In the first 10 games of this college basketball season, the Wisconsin Badgers were consistent… in being inconsistent. The Badgers displayed obvious patterns, but those patterns were marked by their volatility. UW played great at home, horrible away from home en route to a 5-5 start through 10 games. Since Micah Potter came aboard, Wisconsin has not become a juggernaut or an elite powerhouse, but the Badgers have certainly developed a much more recognizable and unified personality, compared to the Jekyll-and-Hyde identity of the first 10 games.
Wisconsin, since the arrival of Potter, has become a very steady and competent defensive team with just enough offense to win most of the time. This is what the Badgers generally are. This is what they are likely to remain. They will score in the high 50s or low 60s most nights. They will usually hold opponents in the mid-50s. They will play close games. Nebraska was an exception because of how bad the Huskers are this season. The Illinois home game was an exception; Wisconsin will usually play much better defense in the Kohl Center. Generally, you know what you’re going to get with the Micah Potter Badgers, the team we have seen since the Dec. 28 game against Tennessee in Knoxville.
You do not know what you’re going to get with the team Wisconsin faces Friday night in Mackey Arena.
The Purdue Boilermakers have been all over the map this season. The famous Hollywood sex symbol of the early 20th century, Mae West, left behind this unforgettable quote: “When I’m good I’m very good, but when I’m bad, I’m better,” a declaration for anyone who enjoyed getting into trouble.
That’s not Purdue. When the Boilermakers are good, they are very, very good. They absolutely demolished Virginia, the defending national champions, and Michigan State, the first-place team in the Big Ten, in a pair of supreme blowouts. When they are bad, though, they are AWFUL, as shown in a recent home blowout loss to Purdue and, for that matter, a road blowout loss to Purdue in which they scored only 37 points.
Whereas Wisconsin has become a steady if unspectacular team, Purdue remains locked in the uncertain world of a team which simply can’t impose a specific template on a game with any degree of dependability. The Boilermakers are 10-9 overall, 3-5 in the Big Ten, and just 1-5 on the road. Whereas Wisconsin has found ways to win Big Ten road games against solid opponents, Purdue hasn’t gotten to that point yet. Purdue’s only road win is at Ohio University of the MAC. The Boilermakers got pounded at Nebraska by 14 points. The gap between their best selves and their worst is as wide as the Grand Canyon.
Appreciate what Wisconsin has done over the past month. The Badgers haven’t solved all their problems or fixed all their weaknesses, but they certainly have improved by leaps and bounds. Purdue, on the other hand, plays its best game every now and then but has largely been lost at sea this season, with no course correction.
Wisconsin is more likely than Purdue to play a steady and consistent game; the Badgers, though, have to be ready for the best version of the Boilermakers to emerge Friday night. Such is the unpredictability of facing an erratic opponent.