Sorry for not posting for a couple days, been sick. No, not over the Badgers' late collapse Sunday, but that was still pretty awful. I still can't get over how much Michigan State fans hate us. Regular readers of this blog know that my emotions reach this range in football for teams like Michigan and Ohio State, who I see as the Yankees of the Big Ten, but in basketball no other Big Ten team makes my blood boil to that level.
If one did, wouldn't it be Illinois? After all, Wisconsin, Illinois, and Michigan State have been the undisputed top teams in the Big Ten since Bo Ryan came back to Madison, and without crunching the numbers I think the Illini has beaten us more than anyone else in that time. Cripes, Illinois is even in a bordering state (unlike MSU -- we're not going to count the UP, sorry Izzo and Jana), and Wisconsinites even have a catchy little acronym for its residents.
My initial thought was that our series was more even than ours with MSU has been, and with far fewer dramatic or emotional games. Let's look:
UW vs. Illinois
UW 72, UI 66
UI 80, UW 48
UI 69, UW 63
UW 60, UI 59 (Devin Harris hits free throw to give us Big Ten title)
UW 76, UI 56
UI 65, UW 57
UW 70, UI 53 (Big Ten Tournament championship game)
UI 75, UW 65 (breaks our long Kohl Center winning streak)
UI 70, UW 59
UI 54, UW 43 (Big Ten Tournament championship game)
UI 66, UW 51
UW 71, UI 64
UW 53, UI 41
UW 70, UI 60
UW 71, UI 57
UW 61, UI 48 (Big Ten Tournament championship game)
UI 64, UW 57
UW 63, UI 50
UW leads series 10-8 under Bo, we lead Big Game series 3-2. Thing is, of those five games, only one of them -- the one with Devin's free throw -- was dramatic. So 27% of our games have been big, and 5% of them dramatic.
UW vs. Michigan State
UW 64, MSU 63 (snapped State's long home court winning streak)
UW 64, MSU 53 (an otherwise ordinary win, but Alando Tucker's late dunk scars Izzo's brain to the point where he's still talking about it six freaking years later! The nerve! Izzo's reaction to this makes it a Big Game.)
UW 77, MSU 64
UW 68, MSU 64 (keep that banner rolled up fellas; per Deuces' request, I believe this is also the game in which Paul Davis was crying on the bench with cramps)
UW 68, MSU 66 (Big Ten Tournament semifinal)
UW 62, MSU 59 (we rally late to pull off an improbable win)
MSU 77, UW 64
UW 82, MSU 63
MSU 74, UW 65
MSU 64, UW 55 (we get to #1 for the first time and Drew Neitzel immediately knocks us off)
UW 52, MSU 50 (Kammron Taylor hits a late 3-pointer to sort of, but not quite, atone for that #1 loss)
UW 70, MSU 57
UW 57, MSU 42
UW 65, MSU 63 (Michael Flowers' late steal and layup steals victory from jaws of defeat, after about 14 State players foul out)
MSU 61, UW 50
UW leads series 11-4 under Bo, we somehow lead Big Game series 7-1. Of those, I'd say six were dramatic. So 57% of our games end up qualifying as Big, 40% dramatic.
The purpose of this exercise was not just to rehash our success against Michigan State -- which, I'm told, is ending -- but to point out just how rare it is to play so many dramatic, important games against a single opponent in a relatively small period of time. And how unlikely it is that one team would prevail in so many of these games. And how it is logical that these results would build enmity in the hearts of the defeated.
Here's hoping we keep showing up on the left-hand side of the ledger in these matchups.
Hey, Andy North's on ESPN and the Badgers aren't even on ...
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Illinois vs. Michigan State
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
Another Hill to Climb, another book to read
Over the holiday break I got around to reading Bo Ryan's book, Another Hill to Climb. If you'll recall, my mom got me the book and had it signed by Bo, who declined to personalize it in any way.
How was it? Well, it wasn't The Iliad, but it was interesting. Sort of read like a 211-page Mike Lucas column, not surprising since he was the co-author of the book. Some would argue that's about 210 pages too many. Lots of one-sentence paragraphs and loose transitions. A random finish.
Other than that, my only real criticism of the book is the overuse of the first person. At one point it was really jarring, so I counted the number of uses of the word "I" on a random page -- 28. Flipped back about 25 pages or so and did the same thing -- 28 again. Shame on Lucas for not cleaning that up more.
Much of the book is stuff we already know about Bo, but there were a lot of anecdotes that were new and interesting to me:
-When Bo was an assistant at Wisconsin in the '70s, he would go running, and his frequent running mate was Steve Randall, the old Oshkosh West coach and widely-liked good guy who passed away several years ago. Randall earlier coached at Iowa-Grant, where current UW assistant Greg Gard played for him.
-Pickup games at the Field House at that time included Andy north, Van Stoutt, and Jim Doyle. Wouldn't you have loved to see Stoutt get fouled hard?
-Reading about some of the recruits UW got in the '70s and early '80s -- Wes Matthews, Larry Petty, Joe Chrnelich, Claude Gregory, Scott Roth, Brad Sellers, Cory Blackwell, Ricky Olson -- it's amazing the program was so bad for so long. Probably a combination of mediocre head coaching and a tougher Big Ten than we have today.
-Bo writes about recruiting Roth and Sellers out of Cleveland, two very big gets for the Badgers (even if Sellers ended up transferring). During the Michigan game when Rob Wilson got in, the announcer made a reference to Cleveland being a pipeline for Bo, and mentioned Roth. Has Bo gotten anyone besides Wilson during this go-round in Madison? None come to mind. That would be a great place to tap a pipeline to, though, just as it is for football. So much talent, only one Ohio State.
-Apparently during the time between when Bill Cofield was fired and Steve Yoder was hired at Wisconsin, Bo was pursued by Jud Heathcote to move to Michigan State. He and Tom Izzo could have been best buds!
-Paul Chryst, whose dad George was the athletic director at Platteville and recruited Bo there, helped move Bo's family to Platteville.
-Tom Davis, who coached so well at Iowa, wanted the UW job when it went to Cofield.
-As a young lad, I played against two guys who went on to contribute to Bo's championship teams at Platteville -- Ben Hoffmann, who played at Hartford against our West Bend East teams, and Colin Gassner, who beat my eighth grade St. Frances Cabrini team to win the 1990 St. John's tournament. The things you don't forget ...
-My memory of the 2003 Badger team is that a weak Big Ten helped contribute to a conference championship, but think of the talent on that team: first round NBA picks Devin Harris and Alando Tucker, and future pros Kirk Penney and Mike Wilkinson. That's a helluva foursome, I'd put them up against anyone in any conference in any year. Bo poses the question "Have I ever thought about what it would have been like if Alando Tucker and Devin Harris had been able to play together for more than one season?" I have, it's bittersweet to think about.
-Lastly, before going to the book signing, my mom asked me if I wanted her to tell Bo about my blog. No, I said, please don't. Good call -- Bo seems to have a problem with blogs and bloggers. To quote:
"... during our 2008 Big Ten coaches meetings ... we had a panel discussion with two respected sportswriters ... and a blogger. Yes, a blogger. That's how times have changed. In many instances, I just think there's a lack of accountability with blogs. It almost becomes an obsession with some. And what follows is usually hearsay or an over-reaction, whether it's to one play or one game or one team. Where's the credibility?"
Ah, um, er ... I see where he's coming from, and he's to an extent he's right. The Internet, particularly the anonymity it provides, has heightened the second-guessing and scrutiny of people with public jobs. But what I think bothers Bo about the Internet is he can't control the conversation like he does with traditional media, as he boasts about in the succeeding pages. In fact, it seems the only "sports journalists" Bo holds in high regard are those who deliver only fawning praise.
Frankly, I'd wager that Bo has never read a blog, and is using the term as a catch-all for everything on the Internet. Certainly none of the blogs devoted to the Badgers are ever very critical of him or his program, and with good reason, we appreciate the job he's done. Blog comments, or other Big Ten blogs, maybe, but that just reflects what fans are thinking.
Not all bloggers are purveyors of hearsay and over-reaction, and the Internet as a dominant medium isn't going away any time soon, so deal with it.
Later, Bo is talking about Cicero. "... I'm told he was a Roman statesman, who was known to be a flip-flopper. He would change his position depending on which way the wind was blowing -- and then over-react. He might have been the world's first sports writer or blogger."
Ouch.
As with any of these books, if you're looking for a deeper understanding of Badger sports and one of the more successful programs we've ever had, give it a read.
Friday, November 28, 2008
Kirk Penney -- look at that hair!
It's a podcast featuring an interview with one of our favorite former Badgers, Kirk Penney, now with the New Zealand Breakers. Apparently Kirk is the leading scorer in Australia's NBL, and has been named player of the month multiple times.
I can't get over that hair, and neither can the Australian fans. We saw him several times in Indianapolis at the Big Ten Tournament, most of the time hanging around with Andy North, and he sure didn't look like that. Not sure if this photo is pre- or post-Indy, but in any event that style is really out there.
Give it a listen. The interview with Kirk comes about 13 minutes into the podcast, but the guys rave about him often before then. It's sort of like Flight of the Conchords, if they were basketball fans instead of musicians.
The guys talk about the Badgers' defensive-oriented philosophy under Dick Bennett, and the shockingly low halftime score of our Final Four game against Michigan State. John asks Kirk who his favorite Big Ten rivals were, and he lists Michigan State, Indiana and Michigan. (Michigan?) Also a funny anecdote from Kirk's time with the Miami Heat about "White Guy Wednesday." He also caddied for Andy North at Augusta recently.
Funny side note: while looking for more recent Penney news I found that one of his teammates is Rick Rickert, former Minnesota lightning rod.
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
Badger hoops globetrotters
Today the Journal Sentinel had a list of Euroleague basketball players with Wisconsin connections. Very interesting list. Thought I'd take a closer look at the Badgers who are playing internationally.
Jason Chappell, Gussing Knights (Austria)
I'm sort of surprised at this one. J-Cheezy never seemed like the type who cared much about basketball, just played it because he was tall and his dad was great. And there's that whole aspiring fashion designer angle. But he turned out to be a solid contributor to a great team and is now getting played to hoop. When we saw him back in Tucson in September 2004, if you would have told me Chappell would play basketball professionally, I would have told you there was a monsoon coming and the temperature would drop 30 degrees in an hour. Oh wait ...
Rashard Griffith, CSU Asesoft Ploiesti (Romania)
Shard apparently plays for the most successful Romanian club of the past decade. He could play forever over there, couldn't he?
Andreas Helmigk, Allianz Swans Gmunden (Austria)
Wasn't able to interpret much that was written about Andreas, but check out this hottie he married. Way to go, dude!
Danny Jones, Schwetzingen (Germany)
It is shameful that this is the first time Danny Jones has been mentioned on Badgercentric. This guy was the greatest player to wear red when I was a kid, or at least that's how I remember it. Sort of amazing that he's still playing professional ball, he's got to be pushing 40. He still stands 198 centimeters tall, just like in college.
Zach Morley, Leche Rio (Spain)
I took four years of Spanish in high school, and can tell you that Leche Rio means Milk River. Morley hit a big shot this season to give the Prince's Cup to Lugo.
Ray Nixon, Tuebingen (Germany)
Speaking of guys who would have been well-served by a redshirt season ... this guy defied stereotypes by becoming a Wisconsin player who won a slam dunk championship! Click here to see his winning dunk. It's safe to say there are few things funnier than a German-language call of a slam dunk contest. Below is another YouTube video of Nixon dunking, but of very poor quality.
Kirk Penney, Breakers (New Zealand)
Apparently the guy hasn't just given up basketball to hang out with Andy North. He was first team NBL last season after averaging 24 points per game, and guess who one of his teammates is? Rick Rickert! Here's an interview with him from three months ago.
Kammron Taylor, L'Hospitalet (Spain)
Do yourself a favor and visit this team's official website — it's funky fresh! Best I can tell, Kamm, playing primera temporada, led the team in total puntos and tres-puntos made, was second in assistos. And his middle name is Harry.
Mike Wilkinson, Khimki (Russia)
Wilk has been granted Macedonian citizenship and plays for the Republic of Macedonia national team. What?!? Who does the ol' US of A turn to at 
power forward next time Elton Brand blows out his knee? Just kidding, Wilk's doing fine - 8.6 ppg and 4.4 rpg at last check. Notable teammates include Daniel Ewing and Pat Burke. Tell you what: I wouldn't dare fail to hedge out on a screen or miss a box out with those coaches glowering from the bench.
That's all I was able to glean in 45 minutes, maybe I'll revisit this post again and bring my personal translator, Babel Fish, with me. If anyone has any more info about these dudes please post a comment.
Saturday, March 22, 2008
Wisconsin-Kansas State thoughts ... Sweet
Terrific win for the Badgers, as close to a perfect second half as we could play. As the minutes wound down, I started thinking big picture about what this win over an upstart like Kansas State, with the kind of players it has, means.
It's validation in Bo's way of doing things: defense, control, steadiness. It's validation in the strength of building your program on veteran players who stick around for four or five years rather than one-and-doners who arrive on campus with one foot in the NBA draft. It's validation of an offensive philosophy that stresses balance rather than dominance. Last year, losing the Big Ten to Ohio State in spite of our tremendous team shook my confidence in this method. Now I'm back feeling good about it again.
It adds up to 31 wins and counting, and a chance to play into the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament for the fourth time this decade. Just try to wipe this smile off my face.
Game and second half thoughts:
-Good time for Pop and Stiemsma to have career games. Pop for the most part played under control, his charge notwithstanding, and showed K-State's youngsters how to make a shot. 
Stiemsma was around the ball and active all the time. Man, I wish he would have redshirted as a freshman, I'd be feeling a lot better about our chances next year.
-Landry gets two points - with zero field goal attemps! - and we win by 17? Wow. His third foul was careless.
-I was dead wrong that Krabby on Beasley and Flowers on Walker would get us beat. Beasley didn't do much in the second half, primarily against Krabby while the game was still in the balance. The announcers speculated it might have been his ankle. It was probably some of that, and probably some of us adjusting the defense to take away his drives.
Flowers battled Walker hard, that was a tough assignment. Walker was pushing a lot before the refs stepped in, but he's an athletic freak whose game is more fitted to the NBA game than the college game right now.
-Speaking of Walker, I thought the refs did a nice job of gaining control of the game when it was teetering on getting out of hand. The double technical on Walker and Butch was the right call, and they called some other ensuing chippy acts, and things settled down. K-State was upset about some of the fouls being called, but you know what? They were using their hands on defense - a lot. We don't, much. That's why we see the foul disparities most of the time, not some far-reaching officiating conspiracy funded by Andy North's golf winnings and orchestrated by the devious Bo Ryan.
-I love legal bone crushing picks, like Landry's on Pullen. There were a couple vicious ones in the West Virginia-Duke game. Shame on the on-ball defender's teammates for not calling it out.
-Think I heard that we play Friday, which is nice - an extra day to rest Pop's and Bohannon's ankles. Five full days off is golden this time of year, especially with a physical battle with Georgetown looming.
-One thing I like about winning this game so early on Saturday is our win will be scrolling across he bottom of the screen for the final 14 games, reminding people that we're still playing.
-Think I read in Brian Lucas's newsletter that we are one of only three Big Ten programs to win at least 30 games in back to back seasons, along with Indiana and Michigan State. Nice.
-A final thought before coloring Easter eggs: this team can still play better. Imagine an effort in which the guards are hitting their shots and locking down their guys; Butch and Landry are scoring inside; we are locking down the defensive boards; Stiemsma and J-Bo are doing their thing off the bench; and we're making 75% of our free throws. I would argue that of all the things the Badgers are capable of doing very well, in most wins we see only about 75% of them. We're going to need 100% efforts to beat Georgetown and Kansas.
Sunday, March 16, 2008
Sunday morning stream of consciousness
Thoughts while enjoying Starbucks in the Sheraton lobby, watching Andy North and now Mike Lucas walk by.
Saturday, March 15, 2008
Jansen at the Georgia Dome
Quick note: Rob Jansen texted Andy to tell him he was at the Georgia Dome during last night's severe weather event in Atlanta. We'll hear more later.
Also:
-With either Illinois or Minnesota playing in the title game Sunday, won't the selection committee have to wait until that game is over to finalize the brackets?
-Just saw Barry Alvarez strolling around the suite level. Andy was surprised he didn't have a bodyguard. Do you think he needs one?
-Stop me if you've heard this before: passed Andy North and Kirk Penney in the Sheraton lobby ...
Saturday morning sightings
Andy and I just passed Andy North getting onto the elevator ...
Friday, March 14, 2008
It's officially a Badger event ...
... because we just passed Andy North and Kirk Penney, walking together, on the sidewalk. Do a shot!
Also, Deuces saw Matt Ryan, Bo's son not the Boston College quarterback, in the hall at the Sheraton and exchanged pleasantries. He also saw Keaton Nankivil outside the hotel.
Celebrities everywhere, my head is spinning!
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Wisconsin-Penn State thoughts
This evening I had intended to come downstairs and write a quick "this game scares me, wouldn't be surprised if we lost" post. But then Will and I got caught up wrestling or something and I didn't get around to making a horrible prediction.
Nice win. Really wish Geary Claxton hadn't hurt his knee so early, would have liked to so how we stacked up with Penn State at full strength. Here's hoping he's OK, LePay said the Penn State radio guys are reporting it's season-ending. Throw in their late-game collapse against Minnesota the other day and they were set to be blown out.
But that shouldn't diminish how well we played. Great passing, good rebounding, terrific shooting. Defense was OK, they just missed a lot of shots.
-Star of the game was Flowers. After he hit the 3-pointer to start the game, I jotted down "good-looking shot in rhythm, he needs to shoot more." Every time he lifted up tonight it looked like it was going in, and most times it did. he also did a nice job on Morrissey, who was 1-for-9. That two-handed steal he had was fun to watch, he just embarrassed that guy.
-Krabby's first shot looked terrible, but he followed up with two good-looking shots and played another nice all-around game. On the broadcast Jimmy Jackson correctly pointed out that when he's playing assertively like he was tonight, it adds a whole different dimension to our offense.
One other Krabby note: not sure where I heard or read it, but Bo compared him to former Illinois player Sergio McClain. Don't know if you remember him or not, but he was about a 6-3 forward who probably wasn't named all-conference but was just a winner - played good defense, got key rebounds, found the open man, made a shot when he had to. Apt comparison, and a high compliment.
-Stiemsma played really well tonight ... but every time I was about to write that down in the first half, he made a mistake - let his guy get open for a layup, committed a bad foul, turned it over. His second half was nice, especially that little left-handed half-hook from the right block. He's tried that a couple times this season, and it looks good, but never seems to go in.
-Landry had another good Landry game - taking what was there, including 3-pointers, and generally getting good shots. It was interesting to see him guard Cornley, who really only seemed to go all-out for about 10 minutes in the second half. I would have taken a couple steps back and let him beat me shooting 18-footers rather than letting him build up a head of steam on the dribble.
-Hughes' bank shot 3-pointer seems like a lark in retrospect, but at the time they had come out shooting well and had cut the lead to 11, and we weren't moving on offense. Much like the Illinois game, in which we never let them take the lead, never letting Penn State get the lead into single digits was important tonight, because a home team down less than 10 should always have a run in them.
-Butch and Hughes combined for 16 points, about half their average, and Leuer went scoreless, but we still scored 80 points easily. Shows the nice balance on this team. Trevon only played eight minutes in the first half because of foul trouble and we were still up 16 at the half. I thought his play was a little bit too cavalier at times tonight.
-I thought showing Andy North in the stands was only a prerequisite for ESPN. Forget Jessica Simpson or Eva Longoria, we've got Andy.
-Penn State took on the feeling of a hockey team, shuttling in interchangeable, anonymous guys, none of whom were scoring with regularity.
-Save some of those 3-pointers for a closer game against a better team!
-Jarmusz is the first of the non-regulars in. Nankivil doesn't look ready for the pace of the big time yet. Still waiting for Tanner to make one of those prayers he throws up.
Tuesday, December 4, 2007
Spotted: Rob Jansen at Cameron Indoor Stadium
Just got this email from Andy:
People who wear gray Wisconsin shirts ... Rob Jansen is one of them: www.uwbadgers.com/blogs/default.aspx?postid=335
I think I've spotted the young man, but I'm not quite sure. Can someone clarify? You'll have to click on the picture below or go to the picture on the UWBadgers site and magnify the photo.
What, you couldn't get seats next to Andy North, Rob?
How was it, the result aside?
