Badger Articles From Last Year

[mrode363]

HEARTBREAK : THE STORY

After a season of accomplishments and awards, the 2014-2015 NCAA basketball season came to a screeching halt on championship Monday for the Wisconsin Badgers men’s basketball team. The Badgers marched into the championship game after beating undefeated Kentucky in the Final Four and almost seemed like a lock-in for the championship game against the Duke Blue Devils. There still was one game to be played though and neither Wisconsin nor Duke was going to back down.

The first half of the game was a back-and-forth affair with neither team gaining an advantage over the other. The half consisted of a number of ties and lead changes and ultimately went into the second half tied. By this point in the game, nearly every television across America had tuned in as the championship game looked to be one of the best of all-time.

The second half started quickly for the Badgers of Wisconsin, seeing the Badgers claim a 10 point lead early in the half. The goal of a national championship was in sight and now completely in the control of the players in red. The Blue Devils were in trouble and all the Badgers had to do was hold their comfortable lead…

Every sports fan knows that even the largest of leads cannot hold up at times and that was the case in the 2015 National Championship game. Before fans could grab a bite to eat, Duke’s freshmen stars lead the Blue Devils back into the game. The lead the Badgers once held quickly dwindled and soon the Badgers found themselves in a close, tightly contested ball game.

With just 5 minutes remaining in the title game, Wisconsin and Duke were deadlocked at 56. Duke went on to outscore the Badgers 12 to 7 down the stretch to win the national title game. The last five minutes were probably the most poorly officiated five minutes of the game according to many experts and even the Badger’s coach Bo Ryan; Ryan criticized the poor officiating after the game concluded. All that mattered in the eyes of fans was what team was holding that trophy as the confetti fell from the rafters, and that team was the Duke Blue Devils.

Thank you for reading my breakdown of the 2015 NCAA National Championship; if you want to read about my thoughts and analysis regarding the game, please check back this upcoming Thursday. (I am trying a new blog post schedule in which I post the “story” early in the week and my “analysis” later on in the week) I am hoping to both strengthen my ability to write summaries of sporting events and my analysis and own thoughts on all that occurred. This new setup will also give my blog a few posts a week while keeping them at a reasonable length.

[mrode363]

HEARTBREAK : THE ANALYSIS

Badger fans, players, and coaches can blame officiating all they want; it still won’t change the outcome of the game. The fact of the matter is that Wisconsin didn’t play well enough down the stretch of the game to bring home a championship trophy. It’s a harsh reality, but is one that Wisconsin players and fans will have to face until next season rolls around. And with the losses of key players like Frank Kaminsky, Sam Dekker, Josh Gasser, Traevon Jackson, and Duje Dukan, next season may not look as bright.

(Before you start fretting about next season, read below this line)

There is plenty to look forward to in the future for the Wisconsin Badgers men’s basketball team. Oh really, and losing our best two players isn’t going to hurt us? The Badgers may not have as much firepower next year as they did this season; but just remember who is coaching the players in red. Bo Ryan… Bo Knows Everything. Over his impressive tenure at Wisconsin, he has turned lowly rated recruits into All-Americans (Kaminsky, Jon Leuer, Jordan Taylor). And how about some of the other talented players that Bo Ryan has coached (Keaton Nankivil, Jared Berggren, Mike Bruesewitz, Ben Brust). The list goes on and on. Each year, Ryan seems to bring in little-known recruits to the already formed core group of Wisconsin players. By the time the little-known recruits become juniors and seniors, they have improved drastically and some even go on to win conference or national awards.

So being the avid Badgers fan that I am, I have done a little research on what the next couple of years at Wisconsin will look like. Here is a list of all the returning players that played significant roles this season… Nigel Hayes, Bronson Koenig, Zak Showalter, and Vitto Brown. Look at that, almost a starting five right there. Koenig and Hayes will most certainly be starters for the remainder of their Wisconsin careers while Showalter and Brown will look to improve their game and make even bigger impacts going forward.

Now let’s move to some of the players who played on this year’s team and are destined for more minutes this upcoming season… Riley Dearring, Aaron Moesch, Matt Ferris, and Jordan Smith. You may not know many of these players or maybe any of them at all. That’s okay, just know that one of them will probably turn into a starter down the road and might even become an All-American. All of these players were rated highly coming into Wisconsin and will now have the opportunity to show Badger nation what they can bring to the court.

And what about last year’s (2014) recruits? The Badgers recruiting class was only two players long, T.J Schlundt and Ethan Happ. Schlundt is a 6’4 shooting guard from Oconomowoc, WI. He will most likely play the same position as a member of the Badgers and will probably earn significant minutes this season as Wisconsin tries to fill in for some key players that they lost. From what I have read about the walk-on Schlundt, he is a sharpshooter and can play respectable defense. Coach Ryan has raved about Schlundt and is excited to work with him in the coming years. Keep your eyes on Schlundt and don’t be surprised if he becomes the next “Ben Brust” of the always-consistent Wisconsin men’s basketball team. Now for the other recruit, Ethan Happ. Happ is a 6’9 redshirt freshmen from Milan, Illinois. He earned All-State selections as both a junior and senior in high school; Happ averaged a monstrous 33 points per game while pulling down 15 rebounds a game during his senior year. You may be wondering why Happ didn’t get any playing time this year , but just remember who was in front of him on the depth charts, Hayes, Dekker, and Kaminsky. Happ also decided to redshirt his first year on campus due to his lack of post moves and inability to play solid defense. As the year progressed, Happ became a nightmare to guard in practice. Bo Ryan and the rest of the coaching staff have even said that Happ at times would outplay the player of the year Frank Kaminsky, making him look like the redshirt freshmen… If that doesn’t send chills down your spine, I don’t know what would. Ethan Happ is going to be a force for the Wisconsin Badgers in the coming years. Don’t be surprised to see Happ in the starting lineup from game one though. This kid is going to be a star.

The Badgers don’t look so bad after all, do they? There is plenty of quality players on this Wisconsin team still; we just may not know a lot about them yet. So please don’t freak out before the season even starts, the future is still bright… Oh and I have another little secret for you; the Badgers have a four-player recruiting class coming in next season. Alex Illikainen, Brevin Pritzl, Charlie Thomas, and Khalil Iverson; all of the players are rated 70 or higher, according to ESPN. Don’t be surprised to see one, or maybe all four recruits, step up and make a big impact right from the start of their tenures at Wisconsin.

Yes, the future may look a little bleak from the typical fan’s view of things; but with a little digging and research, Badger fans have little to worry about… Well maybe other than trying to figure out how to say “Illikainen”.

[mrode363]

Feb 16, 2016 16:39:57 GMT mrode363 said:

HEARTBREAK : THE ANALYSIS

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I will be releasing a follow up article to this post in the next week or so. In the new article, I will stack up the season I predicted and what has actually come true in this Badgers' season. Should be a fun one!