Tag: Wisconsin Basketball Rutgers

Wisconsin is approaching NCAA lock status after win vs Rutgers

Wisconsin wins

Having covered college basketball for several years and having followed the sport since I was a kid, I have had to learn the hard way to not pronounce a team an NCAA Tournament “lock” too prematurely.

I have made “LOCK” declarations in the middle of February, only to watch in horror and embarrassment as that “LOCK” team proceeded to lose six games in a row and tumble into the NIT.

The point about “LOCK” versus “likely in” is that an NCAA Tournament lock is not a lock unless that team can lose ALL of its remaining games and still make the Big Dance. A team might be highly unlikely to lose five games in a row, but if it DOES and it can fall out of the tournament, it’s obviously not a lock, right?

I cover tennis. I have seen players take a 5-0 lead in a set and not lose the set. The player isn’t a lock to win the set at 5-0. Highly likely? Of course… but that sixth and final game needs to be won first. So it is with Wisconsin. The Badgers could still go on a huge losing streak, including Northwestern at home. If UW loses every remaining game, it could still fall out of the NCAA Tournament. I am not ready to use the L-word just yet.

However… with all of that having been said:

It is getting close to Locksville for Wisconsin.

The Badgers are stacking together wins, not losses. They are moving upward while the rest of the bubble goes down or stagnates, with few exceptions. Wisconsin needed to avoid a four-game losing streak… and not only is it doing that, it is building a four-game winning streak after handling Rutgers on Sunday in the Kohl Center.

If Wisconsin does lose its next four regular-season games, followed by its first game at the Big Ten Tournament, yeah, it might still have to sweat out Selection Sunday… but I think with one more win, a lock is a reasonable call to make. Two more wins, and a lock is absolutely certain.

Locksville, USA. Wisconsin hasn’t completed the journey, but it is almost there, and the car has plenty of fuel in the tank.

Nate Reuvers, D’Mitrik Trice must answer the call vs Rutgers

More on UW-Rutgers

It is true that Micah Potter — who was not yet eligible to play the last time Wisconsin faced Rutgers this season — might become an intriguing X-factor for the UW basketball team when it meets Rutgers this Sunday. However, Potter’s place in this game and this particular matchup is a mystery, because we don’t have a previous game to study and consider.

We do, however, have a basis for comparison when referring to two other Wisconsin players. Nate Reuvers and D’Mitrik Trice did not play their best basketball on Dec. 11 against Rutgers. Therefore, they are the two prime examples of players who must elevate their levels of performance if the Badgers are to handle the Scarlet Knights in the Kohl Center.

Two months ago, Reuvers scored six points against Rutgers and Trice managed only two. They had a hard time solving the Scarlet Knights’ defense. Kobe King poured in 18 points and Trevor Anderson scored 11, but the Badgers failed to get balanced production throughout their roster, something they have improved in recent weeks. It is doubtful that UW can beat Rutgers if Reuvers and Trice combine for a grand total of just eight points on Sunday in Madison.

What adds to the need for Reuvers and Trice — not other UW players — to become the central offensive engines for Wisconsin against Rutgers is that neither player had a good shooting touch against Purdue this past Tuesday. Reuvers, to his great credit, did make five free throws. Trice, to his credit, did hit a pair of threes. Yet, the two were a combined 6 of 21 from the field; Reuvers was 3 of 10, Trice 3 of 11. The two were a combined 3 of 12 on 3-pointers; Reuvers was 1 of 5, Trice 2 of 7.

Against Rutgers, that similarly won’t cut it. A 6-of-21 shooting line is just under 30 percent. A 3-of-12 shooting line from 3-point range is 25 percent. Reuvers and Trice will need to shoot at least 40 percent overall, at least 35 percent on threes, for Wisconsin to feel reasonably good about its chances.

Wisconsin scored 29 points against Rutgers this past December thanks to a player who is no longer on the team (King, 18 points) and a role player who is unlikely to make lightning strike twice in the same spot (Anderson, 11 points). Compensating for those 29 points is a job the whole roster must tend to, but of all the players who will take the court for UW on Sunday, Reuvers and Trice are the most natural and logical candidates for the “compensation crew.”

They need to be there if Wisconsin is to have its best possible chance of defeating Rutgers.

Wisconsin knows it needs a different formula vs Rutgers

Wisconsin – Rutgers

When the Wisconsin Badgers host the Rutgers Scarlet Knights on Sunday, they already know they will need a different formula and a different set of team leaders to help them win. Why can we be so confident and immediate in saying this, you might wonder?

Recall that when Wisconsin lost to Rutgers on Dec. 11, the leading scorer for the Badgers and UW’s best player on the floor was Kobe King. Yep, a player Wisconsin no longer has on its active roster was the best Badger two months ago in New Jersey. That detail alone means Wisconsin must necessarily find other prime players to get the job done against Rutgers and extend the Badgers’ February winning streak.

Wisconsin, given a series of home games, is currently moving through a favorable portion of its schedule and therefore has a great chance to solidify its NCAA Tournament status. Cashing in on that softer patch of its schedule can’t be taken for granted, though; Rutgers has already dealt one loss to the Badgers, so Wisconsin has to make sure the Scarlet Knights don’t go two for two.

It will have to be done without Kobe King, who scored 18 points and handed out three assists on Dec. 11. A win over Rutgers this Sunday will probably not involve 11 points from Trevor Anderson. Yes, Anderson scored 11 points against Rutgers two months ago. Maybe he will surprise us all, but it doesn’t come across as probable that he can replicate that performance on Sunday. Possible? Surely. Probable? No.

The player on the Wisconsin roster who might have the highest level of motivation heading into Sunday’s game: Micah Potter. Remember that the Rutgers game was the last game of the season which Potter was prevented from playing by the NCAA. His first game was the Milwaukee game on Dec. 21, Wisconsin’s first game after the Rutgers loss. Having Potter available — with King not available — underscores why a win over Rutgers has to be forged by a formula which is different from the one UW used on Dec. 11 in Piscataway.

Wisconsin and Rutgers have lived many lives since first meeting

More on Wisconsin – Rutgers

When the Wisconsin Badgers play the Rutgers Scarlet Knights on Sunday in the Kohl Center, it will be 74 days since December 11, 2019.

What is so special about Dec. 11, 2019? It is the last time Wisconsin and Rutgers played, the first of the two games in this season’s Big Ten series between the two teams. Saying that UW and RU last played 74 days ago doesn’t seem to capture just how long it was — or at least, how long it FEELS — since these two teams last played each other.

It feels like 74 weeks more than days.

Micah Potter wasn’t yet eligible on Dec. 11, 2019. Wisconsin had not yet won a game played away from home on Dec. 11 of last year. Wisconsin was the team trying to find some way, any possible way, to play well in a non-Madison location. Rutgers had not yet beaten Seton Hall — that came a few days later, on Dec. 14 — and was therefore a team without a high-quality win. No one was talking about Rutgers as a possible NCAA Tournament team back then, 74 days ago. No one in Madison or elsewhere in the state of Wisconsin entered that night in Piscataway, New Jersey, thinking that the Badgers were about to lose to an NCAA Tournament-quality team. No Wisconsinite entered that night thinking that a loss to Rutgers would be easy to absorb on Selection Sunday. A loss to Rutgers — on Dec. 11, 2019 — figured to be a blow to the Badgers’ overall NCAA profile. Given that the team was only 5-4 at the time, it seemed UW badly needed that win.

Huh.

How things change.

We can look back on that moment as the last game in which Micah Potter was ineligible to play. We can also look back at that game in New Jersey and realize that Wisconsin lost to a good team, not a bad one. That result looks less appalling and more reasonable with each passing day.

Now, as the teams prepare for the rematch on Sunday, can we note the irony involved? Wisconsin was looking for its first road win entering Rutgers on Dec. 11, 2019. Now, on Sunday, Feb. 23, 2020, the script has been completely flipped. Rutgers has only ONE true road win this season. The Scarlet Knights — in Game 2 against Wisconsin this season — are now the team desperately searching for a road win and for a good performance away from their home building.

Funny how life works, eh?

This is how weird things get when two teams don’t play for 74 weeks…

I mean 74 days.