Ouch

Fresh off yesterday's Packers loss, word comes this morning that Jon Leuer has a broken wrist and will be out indefinitely. Great. Sources are saying he'll miss 4-6 weeks, or 7-10 games. Could be more, that's a finicky injury.

Let's be honest: this just about kills our Big Ten title chances. They were probably a long shot anyway. It was nice to daydream.

OK, enough of that, glass half-full time.

Health: We haven't had too many bad injuries in the past few years, have we? Brian Butch at the end of the 2007 season and Alando Tucker in 2004 come to mind immediately as two in-season injuries to key players that really hurt. Pop hurt his ankle before that memorable Texas game. Sharif Chambliss hurt his knee in offseason workouts. Krabby had a lower body injury. My point is, we've been fortunate in the injury category, and should be thankful for that.

Keaton Nankivil: You have to shoot more now, big guy. You have to! Now! You are a really good shooter, particularly when you're looking for your shot. You're not going to do the same moves Leuer does, like shooting off the dribble, but you are better taking a pass and shooting off a guard's dribble penetration. You will replace Leuer's perimeter game. (Of course, you will also have a better defensive player checking you now.) You're also very good hitting the offensive boards. Now is the time for you to become the double digit scorer you can be.

Mike Bruesewitz: We've been impressed with your athleticism and active game in limited minutes. You will replace Leuer's rebounding and some minutes. You'll also be called upon to take Nankivil's minutes when he gets in foul trouble. (In the locker room at hoops today someone remarked that Nankivil has become Greg Stiemsma for refs' tendency to call fouls on him the minute a play comes near him. This is also known as Dave Mader Syndrome. It's not fair, but it's true.)

Ryan Evans: We've been impressed with your knack for scoring. You will replace Leuer's low post game, and become the quick trigger guy in the frontcourt. We love your confidence, even if your shot isn't everything it could be and will be.

Jared Berggren: You are now the only guy on the roster over 6-8 who is capable of playing against Big Ten post players. You're going to need to play double digit minutes some nights, if only because Nankivil's going to get tired or in foul trouble.

Like most injuries to star players, there's no way one guy can replace Leuer. But I am really excited in seeing what these four kids can do with their opportunities. Additionally, you would expect the guards to assume even more of the scoring load, like in the Purdue win. They're capable.

We've won games recently with limited minutes and production from Leuer. We ought to be able to tread water without him, and emerge a deeper, more experienced team.

But I don't want the Badgers to tread too long -- get well soon, Jon!

UW-Milwaukee thoughts

You know who had the best game tonight? Shon Morris of the Big Ten Network. He was funny, witty, insightful. Kudos, Shon Morris. You're much better than Tim Doyle.

As for the game, what sticks out to me is that we didn't play great defense. Milwaukee didn't put up a ton of points, but that was because their shots started going awry, not because we were forcing them into anything uncomfortable. They were able to successfully get the ball into James Eayrs and Anthony Hill on a number of occasions because we didn't have weakside help positioned properly. And we seemed to give up post-guard switches way too early on ball screens. Better offensive players will make us pay for that. Our defense needs to be better.

-Jon Leuer was superb tonight. Morris made the excellent point that right now there's no hesitation in his game, spot on. Jon's making post moves, pulling up for jumpers off the dribble, getting putbacks. Only thing he didn't do tonight was make a 3-pointer, but as you know I'm just fine with that. If you're playing against us, who do you put on Leuer? I'd put a 6-6 guy on him and front him aggressively.

-On that hesitation point, tonight Keaton Nankivil hesitated, and as such only took a few shots. The other night against Cal Poly, he didn't and he shot extremely well. Same last year in the Purdue game at home. Morris said Keaton doesn't know how good he can be, which is exactly right. I would love to see him look for his shot more, he could be the third scorer that would make us very dangerous.

-Jordan Taylor didn't shoot a high percentage tonight but he played well. Point guard is in good hands for the next couple years.

-Mike Bruesewitz got minutes ahead of Jared Berggren tonight, which goes back to my point a few days ago about having too many 6-11+ guys. Would have liked to see Rob Wilson get a few minutes tonight.

-I've seen pictures of Eayrs before and knew he was a wide body, but this was the first time I'd seen him play. He's a good player, knows his way around the basket. It does puzzle me, though, how a basketball player -- someone who runs for more than two hours a day for almost six months a year and theoretically works out almost that much the rest of the year -- could be that overweight. Had the same thoughts abou Oliver Miller when he was active, and other heavy dudes. Would Eayrs' effectiveness actually be diminished with less weight? Hard to say.

-I like Ricky Franklin, he's a nice guard. A few years back when he was coming out of high school word was that he was considering walking on at UW, and lots of us were excited. Didn't work out, but he's done well for himself in Milwaukee.

-Milwaukee's not bad, they'll win some games this year. They're the type of team that might beat a Butler but lose to a lesser team in their league the next time out. During their halftime chat, Brent Stover asked Bo Ryan and Rob Jeter if they'd ever be on the same bench again. My thought was I hope not, because it would mean that Robby got canned at Milwaukee. It would be great if he could get that program back to the level it reached under Bruce Pearl, so he would become the logical successor to Bo in Madison.

Up next is what looks like a really bad Illinois-Chicago team, which should be a good opportunity to play the regulars 25 minutes for an Ohio State tuneup, then get Wilson, Berggren, Bruiser, et al some floor time.

UW-Cal Poly thoughts

That was a lot less stressful than the last time the Badgers played Cal Poly.

First off ...

Was that a J.P. Gavinski dunk? My lord, that was exciting. And off a sweet feed from Brett Valentyn. That's why games like these are valuable, so guys like these two get some playing time.

Other than predictably good games from Trevon Hughes and Jon Leuer, there were some things to like:

-Keaton Nankivil came out lookin aggressively for his shot, and made them. He's a good shooter, and when he hits from the perimeter, we're much tougher to guard.

-Jason Bohannon looked comfortable shooting from the perimeter tonight. If he gains confidence from that and it spills over into our important game, tonight is valuable.

-Guys like Jared Berggren and Rob Wilson got more minutes than usual, and Mike Bruesewitz saw time after not seeing the floor much lately. I think our rotation might be too tight for them to see anything more than spot action, but they're all capable of contributing.

-We shot 61% from the floor, 54% on 3-pointers.

Big problem?

Nothing in the Badgers' win over Marquette bothered me much, but after a day of reflection I came up with something.

Nearly a quarter of our roster right now is basically ineffective, and that fraction is in danger of increasing to a third next season.

Based on the guys Marquette put on the floor yesterday, we didn't play anyone taller than 6-10 Jon Leuer or 6-8 Keaton Nankivil. Now, MU is one of the smaller teams we'll play this year, and there will be games when Jared Berggren gets minutes against opposing bigs.

But for the most part, we can match up with opposing frontcourts by playing Leuer, Nankivil, Ryan Evans and maybe Mike Bruesewitz. And we'll match up well. Even at 6-6, Evans and Bruesewitz have the size and athleticism to man up on opposing 4 men.

When will Berggren play? Right now, it looks like both Nankivil and Leuer will need to be in foul trouble before he gets extended minutes. I would like to see Bo Ryan get the freshman more playing time in the pre-conference season, because this scenario will probably present itself at some point in Big Ten play.

Yet it's tough to see Berggren getting more than five minutes of floor time in any game, and J.P. Gavinski and Ian Markolf will only play in lopsided games. So that's three of our four guys 6-10 or taller who don't figure to provide many useful minutes this season.

All three of those guys are back next year, and we'll add 6-11 Evan Anderson. Anderson, like Berggren a highly-rated high school center, figures to either redshirt or play limited minutes in his first year on campus.

What I'm getting at here is not that Anderson and Berggren will never contribute, I think they will be key parts of the team at some point. But Markolf and Gavinski probably won't ever be contributors. They seem like good program guys, well liked by their teammates, hopefully good students.

Going forward, though, given the roster composition of most of our opponents, we probably don't need quite so many guys over 6-8, as long as those 6-8 guys are strong post defenders, like Nankivil. True 7-foot centers aren't necessary to win in today's college game, and not many teams have those guys.

If Anderson turns out to be the second coming of Greg Oden, then hey, gotta love the center. But if we're talking about mid-level recruits, I'd rather take a 6-6 guy or a guard than another guy 6-10 or taller.

UW-Duke thoughts

Awesome win, just thrilled with tonight's effort. This isn't Duke's best team ever, but it's still Duke. They're #6 in the country, loaded with McDonald's All-Americans, had never lost in the Big Ten-ACC Challenge. We ended that, and the conference likely won the Challenge, with our win being the difference. What an awesome feeling. Huge win for the program, and for the conference.

-The strong early start was so important, we played with the lead the whole game. Jon Leuer and Keaton Nankivil were assertive early, confidently looking for their shots.

-Trevon Hughes carried the load for most of the rest of the game, he played a terrific game. He's a big game player, really seems to play his best against our best opponents. Played great defense.

-My #2 player of the game is Ryan Evans. The defensive job he did on Kyle Singler, after Singler was unconscious early, was critical. That last play where Singler had the ball, and Evans stayed in front of him and forced a bad shot, was big time defense. Plus, he was aggressive on the boards, and I loved when he tried to throw down that alley-oop, even if he missed it.

-Speaking of dunks, Leuer, Nankivil, and Jared Berggren got into the act, another welcome sign of aggressive play in the paint. I was surprised that Duke yielded those looks, they were pretty blatant defensive breakdowns.

-We won despite not keeping up our torried shooting start, ended up shooting 44% for the game. That speaks to good defense and rebounding.

-Nit picking time. How did this Andre Dawkins get so wide open, especially after he made a couple 3-pointers? Jason Bohannon really struggled from behind the arc, 0-for-6, he makes two of those and the game is over earlier. Nankivil missed the front end of a one-and-one when we were up 11, and I thought that might be a turning point. And on a critical late possession, it was Jordan Taylor, not Pop, taking the shot with the clock running down -- why?

But hey, when the alarm clock rings tomorrow I'll have forgotten all about those things and just remember the win. Should be a great confidence boost for the Badgers and carry over to the rest of the year, like the Texas win two years ago.

I'm tired, more thoughts tomorrow ...

Hoops scrimmage thoughts

A friend of mine at work attended Sunday's basketball scrimmage and passed along these thoughts:

We went to the Red-White scrimmage last night. Great fun. Some thoughts:

-Jared Berggren could be Brian Butch's little brother. Physically they look a lot alike and have similar games, although Berggren doesn't have the outside shot -- yet. I like him. Not sure how much he'll be able to contribute in the Big 10 but he'll play.

-Ryan Evans has some hops and made a few nice plays. And he has this '80s fade haircut going for him.

-Keaton Nankivil looks a lot quicker than last year.

-Trevon Hughes is a man. Offensive players better be very careful with the ball around him or they will quickly become defensive players.

-Not sure why Ian Markolf didn't redshirt last season: he looks like a stiff -- not as bad as Gavinski but does not look comfortable with the ball at all.

-Get Mike Bruesewitz in the weight room another year and he will be the second coming of Joe Krabbenhoft. Not sure where the interior points are going to come from.

-Jon Leuer still looks more comfortable working outside in than inside.

-The new uniforms feature REALLY long shorts.

Thanks Paul! Here's another good review from Hoops Marinara.

UW-Indiana thoughts

Nice to close out the regular season with a laugher. Get the seniors their own individual standing ovations. Get Morris Cain a bucket. Get Brett Valentyn a bucket for Pete's sake! Very nice.

To reiterate, our NCAA Tournament chances are solid -- good RPI, top-five strength of schedule, a winning record in our last 12 games -- so it shouldn't matter what happens against Ohio State on Friday.

-Here's the one disturbing thing about this game for me: the inability to stop Verdell Jones and Nick Williams. They are clearly the only two scoring threats Indiana has, and yet we were unable to stop them from getting good looks. They hit 13 of 19 field goals between them; they shot 54% from the field overall. That wouldn't have happened against any of our teams in recent years.

-Indiana's limited talent clearly shows up in its offensive performance, but they are apparently even worse defensively. Let's face it, any team that gives up 85 points to us is a sieve. And we did it with only two double-digit scorers.

-Nice moments for all the seniors. Nineteen points and nine boards for Krabby. Landry had six assists. Gully played 19 minutes and hit some nice baseline jumpers. Cain with his shot was a treat, nice moment for a good kid.

-Nineteen assists for the team, has to be a season high.

-Come on, Bo, please play Nankivil and Wilson earlier in games like this. They are going to need to step up big next year for us to keep this streak of success going, and any seasoning they get helps. There's pretty much no time left for them to get that PT this year, unfortunately.

-My mind kept drifting to next year during this game. Conventional wisdom says we will have many question marks and should struggle. But I can see Pop, J-Bo, and Leuer taking big steps forward, Nankivil and Wilson earning 20-plus minutes per game, and someone like Berggren becoming a limited contributor.

But first things first. As much as an early exit from the Big Ten Tournament might not be the worst thing in the world -- get some extra rest heading into the big one -- winning a game or two would do a world of good for these guys' confidence. They haven't been the most consistent bunch, but stringing together two complete games, regardless of outcome, would really help.

Ohio State is definitely beatable, although they figure to have many more fans at Conseco Fieldhouse than we will. Michigan State would likely be the semifinal opponent, and while beating them is a long shot, a strong showing against them would suffice.

Looking forward to the trip as usual, stay tuned for reports from the road later this week.

Jared

The other day I was reading an update on Jared Berggren, who has not officially announced intentions to redshirt this year, although it certainly seems to be trending that way.

Earlier this year I made a post detailing the history of basketball redshirts under Bo. Although it seems like a bunch of guys have redshirted, it's really only been four: Brian Butch, J.P. Gavinski, Mickey Perry, and DeAaron Williams. Not counting on Gavinski yet, that's a 25% hit ratio, with Butch being the only true success story out of that group.

But that's exactly why I think it would make sense for Berggren to redshirt. He's built like Butch. He faces a logjam of veteran talent ahead of him as a true freshman, like Butch. Hell, he even looks like Butch -- check out that picture of him running up The Hill.

I'm willing to bet that if he trades the 40 or 50 minutes of garbage time he might get this year (minutes that become more and more rare in conference play) for 25-30 minutes a game as a fifth-year senior, it will be best for everyone involved, just like it was for Butch.

To that end, I also like Ryan Evans' decision to redshirt, and think it would have been wise of Ian Markolf to do the same. But who knows? Maybe Ian is planning on graduating in four years and moving on to post-basketball life, so a redshirt doesn't make sense.

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.

Streamin'

Did anyone watch the Big Ten Network's stream of our exhibition game against Augustana the other night? I tried, but my home computer isn't cutting it for that type of work. Maybe I'll be able to sneak back to work tonight for some, ahem, budget work and a quick look at how the boys looked Saturday.

Going off the box score, a few things stuck out:

-Jon Leuer had a nice game with 15 points in 14 minutes. What I like is that he took 11 shots overall, and only three of them were 3-pointers. Shows he's not settling for long jumpers, which is good for his overall game.

-Jordan Taylor got 21 minutes of action and had five assists against one turnover. Shows Bo is getting him ready for some legit duty in relief of Pop.

-Surprised to see JP Gavinski got only two minutes of action. Additionally, Jared Berggren, Kevin Gullikson, and Ian Markolf all saw five minutes or less of playing time. Granted, it's only an exhibition, but this could mean that our primary 4-5 players will be limited to Nankivil, Landry, and Leuer, with Krabby sliding down to the 4 in certain matchups.

Or it could just mean that Augustana was playing a really small lineup.

-Apparently Krabby went into the stands after a loose ball, gotta love the quote from Bo afterward:

"That was his uncle on the other side. He hadn’t seen him in a while. He wanted to go over there and shake hands with him. The scary thing was, our fans parted. They didn’t try to protect him, I thought they would do a better job of catching him. Of course, with all the stitches and everything Joe has on him, he’s not another pretty face. Maybe he scared some people. ..."

Whitewater's next on Tuesday. I love these matchups with WIAC schools, it's so much better than playing Athletes in Action or the Turkgystan under-21 national team.

Evan Anderson commits to Wisconsin

There's nothing like working ahead, is there? Bo Ryan and his staff wrapped up its recruiting class of 2010 this weekend when Evan Anderson of Eau Claire North committed to play for Wisconsin.

The commitment wasn't a huge surprise, but it was a huge get nonetheless. Anderson is the #10-ranked player nationally in the class of 2010 per Scout (second-ranked center), and #5 per Rivals. Don't get me wrong, I know how much — or how little — these rankings mean, but it will be nice to peak at these rankings for the next couple years and see Wisconsin in the right-hand column near the top of the list, the spot usually reserved these days for North Carolina, Duke, Kansas, and Ohio State. Those were the types of schools who were beginning to take an interest in Evan, similar to Brian Butch at that age, and it's good to lock up a homeboy and get him to Madison.

From my one time watching Evan, on television in the state tournament in North's game against eventual state champion Wauwatosa East, he looked worthy of the hype. He runs well and showed the ability to use both hands offensively around the basket. Other observers say his defense is much more advanced than his offense at this stage, but that would apply to most 6-11 16-year-olds.

So now we're done with our next two recruiting classes (with a big asterisk next to Jamil Wilson's name), and can start focusing on recruiting ... kids who are currently high school freshmen. Gulp. The thing is, UW is not alone in getting commitments from kids at such a young age. One the Scout list seven of the top 10 kids had already committed to a school.

Here's how the next three batches of incoming freshmen shapes up at the moment:

2008: Jared Berggren, Ian Markolf, Jordan Taylor, Robert Wilson, Ryan Evans
2009: Mike Bruesewitz, Diamond Taylor
2010: Vander Blue, Evan Anderson
For good measure, let's throw in 2007: Tim Jarmusz, Keaton Nankivil, Jon Leuer

So, theoretically, our 2010-11 roster is already set. It will look like this:

Center/power forward: Nankivil, Berggren, Markolf, Anderson, J.P. Gavinski (redshirt senior)
Small forward/power forward: Leuer, Bruesewitz, Evans
Shooting guard: Jarmusz, Wilson, Blue
Point guard: Jordan and Diamond

That's pretty good balance, and a pretty versatile roster. Just about all of those last seven guys will be able to swing between a couple positions, and that's a lot of height among the bigs. It's a real similar roster to the one we had this year, with maybe a little more depth at guard if all these guys pan out. Adding a talent like Wilson would be a major wild card, I see him filling the Marcus Landry role on future rosters if we can wedge him in somehow.

These early commitments can sometimes seem anticlimactic, as they take us out of the running for the high-stakes recruits at the top of the lists. But realistically, we're not going to get those guys anyway, and it's good for the stability of the program to get these verbals early.

A little bit Stiemed

That's right, I am. Near the end of the basketball season, especially in the NCAA Tournament, it bothered me that Greg Stiemsma was about to exhaust his eligibility. He was playing so well ... and now it's over. It didn't have to be that way.

If memory serves, Greg committed to UW before Brian Butch did, and was just a notch or two below the caliber of recruit Butch was - still a big catch. A woman I work with named Stacy Krull has a nephew named Jon Krull, who was a star at UW-Stevens Point, and was an AAU teammate of both Stiemsma and Butch in high school. She thought Greg was the better prospect, and maintained that up until several weeks ago.

When both Butch and Stiemsma were in the fold, the posters on Badgermaniac were going crazy. Certain posters asked questions like "Would you rather have Stiemsma for one spectacular year and have him leave school early and become an NBA lottery pick, or keep him for four very good years?" There's lots of good stuff on message boards, far more insight than you'll find in one of my daily posts, but it's that kind of hysteria and rampant speculation that got me to quit cold turkey.

Stiemsma had injuries early in his career and he didn't play much as a freshman, but I can't get his performance against North Carolina in the 2005 Elite Eight out of my head. Sean May was dominating us in that game, and Mike Wilkinson was really no match. Young Greg stepped in and did a really nice job slowing May down, even if it was only for three minutes. Didn't see Stiemsma in the second half, and I remember Andy and me screaming for him to come back in. Probably didn't end up making the difference, but it showed just how effective Stiemsma could be as a post defender.

His sophomore season was cut short by his well-documented bout with depression. It took a lot of guts for him to come forward with his disease, and for him to talk about it in such detail. Mental illness is nothing to hide, and hopefully his example inspired others to deal with their troubles.

Last season it puzzled me that Greg was stuck behind Jason Chappell. But you know what? J-Cheezy was the more consistent, well-rounded post defender, good at using his feet and fronting. Stiemsma delivered spectacular blocks, but picked up silly fouls and found himself back on the bench. His game at Illinois was particularly memorable.

Really liked how he fit in this year. After beginning the year in the starting lineup, he moved back to the bench when Flowers was ready to start again. The move was obviously the right move for the team - Landry is more of a 4 than a 3, Krabby's more a 3 than a 2, and Flowers was my choice as team MVP. Never seemed to bother Stiemsma, he came in and gave more solid performances than his first three years combined.

Looking back over my posts from the season, found a lot of instances of "glad we have Stiemsma as a backup 5" and cases where he came in and was effective in limited minutes. My enduring memory of him will be his joy and exuberance during the win over Penn State that clinched the Big Ten title, and his terrific all-around effort against Kansas State that sent us to the Sweet 16.

He peaked at the right time. Too bad any further improvement will be in a different uniform.

There was much talk from commentators this year about how wise it was that Butch redshirted as a freshman - look at how good his fifth year was for him and the program. What about Stiemsma? Imagine if he had redshirted; he played just 27 minutes as a true freshman. Next year, he would have gotten the chance to play 25 minutes a game, controlling the boards with Krabby and Landry. His range wasn't out to the 3-point line like Butch, but he was effective to 16-17 feet, which helps keep post defenders honest.

Now, Keaton Nankivil and Jared Berggren will likely log most of the minutes in the 5 spot next year, and while I'm confident they'll eventually be fine players, they'll be rookies next year and will endure some tough games against older more physically developed players in a rough conference.

Maybe Greg knew this team was special, knew that his senior team would win 31 games and two Big Ten titles. Like George Costanza telling jokes on Seinfeld, he knew when to make an exit.

Twin Cities love, part II - from Millie

Badgercentric correspondent Mike Milinovich posted this comment to yesterday's post about Jordan Taylor and Jared Berggren, and it was so good I thought it deserved its own post. Not Louisville dance team 1997 good, but UW hoops in 2002 good. Thanks Millie!

I saw Taylor play twice this year, Berggren once and the Bruiser (rght) twice. Here is what I saw: Taylor - very solid point guard coming in. He is physically mature enough to play right away unlike Kam Taylor and is much more of a pure point guard. He's not as flashy off the bounce as Hughes, but he's effective. I would like to see his shot improve, but it's not like it's a total weakness. Defensively he's active, though he'll probably take a while to play Bo's style of defense. Overall, he's just a very solid player. He doesn't jump out at you with absurd quickness like Hughes or a sweet touch like Bohannon. But he takes care of the ball, is a very good passer and just does everything pretty well.

Berggren - I think that he's going to be a very good player for the Badgers. He has very soft hands and doesn't seem afraid to take it strong. He definitely has a lot of post moves and seemed comfortable using both hands in the post. He's not the most athletic guy, but he isn't a plodder either. He should be a very good rebounder and will provide very solid defense in the post. I'm very excited about Berggren.

Bruiser - Big 10 fans are going to absolutely hate this guy. Let's go through the checklist of things that will drive people bonkers. White? Check. Pasty White? Double Check. Red Hair? Check. Hustle guy? Check. He should be a very good player in the swing offense. He has a pretty good handle for a guy his size and is an outstanding rebounder. He was able to take guys off the dribble and had an incredible baseline drive for a dunk in the state final. The only thing that I would really like to see improve is his jumper. Let's just say that I think we have a guy that can fill Krabby's shoes when he graduates.

Great report Millie. I'm most encouraged by the Bruesewitz review, mostly the dunk. Many reports have pegged him as a Krabbenhoft type, but Krabby doesn't take guys off the baseline for dunks ... although maybe he did in high school. Maybe Bruiser is more athletic than originally speculated.

All the better if he becomes one of the more hated players in the Big Ten - nobody hates guys who suck and don't win. The guys who come to mind who sort of fit Millie's description - Brian Cardinal, Drew Neitzel, Tom Coverdale, Chris Kingsbury - all played for good teams. So where does Miles Tarver fit into this equation?

Future Badger love from the Twin Cities

Anyone else starting to get the feeling that Jordan Taylor is going to be our next transcendent superstar? Read this story, where the St. Paul Pioneer Press named Jordan its player of the year.

What's not to love about him? Solid game? Check. Good grades? Check. Stable family life? Check. Engaging media-friendly personality? Check.

The next Devin Harris? Slow down there, Tappa, let's not get carried away. But it's exciting to read stuff like this.

Also, the Star Trib named Jordan and Jared Berggren to its all-metro team. When his Princeton team came to Wisconsin, they got smacked by a good Waupun team, which gave me pause, but it sounds like his team wasn't very good and opponents swarmed him.

OK, Cities guys, who's seen them play? I understand Taylor and Mike Bruesewitz both played in the state finals. I'm excited about hearing the Taylor report, anxious about the Bruiser report.

A look at the Badger basketball recruits

A few weeks ago I mentioned my love for preseason college football magazines. That was actually preceded by my love for preseason college basketball magazines. My first was Street and Smith, 1987-88, with Keith Smart and Bobby Knight of Indiana on the cover. By today's standards it was remarkably tame, mostly black and white newsprint. Inside was the high school All-American team, headlined by Alonzo Mourning, Billy Owens, and Chris Jackson.

Those high school All-American lists were always fascinating to me. In the pre-Internet world, this accounted for 90% of the prep hoops information I got in any given year, the other 10% being the McDonald's All-American game.

I was tardy getting my first preseason pub this year, but picked one up last week - Sporting News - and immediately flipped to the high school pages. I was pleased to see three of the Badgers' four recent signees listed.

-Jared Berggren, a 6-10 center from Princeton, Minn., was high honorable mention.

-Robert Wilson, a 6-2 (or 6-5, depending on what you read) wing from Garfield Heights, Ohio, was also high honorable mention.

The Berggren signing was key. His commitment happened before Tubby Smith took over at Minnesota, and if Tubby can build any semblance of a wall around that state, it will cut off a nice little talent pipeline we've had going these last few years (Jon Leuer, Kammron Taylor, Jordan Taylor). He'll move in nicely to the spots Brian Butch and Greg Stiemsma will be vacating. Rivals has him listed as the #11 center prospect in the country.

Wilson is just as important. As was exposed against Duke, we need guards/wings to hang with top teams, and we're just not that deep there at this time. The current freshman class brought in two bigs and a wing who's more of a shooter than a lockdown defender, although Tim Jarmusz's athleticism may be underrated.

-Jordan Taylor is the other guard Bo Ryan signed, a 6-1 point guard from Erik Olson's neck of the woods, St. Louis Park, Minn. He doesn't show up anywhere on my All-American lists, but he may end up being the most important member of this recruiting class. With Michael Flowers graduating, we'll need a backup point next year, and though Bo usually doesn't play freshman point guards much, you need insurance behind Trevon Hughes. Rivals ranks Taylor as the 22nd best point guard in the country. Sounds like a good kid - National Honor Society, won other academic awards.

-Ian Markolf, a 7-1 center from San Antonio, was the last guy to commit, and made Sporting News' honorable mention All-American list. Can never have too many 7-footers, as long as they can play.

Or do you? While I will never criticize Bo and his staff for their recruiting - 20 years ago, the Badgers would be lucky to get one high school All-American, let alone three or four - part of me wonders if the roster is getting too heavy on bigs. The college game has become so guard-oriented, as we saw against Duke and as we'll see Saturday against Marquette. There aren't many teams like Florida the last two season that can throw out an NBA style lineup with prototypes at 1-2-3-4-5. It isn't hard to imagine a 2010-11 viable frontcourt of Leuer, Berggren and Markolf or Keaton Nankivil, but would defensive matchups ever make that possible to put out there?

No Wisconsin kids in this class, but there are two key recruits from the state in the class of 2009: 6-11 Evan Anderson of Eau Claire North and 6-7 Jamil Wilson of Racine Horlick. Lots of the power programs are lining up for these guys, getting them to commit to the state's most popular basketball program would be huge. We're also still in the running for guard Diamond Taylor of Westchester (Ill.) St. Joseph's, Andy's favorite high school player.