When it rains, it pours, and unfortunately, we’re not talking about the Wisconsin Badgers making it rain from 3-point land.
No, this is rain in a negative way. Bad news keeps pouring down on the Wisconsin basketball program.
Earlier on Wednesday, Kobe King announced he had left the program following his DNP on Monday against the Iowa Hawkeyes. Late in that loss — a game Wisconsin had led by double digits midway through the second half — Brad Davison was called for a flagrant foul.
Wednesday, the Big Ten suspended Davison for one game.
The Big Ten just announced that Brad Davison will be suspended for one game and issued a public reprimand for violating the Big Ten Sportsmanship Policy.
Davison will miss Wisconsin's game vs Michigan State on Saturday.
— Brendan Quinn (@BFQuinn) January 30, 2020
Here is a statement from Big Ten Commissioner Kevin Warren:
“We expect all of our student-athletes to compete and play hard; however, they must always do so in a civil manner that is consistent with the rules of the game and in the spirit of good sportsmanship. We will not tolerate behavior that compromises the health and safety of our student-athletes or crosses the line of aggressive, competitive play, especially when a pattern of similar behavior has been previously established.
“Big Ten Conference Agreement 10.01 states in part that ‘The Big Ten Conference expects all contests involving a member institution to be conducted without compromise to any fundamental element of sportsmanship. Such fundamental elements include integrity of the competition, civility toward all, and respect, particularly toward opponents and officials.’”
Now Wisconsin will be without both King and Davison against Michigan State. This guarantees that at least two players (maybe three) will have to play at least 10-15 more minutes than normal. King and Davison combined to play an average of 59 minutes per game (Davison 30, King 29). That is beyond the ability of one player to compensate for.
Lineup combinations which have not spent a lot of time on the floor together will have to be thrown into the fire this Saturday, against the one Big Ten team which has Final Four potential. This seems like a scenario made for disaster, but that point aside, Saturday’s game represents a huge challenge. A lot of Badger players who have not developed their games this season will have a chance to step up and prove themselves against Tom Izzo’s crew.