The Voice: Improving Badgers welcome 'home' stretch

BY MATT LEPAY
Voice of the Badgers

MADISON, Wis. -- One month into the Wisconsin basketball season, and signs of improvement are evident. Sure, coach Bo Ryan will refer to his team as a mystery, and it makes sense. With a group this young, there are games in which the Badgers look very promising. There are other nights when they look quite the opposite.

Perhaps that is far from an original thought, but it is worth reminding ourselves that this tends to be a developmental program, which means there will be some ups and downs.

However, as the Badgers enter this week with games against in-state rivals Milwaukee and Marquette, there are at least some indications that the young Badgers are figuring out how Ryan wants things done.

Let us start at the defensive end. Last week the Badgers gave Syracuse its first loss of the season. The Orange had been playing as well as anyone in the country, but the Badgers were able to hold a hot-shooting team to just 36 percent from the field.

Then last Saturday against a solid Temple outfit, the Badgers held the Owls to 38 percent shooting in a 76-60 victory.

While the highlight shows will give us the dunks and the threes, good defense always gives you a chance to win. Assistant coach Gary Close had the scout for those last two outings, and he liked what he witnessed at that end of the floor.

"I think the reason why we won is we have improved (defensively). We still have to get better, but we have eliminated a lot of the easy shots," Close said. "We have made teams make tougher shots. Usually the percentages will work out for you if you can do that."

Close warned his team that Temple could score in a variety of ways, "From the three, off the bounce, posting people up. So it was a good defensive test that we were able to handle."

While freshmen such as Ethan Happ, Charlie Thomas and Alex Illikainen combined for 24 points, Close also appreciated the work of the team's junior class, both for its play on the floor and for bringing some leadership to the party.

"We had a quick turnaround. You are coming off a big road win, and you are playing a really good team," he said. "I thought they did a great job of setting the tone, and the rest of the guys just kind of followed them."

That leadership will come in handy this week as the Badgers begin the enjoyable but challenging stretch of games against their fellow in-state Division I programs.

There are reasons to believe Rob Jeter has a good team in Milwaukee. The Panthers come to town with a 6-3 record, and one of those losses was an eight-point setback to Notre Dame. Milwaukee has good scoring balance, led by senior Matt Tiby. Meanwhile, guard Jordan Johnson is averaging 8.3 assists a game, second best in the nation.

On Saturday the Badgers host Marquette. Not totally unlike the Badgers, the Golden Eagles are gifted but very young in spots. At times that youth as been exposed, but in the last couple of weeks Steve Wojciechowski's team has turned things around. The highlight of Marquette's recent stretch was a pair of victories in Brooklyn, New York against LSU and Arizona State.

The Badgers coaches consistently preach that every game merits equal respect, but there is no denying the in-state games have a bit more meaning to fans, and history suggests much the same for players who grew up watching these matchups.

After a fair amount of travel in the last couple of weeks, the Badgers are home through the rest of the month. While that is good news, by no means does it suggest the team can look forward to a ton of soft spots in the schedule.

The non-conference slate is anything but soft. This sets up to be another good week of basketball at the Kohl Center, with another pair of good tests for the improving Badgers.

It is another reason why college hoops is worth watching well before March.

The Voice: Improving Badgers welcome 'home' stretch

Players Mentioned

Ethan Happ

Alex Illikainen

Charles Thomas, IV

University of Wisconsin Athletics