Sunday, November 25, 2007

Wisconsin-Georgia thoughts

OK, something went wrong with the DVR, which didn't record the Badger game last night, so we're watching the Sponge Bob Squarepants movie this morning. No big deal, since I saw the last 12 minutes live, and it seems I just missed the lowlights anyway.

When I turned the game on the Badgers were down four; by the end of the game we were up 19. From reading game stories, looking at the box score, and watching the last 12 minutes, my surface-level observations:

-Trevon Hughes needs to penetrate to set up the rest of his game. He had a putrid first half shooting last night, jacking up 3s left and right, but took it to the hole in the second half. Who saw his behind-the-back pass to Joe Krabbenhoft in the lane for a layup? That's the early favorite for pass of the year in college hoops.

-Krabbenhoft is getting himself in position to score this year, which is a huge difference than his game the last couple years, when he seemed content to be a passer and intangible guy. We need his scoring. Thirteen points, five assists, six rebounds, great all around game, the kind we can expect from him this season.

-Conversely, Marcus Landry seems to be getting shy, he only took five shots last night. We haven't needed his scoring yet, but we will soon against better teams.

-A missed dunk aside, Michael Flowers ended up playing a nice game. He's always played with a lot of energy, but it seems more apparent this year. He and Hughes are going to end up playing 35 minutes a game, because they're the only two guards that match up athletically with the type of player most of our opponents will throw out there.

-Brian Butch continues to struggle shooting - he's willing, but not converting.

-The eight-man rotation for now seems to be Flowers, Hughes, Krabby, Butch, Landry Greg Stiemsma, Jason Bohannon, and Kevin Gullikson. Would really like Jon Leuer to be one of those guys.

Duke's up next, going to be a tough one, but at least this Georgia team will have us a little bit better prepared than the other teams we've faced so far.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

The first half was as ugly a half we'll see this season (hopefully)- Georgia had a couple goons who made it awfully difficult to work the ball inside- One of which was a kid from Wausau who had a mini fan club behind GA's bench. Not sure what his story is but his "goonyness" caught up to him mid-way through the second half picking up his 4th personal- opening things up on the inside.

The first 2 minutes of the second half was as exciting 2 minutes we'll see all season- essentially erasing GA's 9pt lead. Hughes and Flowers can turn on/off their defensive efforts instantly- it would be nice to see this for 40 minutes if their legs could handle it.
I agree on Krabby- he's playing with confidence- Landry could take lessons from him. I don't know if it's confidence or attitude with him but he needs to have a fire lit under him before the tip or something.
I too wanted to see Leuer but I could see where Bo was coming from using Gully- it was physical in the first half and into the second- not sure Leuer was ready for all that? We should see Leuer on Tues?

Anonymous said...

I haven't had a chance to see them yet (DirecTV is being installed on Thursday), but I'm excited about Tuesday night. The question for me is whether or not Bucky can successfully defend Duke with a big lineup. If they can, Duke is going to have a hell of a hard time with the size the Badgers can put on the floor.

Anonymous said...

I think you're right...if we can defend with our bigs on the floor I like our chances.

I like Hughes on Paulus and Flowers will definitely be tested with Nelson- could be the deciding matchup of the game?? Early foul trouble on Flowers would be costly. Who matches up with Scheyer and the freshman Singler?

If we crawl in a hole early it could be a long night. Not sure this is what Bo had planned for his first game on the road with a relatively young team. This could be Hughes' coming out party though.

Anonymous said...

You're going to have Hughes on Paulus and Flowers will be on Henderson or Nelson. That leaves Krabby to guard the other one (Nelson or Henderson). I think that Landry will be ok on Singler. What's going to be interesting is if Duke goes really small with Paulus, Scheyer, Henderson and Nelson all at the same time, but that would be odd.

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