Badger-Green Bay thoughts

Very excited today, got some new basketball shoes. They're the adidas Pro Model, in red, Marcus Landry's shoes. I expect to play more like him from here on out.

Just got done watching yesterday's win over Green Bay (taped it, holiday party overlapped). Nothing too earth-shattering, as expected, but a nice win over a team that's not half-bad.

Love the balanced scoring, which will be the hallmark of this year's team. By my count we had eight guys with seven or more points. It reminds me of watching WIAC teams over the year, with even scoring and several guys capable of leading the team in scoring. Every couple years you get a superior scorer like Devin Harris or Alando Tucker who throws the model out of whack, but you return to this - not surprising given Bo Ryan's roots.

-That early stretch where Green Bay took the lead was the worst transition and perimeter defense I've seen from a Badger team. Obviously it got much better.

-Joe Krabbenhoft had some ugly shots early on, but what a terrific effort on the boards in the second half. He's going to go down as one of those all-time favorite guys for Badger fans.

-Any word on how bad Leuer's ankle is? I had the sound turned down and was listening to the Packer game on the radio.

-Michael Flowers has got to be better at staying out of foul trouble. It killed us against Marquette, and will kill us against teams like Michigan State and Indiana with multiple scoring guards.

-Another nice game from Landry, he looked very comfortable out there, especially with his back to the basket - strong post moves where he squared up properly.

-Looks like the Bucket Boys performed at halftime. If you've never seen them, you're missing out. The Boys, who have played at the Big Ten Tournament since we've been going, basically play overturned buckets like drums, and don't stop at breakneck speed for 10 minutes or so.

-Good minutes for Stiemsma today.

-Dumbest quote of the night from the folksy color analyst: "They've got four guards out there on the floor if you consider Landry a guard." Uh-huh.

-Green Bay really misses Ryan Evanochko, their excellent point guard from the past couple seasons. Cordero Barkley really impressed me, but he was about it. Mike Schachtner appears to be having a very good year but bombed yesterday. He could use him; Bo probably didn't want another 6-7 guy in the class with Krabby and Landry, but Mickey Perry's long gone.

The GB program seems to have plateaued under Tom Crean disciple Tod Kowalczyk after a few years of improvement. They've got some good players and you can see where they're capable of nice runs, but they're also prone to dry spells.

... On a diferent note, not going to devote a whole post to this, but congratulations to the UW-Whitewater football team for knocking off Mount Union and winning the Division III national title yesterday. The Warhawks are now clearly the dominant program in the country's top Division III conference, and did the state proud yesterday.