We know that the Wisconsin Badgers are going to keep playing close games this season. Their defense has become strong enough that they will rarely get blown out, and their offense has the low ceiling which means they won’t consistently crush opponents by large margins. Within this context, the Badgers and their fans know that in order for this season to reach its potential, Wisconsin has to pull some white-knucklers out of the fire. Players will need to make huge plays and hit mammoth shots in the final minutes and seconds of 50-50 games. It is not easy on the heart or any blood pressure reading, but it is the path Wisconsin will have to follow this season. We at Badgers Wire have been consistent in saying as much.
Enter Brad Davison. He merely got a steal and hit a 3-pointer in the final 15 seconds of Tuesday night’s game against Maryland to turn a possible defeat into a 56-54 victory. This result radically reshapes the season in so many ways, some obvious and some less evident on the surface.
The obvious change in UW’s season is that the Badgers avoided a second straight home loss after a road win in Big Ten play. Wisconsin steered clear of giving back a game after securing a precious road victory in a conference where — in 2020 — road wins are rare events. Wisconsin is now firmly on the plus side in the Big Ten, increasing its chances of a top-four seed and a double-bye in the Big Ten Tournament, which is a regular goal for the program.
Wisconsin also avoided falling into a pattern (remember the old saying, “One’s an accident, two’s a trend”) of win-loss-win-loss in its last four games. Following up wins of any kind with losses creates the sense that progress is fleeting and that a team can’t move forward. Winning two straight Big Ten games for the first time this season is hugely meaningful.
Those are two of the more obvious ways in which Davison rescued this season and prevented it from taking on a much more uncertain feel.
Here is a less obvious point which is also important to make: Maryland entered Tuesday night’s game winless on the road in the Big Ten and winless in true road games (as opposed to neutral-site games). Playing Maryland at home in this Big Ten season is, to use a golf analogy, akin to playing a par 5 in which the average score is a birdie 4. If you’re not making a birdie, you’re losing relative to the rest of the field.
Wisconsin avoided losing to the rest of the Big Ten.
It would be great to think Wisconsin can hammer the opposition, but the Badgers are simply going to be a “cardiac” team this season. Individual players will need to rise up when the pressure is supreme. Brad Davison demonstrated that ability against Maryland. The season looks very different as a result.