Not much shame in losing to UConn, that team is tough. They have some flaws -- they appear to play a little bit out of control at times, and I'm not sure they have enough outside shooting to get through the season unscathed, especially in the Huge East -- but with those guards and that size and muscle up front, they're as good a bet as anyone to be the team that denies Carolina the national championship.
I didn't realize the game was televised until a couple minutes into the second half. The Badgers were making a nice run at the time, and had a chance to close to within one point on a Krabby free throw ... when Landry fell into the lane prematurely. Ugh.
After that it got ugly quickly. UConn's press really took us out of our game in the second half, and we ended up with something like 20 turnovers. Jordan Taylor looked like a freshman and was overwhelmed, but the other guys weren't too great against it, either.
My player of the game: Rob Wilson, for continuing to attack Hasheem Thabeet. He showed some guts charging the lane and drawing two fouls. I think there's a role for Wilson this season, just not sure exactly what it is yet.
Keaton Nankivil played well, the only Wisconsin player in double digits. When he went out with foul trouble, we got our answer about how Bo will line 'em up against big teams -- no one taller than Landry, who looked like a point guard standing next to Thabeet.
A little worried about J-Bo, who was 2-for-8 from the field. That's understandable, given the Huskies' guards, but he looked shaky on his free throws and missed both.
UWM's up next, and they shouldn't be quite as challenging as UConn.
Monday, November 24, 2008
UConn's tough
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4 comments:
I found this game just a few minutes before tipoff, so I got to see the whole game. I was actually pretty impressed with this squad overall considering how tough Uconn is. A few observations:
1) We still need to work on breaking the press...this seems to bite us every year.
2) Everytime there was a scrum for a rebound or loose ball, a Uconn player would come out shaking their arm/wrist/hand as if they really got popped...I like that intensity by our team.
3) The broadcast of that game (quality and camerawork) was pretty crappy. Although, if I lived in the V.I. and my choices were to Produce high quality TV for this tournament OR lay on the beach, drink beer and look at girls...the transmission would have been equally as crappy!
The announcing was awful. Ball goes to Hughes: "And they get the ball to the senior." Thabeet misses the first free throws, makes the second: "And he hits them both." Geez.
Their press itself didn't seem to be causing the turnovers, it was how we got organized - or didn't - after crossing halfcourt. When we did cross halfcourt - the two 10-second calls came on press breaks that lacked urgency.
The urgency factor on the press break wasn't there, which led to poor decisions.
How many times did our guys just get flat-out pick-pocketed? I haven't seen it that much since I covered high school hoops. I'm sure the guys will get better there, although it seems JBo seems to be the victim of that more than any other UW player.
Speaking of Bohannon, something's not quite right again to start the year. I'm sure he'll get it straightend away but I've never seen him come up short on his shots like has been. Odd for a shooter of his stature.
All in all, though, it wasn't a horrible game for Bucky. In fact, I was encouraged with what I saw. I do know, however, that I and the Badgers will miss Krabby after this year. I love watching that guy play.
Another good but not great team. Yippee! Man I've been spoiled.
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