UW-Davidson thoughts

Boy, am I glad I didn't drag my family to Detroit for that craptastic display of basketball. Before getting into the pity party full swing, let's get the two disclaimers out of the way.

Davidson played very well, deserved to win. They are a legit team. Still think Kansas will beat them, but it's not as sure a thing as I would have thought three hours ago.

This Badger team far exceeded my wildest expectations. Terrific season, guys. In the coming days I will reflect in greater detail.

To lighten the mood, here's a picture of Erin Andrews holding a bag of fish. Courtesy of UWBadgers.com.

OK, then. Let's get to the gruesome details.

-That was embarrassing.

Two days ago Millie commented:

"I've watched this team play far too many games to think that they're going to have their first 'bad' game since the Duke debacle now."

Frank commented:

"Given the fact that they haven't had a truly bad loss all season ..."

And I whole-heartedly agreed. Well, there it is, a truly bad loss. Again, Davidson played well, but we've beaten better squads than that this year. I saw a lot of bad firsts out of the Badgers:

-First time I remember two turnovers in the backcourt that were not press-related. They came on lazy lapses in concentration after rebounds.

-First time I remember the Badgers allowing a transition basket after made baskets - twice! Davidson is quick, but I'd wager Texas and Michigan State are quicker.

-First time I've seen a Badger opponent in the bonus with 15:24 left in a half. That's lazy, play-with-your-hands defense.

-First time I've seen a Badger team take two timeouts in one offensive possession, in the first half.

-First time I've seen the Badgers attempt more 3-pointers than 2-pointers. Could be wrong, but it seems like an anomaly.

Sure was a bad time for all that to hit at once. Let's review my game keys.

-Stephen Curry's going to get his points, but we have to make him work for them and beat him up in the process. The job falls on everyone, not just Flowers. Flowers was on an island out there and did the best he could. Curry got his, but he still needed 22 shots to do it. The failure with Curry was not exploiting him more on defense.

-Turn Richards into a shooter and cut off his feeds to their bigs - Sander, Meno, and Lovedale. Richards made a couple ridiculous shots, but he was 4-of-13 overall, so pretty good there. But he had close to 10 assists, and Lovedale had 12, including a couple spirit-crushing dunks.

-Pound the ball inside to Butch, Landry, and Stiemsma. Landry had just four field goal attempts, Stiemsma three, and Butch nine - six of them 3-pointers. UW took 23 3-pointers and 22 2-pointers, and missed eight free throws.

In retrospect, Davidson outplayed Wisconsin in the first half, but all our made 3-pointers obscured that fact.

-I don't think Hughes' injury was a deciding factor in this game, nor was fatigue. In the NCAA Tournament TV timeouts are about 10 minutes long, so the kids get plenty of rest.

-Text message from Burch at 7:02 p.m.: "pound the f'in ball inside!"

-Text message from Burch at 7:24 p.m.: "i feel like this is cabrini-holy angels." I think in his mind Davidson was playing like my mighty St. Frances Cabrini Warriors, Wisconsin like the downtrodden little guys from Holy Angels. A brief good memory to offset the pain.

-The United Colors of Davidson, with their geographically diverse roster, whipped our fannies. I've been trying to work up some of my patented post-loss bitterness, and all I can come up with is this: Davidson is being treated like the ultimate feel-good story, but basically it's an elitist school for children of privilege. A lot was made of the college (smaller than West Bend East and West combined) paying for any student who wanted to get to the game. Great, but what pays for that? Their $41,000-per-year tuition! How about funding some scholarships for some underprivileged kids?

Yeah, it's weak and a reach, that's all I have ...

-And now the "Even Lebron James wanted Davidson to win" storyline will probably get some legs, it made the first-draft Associated Press gamer.

-Len Elmore is one of my favorite basketball analysts, he does a great job in a low-key manner. Gus Johnson is good, just wish tonight he wasn't calling Cinderella beating my team.

-Silver lining: one more game of balanced scoring, with four guys between 10 and 12 points. Davidson really did play good defense.

I understand that Neil Diamond's "Sweet Caroline" was Davidson's theme song for the tournament, and heard it playing coming out of the last TV timeout. Interesting, that ties back to another painful loss in my fan history. After Super Bowl XXXII, in which the Packers lost to the inferior Broncos, we went at it hard, prompting a later-arriving Will to say, "Did I see the wrong score?"

That night I fell asleep/passed out on the floor with my hand on the CD player belonging to the boys on Bowen Court, repeating "Sweet Caroline" to Toohey's dismay. Currently, I'm on my fourth Leinie's Sunset Wheat, but promise you it will not be anything like downing Todd White's homemade apple cider schnapps made out of Everclear and, I think, an apple Jolly Rancher.

It took me a long time to get over that loss, both physically and emotionally. In fact, it was probably the loss that convinced me not to put anything and everything on the line for a sporting event. So this loss won't be that bad. I'm too proud of these kids for all they accomplished this season, and for all the joy they brought basketball fans in Wisconsin.

Tomorrow Jana and I will go car shopping in preparation for #2's arrival (anyone have any insights on SUV vs. minivan, specifically Honda Pilot vs. Toyota Sienna or Honda Odyssey?), and we'll spend a Will-free night of dining, movies, and relaxation at the Paper Valley Inn in Appleton.

But we'd planned on making it home for the Badger game Sunday. Now we don't have to. Bummer.