Sportswriters are taught to find different ways of saying the same thing. The Wisconsin Badgers are teaching a lot of sportswriters how to do their jobs better this basketball season.
When anyone is given the specific job of covering a sports team through a season, that team might fall into predictable patterns. If the patterns are good, the challenge facing a writer, broadcaster, or commentator is made easier by the reality that athletes and coaches are always happier to speak when they’re winning. When the same things happen over and over again, and the “same things” are good, it’s all fun and giggles. When the same things happen over and over again, and the same things are BAD, it’s a nightmare, a long slog through misery and frustration. That is when it becomes harder to write about a team.
The basketball Badgers are currently making it more difficult to write about them. Just how many new insights can a person find when Wisconsin loses a series of games in noticeably familiar ways, falling to 4-4 before the start of the Big Ten Conference schedule?
The bad 3-point shooting? Check. That was still on display Wednesday night against the North Carolina State Wolfpack. The lack of one “climb on my back” scorer who can take charge when the rest of the team struggles? Check. Wisconsin has come no closer to finding that kind of equation-changing scorer. The lack of ball movement? Check. The Badgers shared the ball really well at the Kohl Center against Marquette, but haven’t done so nearly well enough to win away from home.
The 69-54 loss to North Carolina State didn’t reveal a whole lot which was new or surprising about this Wisconsin team. This game was noteworthy for the simple reality that it reinforced what we already knew about this team.
This game reminded us that there is no takeover scorer who can rescue this offense — at least not right now. It once again showed that no one on this team is shooting well enough to open up the court and create better driving lanes which can greatly improve the offense. N.C. State smartly gave Wisconsin 3-point looks and played to stop the drive. The Wolfpack blocked several shots and altered many others. This game also showed us that Wisconsin doesn’t have a point guard athletic enough to beat his man off the dribble and force defenses to help, which in turn creates a higher-quality 3-point shot.
This game showed us that the pieces don’t fit on offense. It also showed that any prolonged struggles from the Wisconsin defense will mean almost-certain defeat. The Badgers allowed 26 points in the first 10 minutes of the second half. You don’t need to be a math major to realize that’s a 52-point scoring pace in a full half of basketball. There’s no way Wisconsin can survive that lack of defense at this particular stage of the team’s development in the 2019-2020 season. Wisconsin has to be a lockdown-level defensive team, a group which can win the grinders Virginia had been winning before the Cavaliers got thumped by Purdue on Wednesday.
Wisconsin has to win games 53-49, at least in early December. Maybe in late January, Wisconsin will be in better position to win a game played in the high 60s or low 70s. Right now, the Badgers have to hold opponents to the low 50s or high 40s. If they don’t, they’re in deep trouble. The past several games established this… and the North Carolina State game did nothing to change that fundamental equation.