With the latest NFL season now officially in the books, the annual sports doldrums are set to begin. While the NBA (which really doesn’t get interesting until the playoffs) and the NHL (which as a fan of sports in Wisconsin I REALLY have no vested interest in) seasons are currently ongoing, my personal interest begins to shift toward NCAA Basketball. The next big thing on the annual sporting calendar is March Madness, and how our four Division IA teams will fair.
Which brings me to the UW Men’s team. I can’t remember a more precipitous plunge in the rankings by one of these teams than what has happened to the Badgers over the last month. From at one point getting off to the best start, 16-0, in school history and being ranked as high as 3rd in the country, to losing 5 of 6 and completely dropping out of the rankings just boggles my mind. From getting some solid wins against quality opponents to losing at home to unranked conference rivals, it’s been the tale of two seasons so far. Now, how that will transfer to post season success, if they even have a post season, I can’t say. It will have to go down as one of the most disappointing performances that I can remember.
The reason I ask is because this morning on the Mike & Mike show, during the “what everyone’s talking about” segment, there was a list of three topics. The first two related to this weekends upcoming NFL playoff games, and the third one was concerning the Wisconsin Badgers Men’s Basketball team’s game from last night. Funny thing is, you wouldn’t have know that unless you were watching the show on TV, as I was. That’s because when it came to talking about the last item, they instead went off on some other NFL related tangent. Personally, I was flabbergasted. They stuck faithfully to the script through the first two, then completely disregarded the concerning Wisconsin. Just let me cry “no respect!” and I’ll move on.
Are the Badgers for real? It’s tough to say at this point. They have had some quality wins against good opponents, including last nights blowout against a ranked, conference rival in the Fighting Illini. But it was in the Kohl Center, and the road to the Tournament isn’t going to get any easier. Big Ten basketball is shaping up to be very formidable this year, with some other highly ranked teams. In fact, right now UW finds themselves sandwiched between Ohio State and Michigan State in the rankings. They are off to a 16-0 start, the best in school history, and at #4 as highly ranked as I ever remember them.
The team is built differently than in past years as well, with athletic big men that can run the perimeter AND drive to the basket. This is a formula that could do well in March, and after a less the spectacular end to the football team’s season, could be just the tonic for UW fans everywhere.
When Barry Alvarez took over the moribund football program at the University of Wisconsin, an invite to the Billy Bob Bowl would be enough to get most Badger fans to do cartwheels in their underwear. But several Big Ten titles and Rose Bowl Championships later, and the bar was moved exponentially higher. When he stepped down to become the AD at Madison and handed the reigns over to Brett Bielema, he had built a perennial Conference Championship contender and a near lock for a January bowl game. The one thing that was never really considered was the possibility of a National Championship, and most fans were content with that. Afterall, we were in the same conference with recruiting powerhouses Michigan and Ohio State,
Then the Big Ten instituted a Conference Championship game and suddenly the idea of UW getting a shot to play for the AFCA Trophy became a real possibility. Along came Russell Wilson, and even the national pundits were seriously considering the idea of the Badgers playing for the National title. The problem was that over the years, Beilema’s teams had gathered the reputation for playing some very flat games. Usually one or two, enough to ensure that there would be no undefeated season and or a shot at finishing #1 on the polls. For whatever reason, he has been unable to keep his squads fully focused through every week of the regular season. And once again, today, this year’s team came out flat in an inexplicable loss to Oregon State. And once again, we will not have a BCS title in Madison thanks to Brett Beilema.
Badger State Sports 