What the NC Game tells us

[NotAnAlum]

Hard to believe the Badgers could shoot that poorly and still only lose by 3 to NC.  A couple thoughts for our game.
First we CAN NOT try to extend pressure way out on the floor and risk giving up open threes.  Its obvious that the Badgers number one priority is shooting 3s.  For that reason I'd play everyone straight up, stay with your man and just let them play slow ball for 25 seconds.  Hope their 3s don't drop (like what happened at NC) and seal off your guy from getting the rebound. 
On offense we've got to have drive in the hope we can get to the hoop or force them to foul.  NC won this game at the free throw line.
For us to win we have to take care of the ball (less than 10 TOs).  Have a big advantage in free throws (and make them).  Force them into contested 3s and hope they shoot like they did tonight.

[PGsHeroes32]

hope they shoot like they did tonight.

At the KOHL center? Nearly impossible.

[denverMU]

UNC gave us the the perfect recipe to beat WI. 1) Play tough man-to-man defense. 2) Control the defensive boards. 3) Push the ball and drive to the basket to draw fouls. 4) Make your foul shots. 5) Keep turnovers to a minimum.

[Clam Crowder]

I know the KOHL center is an edge for them, but with a hand in your face it doesn't matter what building your in. We can win this game with defense and defense alone. It will be a low scoring game...DJO will have to do what Barnes did tonight and take over, and Vander will have to do what Strickland did on Taylor and shut him down. I like the way we match up...I think we will see a bigger rotation than we expect, and that players like Todd will be huge for us. This is a great challenge and our first real game. It's time to see what this team actually has, I refuse to see our first set of games as a barometer of anything. We need to play like Warriors. In my three years at Marquette I have never been so excited for a game.

[ErickJD08]

At the KOHL center? Nearly impossible.

And that basketball... Impossible.

[karavotsos]

As I believe has been mentioned before, I think the hard parts defensively are: 1) playing ball screens so as to not leave guys wide open for 3's; 2) not giving up offensive rebounds.  I would add, even before tonight, guarding Berggrenn and, especially in Jae's case, not committing stupid fouls.  At the KC, I may even add Kamensky to Berggrenn because its someone like him who could have a ridiculously good game.  The inversion of the bigs is where they can cause mismatch problems, and I can't say how Otule and Gardner will handle it.  I think Otule could do well.  It would be fun to watch.

On offense, I agree that MU just has to stay aggressive and we can get to the line a lot.  I thought they could have called even more fouls on Whisky than they called.  And UNC did not appear to be as aggressive as I believe MU can be.

Finally, the mental aspect is probably most key.  MU will be most likely be uncomfortable with the style of play, calls and score at certain points of the game.  They have to stick to the plan and trust they will prevail.  I thought UW had UNC on the edge of breaking tonight, probably toward the 12 minute mark, when Brust took a couple bad quick shots and that helped UNC take control of the game.  If MU plays their game and plays it the whole way, they should be more than fine.

[wojosdojo]

Jaes foul situation will be crucial. Not gonna lie, kinda scared he's gonna pick up some silly ones quick. Hope I'm wrong.

[Clam Crowder]

I am not so worried about Jae picking up quick fouls as I am about Vander...Vander will be extremely intense about this game. First time playing at Madison in the Marquette uniform. It means more to him than anyone. He will want to dominate out there, I hope he doesn't try to hard.

[lab_warrior]

Jaes foul situation will be crucial. Not gonna lie, kinda scared he's gonna pick up some silly ones quick. Hope I'm wrong.

+1

Shades of Wade's quick 3 fouls in '02.  Picked up his third midway through the first half on a completely TERRIBLE, AWFUL offensive foul call.  A complete joke.

[MU_LOL]

Was it just me or was everyone on the floor last night like 6'11"? It never really seemed like it, but last night it did look like Wisconsin was a forest of red.

With that said, hopefully we do do well on the boards.

[Henry Sugar]

we are doomed

[MattyWarrior]

I hope Vander just plays hard like he has been. If hes all pumped up he won't play well. We have the talent all the way around
to hurt the badgers if we just play smart and hold on to the ball. We have to box out. Last year we tried to run with UNC and
saw the result. I think its a close game.

[brewcity77]

we are doomed

On the plus side, it's only one game. I still like our odds against Washington and Vandy, and that gives us three potential quality wins (along with Ole Miss). I don't see us getting blown out. I don't expect a win, but I think we keep it within single digits.

Let's just remember that while this is a rivalry game, and a big one at that, Buzz is preparing this team for March. Regardless of what happens Saturday, we can still contend in the Big East and there's absolutely no reason not to keep hoping to be in the top three seed lines on Selection Sunday.

[MUMac]

we are doomed

You need to go back to using teal.   

[ecompt]

I don't see how we can draw fouls there. No one else ever has.

[bilsu]

+1

Shades of Wade's quick 3 fouls in '02.  Picked up his third midway through the first half on a completely TERRIBLE, AWFUL offensive foul call.  A complete joke.

Except it is DJO I am worried about getting in foul trouble. Watch out for the offensive fouls.

[Bieberhole69]

They need Blue face guarding Taylor like Strickland was in the 2nd half

[Abode4life]

UNC gave us the the perfect recipe to beat WI. 1) Play tough man-to-man defense. 2) Control the defensive boards. 3) Push the ball and drive to the basket to draw fouls. 4) Make your foul shots. 5) Keep turnovers to a minimum.

That sounds like a winning recipe no matter who the opponent. 

[Badgerhater]

UNC at times played in a very sloppy manner.  Lazy passes.  Forces passes.  Half-hearted drives that resulted in timid shots.   They turned it on a bit in the first part of the game.  Got lazy.  Then turned it on again when they needed to.  Also made some very dumb mistakes -- like the pass inside at the end when up 8 instead of pulling it back out.

MU will match up with Bucky just fine.  However, they cannot slack off or lose focus for a significant part of the game like UNC did.  Taylor needs to be hounded the entire game by a single player -- no double teams.  He will get his, but the key is to make him earn it and not let him make others better -- no passes to wide-open chuckers.  If Bucky beats MU by making every 30-foot three with a hand in their face, then so be it.

[mu_hilltopper]

we are doomed

This makes me smile.  We'll make you in to a Dementor yet.

[JamilJaeJamailJrJuan]

Not going to lie, I didn't find either team impressive...but more so Wisconsin. A few desperation threes in the last minute made it a lot closer than it was. If Wisco shoots anything close to that on Saturday, I think we win easily.

[StillAWarrior]

That sounds like a winning recipe no matter who the opponent. 

Seriously, his recipe for success is "1) Play tough man-to-man defense. 2) Control the defensive boards. 3) Push the ball and drive to the basket to draw fouls. 4) Make your foul shots. 5) Keep turnovers to a minimum."

I'm going to give denverMU the benefit of the doubt and assume that his/her post was a scientific experiment to determine whether it's possible to make a statement on this board that is so non-controversial that not a single person will disagree.

[denverMU]

That's me, Mr. Noncontroversial, just ask 4ever.

[San Diego Warrior]

I think the key to this game will be how well we perform in our half court offense, particularly against the zone.

I know that offense has never been a problem under Buzz, but it seems like the majority of our offense under Buzz has been generated by our quick transition game.  We always seem to struggle against a team that takes care of the ball well and forces us to run a structured offense. 

I'm a bit more optimistic this season than the past, as it seems like we're moving the ball fairly well and actually looking to get the ball in the post.  In fact this is the first year in a long while where it looks like we will have a post presence. 

[GOO]

I think we match up fine with UW except for the 5 position.  In the past we forced UW to go small against us with Butler/Hayward.  This year, our bigs cannot/have not had to guard out to the 3 line in space.  Against UW, our 5 has to guard a big who can shoot it from 3.  Not sure we have the foot speed at the 5 to do this, and could get burned a lot on 3's from UW's 5s or with a UW big cutting off a pick and roll if we try to guard the 5 outside.  

How do we handle this problem?  That is a key.  I don't know, but maybe we end up playing without Otule and Gardner a lot and go small.  In which case JWilson becomes a key player for us inside (along with Jae, of course, and maybe Jones playing some 4).   Or, some sort of zone that allows a big to stay home in the lane and guard shooters outside in man?

How do we deal with UW's 5s who can shoot it from 3, unless we play smaller?