I’d love another crack at Maryland, myself.
I remember people pointing out that they had the easiest schedule of any presumptive competitor for the B1G crown, and thinking that it wouldn’t matter because they lost SO much to attrition. Turns out they’re better than I expected, and have taken advantage of their schedule advantage.
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Would love Kohl Center/Breslin/Assembly Hall splits, especially for conference play
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Trice can play, and he’s not the least bit shy if he gets going early.
Is it better to have your experienced PG? Sure, but the reason we have gotten owned by them on record, even though games have been close is b/c they play smart and consistent (eg, no 5 min droughts before/after half w/o scoring). I honestly don’t expect Koenig’s absence to be the difference. It will be that we don’t beat ourselves and minimize stupid mistakes (bad shots/turnovers/stupid fouls), and keep the intensity up for a full 40m.
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I agree, about not beating ourselves and maintaining intensity. Them missing Koenig is a big factor, though. Which of their guards will be a consistent threat to get to the rim? Who is going to handle ball pressure? I think we had a winning formula, @ Kohl center, but the whistles were the difference. Wisconsin made the plays they had to, but they wouldn’t have been in as good of a position to make a comeback, if they weren’t held together by FTs and 3/5s of our starters riding the bench for most of the second half.
the key for tonight is getting Wilson involved… if you remember from the last meeting they held him to no points and he fouled out. in fact him, D Walt and Mo all fouled out… this would be a good game for Zak to get his swag back…
The biggest issue tonight is keeping Wilson and Wagner on the floor. Happ and Hayes can put 2-3 fouls on you very quickly.
Even quicker depending on who’s blowing the whistles tonight.
I agree with your last comment for sure. But also think we got a relatively flat performance out of them to start with in Kohl (having seen how they are capable of looking). To what extent you feel that was us making them look flat vs them just not playing well across the board probably dictates how much weight to give that game’s optics relative to tonight.
I may just be too in awe of the things they do well, but Happ/Hayes/Brown are much more capable than they showed, and while I know little about Trice, I’m guessing he probably fits their overall mold of serviceable team/poise/hustle/smart guards. I fully acknowledge though that there is an Xs-Os level argument to his contributions that I can’t properly value.
I need to stop gushing about them though, i’m starting to make myself sick but I am tired though of feeling like they have the mental toughness and resolve to just wait us out. I’d like to dictate that “edge” for once.
Tonight’s officials for Michigan-Wisconsin: Pat Driscoll, Chris Beaver & Bo Boroski.
tonight is the night everyone is clicking… Zak with a break out night, calling that now! GO BLUE!!!
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They definitely didn’t play their best; Happ’s missed bunnies come to mind. But I still think we took it to them, out of the gate. Wisco is just the master of “bend, don’t break,” and Michigan has a history of breaking when the going gets rough. The defense was feisty, and in the second half the refs made calls that they let go in the first and made calls that just aren’t fouls.
I agree to an extent, about Trice: since he plays for Wisconsin he will probably be more turnover averse and less of a defensive liability than most freshman PG would be, but I think he will be an obvious downgrade from Koenig, especially playing starter’s minutes.
It’s hard to not admire their resolve and composure. They play their system/game every game, no matter what. Even the pregame write-ups (I read MgoBlog’s, too) point out that their slump is basically entirely due to missing shots. Otherwise they’re just plugging along with the same old not turning it over, hitting the boards, forcing tough shots, and–new to the Gard era–forcing TOs.
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This crowd looks pathetic wow
prophetic, with 6 minutes left in the first; ex
some of these TOs are just awful. not forced at all, just sloppy. easy to fix, in theory
How we start the half will be big. not our forte
We almost never try to force the pass in the PNR, we just reset. I think I counted 3 TOs off bad passes to the roller. The defense on everyone other than Happ and Iverson was good…of course those guys scored 26/31 of their points.
If we dont come out at half doing everything to deny Happ the ball, including out of the PNR, and doing everything to prevent back-cuts, then idk how JB will have spent halftime
That was one of the worst JB halves I can remember. Teske got way too much run. No adjustment whatsoever to Happ. When the offense ran dry I would have liked more Duncan but not with X/Donnal at the same time. Bad stuff
Gotta agree. Either the gameplan was bad or poorly executed, and it wasn’t adjusted in game. Then Happ feasted on Mark and Teske while they brought nothing but TOs on offense. Gotta go minute-for-minute with Mo and Happ
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we look like we have no idea what to do. mentally, i have no idea how we go from the last two games to this. Wisc is good, but we are conceding the simple mental aspects of the game