The 2020 Wisconsin Badgers have a lot of heart. They showed as much in their gritty, resilient win over Michigan State on Saturday. The Badgers pulled together against all the odds with an undermanned roster, taking down Tom Izzo and taking a very big step toward the NCAA Tournament.
In a season this messy, with Micah Potter being ruled ineligible for 10 games, and Kobe King leaving the team, and Brad Davison getting suspended for the Michigan State game, and the Howard Moore tragedy hovering over everything, merely making the NCAA Tournament would rate as an achievement. That shows a lot of heart. This team’s heart shouldn’t be questioned.
However: This team can’t seem to play well when good things happen. That’s not a lack of heart. That’s a lack of consistency. This team handles adversity really well. That’s what toughness looks like. The Badgers can’t, however, seem to handle prosperity. That’s not a lack of heart; it’s a lack of concentration magnified by the lack of high-end skill, which can mask a team’s limitations.
Think of the Golden State Warriors the past few years (not this season’s hollowed-out and injured team, which will get a lottery-pick position in the NBA standings): They would drift for 10-20-30 minutes in games during the long, boring slog of the regular season, but they could slap down a five-minute stretch in which they torched opponents (a 20-2 run here, a 19-4 burst there) and ultimately scored close victories.
Wisconsin’s lack of consistency isn’t accompanied by the scoring firepower which — in five minutes — can compensate for 25 to 30 minutes of mediocre (or worse) basketball. If the Badgers aren’t playing Nebraska or Northwestern, a deficient outing simply won’t cut it, and if you look at Wisconsin’s season, that claim is easily backed up.
To make the point more precisely, though, almost all of Wisconsin’s losses in the Big Ten have all come after big, invigorating wins. There is only one exception.
The Rutgers loss came after the Indiana win.
The Illinois loss came after the Ohio State win.
The Michigan State blowout loss came after the Maryland win.
The Purdue loss came after the Nebraska win.
This Minnesota loss came after the Michigan State win.
The only exception is the Iowa loss after the Purdue loss, and that was a game in which Wisconsin outplayed Iowa most of the night, only to collapse late in part because of foul trouble on a night when Kobe King wasn’t on the active roster.
Wisconsin has heart. Don’t question that part of this team. Wisconsin doesn’t have the talent or the depth to withstand average performances. The defense has to be great for this team to thrive. It isn’t happening every night. That’s why this is a 13-10 team and not a 16-7 team.
The Badgers will play more home games in the next month. That’s the good news. They have to avoid relaxing, however, when something good such as the Michigan State win happens.