February 3, Madison, Wis. - Northwestern traveled to the Kohl Center for their second game in the home and away match-up with the Badgers. Recall that the Cats gave the Badgers a very good scare on Jan. 13th before losing 56 to 50. On this artic cold afternoon both teams were sluggish from the start. With the score 12 to 6 (Badgers) with 7:54 minutes left in the first half, the Badgers put on an 18 to 11 run to take a very comfortable lead of 33 to 19 at the half.
It was clear that the Badgers solved the 1-3-1 and other versions of the zone defense that the Wildcats use so effectively at home. Wisconsin hit three 3-pointers at crucial points in the half and good penetration by Taylor and Flowers set up Tucker for some close in shots. The Badgers also hit 12 of 14 free throws while the Cats missed their only try.
Bo Ryan’s teams are almost unbeatable on their home court. They now have a string of 19 straight home wins. In fact, the Badgers are enjoying their golden years in basketball competition. Never had there been a string of 20 wins or more comparable to Bo’s teams. Since he took over in 2001-02, his teams have had no fewer that 19 victories twice, two 25 victory seasons back to back, preceded by a 24 victory season. Ryan’s record at Wisconsin prior to this season was 112 wins against 49 losses.
As a former NU player, Davor Duvancic, who sat next to me at the game observed, Bo’s game strategies are not very complex or fancy. He has a simple offensive structure that relies on good ball movement, penetration to the basket when possible for easy lay-ups or passes to open players close in or on the perimeter. Coupled with this simple offensive scheme is a very disciplined defense that usually holds opposing teams well below their season average.
Hat’s off to Bo Ryan and the Badger program since it is a model for good basketball and the fans in Madison appreciate it immensely. They have had a sold-out arena for four straight years.
This very successful program was initiated by Dick Bennett, who took the Badgers to their first NCAA Final Four in 2000. In essence, it was the Bennett years that built the Kohl Center and the Bo Ryan’s teams that consistently turn in topnotch performances that has the fans in Madsion scrambling to get tickets. So Bo fills the house that Bennett built!
This brings me to another bit of Badger trivia. Steve Yoder had some decent Badger teams in the 1980’s, but probably his best year was 1988-89 when Danny Jones starred as a very athletic scoring forward. Jones was, until recently, the third best scorer and rebounder in Badger history. Alando Tucker now has surpassed Jones. What is interesting is that Jones was from Illinois as is Tucker. They are comparable players in size, skill levels, and athleticism. Again, kudos to the Badger coaches for coming into Illinois and recruiting prize players.
There were two good omens for the Wildcats: a shake-up in the line-up that seemed to provoke some better play, and a 14 to 0 run late in the second half. The line-up changes resulted in a great deal of playing time for the three very good freshmen. Freshman Coble played 38 minutes, scoring 24 points and grabbing 7 rebounds. Freshmen Ryan and Nash both logged substantial minutes and looked comfortable in their roles. Hopefully Carmody has come to the conclusion that the future lies with these three freshmen so give them as much playing time as possible since it will pay dividends in the future. It is my hope that he will stay with this approach and that the freshmen respond with a classic Carmody upset soon. They are running out of opportunities, but there still is time. An upset or two would salvage some respectability for this team that seems to be destined for the Big Ten cellar this year.
The 14-0 run was ignated by the play of Coble. He is a complete player and often ignites good offensive runs with a steal, assist, or rebound. The 24 point lead that was built up by the Badgers melted to a 10 point lead, but it was too late and the Wildcats could not sustain this late game spurt.
After steadily increasing their lead in the second half, the Badgers lost their focus for too many minutes. Great teams need to find ways to continue their strong play and not let their opponents make too much of an unanswered run. Coach Ryan will have to work with his team to avoid these types of lapses in the future. A lapse against a much better team than Northwestern could quickly result in a very tight game. Great teams not only establish great leads, but, as a minimum, hold these leads to the end of the game.
