UW-Northwestern thoughts

Early in the second half of the Badgers' win over Northwestern Sunday, I was thinking that my prevailing takeaway from a UW win would be something like "Twenty wins, they've already exceeded my expectations. Everything from here on out is gravy."

But then we almost pissed the game away against a marginal team at home. This coming off a poor defensive performance against Illinois, a laugher against a bad Indiana team, and a pathetic showing at Minnesota. So yeah, we won, but right now I'm feeling glass-half-empty about this team.

In particular, I don't think this is a great defensive Badger team. Good? Sure, we'll never be below average with Bo around. But the stellar points-against numbers we yield are more a product of tempo and limited possessions than lockdown defenders. Like today: we only gave up 63 points, but:

-Northwestern shot 22 free throws, and got into the double bonus before we did in the second half. Coming into today we had shot just four more free throws than our opponents, a dramatic departure from the norm. This can be attributed to Jon Leuer's absence, the resulting lack of post touches and tendency to settle for jumpers, and perimeter defense that just isn't quick enough all the time to contain penetration.

-John Shurna had a big game for Northwestern today. No shame in that, he's a good player. But we had no one to slow him down. Tim Jarmusz wasn't exactly doing the job, but as Matt Lepay and Mike Lucas said on the radio, who else were you going to put in at that time? Ryan Evans? Mike Bruesewitz? Evans at least had some success against Kyle Singler earlier this year.

-Leuer had those big blocked shots today, which is an element we've been missing the last two years. Better shot blocking could cover up for some of our perimeter defensive deficiencies.

No Joe Krabbenhoft. No Michael Flowers. No Greg Stiemsma. We just aren't as good defensively as our reputation.

Also not to like today:

-On the topic of reputations not being lived up to, Jordan Taylor had four turnovers today. Is it just me, or has he seemed shaky with the ball lately?

-Leuer, Pop and Jarmusz missed free throws in the waning moments.

On the plus side:

-Jason Bohannon has quietly become exactly the player we hoped he'd be. His step-back jumper is a beautiful move, a nice go-to move that has made him something other than just a 3-point gunner.

-Leuer seemed more comfortable out there.

-Taylor continues to score more than I ever expected him to.

-Give Northwestern credit, they were playing desperate. Of the middle-of-the-pack Big Ten teams, they deserve far more credit this year than Michigan or Minnesota, considering the relative talent levels and what Northwestern lost to injury.

We'd better watch out for Indiana, they're going to be a lot tougher out in Bloomington than they were in Madison.

UW-Michigan thoughts

As you know, I play basketball at the local fitness center every day, a hodge podge collection of players who like to get together and run around. Afterward while cooling down we break down the day's proceedings, trying to decipher why one group was successful and the other wasn't. More often than not it boils down to something along the lines of "They made their shots, we didn't" or vice versa. Really deep analysis.

This is what happened in Ann Arbor today, in a nutshell. In the first half we made our shots and they. In a way it was the exact opposite of what happened during our game in Madison, only in that game Michigan couldn't establish any separation in the first half like we did today.

Ever since Jon Leuer went out, it seems that the Badgers' fortunes ride on how well they shoot jump shots. And really, there's no reason they can't shoot well on a consistent basis. Obviously it would be best if Leuer returns before the regular season ends, but even if he doesn't we can still make a run in the postseason if the shots keep falling.

-Jason Bohannon is playing the best basketball of his college career, right? There's no reason he can't ride this wave all the way to the end -- when you've got a stroke like his, success really comes down to confidence, and he's got it. Two J-Bo moments stood out to me today. One, after a shot clock violation, he barked at Keaton Nankivil to shoot the ball; Keaton had passed up a jumper that would have been contested, putting Jason in a tough spot as the shot clock expired. Two, after he made that first half buzzer beater, he was demonstrative in pumping his fist. Love the emotion.

-A key moment came early in the second half, when Bo Ryan took a timeout with the Badgers up 12, playing poorly, and Zach Novak about to shoot two free throws. After the timeout Novak missed both free throws and we went back to building the lead. Bo usually doesn't take timeouts unless things are really getting out of hand, which I typically appreciate, but sometimes it's the prudent thing for a coach to do, like it was today.

-Did Jordan Taylor really have 13 points, five rebounds, four assists? They were quiet, which tells you something about his game. Given his assist-to-turnover ratio, he might be having the best pure point guard season any Badger has had under Bo. That's not to say he's better or more valuable than Trevon Hughes, Kam Taylor or Devin Harris, but he's playing like a traditional point guard.

-Pop had 14 points on only six field goal attempts? That has to be one of his most efficient games.

-Nankivil and Rob Wilson were solid again, and since Manny Harris was 4-for-12 from the field you can draw that Wilson, Ryan Evans and Tim Jarmusz did a good job on him. Everyone contributed today.

-Boy, outside Harris and DeShawn Sims, Michigan is garbage. When Sims is hot, like he was in Madison and in the first half today, they are competitive. Same with Harris, although he was bad against us both times this year. But the fact that the Wolverines were a preseason top 20 team is laughable.

-Speaking of garbage, Ed Hightower and Ted Valentine were at their worst in the second half. One blocking call on Taylor guarding Harris was particularly ridiculous. Thankfully the game was close and Michigan missed most of their ill-gotten free throws. How they've stayed employed by a major conference all these years is beyond me.

Earlier today Will and I debated heading to Madison for the outdoor hockey game. It's not that cold, after all. But I've been traveling a lot lately and we'll be on the road the next two weekends ... and it's not that warm, either. Should be fun to watch.

UW-Michigan thoughts

Wow. What just happened there? I hate to say it, but the only way we won that game is because Michigan is a flawed team. They have two really good players, and ... what else? Nothing. And they're short. They're really a lot like Northwestern -- they'll play well and beat some good teams, but they're too shallow and short to finish in the top three in the Big Ten.

Stilll, they just beat UConn convincingly and we'll have a tough time beating them in Ann Arbor. If we play anything like we did tonight we'll get blown out there.

No sense dwelling on that, though, so how about giving out game balls:

-Rob Wilson, well done! With Jordan Taylor and Jason Bohannon looking completely lost out there tonight (1-for-14 from the field combined? Are you kidding me? Those weren't bad looks.), someone had to make perimeter shots. This was one of those deals where usually someone, anyone from our top seven is going to make some shots, but tonight we needed points to come from #8.

We've always expected a clutch performance in a critical situation was something Wilson had in him. Ever since he tried dunking over Hasheem Thabeet in last year's loss to UConn I liked his aggressiveness, but it seems like it's been in hiding ever since. It was back tonight. Trevon Hughes joked after the game that Wilson brought his scout team game tonight. Thank god he did.

-Other game ball goes to Tim Jarmusz. We haven't exactly been complimentary of his play lately, and after his two shots from the corner early on Wednesday -- a bank of the side and an airball that fell about three feet short -- I was working on some snotty comments. But he played Manny Harris very well, moved his feet, stayed in front of him, and didn't give him many good looks. I'm not sure anyone else on the roster could have done that tonight, so nice job Tim.

-My only criticism of Pop tonight was that he didn't exploit his defender early enough. Really, who on Michigan could check him? No one. Their guards match up well with our other guards, but not Trevon.

-Keaton Nankivil didn't shoot well tonight, but I'm glad he shot. He needs to. Of course, had we lost I'd be saying "Set more picks, Keaton!!"

-I thought we scrapped well on the offensive boards tonight, kept possessions alive. It didn't pay off until we made a few shots at the end, but it's a good sign -- even when the shots aren't falling, our kids are still trying.

-DeShawn Sims is awesome, or at least he was tonight. I've always been an admirer of his game, but he's disappeared during our games in the past. He should touch the ball in the post on every one of their possessions.

On the other hand, Harris was a non-factor tonight. Shon Morris praised him for not forcing things, which I guess is praiseworthy. But Michigan lost the game in the first half when they couldn't get real separation. They missed a ton of close shots that, had they fallen, could have pushed their lead to 15 or 17 points, and I'm not sure we can come back from that. Maybe he should have forced things rather than letting Zack Novak jack up bricks.

Happy to get a win, but I'd like us to play better. That home winning streak against unranked opponents is pretty impressive, indicative of a top-notch program that wins games it should. Keeping that streak going tonight, when we didn't have our fastball, was a great sign for the program.

How about shooting better than 34% against Penn State?

UW-Purdue thoughts

When I first saw Jordan Taylor last year, my initial thought was that he looked like a physically mature kid who would be a solid defensive player and game manager but never a particularly dynamic offensive player. Certainly not a scorer.

So then he goes for 23 points against a really good defensive team as a sophomore? Granted, he made a bunch of free throws as Purdue had to foul near the end of the game, but he made seven field goal from a variety of spots on the floor. His shot creation really isn't anything like Trevon Hughes' or Kam Taylor's, but he knows how to create space for himself. And as has been well-documented he has a great assist-to-turnover ratio, most likely far better than Pop's or Kam's. The point is in good hands with Jordan.

Great win, by the way. This morning I told my dad that I didn't expect us to win this game, and it wasn't just my usual set-the-bar-low strategy to mitigate disappointment. Purdue's the #4 team in the country, was unbeaten, playing really well. This win may not resonate as much as the Duke win, but in the bigger picture it's more important for this season. The optimist will say it keeps us very much in the Big Ten title race. The pessimist will say we have no shot at winning the Big Ten and this will just help ensure an NCAA bid. Either way, it's all good.

-The officiating in this game was atrocious, both ways. I just got done watching the game (recorded), and my ears hurt from the constant sound of whistles. Way overofficiated, although that may have played into our favor. Let 'em play, guys.

-Let's talk about the technical foul on Rob Wilson. First of all, as Bo explained it in the postgame if blood is drawn, it's automatically a technical, regardless of intent. If that's true, that's a BS rule. So if Rob had bent over to tie his shoes and Hummel had tripped over him and split his lip, that would have been a technical?

Second, if, as the refs told Bo, intent is meaningless and it's only blood that matters, why did the refs check the video? All they had to do was look at Hummel's face. I would be much more upset about this if we had lost. That whole sequence was just ridiculous.

-Wilson had a nice game. I'm happy to see him getting double-digit minutes lately, although I wish it weren't because Pop was in foul trouble. He deserves to play. After seeing the way some guys have entered and left our program after one year because they weren't getting starter's minutes, I feared Rob might do the same, but he's stuck it out and is reaping the benefits. With Pop and J-Bo gone after this year, Rob's in position to start next season. Not all kids grasp the concept of delayed gratification nowadays.

-Jon Leuer had an absolutely atrocious shooting game, but his rebounding and interior defense were very important in the effort. Nice that we can beat an elite team without him scoring.

-Larrivee and Morris were comparing Mike Bruesewitz to Joe Krabbenhoft. Seems like a pretty superficial comparison to me -- white guys with funny names. Both are good rebounders, but Bruiser is a better athlete than Krabby, and Krabby was a better ball handler than Bruiser. Also, Bruiser has a way to go before he's a defender of Krabby's caliber, yet Bruiser seems to be more confident in his jumper than Krabby.

Bruiser had five rebounds in six minutes, played great at the end of the first half.

-I hate to bash Tim Jarmusz, a great program guy, but he really shouldn't be getting many minutes as we go forward. Wilson, Bruiser, or Evans would all be better options to get the bulk of those minutes. That airball he had from 10 feet was pretty bad, and if he's not sticking the good 3-point looks that come his way, we're pretty much playing four on five offensively.

-Ryan Evans shooting mid-range jump shots looks like me shooting mid-range jump shots: he look surprised and goes sort of slowly. But he makes a lot of his, whereas I miss almost all of mine.

-And oh yeah: Jason Bohannon had a really good game, and Pop made every shot he took and grabbed five rebounds with three steals in just 23 minutes. Somehow J-Bo's 20 points seemed quiet, didn't they?

-That's two games in a row in which we benefited from our opponent shooting free throws poorly. Purdue missed 11. Take away Hummel and they were seven of 18. Hummel's free throw style is really strange, but obviously really effective. My dad always said that the key to free throw shooting was to do the same thing exactly the same way every time. Hummel certainly does that.

-It feels like I've said this before, but I love E'Twaun Moore's offensive game. He's got such a repertoire of short- and medium-range shots, and he knows how to create just enough space for himself. Hummel and Johnson are really good too, and as much as I can't stand Kramer, he's a great defensive player. (Have you noticed how Kramer runs with his arms at his side? It's like how the Molly Shannon character on Seinfeld walked. He still manages to move pretty well, but it look funny. Imagine how good he'd be if he waved his arms around like the Raquel Welch character from that episode.)

After watching both Purdue and Michigan State this week, they would still be my choice as the two best teams in the Big Ten, but I can't decide who's better. Comparing personnel, I like Moore, Hummel, Johnson and Kramer more than anyone on State's team, save for maybe Lucas and maybe Green. But it's not that decisive over Summers, Allen, Roe, Morgan, Lucious, et al, and those guys are much better than anyone past Purdue's starting five. Quantity versus quality? Guess it depends on fouls and health when they play.

Why did our students do the "overrated" chant near the end? Aren't UW kids supposed to be smarter than that? It appears we are rated about where we should be, and I would hope we're still a top 20 team on Monday after splitting games against two very good teams. Two tough games on the road next week, too, so we've got to stay sharp.

UW-Michigan State thoughts

Midway through the second half, after another feckless Badger possession, Jana remarked "They're playing scared." Ding ding ding! It was so obvious even my half-alseep wife saw it.

Wisconsin came out tentative/scared/slow/whatever from the opening tip, that was the really disappointing thing. It's not like they came out and were overwhelmed by State's defense then retreated into their shell after a few minutes -- it was from the start. The ball movement was terrible. Knowing that we weren't going to be able to penetrate off the dribble as much as usual, passing, cutting and screening had to be better, and it definitely wasn't. The result was 34% shooting and more airballs than a fifth grade girls game.

Give Michigan State credit, they played really good defense. But jeez, our offensive effort was pathetic.

-At least Jon Leuer showed up. He scored on a variety of nice moves. I absolutely love his pull-up jumper. It was interesting: State guarded him with Raymar Morgan, who I thought was their best defender for him, but Jon was still able to use the three extra inches he has on Morgan to get shots off.

-Other than that, Jordan Taylor had his moments, but not enough of them. Jason Bohannon did a little bit here and there, but with Trevon Hughes having a bad game he needed to do a lot more.

-Pop looked a step slow tonight. Maybe it was just good defense by Kalin Lucas and the other guards.

-Why did Bo have Nankivil on such a yo-yo tonight? State didn't play that short, and they absolutely killed us on the offensive boards. Couldn't he have helped more? Or was he the problem?

-I thought Ryan Evans would fare better coming off his strong showing at Penn State, but he was a non-factor. Mike Bruesewitz grabbed five rebounds in four minutes, he was active. Why didn't either of those guys get some of Tim Jarmusz's minutes? One rebounds, one assist, one steal, no points in 27 minutes.

-With six or seven minutes left, Gus Johnson and Steve Smith kept saying over and over how Wisconsin needed to run a play for J-Bo and get him shots, that he had only taken three shots. On one hand, I agree; running more set plays would help get us over offensive droughts like we experienced during that losing streak last year. On the other hand, it's like these guys have never seen a Badger game or looked at a Badger box score before. There are a lot of games where Jason only takes five shots -- not desirable if you're us, but it happens regularly. And his jumper isn't quick, meaning that athletic, long guards like State's are going to make it really hard for him to get his 3-point shot off.

-Speaking of Steve Smith, it would help his non-partisan announcing prospects if he didn't yell "Nice!" when Morgan makes a mid-range jumper and "Come on!" when Derrick Nix steps to the free throw line (Did you see he's 4-for-32 on the year? My mom could do better than that blindfolded.)

-Lucas was absolutely horrible offensively tonight. Something looks wrong with his game. Chris Allen really bailed him out, although Durrell Summers didn't have the game I thought he'd have.

-They really miss Goran Suton, for his true post presence, but they seem to have adequately replaced Travis Walton's defense. At the moment they don't seem as good as they were last year, and after this weekend we'll know better how they compare to Purdue.

-I love Draymond Green, that kid's a warrior. He's aggressive, versatile, and best of all he's a leader. I'd take him on my team any day, man boobs and all. Not Nix, though, he needs to lose his man boobs before he's useful.

Green was also part of the worst call I've seen all year, when he was laying on the baseline and the ball clearly hit off his hand before going out of bounds right in front of the ref, who promptly signaled Michigan State ball. Green was laughing about it with Lucas running down the court.

-Does it getting any worse than watching Tom Izzo coaching against your team? When asked heading into halftime about his team, he accurately moaned about his team missing a lot of free throws, but threw in a little jab about our guys falling down when his players drove the lane. Well, maybe they were falling down because your kids were running over them, then walking to the free throw line. Izzo seems like a decent guy off the court, and I'm sure fans of other teams feel the same way about Bo, but Izzo is just over the top on the sideline sometimes.

-But what's worse than Izzo? Michigan State's end-of-the-bench guys! It was like watching Marquette when Jerry Sichting's kid was riding the bench. Several times during the game I paused the action to point out to Will that these guys are not being good teammates, but doing these things to draw attention to themselves since they will never see the court.

After one shot one of the kids -- best I can tell it's a kid named Mike Kebler, but that's an educated guess -- ran up and down the bench giving high tens to his teammates, coaches, trainers, Sparty, cheerleaders, Plaxico Burress, Kirk Gibson, Tony Mandarich, Steve Smith. Hadn't seen that since watching a girls volleyball game, or maybe a girls softball game. Don't embarrass yourself kids -- your fans are laughing at you, not with you.

They got us convincingly today, but I think we can win the rematch in Madison.

UW-Ohio State thoughts

Over Christmas the guys in my family were talking about Evan Turner's injury and how it obviously significantly weakens Ohio State. Someone asked when we played them, and when I responded New Year's Eve in Madison someone else said it was too bad we didn't get them in Columbus while he was out.

We do play them again January 16 in Columbus, and it's a good bet Turner will still be out then. OSU is going to have a tough time beating any good team without him, they were brutal today. They have a lot of good players even without Turner, but they also have no point guard and no post play, and playing five swingmen with similar skill sets can only get you so far.

This afternoon it got the Buckeyes roughly half as many points against Wisconsin as UW-Green Bay scored.

But this isn't an opponent-bashing post, we played really well, great way to close out the calendar year.

-Crowd was electric today, best since the Duke game. Glad to see the kids make it back for this one.

-Early quote from Steve Lavin about Trevon Hughes: "He is completely at peace with his game." Very well said. He's not forcing shots, the form on his jumper is beautiful, and he's under control (most of the time).

-Listening to the radio pregame a thought crossed my mind: "When was the last time any of our key guys missed extensive time with foul trouble?" Then it happened to Jon Leuer, and we didn't miss a beat. Plus, he came out on fire in the second half, and even ended up with five assists in 18 minutes.

-I love how Rob Wilson and Ryan Evans get in the game and shoot almost as soon as they touch the ball. Seriously, I do. We have enough patient guys who run the offense all the way through, and that's good. But every now and then we need to mix up some quicker shots to guard against becoming too predictable, something Pop usually does but that these young bucks are willing to do, too. (For further reading, see my post last year where I advocated the Badgers taking more bad shots, which I'm sure made a lot of you roll your eyes.)

-If only that trait could be grafted onto Keaton Nankivil, who made two confident jumpers in our first half run that essentially put the game away. Keep shooting big fella, you're good at it!

-Has Jordan Taylor reached the point where we're taking his contributions for granted? He played 26 minutes with 12 points, three assists, three rebounds, two steals, and no turnovers. Pretty sure he was at the point when Pop went off in the first half. Love that kid.

-Late in the first half, we had back-to-back terrible inbounds plays from our own baseline. First, Jarmusz's pass was knocked out of bounds, then his next pass was stolen. Please Bo, please, DRAW UP A PLAY FOR THESE SITUATIONS!

-Ohio State's zone was either lazy or just unaware on countless occasions, not impressive at all.

-Dallas Lauderdale does a lot of things well for Ohio State, but he is one of the worst shooters I've ever seen. How about that early play where he made a nice post move to get around Nankivil, then shot an uncontested 3-footer about 3 feet high and to the left of the rim. Or the free throw that he banked in. Ugh.

-Liked Turner's decision to rock the sweater vest today, but it was way too baggy. Heading into fashion commentary, time to wrap it up.

I sincerely hope we are ranked higher than Ohio State when the new polls come out next week. We proved today that, right now at least, we are a far better team. At Penn State on Sunday, followed by four games against ranked teams, so getting to 2-0 is a necessity.

UW-Oakland thoughts

OK, I didn't watch this game. Didn't listen to it. Didn't attend it. Followed the in-game blog intermittently.

But this is a great photo, isn't it? I read that Keaton Nankivili threw down a monster dunk, and it sure looks like he did. Had a nice game -- 13 points, nine rebounds, four blocks. He was 5-for-8 from the field, but 1-for-4 on 3-pointers. Ordinarily that stat would bother me, but I like Keaton's shot from that range and hope he shoots it often.

Conversely, Jon Leuer had 12 points, but missed all three of his 3-pointers. I would rather he stay close to the basket, 15 feet and in, I like what he's doing from short range.

Pop had 15 points, but I wish he didn't have to play 35 minutes for us to beat Oakland.

Nice effort from Ryan Evans, seven rebounds in 22 minutes. It would be nice if he continued to deserve those kind of minutes.

And last but not least, Mike Bruesewitz will not be redshirting this year, played two minutes. This seems like a curious decision, with Evans looking solid and Tim Jarmusz also solid at the 3 spot. Hopefully it's not one of those Greg Stiemsma/Nankivil deals where he plays 25 minutes this year as a freshman and three years from now is looking like a really good player right when he exhausts his eligibility.

UW-IPFW thoughts

Toggled back and forth between the Badger and Packer games Saturday afternoon and evening, and frankly the Packer game was far more interesting. As much as the Badgers' win was convincing and expected, the thing that stuck out to me was the six straight UW possessions that ended in turnovers. I'm not overly concerned, but what an ugly stretch that was.

A potential implication was that Jordan Taylor was playing the point at the start of that stretch, and Bo appeared to be making a point when he put Wquinton Smith in with about 10 minutes to play, which is unprecedented. Jordan will pull it together.

Jon Leuer looked good. He made 8 of 10 shots, and none of his field goal attempts were 3-pointers. His postgame is decisive and confident, and he made a couple mid-range jumpers.

Glad to see Ryan Evans earning minutes and playing well, he seems to be able to defend swingmen and do some things on the boards. Rob Wilson didn't hesitate on offense.

And what about Timmy Jarmusz hitting three 3-pointers and leading the team in rebounding? He's a lot like Joe Krabbenhoft, only a little better shooter and not as good a rebounder and defender.

Jason Bohannon played 31 minutes and took only three shots -- but blocked three shots. Can't imagine that'll happen again.

The Big Ten Network announcers said our game against Oakland on Wednesday will be a challenge, so that should be interesting to watch. Iowa lost to something called UTSA on Sunday, so I guess anything's possible.

Badger Tweeters

Trying to numb my brain during the Badgers' lackluster first half against Fresno State on Saturday, I searched for as many current or former Badgers on Twitter as I could. Here's a list, sign up and follow. Some are more active and coherent than others. In fact, some were frighteningly incoherent. I guess that's what communicating in 140 characters or less does to people.

Chris Chambers
Antonio Fenelus
Tracy Webster
Devin Harris
Freddie Owens
Tim Jarmusz
Greg Stiemsma
Jon Leuer
Brett Valentyn
Jay Valai
Joe Krabbenhoft
Morris Cain
Erik Smith
Brian Calhoun
Lee Evans
J.J. Watt
Richard Kirtley
O'Brien Schofield
Louis Nzegwu
Marcus Cromartie
John Moffitt
Brian Butch

This guy walks into a bar and grill ...

Yesterday Jana and I were eating lunch at the Wolf River Campground between New London and Weyauwega, waiting to take Will on a canoe trip down said river. In walks Tim Jarmusz with a co-ed group of friends, set for a leisurely tube ride down the Wolf. He goes about doing what any of the other people there were doing.

As I related the story to my dad later, I'm probably the only person within an hour radius of here who would have recognized Tim as he walked in, which added to the experience. Sure, nothing noteworthy happened -- no reckless behavior, no big-timing the help staff, no $100 tips -- but any time a Badger makes a public appearance up in the sticks where I live, it's got to make the blog.

What would these guys do for us?

Last week I watched games involving Duke, Louisville, and Ohio State, and saw highlights of Marquette's game against UConn. Each one of those games featured a guy who we were serious players for -- some more serious than others. I couldn't shake the feeling that if any one of these guys was in a UW jersey we'd be right there at the top of the conference this year.

Every school would have guys like these, but indulge me:

Evan Turner, Ohio State -- As I understand it his choices were down to us and Illinois, so of course he chose OSU. This guy has the best all-around game in the Big Ten, scoring, rebounding, ball handling, passing. Right after he chose to go elsewhere, Tim Jarmusz committed.

Jerry Smith, Louisville -- The talk was that Jerry had set a press conference at Wauwatosa East to announce he was coming to Madison but called it off and reconsidered. We ended up getting Jason Bohannon instead. But a friend tells me that Smith didn't go elsewhere just because we had J-Bo and Pop; he would have come, but we had used up all of our available scholarships after J.P. Gavinski committed so early. Having Smith as another 3-point shooter sure would be nice, wouldn't it? J-Bo could come off the bench and be more effective against second teamers or defenders with tired legs.

Jon Scheyer, Duke -- We weren't as close to Scheyer in this class as we were to Smith, not that close at all really, but we were in his finalists along with Duke, Illinois, and Arizona. He's a less athletic, shorter version of Turner, but he would play a lot of important minutes for us.

Wesley Matthews, Marquette -- For his first three years in college I thought Wes was fairly overrated, and riding James' and McNeal's coattails in a forced Big Three situation. But he has really picked up his game this year and become outstanding. That last scholarship that he passed on went to Mickey Perry, who didn't last long in Madison.

The traits these guys exhibit -- outside shooting, athleticism, go-to guy attitude -- would fill voids on this year's team. Any one of them would have helped us to 4-5 more wins at this point in the season.

UW-Michigan thoughts

I'm either going to hell or I'm onto something.

Didn't watch today's game live, but kept abreast of the proceedings, despite being in church. After listening to the first half on the radio, we entered Our Lady of Lourdes Church in De Pere for a service connected to Jana's participation in the Rite of Catholic Initiation for Adults. The Badgers, who had been up seven just minutes before, were down two at the half.

Yet, in a ceremony marked by hundreds of confirmation candidates, I was able to sneak away and get score updates on my BlackBerry. First in the reconciliation room, then behind various pillars displaying stations of the cross. Several times I had to slip the device into my pocket when a dude with a collar approached. Without knowing exactly how, I saw the Badgers build a lead against a team that's really playing well, then hold on at the end. Divine intervention?

Maybe not today, but after that six-game losin streak it seemed like it would take divine intervention for Wisconsin to make the NCAA Tournament. But that's exactly where we seem to be headed after today's crucial win. It was a nice one; I saw Michigan beat Purdue on Thursday, and they looked damn good, like they probably looked in beateing Duke and UCLA.

What's nice is that we now own the season series against Michigan, Penn State, and Ohio State, the teams around us in the standings. Our odds of not playing Thursday in the Big Ten Tournament appear pretty good, but as stated before, that wouldn't be the end of the world provided we finish sixth and would draw Indiana.

As for today's game:

-What an incredible start, that was beautiful offensive basketball. In recent years Michigan would have packed it in at that point, credit them with coming back strong, taking control of the game late in the first half, then fighting us to the end. John Beilein is a really nice coach for them. He got a lot less buzz than the other coach they lured from West Virginia, but might end up being the far better hire.

-Everyone raves about Manny Harris, and he's good, but for the last two years I've thought DeShawn Sims was the better player on that team. He was pretty bad on two late 3-point attempts today.

-Great to hear Gus Johnson calling games on the Big Ten Network, he's one of my favorites. His enthusiasm on certain calls is genuine and not Musberger overblown. Heck, today he even started talking about Bob Sura, one of my all-time favorites. Trent Tucker, on the other hand, not a big fan.

-Pop was the guy we needed him to be today, creating his own shot off penetration and hitting from outside. Had he been able to put together just one game like this during our losing streak it would never have gotten so long.

-Leuer did a nice job getting himself in position to use his size advantage to get easy shots. I especially like the little jump hook he's using, even though I think he only made one of them today.

-Landry had a nice little game today, too. Good shooting, six boards, five assists. He's the one reason I wouldn't mind a 4-5 matchup with Penn State in the conference tournament. The sight of him shooting those short turnarounds reminded me of how well he played in those matchups this season.

-Krabby missed another wide-open left-handed layup, don't even think he hit the rim on him. Still love him and his all-around game -- 11 boards today -- but his lack of confidence shooting the ball in college remains a mystery to me. Had he had the mindset to score 12-13 points a game he would have been all-conference caliber. Joe also had some turnovers today that looked like me playing noon ball at the Iola Fitness Center, head-scratching passes.

-We ourebounded them by 10, grabbing eight on the offensive glass. That's how it should be againt a team that plays so small. It will be interesting to see if Michigan can bring in personnel that fits Beilein's system but allows them to be more competitive on the boards. One of Krabby's offensive boards gave me a big smile. J-Bo missed a 3-pointer from the corner, and Harris half-heartedly boxed him out. Krabby just muscled him aside and grabbed the errant shot, drawing a foul. Beautiful.

-Boy, if Jason Bohannon finds his shot by the time postseason play begins we'll be tough to beat.

-Pretty tight rotation today, Jarmusz was the only bench player to get double-digit minutes. I wouldn't mind if this trend continued down the stretch. Only exception -- stop me if you've heard this before -- is that I'd like to see Nankivil get more minutes. At some point, like last week in East Lansing, we're going to run into a team that can kill us on the boards, and his big frame would come in handy.

-We didn't close out very efficiently with spotty free throw shooting and that dumb foul by Hughes. Good thing we defended well.

Bottom line is another nice win, and pretty darn close to clinching a spot in the Dance. Even with a loss at The Barn, there's no way we should lose to Indiana, which leaves us 19-11 overall, with a strong RPI. Might be a double-digit seed, but that's OK -- just need to get in, then anything can happen.

UW-Michigan State thoughts

Talk about a blown opportunity. We had that team dead to rights about halfway through the second half but couldn't make a layup and couldn't block out the Big Ten's leading crybaby, Goran Suton.

I had this game pegged as a loss coming in, but that doesn't make the outcome any less disappointing. A win and we're definitely in. Now we have to sweat out these last few games and leave it up to a committee.

Plus, seeing State's runt coach, who according to the linked story above challenges his center for the crybaby title, scurry around and pump his fists is never fun to watch. (Had my wife, like Tom Izzo a Northern Michigan alum and Yooper, seen me type that last sentence, she'd have slapped the back of my head. She seemed to be relishing our late-game collapse and Izzo's smug grin.)

-For my moaning about our inability to hit a layup, credit State with making a lot of big shots late and for kicking our ass on the boards. No excuses, they are the better team and it came out in the end.

-Today was another case of us not trusting ourselves to make decisive plays against a superior athletic team. Many times we had a sliver of an opening to get off a 3-pointer, or to make a pass for a layup, but double-clutched or held onto the ball. The result was, once again, overly safe play and an abundance of Trevon Hughes buzzer beaters that had no chance of going in.

-For as well as Krabby has played lately, he had a stinker of a game today. One blown layup later on really sticks out in my mind as a crucial play we didn't make.

-Conversely, Timmy Jarmusz seemed up to the challenge today. He seems poised to step into Krabby's role next year.

-Also good to see Nankivil starting to get more minutes, productive ones at that, he had to play today against State's height. If he's able to continue providing 15-20 minutes of solid play a game we're a lot tougher in the postseason.

-It was fascinating to see how many times State was able to set up their offense where we were fronting their posts but were not able to get adequate weakside help. I can't remember our defense being attacked like that this year. Fronting was probably the right move, as Suton and Roe could shoot over us if we played behind them and allowed easy catches. As it was they got a lot of good looks and drew a lot of fouls.

-Travis Walton has played some good games against us in his career, hasn't he?

-Kalin Lucas has some electric talent. Seems that he's struggled with his shot a bit, but stroked it pretty well today.

-As much as I needled Suton earlier, he's a really nice player and his persistence on the boards kept State in it while they were misfiring. I had to chuckle at his quote about us in that story, "They push, they hold." Sums up the whole Big Ten, doesn't it Goran? Dirty? Come on, that's the residue of a lot of losses talking. He likes Michigan better? That's because they beat Michigan all the time.

Now we've got a week off before Michigan, who has to play Purdue on Thursday. They're playing for their tournament life, too, and as much as we handled them easily in Ann Arbor I expect a tight game.

UW-Indiana thoughts

The first half tonight left me appalled -- terrible defense. Allowing the worst Indiana team ever to shoot 54.5% in any half is inexcusable. We were very lucky to be ahead.

The second half was a thing of beauty. That team had no business being on the court with us tonight, and we showed why in the final 20 minutes.

Krabby had another stellar game, as did Pop. Krabby was always in the right spot, and how pleasantly surprising is his scoring? The back cuts, jumpers, bank shots. Big Ten Player of the Week repeat?

Pop penetrated at will, like a knife through butter. He also shot well.

It's funny, because nobody else stands out in my mind -- Landry was virtually invisible for most of the game, J-Bo struggled with his shot, Leuer only took a few shots -- yet we won by 17.

Why didn't Rob Wilson get any minutes in this one? I guess it'll have to be next year for him. (After I wrote this he got in and dunked.) Jarmusz did play well, knocked down some shots.

That was a long 1.2 seconds at the end of the first half, wasn’t it? That homer clock operator didn’t start the clock until after the initial shot hit off the rim. Embarrassing, Tan Cream, get rid of that guy.

Indiana had a lot of turnovers that will likely be attributed to their youth, but I think it’s because they just aren’t good players, period. At one point a Hoosier caught the ball standing out of bounds. You learn pretty early on that this is not legal.

One rant for the night:

Few things bother me as much as missing the beginning minutes of my team’s game because the previous game is slumbering through an excruciating finish. Case in point was this Duke-St. John’s game tonight, a good Duke team playing down to the level of one of the Big East’s many bad teams in front of an indifferent crowd. Because Duke couldn’t put them away, they kept fouling, and Duke kept fouling, and the friggin’ game just would not end. Yet at no point was the outcome in doubt. So we're subjected to another 15 minutes of Bobby Knight talking about what it was like to know Coach K as a teenager. Someone needs to have the balls to pull the plug and move on.

So we've got Michigan State, Michigan, Minnesota, and Indiana left. We hold court at home, split and we're 10-8 in the Big Ten. In fifth place for the time being, which means no Thursday game at the Big Ten Tournament, which is good. All these things are considerably better than I would have imagined when I left for Germany 2-1/2 weeks ago.

UW-Northwestern thoughts

Of all the individual moments that combined to make this yet another frustrating loss, let me submit this one as the one that sums up the season:

With about 20 seconds to play and the Badgers down three, Tim Jarmusz has a wide-open 3-pointer. Instead of taking it, he passes to Marcus Landry, who drives, misses, but puts the rebound in to cut the lead to one. UW then fouls Craig Moore, who makes two free throws. Something similar like this happens a few more times. The Badgers never actually attempt a game-tying shot.

This play is so representative of the season because the player in question -- who had a pretty decent game up until then -- did not have the confidence or courage to step up and take a big shot. The end result was close, but not enough.

Again.

This is getting redundant. Other notable head scratchers from Evanston.

-Northwestern makes its first four shots of the game, all 3-pointers.

-Northwestern shoots 57.1% from the field. If ever there was a game that showed just how bad the Badger defense has gotten this year, this was it.

-Someone named Jeremy Nash had nine points for Northwestern, including a 3-pointer and a prayer driving scoop shot. Looked like freaking Steve Nash.

-Moore, a nice complementary player on any Big Ten team, scored 26 points. The worst came when he grabbed a rebound off a missed NU free throw, over Landry, and was fouled and made two free throws. Inexcusable.

-The Badgers looked completely befuddled against Northwestern's 1-3-1 defense. It was almost as if they hadn't seen it ... three weeks ago, when they completely shredded it! I'm all for patience, but UW's patience last night was more passive than anything. You beat zones by swinging the ball quickly and exploiting gaps that form when defenders don't shift in synch. Our perimeter players would catch the ball, wait two seconds, then do something, inviting traps that necessitated a jump pass or an awkward wrap-around bounce pass, often stretching near midcourt.

What was absurd was that at times, Northwestern had three defenders on Hughes at least 25 feet from the basket, and we were unable to do anything to exploit the 4-on-2 that existed around it. A couple times we got the ball to the baseline, which led to nice passing and a layup, but those instances were rare.

-How many games have we lost where we shot 52% from the field, 16-of-19 from the line, and held a 27-13 rebounding advantage? Before this year, anyway?

-In another story-of-the-season subplot, J-Bo and Leuer got back on track last night, but Landry was non-existent until the final minute, and Hughes was 3-of-10 from the floor.

-I have a special post ready for the officiating, led by the incomparable Ed Hightower, but let me just point out the key Kevin Coble basket where he took two large steps after establishing his pivot foot in the lane. How they missed that one, after so many other ticky-tack calls, astounds me.

Overall, still glad we went, always a fun experience to see Wisconsin on the road. Badger fans made up about half the crowd and we made ourselves heard. Unfortunately the only sound we made leaving Northwestern's glorified high school gym was muttering about the NIT and playing on Thursday of the Big Ten Tournament.

UW-Michigan thoughts

What a nice win to go into the new year, very pleased with today's effort and result. After the lumps we took in the last week in both basketball and football, this one feels extra nice.

A bit surprised at how easy this one was, given how well Michigan had been playing coming in. Early on I thought the Wolverines' defense was just atrocious, we were getting good looks really easily, more easily than we have against other teams so far.

Having watched Michigan beat North Carolina Central Monday night, it occurred to me, as it did to the announcers, that they might have been a bit tired. But you know what? They're 20-year-olds who aren't going to class right now, they ought to be able to come out with fresh legs no matter what.

It's funny how one win completely changes your outlook on things. At the risk of overlooking or underselling Penn State and Northwestern, we should be 3-0 heading into the Purdue game.

-They said we're 29-1 when Landry reaches double figures scoring, presumably 30-1 now. That's a pretty incredible statistic if you think about it, given the balance nature of team's scoring. We'll probably lose a few games this year in which Marcus hits that plateau, but even so, it underscores just how important his post scoring is to everything else we do on offense. His offensive game was efficient today.

That said, he needs to to a better job of staying out of foul trouble. Right now he's in that Stiemsma-Mader zone of picking up fouls at an alarming rate. Marcus only played 23 minutes today, and while I thought two of his fouls were questionable, he's giving the refs the option of calling them. He's got to play smarter than that.

-Pop sure got hot there for a little while, didn't he? Reminded me of some of the one-man runs Kam Taylor used to go on. Hughes' shooting like that means it will take a really large deficit for us to be out of a game.

-Those two players' scoring performances aside, my players of the game were Krabby and to an extent Jarmusz for the job they did on Manny Harris, who had a terrible day. Harris's offense today consisted of driving wildly to the hoop and hoping the refs bailed him out, which to their credit they didn't. When Harris isn't scoring, everything else comes a lot harder for Michigan. Great job by Joe and Tim to not let him get going.

Krabby also had nine points and eight boards, and Jarmusz had three assists and five boards. Not tough to see the heir apparent to Krabby's "glue guy" role next year, is it?

-Jon Leuer is a deceptively good penetrator, isn't he? He doesn't look like he's moving that fast but with those long legs he covers a lot of ground in a hurry. At the risk of beating a dead horse, it's great that four of his six shots today were 2-pointers.

-Robby Wilson provided a spark off the bench with seven points, and Jordan Taylor hit a big shot at the end of the first half.

-Loved Steve Bardo's reference to former Badger Mike Heineman, a guy who would have fit in well under Bo.

Several nits to pick:

-It looked like Zack Novak wasn't even on our scouting report, and we lit him up. Not surprising, he seems like an excellent shooter and had really open looks.

-Leuer is still a bit too turnover-prone for my tastes.

-J-Bo missed two free throws in crunch time, and our lead was large enough that it didn't cost us, but it might if he doesn't get it together. He's still the player I want with the ball when the other guys need to foul, although Krabby is much-improved in this department.

Time for a couple days' rest, come back and play like this against Penn State on Saturday. Great win guys!

UW-Texas thoughts ... sigh

That was disappointing. We played a great team even for 39 minutes and let it slip away. But that one wasn't lost because Gary Johnson banked in a 20-footer (and then pounded his chest for 10 seconds afterward rather than laughing at his good fortune). The game was lost:

-In the opening minutes of the game, when our offense looked like a JV team scrimmaging the varsity. So many bad turnovers, they were embarrassing. At least we righted the ship for the most part after that, but we gave up some easy points early, and those count just as much as the ones scored in the last minute.

-When we missed critical opportunities to extend our lead by missing free throws. Hughes, Gullikson, and Jarmusz all had trips to the line where they missed both, and Texas responded with scores immediately each time.

-Texas out-hustled us. Some of that is better athleticism, but some of it is desire, and that stings. We got out-rebounded 38-22. Thirty-eight to twenty-two! Inexcusable.

Also ...

-Would have been nice if Marcus Landry would have showed up tonight. He struggled to get shots early, but also struggled on defense and with boxing out, putting himself in position to pick up cheap fouls. We need more from him in big games.

-Hughes played well overall. Offensively, he was assertive and kept us in it early. Defensively, even though Abrams got 21 points and made some unbelievable shots, he needed 21 shots to do it.

-Sign of the times from Dick Vitale: "We've gotta get the economy going, get 'em jobs baby!"

-J-Bo played an appropriate game, staying within himself, not making too many bad passes, hitting four 3-pointers.

-Krabby, Leuer, and Nankivil had OK games. Overall, our guys showed some nice moves in the post, especially the dribble down, fake to the lane, then shoot a short bank shot. I thought Nankivil should have played more -- again. His logical matchups were with Atchley and Pittman, who had foul trouble, but play him anyway, make them adapt to him. He was the only one I had confidence in to pull down a tough rebound.

-Good to see Mike Flowers and Brian Butch in the house. Sounds like they'll be playing this winter in Germany. Maybe I'll catch them in a game if they're playing in Berlin while I'm there in February.

-Speaking of Flowers, I suppose tonight's game puts an end to the seemingly endless replays of our win in Austin last year. I'm a Badger fan, and even I'm sick of seeing it, can only imagine how Texas fans feel.

-Another banner game for Ed Hightower, eh? He flat-out blew two baseline calls on Leuer and Damion James, both made nice saves right in front of Eddie and he ruled them out of bounds. Why again is this guy not reffing West Bend City League games and instead of the Big Ten?

-What was Pop thinking on that last real possession? Down three with 20 seconds left, he drives into no man's land and takes a terrible two-pointer that gets swatted. That was wrong in so many ways.

-Dogus Balbay had five rebounds for Texas, more than anyone on the Badgers. That's right, Dogus Balbay, a 6-foot guard from Turkey whose previous season high for rebounds was two. He also apparently had a big steal to give Texas the lead for good, but ESPN was busy showing highlights of Abrams missing jumpers.

-Even in a loss, these types of games are always interesting because they provide a peak at what certain Badgers might play like if they weren't in Bo's system, and had the chance to play at a faster pace all the time.

Take Hughes, for example. He looked right at home taking a 3-pointer early in the shot clock, playing a step quicker than usual. Nankivil looked comfortable playing faster. I thought Rob Wilson would have fared well in tonight's matchup, but he didn't get many minutes. Leuer looked comfortable taking the ball to the rack when overplayed.

Conversely, the game seemed to moving a step fast for Landry, Krabby at times, Jordan Taylor.

When the schedule came out, I looked at the non-conference part of the schedule and figured 9-3 at worst, 10-2 at best. So overall this isn't too disappointing.

But the Big Ten is looking better and better all the time -- we're one of the only teams left without a signature win, unless you count Virginia Tech -- so my lofty predictions of 25 or 26 wins is looking less and less likely.

Happy holidays!

UW-Green Bay thoughts

Is it just me, or have the guys who played for Green Bay tonight been around forever? Tillema. Schachtner. Berry. Evans. They have usually put up a good fight at the Kohl Center, and they did so tonight for awhile before the better team won out.

Good rebound from the uninspiring Idaho State game. GB shot 34.6% from the field, and while some of that was GB just not shooting well, they weren't getting the layups that ISU was getting the other night. We shot 52.1% from the field against an aggressive Phoenix defense, much better. Lots of encouraging individual performances.

Fifteen points in just 22 minutes for Krabby, who put himself in good positions to score on a number of occasions. And he's hitting free throws consistently this season, can finally trust him at the line.

J-Bo had 12 points on only four field goal attempts, that's efficient.

Nankivil had 11 rebounds in 28 minutes, which has to be a career high. He event took a 3-pointer in rhythm today. In my mind, Keaton needs to be on the court at least 20 minutes a game, it lets Landry focus more on offense. Marcus was more aggressive posting up tonight, maybe because he had a lighter defensive load.

Eleven points for Timmy Jarmusz. He was a scorer in high school, but until now he had been just a solid floor guy at UW. If he can throw in a few double-digit scoring games where he hits a couple 3-pointers, that would help immensely.

Kevin Gullikson got in earlier than normal today. He didn't distinguish himself with his play, but he looks quicker and more fit than he did earlier in his career. Does he make the regular rotation 10 deep? Probably not, but he can be called on in case of foul trouble.

The Big Ten Network play-by-play guy really butchered his account of Tod Kowalczyk, calling him "Ted" and recapping his career at "DePree" High School in suburban Green Bay.

Finals, then a bad Coppin State team before Texas. Have a nice week off, guys.

Nice win for the hoops team

Looks like a convincing win over San Diego last night at the Paradise Jam. Honestly, I thought this was a game that we would probably lose, SD being a tournament team last year with all its starters back.

Followed as much of it as I could on the uwbadgers.com in-game blog, which is well done, I recommend following the action there is you can't watch or listen to a game.

Looks like another big game for Pop, with 22 points, 8-for-13 from the field, looks like he's really picking up his game. A number of other solid performances too --Nankivil with eight points, four boards; Jarmusz with eight points and a buncha floor burns; Landry with nine points and nine boards. J-Bo is struggling with his shot, missing two free throws in the OT win over Iona and going 2-for-10 from the field against San Diego.

Chance for a signature win tonight against UConn, although I think it's a long shot. That's a damn talented team. A.J. Price is going to be a great test for Pop. We don't have an obvious answer for Hasheem Thabeet, but this might be a chance for Ian Markolf to get some minutes, or for Jared Berggren to take off the red shirt.

UW-Edwardsville thoughts

Can't tell too much about this game given the competition, but you have to like how we didn't mess around and stuck a fork in them early in the second half. The rationale for scheduling games like this, aside from racking up some base wins, is building confidence.

Look at Jon Leuer, who was far from a given entering this season. Games like this give him a chance to know he can score from all over the court. Look at Jason Bohannon, who is learning exactly where he has to get on the floor with this new 3-point line. Look at Marcus Landry, finally The Man after three years as a complementary player.

Leuer was obviously the player of the game. Maybe he doesn't get 25 points in a game this year, but I would be thrilled if he had four or five more 15-point games and averaged around 10. Three dunks, all with authority, are what people are going to remember, but the variety of moves he used to score his first three buckets were even more important. He hit both of his 3-pointers, but eight of his 10 field goal attempts were 2-pointers, which is where he needs to be more and more often. That was encouraging.

-Jordan Taylor throws a nice alley-oop, doesn't he? It's clear that he gets it. Interestingly, he didn't score, but 12 other Badgers did.

-Nineteen assists -- nice.

-At least three times tonight Trevon Hughes was stationed in the left corner and got clean looks at 3-pointers. I don't remember that configuration last year, but he seemed very comfortable there and made a couple of those treys.

-Still don't see who's going to fill Michael Flowers' lockdown perimeter defender role. My sense is Bo is trying to get Rob Wilson to the point where he can do some of that, and these games are opportunities to see what the freshman can do. He's a little bit too out of control right now, although I like the energy he's bringing.

-Did I infer or flat-out write that we don't have any shot blockers this year like we did last year? Sorry Marcus.

-Tim Jarmusz = the next Joe Krabbenhoft in training, but a more confident shooter.

-Kevin Gullikson has obviously dropped some weight, wouldn't be surprised to see him get minutes this year, although right now he seems to be at the fringe of the rotation at best. He's also got what appears to be a really nasty tattoo on the inner bicep of his left arm. Why, Kevin?

-Guess Ian Markolf isn't redshirting. At least he made it worth hsi while, scoring a second after getting into a game for the first time in his career. He is well-built. Jared Berggren's fate this season is still undecided.

-I liked that in the second half we didn't just play YMCA ball and sprint the ball up the court. We pushed tempo when appropriate but otherewise just executed really well in the halfcourt. Could we have scored 100 points against that team? Probably, but that doesn't help you at all later on when we play teams that match or exceed our athleticism.