Given that the Wisconsin Badgers do not have a superstar player on their roster, it is clear that when Greg Gard’s team takes the floor on Monday evening against the Iowa Hawkeyes, it will not have the best player on the court. Iowa will.
There is an elite basketball player other than Doncic in this country who has a first name of Luka. In this case, we are referring to Luka Garza of Iowa, the double-double machine who has made a credible argument for National Player of the Year honors.
How many other players can boast averages of 23 points and 10 rebounds, a double-double unto itself? How many other players have collected 11 double-doubles before the end of January? How many other players produce unrelenting tidal waves of energy? Garza is a special player, and while Nate Reuvers has been one of Wisconsin’s better players this season, he isn’t in Luka Garza’s weight class. That isn’t a commentary on Reuvers; it is more a reflection of how much Garza has evolved at Iowa. What is more striking, though, is that Wisconsin doesn’t have a dynamic player elsewhere on its roster — at another position — which can easily neutralize the advantage Garza gives Iowa in the paint.
Wisconsin always has to win games as a team, meaning that the Badgers have to rely on their cohesive defense, with every player participating in every facet of competition. Garza’s prowess, however, magnifies the need for Wisconsin to make its five-as-one identity a defining feature on Monday. Garza is likely to get his numbers. Wisconsin has to make Garza a lonely figure for the Hawkeyes, making him work for everything while the Badgers shut down every other Iowa player and turn this game into a 1-on-5 affair.
Preventing Luka Garza from stuffing the stat sheet is an unreasonable expectation for Wisconsin. Preventing Luka Garza from making his Iowa teammates more effective is the reasonable and necessary goal the Badgers must achieve in Carver-Hawkeye Arena.