cop threatens to beat up Gopher fans at pregame tailgates, and other marching band d0uches continually trash the U, the state, and the teams. Should we all run over there and be like you every time this happens? Would it help?

 

[Ogee Ogilthorpe]

Ummm...

Funny stuff. You posted a treatise a couple weeks ago about how the Badgers were done because their success was based on a weak Big 10 and now the Big 10 is stronger so the party is over in Madison. Now, the Badgers look like one of the better teams in the Big 10 again and you go back to the Big 10 is weak again argument. Keep it up. Makes the entertainment on this board far too hard to give up.

All I have to say is thank goodness the Big 10 has been so bad the last 11 years or the Badgers would have never made the NCAA. This year it is going to make 12 in a row. Let me know when the Gophers have 12 appearences in their history. And since Gophers football fans love this one so much: National Championships in Basketball, Wisconsin 1, Minnesota 0.

Good luck against Purdue tonight. Maybe the Gophers will make Purdue blow their wad also so the Badgers can beat them Saturday.

Wow, where do I begin. First off, I'm a big picture person so when I say the Badgers are "in trouble", I mean in the long term. You would expect a team with a senior starting backcourt and 3 juniors in the front court to struggle THIS year?

The Leuer class is essentially the last class brought in that was not "influenced" (or competed against?) by Beilien, Tubby, Crean, or even Lickliter. Looking at your roster now, seeing who is getting minutes and who is not, you can honestly tell me as a Badger fan that you're not a LITTLE concerned about how the cupboard looks when Leuer and Nankivil are gone?

And... You don't think you can argue that Michigan has not looked as good this year as folks thought they would be? Or that you KNEW OSU would be without Evan Turner, Northwestern without Coble (although they've done well without him), and that Illinois would get out of the gate more slowly than expected?

The bold comment is the most accurate thing you said. Yes, I stand firmly behind the notion that the BT has been largely in the toilet during Bo's entire tenure at Wisconsin. Let's face the facts, when Indiana and Michigan (along with Iowa, Minny, and even Illinois for a few years) are for the most part completely irrelevant for a DECADE, yes, the Big Ten is in a down cycle.

And for the most part, I don't think the BT is necessarily "weak" this year. It's just some of the teams that were expected to be very good have either sustained major injuries or have gotten out of the gate slowly. I would expect that by the end of February, there will be 7-8 BT teams legitimately duking it out for an NCAA berth. That's a good thing, Charlie Brown.

Like I said in the post; anybody who thought ANY team with the experience of the Badgers' starting five would be weak just doesn't know the significance of BT experience. Experience-wise, they should still be in the top 5-6 in the BT this year.

Stay focused, you'll figure it out...