Badgers beat Purdue in Lafayette!

lambeaulambo

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While I am enjoying this improbable run, I have my doubts in the dance. Sweet 16 would be great. As far as Gard coach of the year? With no Jonny he is about .500, no chance he should even be in the conversation. Other than Davis, his recruiting has been putrid. Next year this team will win 10-15 games with what is there minus Davis, he is THAT good.
 

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While I am enjoying this improbable run, I have my doubts in the dance. Sweet 16 would be great. As far as Gard coach of the year? With no Jonny he is about .500, no chance he should even be in the conversation. Other than Davis, his recruiting has been putrid. Next year this team will win 10-15 games with what is there minus Davis, he is THAT good.
No doubt in my mind that Gard will be Big10 coach of the year (2nd time in 3 years). National coach of the year, he is in the conversation for sure.

As far as your assessment, Gard is the one that recruited all these players, that have the Badgers currently ranked 10th in the country. Not sure how you don't give a coach credit for a team that was predicted to be at the bottom of the Big 10 and is now in the conversation as a potential #1 seed in the Big Dance. Davis is an awesome player, but he isn't carrying this team solely on his back. Also, how do you think Davis has gone from 3 Star recruit, ranked 164th coming out of H.S. to the player he is today? Davis definitely has worked hard to reach the level he is playing at, but Gard quickly saw the change in Davis's game this year and made him the focal point of the offense.

Does Gard land the top recruits? No, but neither did all the Badger coaches before him. However, what he does do, is develops players and coaches them to be much better collectively, than they are individually.

Finally, do you think other Big10 teams or for that matter, any of the top 20 teams, don't have really good players? Does this diminish what the coach is doing for those teams?
 
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I hope they can claim the #2 seed of the NCAA Tournament in Milwaukee. If that happens, they could end up playing two rounds in Milwaukee, and move on to Chicago all the way through until the Final Four, which would leave them in a great position because of fans.

Such an amazing year, no matter how it ends. I'm just amazed at the way these guys have played.
I think as long as they win Sunday and at least make it to the Big10 Championship game, this is all but guaranteed. Fiserv Forum is going to be rocking!
 

lambeaulambo

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No doubt in my mind that Gard will be Big10 coach of the year (2nd time in 3 years). National coach of the year, he is in the conversation for sure.

As far as your assessment, Gard is the one that recruited all these players, that have the Badgers currently ranked 10th in the country. Not sure how you don't give a coach credit for a team that was predicted to be at the bottom of the Big 10 and is now in the conversation as a potential #1 seed in the Big Dance. Davis is an awesome player, but he isn't carrying this team solely on his back. Also, how do you think Davis has gone from 3 Star recruit, ranked 164th coming out of H.S. to the player he is today? Davis definitely has worked hard to reach the level he is playing at, but Gard quickly saw the change in Davis's game this year and made him the focal point of the offense.

Does Gard land the top recruits? No, but neither did all the Badger coaches before him. However, what he does do, is develops players and coaches them to be much better collectively, than they are individually.

Finally, do you think other Big10 teams or for that matter, any of the top 20 teams, don't have really good players? Does this diminish what the coach is doing for those teams?
Here's the thing...Davis was overlooked due to where he was playing b4 college. If you take him out of this lineup - sorry to say - it is tenuous at best. Bo Ryan is not chopped liver for anything he did. He resurrected a poor program and taught a defensive game plan. Gard was his right hand man, and learned everything he could from Ryan. I like the plethora of bigs UW has - it helps when the opposition is strong down low, and gives UW the luxury of rotating. You take Davis out, and double teams disappear, which helps their opponents drastically.
 
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Here's the thing...Davis was overlooked due to where he was playing b4 college. If you take him out of this lineup - sorry to say - it is tenuous at best. Bo Ryan is not chopped liver for anything he did. He resurrected a poor program and taught a defensive game plan. Gard was his right hand man, and learned everything he could from Ryan. I like the plethora of bigs UW has - it helps when the opposition is strong down low, and gives UW the luxury of rotating. You take Davis out, and double teams disappear, which helps their opponents drastically.
Davis is the star. Candidate for national player of the year. That's lofty company. Should win Big 10 player of the year, because of the Badgers standing in the conference. As you stated, he is the nucleus.

But, above all, this is a team that works together on the court, on both offense and defense.
 

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the badgers are wildly inconsistent. how do you beat a highly ranked team like purdue on tuesday and then five days later lose to a team that had only won three games in the b1g. (actually, i know how. davis got hurt and the team fell apart.)
 

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Wildy outperformed any expectations. JD is the reason chiefly - Gard needs to recruit better...do not like the accolades much. Not picking any b10 team into the elite 8
 

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The Badgers would have beat Iowa State if ... if... if ...
If they didn't suck for the last 2 weeks? Really disappointing finish to an unpromising season, that turned into a very promising one. I'm not digging it up, but the turnovers in their last 3 loses, must have been double their average on the season.

That was quite a defensive battle yesterday, but they really didn't pass or shoot the ball well at all.
 
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Lorne Bowman not being part of the team down the stretch didn't help. He was really the only back up we had at the point. Davidson did his best, but having to be the facilitator really cut him out of his perimeter game, among other aspects. Then that aspect became another problem.

Bowman was home, in Detroit, for some time now, dealing with family/personal issues, and the Badgers hope everything works out, and he'll be back with the team next year.

To put it as simple as possible, the Badgers were young, pretty much inexperienced, and did one helluva good job considering a lot of people didn't expect them to even get an invite to the dance. I'll always look back at it as the year of Johnny Davis's coming out party. I have my fingers crossed that he comes back for one more year. He's that good, and could end up a top lottery pick in the draft if he does. Then there's Wahl. He's gonna be a good one next year.

Don't sell the kids that red-shirted, or the newbies coming on campus either. They could be pretty darned good, and even great, with Davis coming back.
 

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I'll always look back at it as the year of Johnny Davis's coming out party. I have my fingers crossed that he comes back for one more year. He's that good, and could end up a top lottery pick in the draft if he does.
I think Johnny's stock dropped a bit in the last month of the season. His ankle injury against Nebraska was a part of that, but he also looked a bit overwhelmed at times when the going got tough. Might be he checked out a bit, knowing he was done or the ankle just really bothered him. Maybe a combination of both, he didn't want his draft stock plummeting if he got hurt again. I didn't watch every Badger game this year, but I think he would be better off playing one more year in college. I doubt he does, the risk/reward factor is just too great. I have no clue how NBA scouts grade players, because the difference between the elite NBA player and the elite college players looks huge to. If they do it based on potential, Johnny definitely has that, he will just need to work really ******* his outside shots, because he won't get as many chances for layups like he did this season.
 
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I think Johnny's stock dropped a bit in the last month of the season. His ankle injury against Nebraska was a part of that, but he also looked a bit overwhelmed at times when the going got tough. Might be he checked out a bit, knowing he was done or the ankle just really bothered him. Maybe a combination of both, he didn't want his draft stock plummeting if he got hurt again. I didn't watch every Badger game this year, but I think he would be better off playing one more year in college. I doubt he does, the risk/reward factor is just too great. I have no clue how NBA scouts grade players, because the difference between the elite NBA player and the elite college players looks huge to. If they do it based on potential, Johnny definitely has that, he will just need to work really ******* his outside shots, because he won't get as many chances for layups like he did this season.
I think another season in college would make Davis a definite top 5 pick in next year's draft. It would benefit him. The situation, as always, is money. There's going to be a big paycheck for him even if he drops, but still stays within the top 10 to 15. I have my fingers crossed that he realized from those last few games that he's still working on getting there.
 

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I think another season in college would make Davis a definite top 5 pick in next year's draft. It would benefit him. The situation, as always, is money. There's going to be a big paycheck for him even if he drops, but still stays within the top 10 to 15. I have my fingers crossed that he realized from those last few games that he's still working on getting there.
Agreed.

If I was a betting man, I say he declares. His ankle incident and now Hepburn's injury probably cemented that decision. Just how much his stock dropped in the last month is anybody's guess.

Wow, just looked at the "payscale" for the NBA from last season and as it says, "First round picks can sign for as much as 120% and as little as 80% of the rookie scale". The 3 year difference between top 5 and 10-20 might keep me at Wisconsin for another year.

 
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Agreed.

If I was a betting man, I say he declares. His ankle incident and now Hepburn's injury probably cemented that decision. Just how much his stock dropped in the last month is anybody's guess.

Wow, just looked at the "payscale" for the NBA from last season and as it says, "First round picks can sign for as much as 120% and as little as 80% of the rookie scale". The 3 year difference between top 5 and 10-20 might keep me at Wisconsin for another year.

Exactly my point on being a top 5 pick, or down the line. Millions involved with the initial contract. I think he looks at the money, and decides based on that. The difference between #5 and #15 is about double the money. Is it worth it to him, to spend one more year in college, for a potential $4-5 million dollars, based on the escalation of salaries in 2023?

I hope he stays, and becomes the outstanding player he can be, so he's in the mix for #1 pick in the draft next year.
 

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When the Badgers got knocked out of the NCAA tourney, I had to hook my fan cart to a team. Was hard not to notice St. Peter's and that as a 15th seeded team, they were still alive after even 1 game.

Love watching a Cinderella story and the Peacocks are just that. Would love to see them win their next 3 games and shock the heck out of the college basketball world, not that they haven't already.
 
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When the Badgers got knocked out of the NCAA tourney, I had to hook my fan cart to a team. Was hard not to notice St. Peter's and that as a 15th seeded team, they were still alive after even 1 game.

Love watching a Cinderella story and the Peacocks are just that. Would love to see them win their next 3 games and shock the heck out of the college basketball world, not that they haven't already.
St. Peter's, 3009 enrollment. Like a lot of other parochial colleges, particularly Catholic, they understand that the publicity is good for them, and the go after it. But, that said, Jersey City, NJ? They've done a good job of getting kids in the neighboring areas to join their program. As good, if not better, than Rutgers.

I like underdogs too.
 

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