Tag: Iowa

Wisconsin-Iowa is part of a Big Ten seeding scramble

More on Wisconsin-Iowa

We have discussed Monday’s game between the Wisconsin Badgers and Iowa Hawkeyes through a number of lenses. These discussions have revolved around the matchup between Nate Reuvers and Luka Garza in the paint. They have dealt with the need for Wisconsin to show its toughness and manhood after being humiliated by Purdue. Removed from those angles, however, Monday’s game also carries with it the simple fact that any game lost in the Big Ten can have profound consequences for the Big Ten Tournament.

The annual goal for Wisconsin basketball, relative to the Big Ten Tournament, is to get the double-bye as a top-four seed. If UW hits that target, its Big Ten regular season achieved one of its central objectives. Before the start of play on Sunday morning, Jan. 26 (Maryland visits Indiana later on Sunday, while Minnesota hosts Michigan State and Ohio State visits Northwestern), Wisconsin and Iowa are part of a traffic jam in the upper half of the conference.

The Badgers and Hawkeyes are part of a six-team cluster. Rutgers, Maryland, Indiana, Iowa, Wisconsin, and Minnesota occupy the third through eighth slots in the Big Ten standings. They are separated by one game. Rutgers is 6-3, while Wisconsin and Minnesota are currently 5-4. The Gophers will either be 5-5 or 6-4 by the end of Sunday. The Maryland-Indiana loser will also be 5-4, while the winner joins Rutgers in a tie for third at 6-3.

Imagine a scenario in which the Big Ten remains bunched up like this in early March. That certainly seems realistic if not likely. Imagine the final two games of the Big Ten regular season making the difference between a double-bye (top-four seed at the Big Ten Tournament) and having to play in the 8-versus-9 second-round game, with the winner to face (potentially) top-seeded Michigan State in the quarterfinals. That is a massive difference. Right there, the value of notching a win in Monday’s Wisconsin-Iowa game can be appreciated.

Do we have to say more? We could, but if a point is adequately made, why add more words? That’s mere fluff. The heart of the matter is abundantly clear. Wisconsin and Iowa need that four seed, and they just as urgently need to stay away from the 8-9 game at the Big Ten Tournament.

Nate Reuvers takes center stage vs Iowa

More on Nate Reuvers

Yes, Nate Reuvers won’t defeat the Iowa Hawkeyes by himself on Monday night in Iowa City. He will need help. He will need his teammates to compete with the vigor and pride one would expect after the Wisconsin Badgers no-showed against the Purdue Boilermakers this past Friday in West Lafayette.

Reuvers, Wisconsin’s main man in the middle, can’t expect to outplay Luka Garza. Iowa’s sensational big man is a Big Ten First-Team All-America lock and a genuine Player of the Year candidate. Outplaying Garza in a one-on-one matchup is an overly ambitious expectation. It doesn’t square with reality. Here’s the thing, though: Reuvers doesn’t have to outplay Garza.

Brendan Stiles has covered Iowa athletics for several years through multiple outlets. He has a radio segment every Friday afternoon — 5:20 p.m. Central time — at 1700 The Champ in Des Moines. If you want someone who is attuned to Iowa basketball and knows what makes the Hawkeyes succeed or fail, Brendan is a terrific resource.

I asked him for his main insight into this game. This is what he said:

“The key matchup will undoubtedly be Nate Reuvers going toe-to-toe with Luka Garza, who is continuing to make a case for not only Big Ten Player of the Year honors, but national as well. If Reuvers can hold his own against Garza, the Badgers have a chance to steal this game on the road. If Garza has his way with Reuvers, though, it will be a long night for Wisconsin.”

There you have it. It’s not matter of Reuvers getting the better of Garza. Merely putting up a good fight and not getting demolished is Reuvers’ task. If he shows he belongs on the same court and doesn’t allow Garza to run wild, Wisconsin’s team identity and cohesive defense can have their desired effect. If Reuvers gets trucked by Garza, however, the damage of such a blowout (if it happens) will spill into the rest of the game and make life very unmanageable for Wisconsin.

One subplot of the Reuvers-Garza matchup is the question of how many minutes Wisconsin coach Greg Gard will allot to Micah Potter. Gard can’t put Potter on Garza — that would be a total mismatch in Iowa’s favor. Reuvers has to be reasonably effective against Garza if only because few other players on the Badgers’ roster can handle Garza. Reuvers is the central figure of this game for Wisconsin whether he likes it or not. Given that Wisconsin seems to keep running into road opponents at the worst possible time, the idea of Reuvers needing to handle an unwelcome assignment fits the mood and the situation for the Badgers.

This figures to be an uncomfortable game for Wisconsin. No one has a more uncomfortable assignment than Nate Reuvers. Let’s see how he handles it.

Iowa game is a test of manhood for Wisconsin

Wisconsin-Iowa

In a crowded and cluttered Big Ten — a conference which could put as many as 10 to 12 teams into the NCAA Tournament this season — every game matters. Every contest reshapes the Big Ten standings. Every game night not involving Nebraska or Northwestern is accompanied by a lot of pressure, partly because Big Ten teams are so inconsistent this season, and partly because of the home-and-road imbalance in the conference this year.

There is a lot to gain in victory, and a lot to lose in defeat. This is the law of the jungle in Big Ten basketball in 2020. When viewed through that prism, Monday’s game in Carver-Hawkeye Arena isn’t especially important for the Badgers. There is always “the next game,” which — for UW — will be a huge home game against Michigan State on Feb. 1 in the Kohl Center. Win or lose, Wisconsin will have to turn the page from this Iowa game and move forward. If you therefore want to say this Iowa contest isn’t THAT huge, I get it. If a team makes one game into a referendum on its season, losing the game could elicit a harsher and more damning verdict than is truly warranted.

The logic of that thought process — not putting too much stock in one game — is sound.

Yet: This Iowa game sure feels like a defining test for the Badgers this season. The particular convergence of circumstances makes it so.

Remember this basic truth about sports: Winning and losing are the bottom lines of competition, but HOW one wins and loses often leaves a mark. Losing when you play your best is tough, but ennobling and sometimes encouraging. Losing by playing poorly and without inspiration sends a very different message inside a locker room. Teams which get humiliated — as Wisconsin clearly was against Purdue on Friday — need to show in their next game that they are tougher than many think. Teams which endure embarrassing defeats need to answer the bell the next time out… and if they do, they often change the trajectory of their season for the better.

Embarrassments are never sought or coveted by teams, but WHEN embarrassments do occur, teams can derive more benefit from responding to them with a win than if the embarrassment had never occurred in the first place. A team which successfully responds to an embarrassment realizes how resilient it can be. Heading into February, imagine what a win in Iowa City can do for the Badgers.

Also consider this point: The source and center of Wisconsin’s utter humiliation against Purdue was the rebounding mismatch: 16-2 for Purdue on the offensive glass, 42-16 overall. Wisconsin got outworked.

Guess what? Iowa averages 12 offensive rebounds per game, with Luka Garza averaging 10 rebounds per contest. If Wisconsin stands up to Garza and the Hawkeyes on the boards, winning on the road in the process, the Badgers can credibly say that they can battle with anyone in the Big Ten, since Garza is quite reasonably the best player in the conference. (Illinois fans would say Ayo Dosunmu, but Garza certainly has a solid argument.)

Why is this game so huge? Yes, Wisconsin just got embarrassed by Purdue. Yes, Wisconsin can’t keep losing. Yes, Michigan State is next. Those are all important reasons why UW needs to prevail in Iowa City. Yet, the biggest reason is that for the first time since the Rutgers loss in December, Wisconsin’s toughness is on trial. Do we know how resolute, and flinty, and persistent this team is? I don’t think we do — not after the Purdue game.

Wisconsin isn’t merely trying to win a road game in the Big Ten on Monday night. It is trying to show how tough it is, three nights after getting punched in the mouth and not fighting back.

The Badgers have to fight AND win here. If they do, it resets their season. If they don’t, February will begin with the Badgers near the NCAA Tournament bubble, wondering if they truly have the right stuff this year.

Viewing this is a huge game doesn’t seem so irresponsible when framed in those terms.

Daniel Jeremiah’s 1st mock draft has Cardinals landing potential guard in 1st round

Most have the Cardinals going with a receiver or a tackle, but Jeremiah projects Wirfs as a great guard in the NFL.

Early draft discussion surrounding the Arizona Cardinals has centered on two main positions — wide receiver and offensive tackle. With the eighth pick of the 2020 NFL draft, they will be in a good position to land perhaps the top player at either position.

However, in NFL Network draft analyst Daniel Jeremiah’s first mock draft of the year, the Cardinals select a player he doesn’t even see as a tackle in the NFL.

With the eighth overall pick, he has the Cardinals selecting Iowa offensive lineman Tristan Wirfs.

The Cardinals need to protect their investment in Kyler Murray. Some believe Wirfs will stay at tackle in the NFL, but I see him as an All-Pro-caliber guard at the next level.

Wirfs is viewed by many as one of the top two or three tackle prospects in the draft. If he projects as a guard, this perhaps changes things.

If the Cardinals view him as a tackle in the league, the pick makes sense. As a guard, he better be great because this mock draft has them passing on Georgia tackle Andrew Thomas and all the receivers.

Jeremiah doesn’t have any receiver getting selected until No. 12 overall.

Would fans like Wirfs as a pick if he projects as a guard?

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Listen to the latest from Cards Wire’s Jess Root on his podcast, Rise Up, See Red. Subscribe on Apple podcasts or Stitcher Radio.

Ep. 255

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Ep. 254

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Dave Aranda to Baylor highlights Wisconsin’s impact in coaching

More on Wisconsin in the coaching industry

One month ago, Hayden Fry — the iconic former coach of the Iowa Hawkeyes — died at age 90. Fry assembled what many regard as the greatest football coaching tree of all time, most centrally embodied by his 1983 coaching staff at Iowa. That staff had Bob Stoops, Bill Snyder, Kirk Ferentz, Dan McCarney, and a guy you might know a little bit about, Barry Alvarez. That staff was full of high-quality major college football head coaches, but more than that, it had several coaches who completely rebuilt and transformed programs which had been mediocre at best, atrocious at worst, before their arrivals.

Hayden Fry made no secret about his desire to have assistant coaches who one day wanted to be head coaches. He had more than a vision: Fry possessed a strong architecture which developed complete coaches, men capable of being prepared for — and aware of — every aspect of coaching college football players.

It is no idle coincidence, no accident of history, that Alvarez was so thoroughly successful after learning under Fry’s guidance. It is no accident, either, that Alvarez has — in Fry’s mold — developed a similarly complete architecture at Wisconsin. Badger fans know this. They know that Alvarez, in addition to being a great coach, created a larger infrastructure in which the program — with a proven method and clear goals — could steadily replicate success.

This part of the Alvarez legacy continues to grow. It grows larger every time a Wisconsin assistant coach becomes a head coach. The latest assistant to make that jump is Dave Aranda, who became Baylor’s head coach on Thursday. Aranda’s ascent from Wisconsin to LSU to Baylor leads to an amazing fact noted by Dave Heller of Fox Sports Wisconsin:

The credibility of Hayden Fry built the credibility of Barry Alvarez, which Pat Richter recognized. That built the credibility of Wisconsin football, which built the credibility of Wisconsin assistants, which has built a pipeline for Wisconsin assistants to get head coaching jobs… and not merely any coaching jobs, but Power Five coaching jobs, with Jim Leonhard getting his chance later in the 2020s, if he wants to pursue that path.

Wisconsin might still be searching for a first College Football Playoff berth, but make no mistake: The Badgers have developed one of the more significant and enduring programs in major college football. The coaching industry tells the story.

Notre Dame Football: Irish Move Up in Final Amway Coaches Poll

Notre Dame gets credit for a pair of Top 25 wins in the final Amway Coaches Poll Powered by USA TODAY, as the Irish defeated both No. 20 Navy and No. 25 Virginia this season.

The final Amway Coaches Poll Powered by USA TODAY has been released and Notre Dame comes in higher in it than they did when the final AP Top 25 Poll was released last night.

The Amway Coaches Poll goes as follows:

1) Louisiana State

2) Clemson

3) Ohio State

4) Georgia

5) Oregon

6) Oklahoma

7) Florida

8) Alabama

9) Penn State

10) Minnesota

11) Notre Dame

12) Baylor

13) Wisconsin

14) Auburn

15) Iowa

16) Utah

17) Memphis

18) Appalachian State

19) Michigan

20) Navy

21) Cincinnati

22) Boise State

23) Air Force

24) Central Florida

25) Virginia

Schools dropped out:

No. 23 Southern California

Others receiving votes:

Texas 42; Florida Atlantic 32; Washington 29; UL Lafayette 26; Texas A&M 26; Southern California 23; San Diego State 20; Southern Methodist 14; Louisiana Tech 9; Tennessee 8; Kentucky 5; California 4; Louisville 3; Kansas State 3; Hawaii 3; Oklahoma State 1.

Notre Dame gets credit for a pair of Top 25 wins in the final Amway Coaches Poll Powered by USA TODAY, as the Irish defeated both No. 20 Navy and No. 25 Virginia this season.

Notre Dame Offers Top 100 Class of 2022 Safety

Friday night Brian Kelly and his staff offered Braelon Allen, who Rivals ranks as the 76th best player overall and sixth best Safety in the 2022 class.

It’s still extremely early in the process but Notre Dame is getting work in on the recurring trail for 2022.

Friday night Brian Kelly and his staff offered Braelon Allen, who Rivals ranks as the 76th best player overall and sixth best Safety in the 2022 class.

Allen recently competed in the All-American Bowl National Combine and left San Antonio impressing many scouts.

Allen is a 6-1, 200 pound safety/athlete from Fon Du Lac, Wisconsin who plays everywhere for his high school team. A quick viewing of his sophomore highlight tape shows a young man that certainly “looks the part“.

Notre Dame joins Wisconsin and Iowa who have also already offered him.

Notre Dame Football: Will Irish Crack Top Ten in Final AP Poll?

Notre Dame’s best win ends up being over Navy who will finish the year as the only ranked opponent the Irish defeated in 2019.

I’m well-aware that if there isn’t a “No. 1” next to your name at the end of the season that if you’re a blue blood in college football that the number ultimately doesn’t matter a whole heck of a lot.

With that said, I’m legit curious as to where Notre Dame will rank in the end of season polls as they won their final five contests of the regular season yet saw almost no change, going from 16 to 14 between October 27, right after the Michigan loss and December 8, after conference championship weekend.

So where will Notre Dame fall in the final rankings that will come out after LSU and Clemson play for the national championship next Monday?

In order to figure that out we have to look at the current rankings and see what has changed or who may potentially fall.

Spots 1-3 will remain the same three teams with the title winner ending up first while the runner-up will check in at two and Ohio State will be three after falling in a thriller to Clemson.

Number four will likely go to 12-2 Georgia who won the Sugar Bowl as Oklahoma will fall and I’m fully on-board with that.

How far might that be?  Not far enough to really effect Notre Dame but the 12-2 Sooners will likely check in no-better than five but at worst you’re probably looking at number eight.

Along with Oklahoma you will most likely see Oregon, Alabama and Florida at five through eight as you now enter likely Notre Dame territory.

I don’t think the Irish’s 33-9 win over Iowa State was dominating enough to pass up Penn State who got a hard-fought win over Memphis in the Cotton Bowl, but it was still convincing nonetheless.

The nine through eleven range is exactly where I have Notre Dame coming in with the most logical case probably being for them to be 11.

Here’s why:

Penn State was already ranked ahead of Notre Dame and perhaps they didn’t dominate the Cotton Bowl but they were in control for the vast majority against a good, not great Memphis team.  In no way, shape or form does Penn State deserve to fall behind the Irish.

The debate to me comes in at who gets set at No. 10: Notre Dame or Minnesota?

Both the Irish and Golden Gophers finished the season 11-2 but to me, Minnesota’s wins are better than Notre Dame’s and that should be taken into consideration.  Minnesota has a win over top ten Penn State (according to my poll, anyway) as well as Auburn who will finish in the top 15.

Notre Dame’s best win ends up being over Navy who will finish the year as the only ranked opponent the Irish defeated in 2019.  That has to count for something even if Minnesota’s out of Big Ten schedule consisted of South Dakota State, Fresno State and Georgia Southern.

From there I think you find your next gap.  Here is how I would rank the rest of my final top 25 and here’s why for each:

12.  Baylor – three losses but what was their best win?  Playing Oklahoma closely, twice?
13.  Utah – What looked like a likely College Football Playoff berth at the start of December ends with an embarrassing loss where the Utes appeared to have no interest in playing a very average Texas team.  Perhaps 13 is generous for them.
14.  Auburn – Some great wins along the way but four losses are four losses, even if they came against largely SEC teams. Minnesota beating them on New Year’s Day keeps the Tigers from a top-ten finish.
15.  Wisconsin – Four losses for the Badgers who gave away the Rose Bowl and who I still can’t understand for the life of me how they lost to eventual 6-7 Illinois.
16.  Memphis – fought hard against Penn State in the Cotton Bowl despite going through a head coaching change so falling only one spot (Minnesota passes them) feels justified.
17.  Michigan – No shame in losing to Alabama as I keep them exactly where they were entering bowl season.
18.  Iowa – Destroying USC knocks the Trojans out of the top-ten and wraps up a season that saw the Hawkeyes finish with ten victories.  It’d be a hair higher had they not lost to Michigan head-to-head.
19.  Appalachian State – Had they played and beat someone better than North Carolina perhaps I’d have them higher but a great accomplishment nonetheless to finish with just one loss and in the top-twenty nationally.
20.  Navy – Since the final regular season poll was released they dominated Army and snuck by Kansas State in the Liberty Bowl and deserve a slight bump.
21. Cincinnati – All the credit in the world due to Luke Fickell who has the Bearcats humming after dominating Boston College.  My only question is how long before he’s back in the Big Ten?
22. Boise State – It was a great year until Chris Peterson took out a years worth of frustration on his former team, riding off into the sunset and dominating Boise State.  A solid but not great season for the Broncos.
23.  Air Force – Controlled the line of scrimmage and the Cheez-It Bowl versus Washington State as the Falcons record their first 11 win campaign since 1998.
24.  Texas A&M – They are still on the short list of most disappointing teams in 2019 for me but at least the Aggies ended the season on a high note, defeating old conference-rival Oklahoma State.
25.  Florida Atlantic – The Owls finish the year 11-3 after beating up SMU in their bowl game.  An impressive showing worthy of praise after Lane Kiffin didn’t coach the bowl game due to accepting the Ole Miss job.

That’s my best guess at what 1-25 will look like in the final AP Poll.  Thoughts?  Share them in our Fighting Irish Forum!

See my full 1-25 rankings on the next page

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Wisconsin decade in review: Badgers vs Iowa

Wisconsin vs. Iowa

As the 2019 season brings to a close another decade of college football, Badgers Wire has been engaged in a series of reflective pieces. “Record Review” is another series examining how the Badgers have fared against the rest of the Big Ten Conference this past decade. Next up is an examination of the Badgers’ record against one of their chief divisional opponents. Iowa is a truly weird matchup for the Badgers. While they have the edge, this Big Ten West clash is the most difficult to explain and put into context. Let’s take a look at why. 

Using Stassen, Badgers Wire pulled up every result against Iowa this past decade. The Badgers have an impressive 7-2 record over Iowa in that time. The truly odd part about this series is that the Badgers dominate Iowa at Kinnick Stadium, going 5-0, but are 2-2 at home. The Badgers just pulled even at home in 2019 with a close 24-22 win over the Hawkeyes. Close still gets the job done, but it’s fascinating that the average margin of victory in Iowa is 26-17 for the Badgers, but that drops to 19.5-16.5 for Wisconsin when adding the Badgers’ home games. It’s just odd. 

Obviously this game means a lot for both teams. It is often a game that can decide a division, since these two teams are often in the mix in the Big Ten West, though that could be changing with the emergence of Minnesota. We will have to wait and see. 

The toughest loss for Wisconsin against Iowa in the past decade is probably the 2015 game. Had Wisconsin won that game, the Badgers would have won the division. They lost a 10-6 game and had a couple chances to win, but couldn’t get the job done. Wisconsin would have had a crack at Michigan State in the Big Ten Championship Game, but that honor went to Iowa.

The Badgers seemingly have the Hawkeyes’ number, so the idea here would be to improve their play at home in the series in the new decade. It sounds odd to say that about a rivalry they’re currently dominating, but that’s where we sit. That is what needs to happen for the Badgers against Iowa. If they can do that and maintain their current level of play in other divisional matchups (and improving versus Northwestern), they’re going to have a chance to compete for a good number of conference championships in 2020 and beyond. A team needs to win every game, but Iowa is a team Bucky must continue to consistently beat if it wants to continue claiming Big Ten West crowns.

USC Dumped on by Iowa in Holiday Bowl

The part I think is as noteworthy as anything is that over the last two years where USC has especially hit the skids, their conference has for the most part been trash.

 

You hate to see it and I hate to say I told you so.

Actually, neither of those statements are true.

Watching USC lose in grand fashion on national television will never get old and I’ll never get tired of being right about things, the rare times I actually am.

Earlier this month I told all Notre Dame fans to get excited because Christmas came three weeks early in the form of USC retaining Clay Helton as their head football coach.

Since then they’ve recruited the 83rd ranked 2020 class per Rivals that consists of just one four or five-star player and now you can add getting sent to the moon by Iowa in the Holiday Bowl to that list.

Iowa dashed to a 28-17 halftime lead before the Trojans cut it to just a four point game early in the second half, but then the flood gates opened and Troy was swarmed by Hawkeyes instead of a wooden horse.

Iowa would score the final 21 points of the night, ending with a 49-24 victory over USC as the Trojans wrap up the season 8-5 and Iowa reaches the 10-win mark for the first time in four seasons.

USC will return a bunch of talent next year and because they’re USC, they’ll be in consideration for a top-20 spot in the pre-season rankings in all likelihood but here are some fast stats that should keep you from buying into this USC thing:

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