Wisconsin Basketball: The Truth About the Badgers

This one came out of left field. The Wisconsin Badgers, at 6-0, share the Big Ten Conference lead with Indiana.

After Wisconsin got ripped by highly-ranked Duke and lost at home to number fifteen ranked Marquette early in the year, it appeared as though the Badgers didn’t have the makings of a contender in either the Big Ten or nationally.

A win against number nine ranked Texas, on a last-second three by Michael Flowers, followed by six straight wins within the conference, changed all that. 

Or did it?

The Badgers' success this season has been reliant on a balanced scoring attack—one that saw a team-record five different players score 20 or more points in each of the first five games of conference play—and stifling man-to-man defense. Wisconsin leads the Big Ten in scoring defense, giving up 54.4 points per night, and it ranks second in field goal percentage against (38.4 percent).

With a perfect start to the Big Ten season, at least on paper, it appears this year’s team is comparable to the ’06-’07 squad that won a school-record 30 games and earned a number two seed in the NCAA Tournament.

But wait. Let’s take a peek at who the Badgers have played.

All six wins in the Big Ten have come against the five worst teams in the conference. The fact remains:  Wisconsin hasn’t been tested yet.

The Badgers run into problems when they play high pressure, physical teams. This combination can force UW out of its motion, swing offense and forces the Badgers perimeter players to overdribble—which isn’t one of the team’s strengths.

This is exactly what Purdue did in its game today, and Wisconsin finds itself down late in the second half.

The Badgers will finish among the top teams in the Big Ten, but mainly because the conference is uncharacteristically thin this year.

To me, there isn’t much head coach Bo Ryan or the Badgers can do to correct these maladies or improve their standing. They’re a good basketball team, but that’s it. They just don’t have the individual talent teams like Duke, North Carolina or even conference leader Indiana do.