2015-16 UW Badger Basketball Discussion Thread

[midranger]

I wish Nigel worked on FT shooting rather than 3 pt shooting over the summer.

[LUKE23]

Four starters in double figures already. This team is so balanced.

[midranger]

Four starters in double figures already. This team is so balanced.

Yeah, depth of talent is great.

Hopefully it will allow us to avoid those offensive black holes we've fallen into at times that past few years.

EDIT: Dukan will only enhance the offensive talent level. Particularly if he is now 6'10 and can take Brown's minutes at center.

[Turk Nowitzki]

So much for Kentucky being in any kind of trouble. Not a good game from Towns though.

[Turk Nowitzki]

Four starters in double figures already. This team is so balanced.

Yeah, depth of talent is great.

Hopefully it will allow us to avoid those offensive black holes we've fallen into at times that past few years.

EDIT: Dukan will only enhance the offensive talent level. Particularly if he is now 6'10 and can take Brown's minutes at center.

Zero chance he can play center.

[LUKE23]

Brown looks significantly improved as well.

[Turk Nowitzki]

Nebraska playing the same Northern Kentucky team we played two days ago, interested to see how they fare.

[Bernman]

The funny thing is, the pretend UW insider/real MU homer tried to argue depth would be a major issue this year in spite of returning 7 rotation players. That would be more than enough at most schools, let alone UW when there are typically multiple emerging vets from year-to-year.

Yes, Vitto looks much improved. Playing much more in rhythm, not over-challenging, boxing out fundamentally, and ripping down boards. Supposedly Dukan is much improved too (MU homer said he sucked too), even to the point he's vying for the starting spot vs. Hayes. Some of those drives from Dekker have been beastly. The team cohesion looks great.

It appears indeed this will be another outstanding year. Tough to duplicate a final four just about anywhere, but the regular season should be better. I don't expect this team to lose 9 games or whatever it was.

[Bernman]

Dearing is really disappointing. He's displaying really poor vision right now, missing the open man, driving into the defense, etc. And he's not making his shots either.

Showalter still looks like merely a defender and walk-on.

There could be some odd lineups next year and after with Hayes at sf and 3 small g's out of necessity. All the big wings and big guards of quality graduate this season, and there aren't viable replacements on the horizon. I thought this recruiting class would provide relief in that department, but it's not quite been what was predicted in terms of position and hype yet. Hopefully they get Stone and a quality 2/3 still. Really, his buddy Newman should have considered the Badgers more. He'd get the red carpet treatment to a starting spot. There's no upperclassman to be favorable to.

BTW, what happened to Jordan Hill?

[Turk Nowitzki]

BTW, what happened to Jordan Hill?

He's taking a redshirt this year.

[Bernman]

BTW, what happened to Jordan Hill?

He's taking a redshirt this year.

Thanks. Hopefully he's prepared to take it off if there is any big loss in the backcourt. We'd need him then, in a season which has bigger implications.

TBH, all this banking and redshirting has me pretty nervous. What, are we down to 9 true scholarship guys if Happ redshirts?

[buckboy]

BTW, what happened to Jordan Hill?

He's taking a redshirt this year.

Thanks. Hopefully he's prepared to take it off if there is any big loss in the backcourt. We'd need him then, in a season which has bigger implications.

TBH, all this banking and redshirting has me pretty nervous. What, are we down to 9 true scholarship guys if Happ redshirts?

That is correct.

I wish happ wasn't redshirting. This is an all in year. He may not play much but it'd be nice to have him if we need him.

[WiscSports1]

I wish Vitto would have redshirted last year. I think he's really going to develop the next few years.

[Kerb Hohl]

I don't mind the redshirting if they think Happ/Hill aren't good enough to crack the top 8 or so. If 2-3 guys go down and in that list is one of their top players, they aren't going to achieve their goals (FF/championship) anyways.

[HaroldinGMinor]

He's taking a redshirt this year.

Thanks. Hopefully he's prepared to take it off if there is any big loss in the backcourt. We'd need him then, in a season which has bigger implications.

TBH, all this banking and redshirting has me pretty nervous. What, are we down to 9 true scholarship guys if Happ redshirts?

That is correct.

I wish happ wasn't redshirting. This is an all in year. He may not play much but it'd be nice to have him if we need him.

1) He can always play if there's an injury (same with Hill).
2) I don't believe in "all in" years. You do what's right for you as a player and the long term success of the program. He could take the redshirt off and UW could lose to a team that shoots 60% from three in the round of 16.

[KidA24]

Exactly, redshirt isn't a "He can't play no matter what"

If something happens, they can revoke that redshirt and play the guys.

[Kerb Hohl]

He has redshirted officially.

[buckboy]

Thanks. Hopefully he's prepared to take it off if there is any big loss in the backcourt. We'd need him then, in a season which has bigger implications.

TBH, all this banking and redshirting has me pretty nervous. What, are we down to 9 true scholarship guys if Happ redshirts?

That is correct.

I wish happ wasn't redshirting. This is an all in year. He may not play much but it'd be nice to have him if we need him.

1) He can always play if there's an injury (same with Hill).
2) I don't believe in "all in" years. You do what's right for you as a player and the long term success of the program. He could take the redshirt off and UW could lose to a team that shoots 60% from three in the round of 16.

-Well I know he can always play. If you need him you'd like him to have some experience.

-You'd like to field the best possible team you can under any circumstances, but your opportunities are greater in some years than others. This is one of those years

-As always, Bo leaves it up to the player after he apprises them of the facts, so Ethan has to make the decision he feels is best for him. I see he has chosen to redshirt, and if that's what he feels is best, it's what's best.

[Kerb Hohl]

I think you guys are overrating the need for the 4th guy off the bench. If there is an injury in the frontcourt, they can reassess it then. Otherwise this is like burning a year of eligibility for a guy that is like a 5th WR or 3rd RB.

[Bernman]

As competitors, they should be willing to pull it off if it means a potential major accomplishment like a national championship/final four or conference title. If they don't I won't take that as a good sign about their future. Same thing that they'd be so sure about being 5-year players here that they'd turn down some clear, immediate minutes in big games for it.

The Happ redshirt I don't think will be realistically impactful with Brown showing improvement, and Dukan and Dekker growing. The 4/5 positions can go 5-deep. Barring some real serious attrition, Happ would just be redundant.

Whereas with the Hill redshirt, if one of the three rotation guards gets injured, we're kind of f**ked. We can't exactly play the remaining 2 guards all game. That means leaning on Showalter or Dearing to play like 15-20 minutes. I'm not comfortable with that given how limited they are.

And I don't buy for a second our final four/BTT hopes would be dashed with one injury in the wrong place anyway. All we'd need is a serviceable backup level guy to not kill the team like Hill could potentially be. Even if one of Koenig, Tre, or Gasser gets injured; we'd still have plenty of playmakers between Dekker, Kaminsky, Hayes, and probably another guard. That's a big 3, plus one. This team has plenty of firepower to where one injury shouldn't destroy their high hopes, so long as there is a viable rotation replacement for him. Unless maybe it's Kaminsky who gets injured.