Watching Wisconsin play is like watching paint dry

[KyGopherfan]

My God, how does Bo get ANY recruits at that school? It's 1950's basketball revisited. I can't hardly stand watching the Badgers play. They will put anyone to sleep. Bo Ryan is a great coach, no doubt, but his style of play is ridiculous.

 

[GopherLady]

My God, how does Bo get ANY recruits at that school? It's 1950's basketball revisited. I can't hardly stand watching the Badgers play. They will put anyone to sleep. Bo Ryan is a great coach, no doubt, but his style of play is ridiculous.

Because they win, and they win year in and year out with that molasses slow boring style of play. I typically watch just about any BT game, but it's tough watch WI and NU for those reasons. Play the two against each other...and wow, you often get a snooze fest. We actually talked about this - would you rather of been a WI fan and always had a winning team, but you had to sit through all of those games....or be a Gopher fan, have exciting games, but lose and have 3-13 seasons?

With that being said, Bo's system works. Homeboy can coach.

 

[Gopher Bandanna Guy]

Then be glad its not Dick Bennett coaching anymore. Bo's style is positively up tempo run n' gun compared to his fossiliferous basketball methods. Ugh.

If the Badgers are going to a conference contender year in and year out (as they have been), at least with Bo I can see it, as his teams can regularly score more than 60. Dick Bennett basketball made me want to wretch.

 

[GVBadger]

You must have missed the Duke game. The Badgers can play any style they have to. They value the ball, are a great rebounding team and play very good defense. Not sure wht that is boring, but to each their own, I guess.

They just beat PSU by 17 on the road and OSU by 20 at home. They must be doing something right.

 

[KyGopherfan]

You must have missed the Duke game. The Badgers can play any style they have to. They value the ball, are a great rebounding team and play very good defense. Not sure wht that is boring, but to each their own, I guess.

They just beat PSU by 17 on the road and OSU by 20 at home. They must be doing something right.

Watch a Louisville game, then watch a Wisconsin game and you tell me the difference. Sure, there's more than one way to win a basketball game, but the Wisconsin way is not exciting basketball, that's for sure. I guess that's why Bo is finding it harder and harder to recruit.

 

[In Tubby We Trust]

You must have missed the Duke game. The Badgers can play any style they have to. They value the ball, are a great rebounding team and play very good defense. Not sure wht that is boring, but to each their own, I guess.

They just beat PSU by 17 on the road and OSU by 20 at home. They must be doing something right.

GO AWAY

 

[burton34]

GO AWAY

Why? What's your problem?

 

[Gopher Bandanna Guy]

You must have missed the Duke game. The Badgers can play any style they have to. They value the ball, are a great rebounding team and play very good defense. Not sure wht that is boring, but to each their own, I guess.

They just beat PSU by 17 on the road and OSU by 20 at home. They must be doing something right.

Nobody said they weren't effective - It's an opinion (and not just from Gopher fans hating on the Badgers, trust me) that Wisconsin's method to winning basketball is often boring, and sometimes ugly. Its an opinion, and no amount of Badger fan incredulousness can take that from those of us on this board who feel that way.

I also seriously doubt Wisconsin can 'play any style they have to', as I've yet to see them rush up and down the court and press all game. The Duke win was a nice one for the program, but let's not pretend Wisconsin is a jack of all trades team. They certainly didn't play the necessary style to beat Gonzaga, who kept them at arms length all game.

 

[RichInBunlyGoodness]

Generally speaking, the less people know about the game of basketball, the more they want to see teams running up and down the floor and getting uncontested dunks. The more people know about the game, the more they appreciate the subtleties of half court basketball. Setting good picks, getting good spacing on the floor, working the ball for a good shot--these things are fun to watch.

Also, I find it odd that so many basketball fans fail to appreciate good defense. Most football fans love to see their defense put an a$$-whooping on their opponents. Why then do basketball fans seem to lack the appreciation for good defense?

When you have the privilege of watching Bo Ryan-coached teams 30+ times per year, then when you see other teams coughing the ball up with unforced turnovers or failing to provide help defense and letting the other team get uncontested layups, you can't help but feel that their style of play is very boring in comparison.

 

[koppco1]

Generally speaking, the less people know about the game of basketball, the more they want to see teams running up and down the floor and getting uncontested dunks. The more people know about the game, the more they appreciate the subtleties of half court basketball. Setting good picks, getting good spacing on the floor, working the ball for a good shot--these things are fun to watch.

Also, I find it odd that so many basketball fans fail to appreciate good defense. Most football fans love to see their defense put an a$$-whooping on their opponents. Why then do basketball fans seem to lack the appreciation for good defense?

When you have the privilege of watching Bo Ryan-coached teams 30+ times per year, then when you see other teams coughing the ball up with unforced turnovers or failing to provide help defense and letting the other team get uncontested layups, you can't help but feel that their style of play is very boring in comparison.

Yes, thanks for telling all of us who like uptempo basketball that we are morons that know nothing about the game and somehow you know much more than the rest of us because you like the "Bo method". By the way, playing uptempo basketball and playing tough defense are not mutually exclusive. This is demonstrated every day by alot of good teams. You don't need to grind it out in a half court game every possession to play good defense and win games. I'm guessing guys like Tubby Smith and Rick Pitino (among others who like to play uptempo AND play tough defense) know a bit more about the game than you do. Please go away now.

 

[Gopher Bandanna Guy]

Generally speaking, the less people know about the game of basketball, the more they want to see teams running up and down the floor and getting uncontested dunks. The more people know about the game, the more they appreciate the subtleties of half court basketball. Setting good picks, getting good spacing on the floor, working the ball for a good shot--these things are fun to watch.

Also, I find it odd that so many basketball fans fail to appreciate good defense. Most football fans love to see their defense put an a$$-whooping on their opponents. Why then do basketball fans seem to lack the appreciation for good defense?

Wow. That's a pretty arrogant statement. But I suppose since I don't have the 'priveledge' of watching Bo pace the sidelines and watch his teams clutch/grab without fouling for 40 minutes, get to the line 50% more than their opponents, and because I enjoy teams like Louisville and Tennessee running up and down, I must not know much about basketball. Thanks for putting me in my place.

 

[KyGopherfan]

Rick Pitino, Tubby Smith, Nolen Richardson are great examples of playing hard nosed defense, while playing uptempo. The idea that they are mutually exclusive is ridiculous. Also, notice a common thread among those coaches I listed....they've all won a championship. That style of play is as entertaining to play as it is to watch, hence, the ability to recruit kids who are athletes and often NBA prospects.

 

[tjgopher]

Rick Pitino, Tubby Smith, Nolen Richardson are great examples of playing hard nosed defense, while playing uptempo.

Let's not get too carried away. Last year's Big Ten stats show:

Wisconsin - 63.1 points/game
Minnesota - 61.6 points/game

I love Tubby, but he isn't known as an up tempo guy in the same vein as Richardson or Pitino. Tubby's Kentucky teams played much, much slower than Pitino's.

That said, I love the fact that Tubby is trying to get this year's Gopher team playing at a much faster tempo than in his first two years here.

 

[MNBadgerGuy]

Because they win, and they win year in and year out with that molasses slow boring style of play. I typically watch just about any BT game, but it's tough watch WI and NU for those reasons. Play the two against each other...and wow, you often get a snooze fest. We actually talked about this - would you rather of been a WI fan and always had a winning team, but you had to sit through all of those games....or be a Gopher fan, have exciting games, but lose and have 3-13 seasons?

With that being said, Bo's system works. Homeboy can coach.

Did someone honestly say they would prefer to play the gophers style and go 3-13 with 'exciting' games than watch a team play UW's style and consistently win, and win big?

 

[Ogee Ogilthorpe]

Perfect

Generally speaking, the less people know about the game of basketball, the more they want to see teams running up and down the floor and getting uncontested dunks. The more people know about the game, the more they appreciate the subtleties of half court basketball. Setting good picks, getting good spacing on the floor, working the ball for a good shot--these things are fun to watch.

Also, I find it odd that so many basketball fans fail to appreciate good defense. Most football fans love to see their defense put an a$$-whooping on their opponents. Why then do basketball fans seem to lack the appreciation for good defense?

When you have the privilege of watching Bo Ryan-coached teams 30+ times per year, then when you see other teams coughing the ball up with unforced turnovers or failing to provide help defense and letting the other team get uncontested layups, you can't help but feel that their style of play is very boring in comparison.

This is frickin' classic. Now the Badgers are the epitomy of all that is good with pure collegiate basketball.

Let's face the facts, folks. When something is working, at that moment, it's the best thing since sliced bread and you wouldn't want anything else. When it's not working, the world is coming to an end, we have to change styles, etc. Same story, different day...

Wisky is 2-0 right now, and low and behold, their players are better than everybody thought and Bo is the best coach to walk the earth and HIS STYLE is the only real pure basketball going. But what about when things aren't going so well?

For reasons beyond the comprehension of some folks, I don't have the time or interest to "cruise" other teams msgboards. However, after the Bucky collapse against the Gophers in Madison last year, I did happen to notice that the MASSIVE majority of the Bucky faithful weren't singing the same song you are right now. It was more like, "We don't have the athletes to compete at this level, it's time to ditch Bo's style, et al...".

I'm not going to criticize Bo's style. That's what he does, perhaps out of necessity, and it works. Bo's style is also effective for the same reason the Huskers were so successful in FB in the early-mid 90's; it's not a system you see every day because nobody else is doing it and it can be hard to prepare for.

 

[GopherLady]

Did someone honestly say they would prefer to play the gophers style and go 3-13 with 'exciting' games than watch a team play UW's style and consistently win, and win big?

Yep, I did. But you're asking the wrong person, I'm just a little biased, in that - I love Gopher Basketball more than most of my family members!

I wouldn't give it up for anything - it's about the journey, and every one of those low's we've hit (and there were a lot) make the high's feel so much more incredible. I can't even describe the feeling I had at the Kohl Center when we beat you last year. Yes, it was one game, but I'm not sure I'd ever been so elated at a sporting event.

 

[Friend Of Tubby]

Let's not get too carried away. Last year's Big Ten stats show:

Wisconsin - 63.1 points/game
Minnesota - 61.6 points/game

I love Tubby, but he isn't known as an up tempo guy in the same vein as Richardson or Pitino. Tubby's Kentucky teams played much, much slower than Pitino's.

That said, I love the fact that Tubby is trying to get this year's Gopher team playing at a much faster tempo than in his first two years here.

You'll find the stats here www.bigbluehistory.net for Tubby and Pitino teams at UK.

Pitino teams scored more points but gave up more points (on average) than Tubby teams.

The scoring margin (on average) is not that much different.

 

[Reserve]

I remain fairly impressed with Wisconsin, why I don't know. But, after the last few games with Leuer being on the bench, they're still pretty strong, or lulling teams to sleep.

That said, I love the fact that Tubby is trying to get this year's Gopher team playing at a much faster tempo than in his first two years here.

I was going to bring this up as a topic but it's something I've noticed this year as well. That, uptempo, exciting style of basketball that Tubby talked about when he first came is possibly starting to show.

 

[rcpratt]

I remain fairly impressed with Wisconsin, why I don't know. But, after the last few games with Leuer being on the bench, they're still pretty strong, or lulling teams to sleep.

I was going to bring this up as a topic but it's something I've noticed this year as well. That, uptempo, exciting style of basketball that Tubby talked about when he first came is possibly starting to show.

I haven't watched many Gophers games yet this year, but I did notice when I was browsing kenpom.com that Minnesota's adjusted tempo ranked 25th in the country. That's definitely going to fall once conference play really gets going, but it ranks first in the Big Ten. Only IU (37th) is close.

 

[GVBadger]

I think Tubby finally realized that he is not going to get this group to execute in a half court set the way he wants and he is letting them loose. It is a great adjustment and it is working. The talent fits that style much better. The Gophers are playing good basketball and it will be interesting to see how they play at Purdue.

As for the Badgers boring style, it is just a matter of opinion, but the bottom line is winning games. If you can recruit 5 top 25 players and throw them out there on a nightly basis, then playing at a quick pace is probably a good way to go. Not many teams can do that. If you recruit solid players in the 75-150 range and play a system that matches that talent, that can work as well. Everyone can't get 3 or 4 top 20 players every year. If you don't, you still need to find a way to compete.

 

[SelectionSunday]

If one believes watching the Badgers (or any other team) is like watching paint dry (I'm assuming folks don't enjoy watching paint dry), then why would one watch them? I don't find the Badgers boring, but if I did think watching them (or any other team/game on TV) was like watching paint dry, I would simply turn the channel. In fact, I did it yesterday during the Florida-NC State game (luckily I caught the amazing finish).

Watching Dick Bennett's teams play? Now that's another story. I respect Bennett as a basketball coach, but most of the time I had a hard time watching his teams play. His worst teams. ... those are the ones that were like watching paint dry.