Tag: Johnny Davis

Twitter reacts to Johnny Davis and Wisconsin knocking off Purdue

Twitter reacts to a shocking Wisconsin win

The Badgers pulled off the victory of their season on Monday night as Johnny Davis took over down the stretch in a 64-59 win at Purdue.

Davis dropped a career-high 37 points, as Wisconsin battled back from multiple second-half deficits to finish off a stunner. The performance from the La Crosse native turned into the talk of the college basketball world, as Wisconsin’s star wing clearly announced himself as a Wooden Award candidate.

From national writers to local Badgers, the social media reaction poured in after Wisconsin improved to 11-2 on the season. The No. 23 Badgers also jumped to 2-1 in Big Ten play. Here is a look at highlights from social media after Wisconsin’s win:

WATCH: Wisconsin celebrates in the locker room after beating Purdue

The Badgers celebrate accordingly after a massive win

Wisconsin’s 74-69 upset win over Purdue rightfully sent the Badger locker room into a postgame frenzy. Johnny Davis dazzled to the tune of a career-high 37 points in a shocking Badger victory.

Wisconsin got their first win at Mackey Arena since 2014, and the first in the five-year career of Brad Davison. It was Davison’s pair of clutch triples that helped the Badgers to the finish line late before Davis’ solo act took over.

Wisconsin head coach Greg Gard and the Badgers celebrated accordingly, with a Gatorade shower. The Badgers continued to battle even while falling behind early in the second half, as their fight carried them across the finish line:

Johnny Davis became just the fourth Badger to accomplish this feat since 2002

On Wednesday, Johnny Davis became just the fourth Wisconsin Badger to accomplish this feat since 2002.

Against Illinois State on Wednesday night, Wisconsin Badgers guard Johnny Davis became just the fourth UW player since 2002 to score 15+ points in 10+ consecutive games.

 

Wisconsin Badgers to score 15+ points in 10+ consecutive games since 2002:

Devin Harris (2004) – 15 straight games

Jon Leuer (2010-2011) – 12 straight games

Alando Tucker (2007) – 10 straight games

Johnny Davis (2021) – 10 straight games and counting.

 

The La Crosse (Wisc.) native has been a revelation for Greg Gard and the Badgers this season.

So far, Johnny Davis is averaging 20.8 points, 6.6 rebounds, and 2.5 assists.

Should Johnny Davis maintain his current scoring average, he would be the first Wisconsin Badgers basketball player to average 20+ points for an entire season since Michael Finely in 1994-1995.

It’s also worth noting that no Badgers player has averaged more than 20 points a game for a full season in either of the Bo Ryan or Greg Gard era’s.

 

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Johnny Davis rises up Sports Illustrated’s latest NBA draft board

The Badger star continues to rise up the ranks

Arguably no player in college basketball has helped their draft stock more in the opening weeks than Wisconsin wing Johnny Davis.

Through his first nine games played, Davis has put up nearly 21 points per contest, over 6 rebounds per game, and led Wisconsin to an upset tournament win at the Maui Invitational.

Sports Illustrated basketball reporter Jeremy Woo recently released his latest “NBA Draft Big Board,” and has Davis soaring up the charts. Sports Illustrated listed Davis as the No. 5 overall prospect in the 2022 NBA draft, just one spot behind Purdue star Jaden Ivey.

If Davis’ miraculous season continues, the 19-year-old can play his way into the 2022 NBA draft lottery.

Where Wisconsin basketball falls in ESPN Bracketologist Joe Lunardi’s latest seeding

The Badgers are sitting in the middle of ESPN’s latest bracketology

Earlier this week, ESPN Bracketology expert Joe Lunardi revealed his latest NCAA Tournament projections. After starting the year on the bubble, Wisconsin has risen firmly into the conversation as an NCAA Tournament lock.

The Badgers are currently sitting on the six line, alongside Illinois, Texas, and Seton Hall. The Big Ten has Purdue listed as a No. 1 seed, and Michigan State entering in as a No. 3 seed. A number of Big Ten squads sit somewhere around the bubble, with Northwestern earning a No. 11 seed and being one of Lunardi’s last four teams in the field, while Minnesota sits as a No. 10 seed.

Here is a look at Lunardi’s complete seed listings from Monday:

2022 NBA Draft Big Board 1.0: Debut rankings of the top 101 prospects

Let’s be honest. Ranking the best NBA draft prospects is a fool’s errand. But evaluating this class is an especially challenging assignment.

Let’s be honest. Ranking the best NBA draft prospects is a fool’s errand. But evaluating this class is an especially challenging assignment.

One of the top pre-season prospects (Patrick Baldwin Jr.) is playing for a mid-major program that has just two wins so far this season. Other top prospects (AJ Griffin and Peyton Watson) are not getting much playing time for their high-major programs. Meanwhile, guard Jean Montero is playing in the inaugural Overtime Elite league. How do we compare his productivity to other prospects? I’m frankly not sure.

But nevertheless, my big board exists. Rather than going small, I decided to blow it up and do the opposite. Why did I go ahead and rank 101 prospects if this class has been so challenging to evaluate? There are two distinct reasons.

One is that I’m absolutely crazy and get a very fulfilling satisfaction with the completion of a mock draft and big board because it feels complete. It looks awesome seeing as many names as I can fit on one article, even if the science behind the rankings is a bit inconclusive.

The other reason is that as I make more big boards throughout the year, it’s interesting to track the progress (and regression) of certain prospects. I am inevitably wrong about most of these placements! But this article serves as a barometer for where I feel certain players are at in their development right now.

Note that several notable prospects (e.g. freshmen Max Christie, Matthew Cleveland, Nolan Hickman, Hunter Sallis, Brandon Huntley-Hatfield, Jeremy Sochan, Kobe Bufkin) were excluded because I expect them to go back to school to improve their draft stock.

More likely than not, some of those players will declare for the 2022 NBA draft. When that happens, I obviously will not have them outside of my top 101.

Until then, as we prepare to turn the calendar into a new year, here are the debut rankings for 101 of my favorite prospects.

All stats are accurate as of Dec. 14 and are from Sports-Reference unless noted otherwise.

Where Wisconsin basketball lands in Andy Katz’s Power 36

The Badgers are included in Andy Katz’s latest Top 36

NCAA March Madness reporter Andy Katz dropped his weekly Power 36 on Tuesday morning, and Wisconsin stayed in the rankings.

The Badgers are coming off of a 73-55 loss at Ohio State where Wisconsin fell to 8-2 on the year and 1-1 in Big Ten play.

As they did in the AP Top 25 poll, Purdue fell from the No. 1 spot after a road loss to Rutgers. Reigning national champions Baylor took over the top spot in the rankings.

As for the Badgers, Wisconsin remained firmly in the rankings at No. 29 overall. In the AP Top 25 poll, the Badgers were the final team left out as they received the most votes of any team not in the rankings. Here is a look at Katz’s full Power 36 along with some explanation:

Wisconsin drops in ESPN Bracketologist Joe Lunardi’s latest seed list

The Badgers fall in ESPN’s latest NCAA Tournament seed list

While ESPN Bracketologist Joe Lunardi has yet to update the full bracket since Friday, he did release an updated seed list on Monday morning.

With Wisconsin’s loss to Ohio State, the Badgers fell from a No. 5 seed down to a No. 6 seed. The Buckeyes essentially switched places with the Badgers, moving up from the No. 6 line to the No. 5 line with their home win. Baylor, Duke, Gonzaga, and Purdue all remained on the No. 1 seed line in Lunardi’s latest list.

Northwestern also stayed as one of the last four teams in. The Big Ten had nine teams included in the latest seed list:

Wisconsin overcomes a 22-point deficit to stun Indiana 64-59

Wisconsin puts together a 27-point turnaround to keep Indiana’s Kohl Center losing streak alive

Coming into Wisconsin’s Big Ten opener against Indiana, nearly all of the talk was about a shocking losing streak. The Hoosiers (7-2, 1-1 BIG) had dropped 18 straight games at the Kohl Center, a run of misery that has lasted more than two decades. Even after 23 years of agony, Wisconsin’s Wednesday night heroics brought Indiana’s Kohl Center horrors to another level.

After trailing by 22 points late in the first half, the Badgers (8-1, 1-0 BIG) were able to conduct a stunning 27-point turnaround to keep the Hoosiers’ losing streak alive.

Everything went Indiana’s way early, as the Hoosiers leapt out to a 24-9 lead after the first ten minutes and change. As Badger freshman guard Chucky Hepburn exited with two early fouls, Indiana’s guards kept the pressure on from distance. The Hoosiers went 5-8 (62.5%) from distance in the opening stanza, led by Parker Stewart’s 3 made threes.

After a confusing first 20 minutes of defense from a team that has been exceptionally solid at that end, the Badgers put together a defensive masterclass. Wisconsin trailed 42-25 at halftime, but only allowed 17 more Indiana points on the night.

While it was Johnny Davis who led the way with 12 second-half points and the game-deciding corner three, it was Cincinnati transfer Chris Vogt who provided Wisconsin with an unexpected lift. The Badger center came into the night with 7 points on the season, and had 9 in the second half alone. He was  also able to find Davis for this game-changing three:

Trailing 59-54 with 2:59 left, Wisconsin finished the game on an 11-0 run with 8 of the 11 points coming from the free-throw line. The Badgers went 8-8 from the charity stripe over the last three minutes.

For the eighth game in a row, Davis scored 15 points or more to help pace Wisconsin. He ended up being the lone Badger in double-figures with a game-high 23 points on 8-17 from the field.

Wisconsin continues Big Ten play at Ohio State on Saturday, as the Badgers will look to keep their six-game winning streak alive.

Aggregate NBA mock draft 2.0: Paolo Banchero, Chet Holmgren, Jabari Smith battle for No. 1

In order to help us get a better sense of where all of the projected top prospects in the class stand as of right now, we compiled mock drafts from ESPN, NBADraft.net, CBS Sports, The Athletic, Bleacher Report, Sports Illustrated, Yahoo, Basketball News and USA TODAY Sports Media Group’s For The Win.

Please note that these rankings reflect the composite score to get a feel for consensus, not our own opinion.

Since our last update, the players who have improved the most spots are Ismael Kamagate (Paris), Moussa Diabate (Michigan), Azuolas Tubelis (Arizona), Hugo Besson (New Zealand), Efe Abogidi (Washington State),  Iverson Molinar (Mississippi State), Justin Lewis (Marquette), Max Christie (Michigan State), EJ Liddell (Ohio State), and Ochai Agbaji (Kansas).

The most notable prospects making their debut on our rankings are Trevor Keels (Duke), Bryce McGowens (Nebraska), MarJon Beauchamp (G League Ignite), Keon Ellis (Alabama), Christian Koloko (Arizona), Wendell Moore (Duke), Blake Wesley (Notre Dame),  Josh Minott (Memphis), Zach Edey (Purdue), and Johnny Davis (Wisconsin).

Some of the top prospects who did not make the cut this time included Hunter Sallis (Gonzaga), Brandon Huntley-Hatfield (Tennesse), Kobe Bufkin (Michigan), Mouhamed Gueye (Washington State), Jahvon Quinerly (Albama), Adam Flagler (Baylor), Jaylin Williams (Auburn), Matthieu Gauzin (Le Mans), Isaiah Wong (Miami), Marcus Williams (Texas A&M), and Tyson Etienne (Wichita State).

Otherwise, you can learn the latest updates on every single prospect who has been included in recent mock drafts by scrolling below.

HoopsHype’s Alberto de Roa contributed research to this report