MADISON, Wis. – With eight new players on its roster and returning players in new roles, the University of Wisconsin was expected to need time to develop chemistry and define roles.
That has been the case as the nonconference schedule concludes on Sunday, but how the Badgers have experienced both ends of the spectrum has caused big swings of emotion.
The positives are Wisconsin (9-3) sits at No.41 in the NCAA NET rankings, having registered wins against teams from the ACC, Big 12, and Big East and are 8-0 in games outside Quad-1. The Badgers won their first eight games of the season for the first time since 2014, won the Greenbrier Tip-Off in West Virginia with a Quad-1 win over Pittsburgh, and rose as high as No.11 in the AP poll.
UW has shown to have a prolific offense, averaging over 81 points per game with four starters in double figures. This offense has been created by attacking the rim, averaging 26.3 three-point attempts per game, and shooting 84.8 percent as a team from the foul line.
The negatives were the Badgers suffered three consecutive losses to open December, including back-to-back road losses at No.5 Marquette and Illinois that knocked them out of the AP Top 25. UW is 0-2 in league play for the first time since 2002 and is one of four winless Big Ten teams. The Badgers have had stretches where they’ve lacked in offensive rebounding, ball security, and preventing dribble penetration.
BadgerBlitz.com talked with Wisconsin State Journal Badgers basketball beat reporter Michael McCleary to get his perspective on this Wisconsin team and where they can go when Big Ten play resumes on January 2.
Note: This interview was conducted before Wisconsin’s Saturday victory over Butler in Indianapolis.
BadgerBlitz: What have been your takeaways of Wisconsin after watching and studying them through 11 games?
McCleary: You’ve got to start offensively. Even when they really don’t shoot very well, which we saw against Illinois, they still find a way to put on points. Possessions are higher this year, and Wisconsin has shooters in the lineup. You think there are some games where they should even score more than what they put on the board.
Offensively they can shoot one through five. I don’t think you could have said that about last year’s team, although they had a little bit different personnel but a similar talent level. The offensive production has been really impressive and that’s the one thing you can really hold your head high if you’re Wisconsin at this stage, even though we’ve seen the inconsistencies the last couple games.
BB: Max Klesmit and Nolan Winter told us after the third straight loss that there was no panic in the locker room. From your perspective, is there anything that causes you concern with this team?
MM: Not really. The turnovers and the offensive rebounds are all discipline-based. I do agree with their sentiment that they have some disciplined guys on this team who can figure it out. Obviously, John Tonje is the newest in that group, but he is extremely experienced. I think they’ll all figure out the turnover issue, the offensive rebounding thing. It might be something they’ll have to navigate as they figure out the pacing of this two-7-footer lineup, but theoretically given the size they have, they should be able to figure it out.
The offense hasn’t necessarily dipped, even though the shooting hasn’t been quite what it was at the beginning of the year. They needed good shooting to upset Arizona. I don’t think they had quite the shooting that would have won that game over the last couple games. I think it all regresses to the mean a little bit. I think the offense will be good enough that once they get these things figured out it won’t be worth panicking about. They aren’t getting totally found out at this stage yet.
BB: Wisconsin was ranked 19th by kenpom in adjusted defensive efficiency in 2023. The Badgers dropped to 46 last season and gave up five more points per 100 possessions. This team is currently 89th nationally through 11 games. Can this team survive if its defense doesn’t play closer to what it did two years ago?
MM: Survive? Potentially. Thrive, like be around the top teams in the Big Ten? I’m not quite so sure about that. I think their offense will be good enough to win them quite a few games and it might not necessarily depend on their opponent. It will be a matter of how they shoot and if they are blazing hot from three. That will make them a tough team to beat given the number of possessions they do get.
The defense is going to be an issue until they figure things out. I think they have a lot of issues like keeping the ball in front of them on the perimeter. When you get inside to the bigs, you have to rely on an unproven defender at this level in Nolan and Steven Crowl, who is a fifth-year senior and probably has some craft in how he plays defense, but it has never been a strength. He’s not a shot blocker and doesn’t necessarily make up for mistakes as much as some other guys would. It’s an issue, and if they can’t keep the ball in front of them on the perimeter, they’ll keep getting beat inside. Not everyone has two 7-footers who can pick-and-roll like Michigan. A lot of teams have quick guards who can get past Wisconsin on the perimeter.
BB: You mentioned Michigan 7-footers Danny Wolf and Vlad Goldin, who combined for in the win over the Badgers. While matchups do play a role, are you surprised that Wisconsin’s two 7-footers haven’t been more dominant with their size advantage more often this season?
MM: Michigan is definitely unique with how versatile Wolf is. I don’t think Nolan has that in his game yet, although I do think he could potentially get there. You saw a little bit of it when he did a ball fake on a three against Illinois and drove to the rim with an up-and-under move. Steve has to be more aggressive, which is something he’s talked about and something that this team is missing.
BB: You picked Wisconsin to finish 10th in the preseason media poll. Where do you think they’ll finish after seeing them compete?
MM: Higher but not much higher. I think there were some teams where I don’t know if I was prepared to go too far against the grain. I think my first instinct might have been a little bit right about they would take a little longer, where Wisconsin came onto the scene and got some wins out of the way pretty quickly. You saw how this was going to develop over the course of the year. It’s going to be a tough Big Ten. You have 12 teams tied for fourth. I think that’s what this year is going to be. I think maybe because of the grouping of some teams together, they could finish in the top five but tied with three other teams.
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