Three blocks from a frozen Lake Mendota and an empty Union Terrace, Matt Painter and his Boilermakers will try to bury Wisconsin.  If there ever was a late January must win for the Bo Ryan’s Badgers (12-7, 3-4), tonight’s game against Purdue (15-4, 4-2) is it. 

Lock Down

Against Minnesota, the Badgers coasted with a lead and the mental meltdown cost them, losing in overtime.  Against Iowa, they failed to respond, running into an exceptionally well-coached yet undermanned team on the road; they again lost a game they should’ve won in overtime.  Bookends to those losses, Wisconsin lost fair and square on the road to Purdue and Illinois.  Still, four straight losses could easily turn into seven if they don’t win tonight against the resurgent Boilermakers.

While comparisons to previous successful Badgers teams are inevitable, it’s premature to put a fork in Bucky. Win or lose, Bo Ryan stays true to his basketball DNA; defense; patience; execution; mental toughness.  It’s the mental toughness aspect Ryan will undoubtedly focus on in advance of the Purdue game. It encompasses everything important to Ryan and it’s ballast for their success.  Look for it to start on the defensive end and, most importantly, watch to see if it’s sustained 40 solid game minutes.

Hoops Marinara makes the perceptive observation that the Badgers could use a few warriors and at least one in the form of the graduated Badger superhero Michael Flowers.  How Wisconsin fights (and defends) tonight will be the barometer as to whether they have any warrior or Flowers in their blood.

Guard Up

Purdue holds teams to 35.6% shooting, a ridiculously low number.  Factor in the reality that Badgers guards Trevon Hughes and Jason Bohannon have struggled mightily in Big Ten play and you can sense the tension.  On a team that relies heavily on balance rather than one dominant scorer, having 40% of your starting lineup suffer a slump is a burden, especially against a team playing well like the Boilermakers.

Against a defense as strong as Purdue’s, reversing a slump isn’t simple.  But, as Badgercentric points out, it could start with a few aggressive drives to the rim against JuJuan Johnson.  For the Badgers to defend the Kohl Center, not only will they need sustained defense, they’ll need their guards to step up.

Break Some Glass

Despite it’s reputation as a great home court (which is admittedly evidenced numbers), we’ve seen too many games in the Kohl Center where the crowd was a passive spectator, cheering only as an interlude to victory.  Tonight, however, Ryan and his Badgers will need the faithful to push them over the hump, raise the roof and maybe make enough noise to break one of those cool Chihuly sculptures in the lobby.

Who Do You Love

Storming the Floor gives honorable mention Hate Honors to Purdue’s Chris Kramer.  Honestly, STF’s squad is loaded with the usual ACC suspects and I suspect they needed to throw a Big Ten kid in their for the Hell of it.  Hard for Hoopraker to hate Kramer.  He doesn’t gloat.  He plays hurt. He plays hard.  The only guy who quickly comes to mind and who might engender some dislike is Ohio State’s PJ Hill, with his arms and hair flailing all over the place.

Rankings are Stupid

Boiled Sports offers its analysis of the latest version of the Top 25.  J Money asks where’s the love for Michigan and why is Notre Dame still ranked?

Posted by TD Lawlor on Tuesday, January 27th, 2009 at 11:06 am.