The portrait Wisconsin presents is now as familiar as Mona Lisa’s smile.
It creates precise patterns while running the swing offense, which demands crisp passing, solid screening and judicious shot selection. It plays position defense, commits few fouls and, most importantly, masters all those little things conveniently labeled fundamentals.
Over the last half-dozen seasons, those traits have defined its personality and transformed it into one of the Big Ten’s elite. But this season, as December works its way to the Jan. 2 opening of the conference schedule, the Badgers are very different. They are, in simplest terms, still unformed.
That was evident Saturday night at their Kohl Center, where they offered up some uncharacteristic apparitions while losing to Marquette. They tossed the ball away. They often looked on defense as if they were wearing galoshes. They were outrebounded despite having a yawning height advantage. They occasionally appeared in disarray.
Some of that surely had to do with the Golden Eagles, who are talented, experienced and capable of a deep NCAA tournament run. But much of it also had to do with the Badgers, who are learning to perform without a supernova and with a new point guard.
The former is the graduated Alando Tucker, who over the last two years has taken all of their important shots. The latter is sophomore Trevon Hughes, who showed against Marquette that he is still mastering his position. Not only did he shoot poorly, going 4-for-15, he also finished with as many turnovers as assists (four) and struggled to get his team into the offense.
He has not yet equaled the best of his predecessors, which was an extension of coach Bo Ryan, and that is just what Ryan acknowledged.
“I’ve watched point guards over the years,” he said, “and some of the guys, when they’re younger, they just get away from a comfort zone. Even just looking at a guy, as well as (Marquette junior point guard) Dominic James played, think of some of the games he had last year and his freshman year when he was first running the team.
“I’m sure at times Tom (Crean, the Marquette coach) pulled his hair out trying to figure out why he did certain things. I’m guessing. I’m not speaking for him. But Trevon is going through that. He’s just got to understand some things. … I think as he learns to settle into this kind of competition and this kind of pressure, he’s going to show he’s a much better player.”
Ryan addressed countless other issues after that game, yet many really centered on a single fact. His team is not yet as fundamentally sound as it needs to be. It missed too many foul shots (10 of 25). It got into foul trouble. It did not get proper positioning under the boards. It did not put a body on Marquette’s rebounders. It tried to get points outside of the offense rather than patiently run the offense.
Finally, looking at his team’s 18 turnovers, Ryan fully captured its current state by saying: “I’ll look at the film and go, ‘Why did he make that pass? Was it the situation? Was it trying to do too much, trying to force something?’
“It wasn’t one guy. It was several guys. Some of the [other mistakes] that some of these guys do at times are not as glaring. But, again, we’ve got to get ready for January by playing these kinds of teams.
“The composure that we had last year with Alando and his presence, that’s what we’re trying to find right now. That’s the cycle we have to get through in order to be able to compete at a high level.”
Layups
Ohio State, which lost Greg Oden and Mike Conley Jr., is another notable team that is still far from finished. The biggest challenge for coach Thad Matta? “One of the biggest with any team is getting them to understand the system,” he said. “Some guys learn quicker. We were blessed with two guys last year that had the maturity level of 27-year-olds. Then, as you go through the daily process, one of the biggest challenges you have is not to say this guy is going to be this, that guy is going to be that. You have to see what each player is capable of, and, unfortunately, that takes time. You have to see guys in different situations.” …
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Struggles are also extant at Michigan, where the Wolverines are undermanned and still adapting to the demands of new coach John Beilein. Their issue, he says, is simply “developing a skill level. If a guy’s open, can I hit him with the pass? Or can you see you’re open and should shoot it, or is someone else a little more open and should get the shot? It’s just the development of those skill issues. What can we do to get better at simple things? We’re trying to find out what we’re comfortable in and attack those areas before the Big Ten season.” …
And finally, Minnesota coach Tubby Smith, on his surprising 6-1 Gophers: “They’re very athletic. They were good players before I got here. It was just a matter of giving them confidence.”
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