2015-16 UW Badger Basketball Discussion Thread

[HaroldinGMinor]

Every team has their good players leave early and transfers. That college basketball. It takes more than one bad class to result in zak showalter and vitto brown getting 30+ minutes

Wisconsin has had two players leave early and two transfers since Bo got there (a couple guys were kicked off the team early on in his tenure). For a recruit and develop program like UW runs, that can leave holes. If Dekker was out there Vitto would be getting scraps until next year when he is probably going to be serviceable.

[midranger]

Two F4 appearances should return better recruits than we got.

Bingo.

[midranger]

Every team has their good players leave early and transfers. That college basketball. It takes more than one bad class to result in zak showalter and vitto brown getting 30+ minutes

Wisconsin has had two players leave early and two transfers since Bo got there (a couple guys were kicked off the team early on in his tenure). For a recruit and develop program like UW runs, that can leave holes. If Dekker was out there Vitto would be getting scraps until next year when he is probably going to be serviceable.

And if all the UK early entrants don't leave over the past 4 years we never make the championship game.

It's college basketball. That's why recruiting is so important.

[HaroldinGMinor]

Every team has their good players leave early and transfers. That college basketball. It takes more than one bad class to result in zak showalter and vitto brown getting 30+ minutes

Wisconsin has had two players leave early and two transfers since Bo got there (a couple guys were kicked off the team early on in his tenure). For a recruit and develop program like UW runs, that can leave holes. If Dekker was out there Vitto would be getting scraps until next year when he is probably going to be serviceable.

And if all the UK early entrants don't leave over the past 4 years we never make the championship game.

It's college basketball. That's why recruiting is so important.

UW will never compete nationally with the likes of Duke, UK, Arizona, etc. on the recruiting trail. Their best hope is to recruit and keep guys four/five years. That makes the margin for error thin when guys leave and other guys have to step in before they're ready. I'm not here to say I'm not disappointed in Dearring and Hill (of course they've had misses) but the program as a whole has been remarkably consistent given the recruiting landscape in college basketball.

[Bernman]

It's weird watching a Bo Ryan team without a 6'10 to 7' white center who can shoot from the perimeter and play at least solid defense. Bo has always had one or more of them.

Would have had one this year but the NCAA bureaucracy foiled the plan. I think Van Vliet would have been a factor for this team considering he's 20, somewhat experienced playing semi-pro in Belgium, can shoot, and block shots. Those last two aspects we really need because this team has the same problems as the Bucks.

[Turk Nowitzki]

Hot shooting start but we are playing at VCU's pace too much. That won't end well.

[Bernman]

Oh what a move by Koenig ftw! He was the star man today. And we showed a lot of improvement offensively, creating and making quite a few jumpers. We became a team today! Could be a big win come the end of the season.

[Johnlac1]

Oh what a move by Koenig ftw! He was the star man today. And we showed a lot of improvement offensively, creating and making quite a few jumpers. We became a team today! Could be a big win come the end of the season.

The players are coming around. Despite lack of size, the team has the makings of a real strong frontcourt. Lots of mental mistakes which comes with youth and inexperience. The backcourt depth looks shaky. Have to find another ballhandler.
The team is a little too young to make a tourney run this year.
But next year, if they can retain Hayes and Koenig, they could make a nice run.

[Bernman]

Hayes is gone. We have to accept that. He's good enough, the 1st rd this year isn't projected to be deep, and he's a big crusader against the mistreatment of NCAA athletes. Even a more likely declaration than Sam last year.

But those other guys, with an eligible and stouter Van Vliet, will be tough to beat. I don't think this last recruiting class had any weak links. Just needed the size supplement and mental growth.

This season, I was never of the mind this wasn't going to be a tourney team. More than enough talent is there and then they'll have some of the mental growth during this season. Once they get there, I can easily see one or two wins with Koenig and/or Hayes going off and the others supporting. That seems about their ceiling though.

Top 4 streak was always going to be the toughest ask because the league is a battlefield this season, there are more teams than there used to be, and one is Maryland. So top 4 streak is actually top 5 now. 5-6 is where I think they finish.

[Turk Nowitzki]

We would've probably beaten Georgetown if Koenig played like he did today. Nice game from him and nice win!

[El Duderino]

Oh what a move by Koenig ftw! He was the star man today. And we showed a lot of improvement offensively, creating and making quite a few jumpers. We became a team today! Could be a big win come the end of the season.

The players are coming around. Despite lack of size, the team has the makings of a real strong frontcourt. Lots of mental mistakes which comes with youth and inexperience. The backcourt depth looks shaky.

The backcourt depth looks shaky? Try nonexistent.

Hell, when Koenig went out with a second foul in the first half, Bo not only didn't bring in Hill to play PG, he brought in a forward and left Showalter in there as the only guard on the court. The offense then looked ugly as to be expected, so after only a few minutes Bo brought Koenig back in.

For now at least, the guard rotation in any game vs a quality team looks to be Koenig/Showalter and that's it. If either gets in foul trouble or needs a rest, bring in a forward and go with a one guard lineup.

At some point it would seem that Bo has to let Hill play in games like this. Koenig can't be expected to play 40 minutes anytime it's a close game or if he needs rest/foul trouble, play Showalter at PG where he's clearly not skilled enough to handle.

[Turk Nowitzki]

Badgers embarrassing themselves out there against an admittedly good Oklahoma team.

[BallinBucks420]

like people have said a team that goes to back to back final 4s needs to be able to recruit better.. it just comes down to players wanting to play in a different system.. i think with bo they figure it out and make the tourney but who knows

[Turk Nowitzki]

LOL at the shooting today: Koenig 3/18, Hayes 5/17, Brown 3/15

WTF is that?

[MartyConlonOnTheRun]

Never understood how they were ranked top 20 going into the year. Lost too much talent.

[trwi7]

LOL at the shooting today: Koenig 3/18, Hayes 5/17, Brown 3/15

WTF is that?

Barely watched the game today but I did see one part. Brown was pretty much wide open at the hoop and shot a layup that hit the top of the backboard and came right back down. It was ridiculous.

[El Duderino]

LOL at the shooting today: Koenig 3/18, Hayes 5/17, Brown 3/15

WTF is that?

They took about 35 threes and bricked most of them. Outside Koenig and Hayes, nobody can create their own shot and there aren't shooters to create spacing. So Oklahoma mostly just packed the paint and let any Badger shoot jumpers besides Koenig.

[MikeIsGood]

I know he filled up the stat sheet yesterday - the points mostly from the free throw line - but Nigel has been awful this year when judged from expectations, and poor even judged just in general. The change in the jump shot has stretched beyond just growing pains, and it clearly has not worked at all. With the jumper gone, it has thrown the rest of his offensive game out of whack. He' still adds value from his passing, and like I said he can fill up the stat sheet sometimes as he did against OU, but he does not get a free pass.

And I'm not saying this just because we've lost some games. This absolutely applies to our wins, also. Nigel's three biggest games this year have been in our losses. In our wins, he averages 11 points on 40% shooting.

[crkone]

UWM might have a chance next week against the Badgers.

[MikeIsGood]

Overtime at the Carrier Dome.