Bruesewitz

The next Krabbenhoft

My new fav Badger

Wisconsin basketball is nothing more than a bunch of white boys passing the ball around and getting it to the one or two good black guys with 4 or 5 seconds to shoot.

Great to see UM didn't show up to play.

McClunger is right, J Bo, Leuer, and Keaton are awful players.

in the hunt for yet another big ten title. no, we dont have any good players.

cubbiefan009 wrote:Great to see UM didn't show up to play.

its hard to show up when you play the badgers.

Into the Top 10 of RPI with yesterday's win. #9 overall.

RPI #9
SOS #8

yet not a top ten team. how the hell does that happen?

Leuer shoots...he scores...and everyone watches
By Jeff Potrykus

If Jon Leuer wasn’t certain what it feels like to live in a fishbowl, he does now.

Wisconsin’s junior forward, who has missed UW’s last seven games since undergoing surgery on his left wrist, continued his comeback with an impressive shooting display after practice Sunday afternoon in the Nicholas-Johnson Pavilion.

Leuer, wearing a white cast on the wrist, began by shooting free throws and several cameras from Madison TV stations followed his every move.

Imagine that you are seated at a desk in the classroom and you’re trying to shield your work from a nosy classmate who is constantly looking over your shoulder. You try to cover up your paper and he keeps searching for a different angle from which to get a better view.

Now you have an idea of what Leuer must have felt Sunday.

After working on his free throws, Leuer worked on his jumper with UW assistant Gary Close. He worked on spotting up along the three-point line, catching passes and shooting. He shot off pick-and-pop moves. He worked on moving without the ball, catching and shooting.

To be frank, Leuer’s stroke looked close to where it was before the injury.

Now before UW fans get all giddy and starting circling potential dates on the calendar – as if they haven’t already done that – there is a big difference between shooting with uncontested jumpers off passes from an assistant coach and playing in a game.

Since Leuer remains off-limits to local reporters, it remains unclear how well the bone has healed. And before he steps onto the court for a game he has to be ready to catch passes in traffic, go up for rebounds and absorb contact from opponents who might not be too shy about hacking away to test his wrist.

But as another reporter and I noted as we watched Leuer drain jumper after jumper Sunday, UW (18-5, 8-3 Big Ten Conference) is playng well now and 5-2 without Leuer.

It certainly wouldn't hurt UW’s cause to be able to bring an experienced, versatile 6-foot-10 forward off the bench and work him back into the playing rotation.

Hopefully get him back for the Big 10 tournament, maybe a game or two before that, to let him work back into game shape again and get in a flow with the rest of the team. Then be full strength and rested going into the Big Dance, primed to push us to a Final 4.

Final Four bound?
By Dave Heller

Brad Evans of Yahoo Sports is singing Wisconsin's praises in his latest Bracket Big Board, saying a Final Four run for the Badgers "isn't some outrageous big fish story."

Evans points to Wisconsin's adjusted defensive efficiency (fifth in the nation), offensive efficiency (16th in the nation), remaining schedule (five games with over 91% chance of victory; worst odds 62% at Minnesota) and how the team has played without Jon Leuer.

"With a deep tourney run," Evans writes, who projects UW as a No. 3 seed, "maybe then Wisconsin, and more importantly the unfairly overlooked Ryan, will finally receive the national recognition it/he unquestionably deserves."

More bracket projections:

* SI.com's Andy Glockner - 3 seed vs. Pacific
* ESPN.com's Joe Lunardi - 3 seed vs. College of Charleston. In a chat, Lunardi was asked what it would take for the Badgers to play in Milwaukee in the NCAA tournament. His answer: "No worse than a top-two Big Ten finish, and maybe top-one if the Committee uses one Milwaukee slot for Kentucky."
* CBSSports.com's Jerry Palm - like Lunardi, a 3 seed vs. College of Charleston
* The Sporting News' Ryan Fagan - 3 seeds (no matchup projection), along with other Big Ten teams Michigan State and Purdue.
* Via FoxSports.com, Bracketology 101 - 3 seed vs. Murray State ... in Milwaukee
* The Bracket Project - 4 seed vs. UTEP

And now some rankings from around the Web ...

* Gary Parrish of CBSSports.com moved Wisconsin way up in his latest top 25 (and one), from No. 18 to No. 9, although he does have UW 6-2 since Jon Leuer was injured, which is correct only if you count the game Leuer was hurt.
* Collegehoops.net has Wisconsin at No. 11, up two spots from last week, in its CHN top 50.
* The Badgers are No. 4 in the latest Pomeroy Rankings.

Would be sweet if we could get a 3 seed in Milwaukee. Would definitely try to get some tickets to that game.

#11 in the AP, #13 in the USA Today poll this week. Bullshit that we're behind Michigan State still. Only a half game better in overall record, they're coming off two straight losses, and we just CRUSHED them. Plus, we've had a much harder schedule, they haven't played Purdue or Ohio State at all in conference, and only two wins over a ranked team all year, Gonzaga and us.

So same record, split head to head series but Wisconsin wins the latest matchup by a ton, one team's hot one on a 2 game losing streak, and Wisconsin has more wins over top 5 teams at the time of the game (Duke, Purdue, and Michigan State), than Michigan State has wins over ranked teams (Gonzaga and Wisconsin). Like I said, bullshit.

its crap. but 2 wins this week would put us in the top 10, in position for the big ten title, and in position to maybe snag a 2 seed if we ran the table. that would be nice. and if they end up in milwaukee, i am going.

Whats it going to take for Wisconsin to finally get some much deserved national respect? They make the tourney every year, go deep in the tourney on a pretty consistent basis, yet seem to be projected in the bottom 5 of the big ten usually.

they are going to have to get some "5 Star" recruits and go to a final four. they could win the national title this year and would still be un-ranked and picked to finish 8th in the big ten next year. thats just how it goes.

To get more national attention they need a flashier offense. TV likes offense not defense, but does national attention really even matter? This is basketball, not football. The media doesn't determine the national championship.

Chad W. (High Point)
Who is the most underated coach in america?

Andy Katz
(11:12 AM)
Bo Ryan, Wisconsin.

gotta love UW Alum Andy Katz

McClunger wrote:To get more national attention they need a flashier offense. TV likes offense not defense, but does national attention really even matter? This is basketball, not football. The media doesn't determine the national championship.

bingo. i like the underdog role. then when we get to the tourney teams will just expect to roll over us. then we hold them to 50 points and they wonder what happened. defense just happened.