Tuesday, January 27, 2009

UW-Purdue thoughts

Un ... effing ... believable.

This is just a miserable time to be a Badger fan, isn't it? It would be one thing if we were getting blown out by bad teams every night and absolutely nothing was working. But this is the third time in the last five games where we were in position to win late but could not finish. Such a tease.

Purdue is obviously the better team, a very formidable group that's only going to get better. Talented, well-coached, balanced, good defensively.

But when Keaton Nankivil makes 5-of-5 3-pointers and scores 21 points ... well, you should win. Especially at the Kohl Center.

-How did Jordan Taylor's last shot rim out? Because we aren't getting any bounces nowadays, that's how.

-Really thought that when Krabby leveled Jackson early that it would set a tone for us to be in control throughout. It did look like Joe extended his forearm and probably could have gotten whistled. It looked like Jackson sort of milked the hit for a long time afterward.

-J-Bo's struggles are killing our offensive balance. He's not making shots, and he's getting gun-shy. If we're going to play Jordan Taylor and Pop at the same time, it might make sense for J-Bo to sit at those times, at least until he gets his stroke going again. Northwestern is up next, and they were the opponent for Jason's career night a couple weeks ago, hopefully the matchup can get him going again.

-JaJuan Johnson just makes Landry a non-factor, doesn't he? Marcus had nine points tonight but I can't remember any of them. Johnson is just the perfect defender to put on him.

-Really missing Michael Flowers. Purdue got way too many wide-open looks on the perimeter tonight, in particular the 3-pointers by Hummel and Kramer that essentially won the game for the Boilers. I can't stand watching those two guys celebrate, it's super annoying.

-The silver lining was Nankivil. Regular readers will no doubt remember that I've been begging Keaton to shoot more all season long, and tonight he showed worthy of those pleas.

Just checked, and no one's got a site up at www.fireboryan.com. Better get on that, superfans!

6 comments:

Dubb said...

To add to your good points, where has Rob Wilson been? I would imagine he's not showing enough in practice to get on the court, but particularly with Bohannon's struggles it'd be nice if he got a look at some point in the game. Wilson may make some mental mistakes you won't get from J-Bo, but with an offense needing a spark he seems a logical yet continually ignored option. Has he really regressed from earlier this season to the point that he can't get 2 minutes of tick?

Unknown said...

I too was surprised with Rob Wilson's absence. But it seems like Bo is trusting his younger players, especially Jordan "Dynasty" Taylor. We needed to box out and get rebounds in this game. That's hard to do when your big man is setting up shop behind the 3-point arc.

Anonymous said...

They need one of the players to take chare and lead this team. The seniors appear to just not be that type of player/person. I think that has resulted in Hughes bite off more than he can chew...and his play has been inconsisitent as a result. If JBo isn't making his jump shots, he is a liability on the court...he does not defend well, and it doesn't seem like he has eoungh jumping ability to score anywhere near the bigs. My current count of missed or blocked lay ups for him is currentyl at 10 for the year. They may need to sit him and let Taylor and Hughes see what they can do in tandem more often.

Anonymous said...

NCAA titles: Marquette 1, UW 0
NIT titles: Marquette 1, UW 0

This may be the year the Badgers claim that elusive NIT title. It's not going to be easy, but it's an attainable goal. Austy

Coach Scott Tappa said...

Actually, Jim, we have an NCAA title, too. In 1941, which makes it about as relevant to people nowadays as Marquette's.

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