Wisconsin scored 51, 39 and 36 points on its way to the 1941 NCAA basketball championship.
The 1998-99 Badgers often struggle to score that many. The defense-oriented Badgers think “stop” first and “shot” second.
But if Wisconsin is going to notch its third NCAA tournament win since it cut down the nets 58 years ago, the Badgers need to figure out a way to score more often.
In their regular-season finale–a 51-39 loss to Michigan in Madison–and the Big Ten semifinals–a 56-41 loss to Michigan State in Chicago–the Badgers went several minutes at a time without a basket. The longest stretch lasted more than 10 minutes against the Spartans.
“Those droughts have just been deadly,” coach Dick Bennett said Thursday as his fifth-seeded Badgers prepared to meet Southwest Missouri State in the first round of the East Regional.
Part of the problem is Bennett’s system, which is based on a hounding defense and a patient offense. Because the Badgers are so intent on getting back to defend, they rarely hit the offensive boards. That means virtually no second chances.
“You can crash the boards with a lot of people and try to get a rebound bucket or two,” Bennett said. “But then that may open you to the break the other way.”
Wisconsin’s recent offensive woes figure to raise the pressure on the team’s lone offensive threat, guard Sean Mason, a senior from Rich Central.
Mason scored 17 points a game, making him the only Badger to average double figures.
Mason is an inspiration to his teammates, having overcome two potentially career-ending knee operations. But he’s also their lone consistent offensive threat.
In Wisconsin’s 74-60 victory over Iowa in the Big Ten quarterfinals, Mason hit 6 of 11 shots from the floor, including 4 of 7 from beyond the arc, for a game-high 22 points. The next afternoon he missed 12 of 15 shots and the Badgers were run off the floor by Michigan State.
But Mason said he had already forgotten the MSU clunker by the time he left Chicago.
“I try not to let those kinds of games damage my confidence,” he said. “I really don’t have any confidence problems at all.”