Wisconsin had too many flaws to be a true national title contender in 2024, but the Badgers had enough firepower and talent to make a sustained run in the NCAA Tournament. It turns out that the high intensity of an aggressive mid-major smothered that talent.

The fifth-seeded Badgers were caught flat-footed from the opening possession, a sloppy turnover that led to a pull-up three-pointer painted a perfect picture of their 72-61 loss to 12th-seed James Madison at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y.

Wisconsin (22-14) was sloppy, looked unprepared, and couldn't overcome problems that had plagued them all season long.

“It burns because you put a lot into this,” head coach Greg Gard said. “You weren't preparing for this just for four days after Selection Sunday. You've been working towards this since last June. These guys have poured a lot into it, and you've seen the tears and the emotion, because it means a lot and they have committed and sacrificed a lot to give to this team.”

Here are my takeaways for the 36th and final time this season.

Gard said the people he and his staff talked to about James Madison told him that the Dukes would come at the Badgers, be physical with them, foul them, reach and grab, and that UW would have to handle that intensity.

That message didn’t translate to the players, who didn’t match the Dukes’ physicality, didn’t take care of the ball, didn’t attack the paint, and didn’t look ready to compete.

James Madison attacked every opportunity it had and capitalized on every mistake Wisconsin made. The Badgers had four turnovers on their first five possessions and the miscues kept multiplying. The Badgers had the ball wrestled away from them in the low post, threw passes away on the perimeter, and were simply blitzed by JMU’s speed, aggression, and physicality which was similar to a Big Ten team.

Getting speed up played right into James Madison’s hands, as the Dukes led 9-2 in the first media timeout with all nine points coming off UW turnovers (four on the fast break).

“Obviously the style of play, the way they play defensively, pressure you around the perimeter, different looks when we throw it in the post,” guard Max Klesmit said. “They just started building, and we didn't do well enough to handle it early and give ourselves some breathing room. It kind of gave them really confidence. Just something that we didn't handle well out of the gate.”

But the turnovers were the killer, as every player who played more than two minutes in the first half committed at least one turnover. James Madison turned 13 first-half turnovers into 20 points, successfully executing their plan of being quicker and more aggressive to the ball to take away Wisconsin’s size advantage.

“I thought our aggressiveness would help us with our post defense,” said JMU coach Mark Byington, as the Dukes ranked 16th nationally in steals per game (9.0) but had 14 on Friday. “I thought our aggressiveness might turn them over, but it would help us with guys trying to drive and closing gaps down. It was a mentality, but it was also just a way we had to play, and I thought it was the right way to play for us to try to have a chance to win against them.”

When Wisconsin did attempt a shot, it was far from high quality. Against a defense that ranks fifth in the country in 3-point shooting percentage defense (28.8 percent) and was content on packing the perimeter, the Badgers settled for mid-range jumpers, a shot that had been their undoing throughout the second half of the Big Ten season.

Things didn’t even work when UW had a rare open run to the rim, as Chucky Hepburn was expecting resistance as he jump-stopped away from the rim and couldn’t get the open layup to drop when he spiraled back toward the rim. The Badgers went 2-for-8 on layups in the first half and 6-for-23 overall.

UW maybe could have survived the turnovers or the bad shooting, especially since they held JMU to .971 points per possession but averaging .588 ppp and giving up 20 points off turnovers was a double whammy they couldn’t recover from.

“We fought turnovers and shot selection all year,” Gard said, “and those sins came back to get us again.”

Gard forgot to mention drives and rolls to the rim as a season-long issue the Badgers never could fully solve, something that kept them from grasping control in the second half.

Wisconsin found its offensive spark to begin the second half by going 6-for-10 from the floor, scoring 18 points on 12 possessions that were largely due to Klesmit heating up from the perimeter (4-for-5 from three). The problem was UW barely cut into the lead because James Madison was at 53.8 percent and scored 16 points on 12 possessions by getting into the lane.

The Dukes were 4-for-6 on layups and got points at the rim on rolls and cuts that snuck behind the Badgers’ defense. Going 13-for-22 around the rim, JMU added to that by going 21-for-30 from the line (15-for-19 in the second half).

Several times UW couldn't regain momentum because it couldn't shut down the rim. After Klesmit's hot shooting quickly cut the lead to eight, the Badgers gave up an offensive rebound and a paint jumper to push the deficit back to 10.

Wisconsin cut the lead to seven with 7:29 remaining, but the Dukes hit a driving layup 14 seconds later and went 6-for-7 on free throws over the next three possessions to push the lead back to 14.

The transfer portal opened on Monday, weird timing for schools trying to get ready for the postseason. Gard was asked about the returning roster and said no conversations had occurred with players regarding future plans, the NBA draft process, or the portal, and that those would come in time.

Although only one player (Tyler Wahl) is exhausting his eligibility, UW figures to be active in the portal again to help build depth and size in the frontcourt. UW’s backcourt looks stacked and the Badgers could play a guard-heavy lineup, but there needs to be more than just Steven Crowl and Nolan Winter to work out of the post.

“You just look at the landscape, that's the environment we are in,” Gard said. “You have to deal with it and prepare. It could go a hundred different ways. But this core is really good. They are really tight. That locker room, it's pretty emotional right now and that told me, or tells me - it's not the first time I've seen an emotional locker room, but that tells me they are here for the right reasons.

“They are here for that, and they did a really good job of representing the front of that jersey. But we are in a different era. There's a lot of individual choices that people have.”

1 – Shots for Crowl in the second half in 16 minutes. He finished with 10 points on 4-for-6 shooting and 11 rebounds.

9 – Of the 10 players who saw the court for Wisconsin, nine committed at least one turnover with Crowl and A.J. Storr tied for the team high with four. Markus Ilver was the only player who didn’t have a turnover in his two minutes on the floor.

14 – Attempts for Storr, a team-high. He finished 5-for-14 from the floor and 0-for-3 from three.

17 – Difference in points off turnovers for James Madison (27) and Wisconsin (10)

1.029 – Points per possession for James Madison

.871 – Points per possession for Wisconsin

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