Wisconsin-Michigan thoughts

Are you in a glass-half-empty or glass-half-full mood tonight? Whatever your answer will dictate how you feel about the Badgers' too-close-for-comfort win over Michigan.

Let's start with glass-half-full: nice to pull out a close win; lots of different guys hit big shots, none bigger than Landry's; TV viewers got to see Erin Andrews work a power auger.

Glass-half-empty: we almost lost at home to a 5-14 team we beat in our sleep three weeks ago at their place; we looked sluggish, giving up 21 - 21! - offensive rebounds; we let their precocious freshman - their only scoring threat - get in too much of a rhythm. This might be the #11 team in the country right now, but I don't see them staying undefeated in the Big Ten much longer, and the efforts against Northwestern and Michigan suggest the Badgers are not serious conference title contenders.

Which isn't the end of the world, really. Better get to the highlights before I start sounding like a spoiled fan.

-After the NU stinker, I said that we needed Stiemsma against Michigan - just didn't think we'd need him that much. His big block on Ekpe Udoh's dunk attempt made sure Michigan never got the lead, which was so important. His other block, on DeShawn Sims, continued Sims' frustration. He made a nice layup, took a charge. And he and Greg Gard took the ESPN gang ice fishing (more on that later).

-Flowers' shot looked good again tonight. No reason he shouldn't be averaging 12-14 points a game (currently at 9).

-Twenty-one friggin' offensive boards! Credit Michigan for going hard, but some of those were a lack of effort or execution breakdown on our part. Case in point were Zack Griffin's two boards, in which he didn't have a Badger within five feet of him.

-Another indicator of subpar effort: nine free throws attempted, after 37 against Northwestern. Then again, credit Michigan's defense and a well-refereed game. And just in time for a State Journal story about free throw shooting.

-I thought Hughes' and Flowers' back-to-back steals were the dagger, but Michigan showed heart in not folding at that point.

-Michigan is much-improved since the first time we met. Still, they have about three legit players right now in Sims, Udoh, and Manny Harris. Sims is a 45% shooter and went 4-for-19. Udoh looked comfortable shooting jumpers. Harris was obviously great, but we seemed a step slow coming over to help, except for the two charges drawn by Krabby and Stiemsma.

-Down the stretch it was nice to see a variety of guys hit clutch shots: J-Bo, Krabby, Landry. J-Bo's runner was pretty, I'd rather see him do that than take 3-pointers nowadays. Krabby's move in the lane was strong. And Landry looked so confident and quick after taking that pass from Pop on the late 3.

-Twenty-one offensive rebounds!



-The ice fishing segment featuring Stiemsma, Gard (and his uncle), Erin, Lavin, and Musberger was entertaining. It's fun when ESPN does goofy stuff like that, I wonder whose idea it was. Really wish Greg would have shown a little personality, though. At the end of the segment Erin says "... cook them in the, uh, microwave? Can this go with wine, Lav?"

Also, how about that kid in the polar bear suit? That thing has gotten out of hand, although it does ensure Lav and Brent are talking about our players and team in other games they do, which is good for building recognition for the program.