If you have followed sports for any reasonable length of time, you know that what I am about to write is not a new or foreign concept for sports teams: Having an athlete in the lineup, even if that athlete doesn’t produce big numbers, can be a source of comfort for teammates.
If you have heard it once, you have heard it many times: After a big win, a team’s players say something to the effect of, “He might not have scored a ton of points, but just knowing he was with us meant a lot to the team. We all drew energy from him and are more excited to play now that he is a more complete part of our journey through this season.”
Translation: We like playing for our teammate, our brother. We are more together. We are more cohesive, regardless of what the stats might say.
Is this what is happening with the Wisconsin Badgers basketball team? Maybe. Maybe not. I’m not sure. However, after a convincing 68-48 win over the Tennessee Volunteers on Saturday — UW’s first win of the season away from the Kohl Center — it is certainly reasonable to wonder if the Badgers are simply happier and more whole now that Micah Potter is on the bench as an active player, a member of the team in full.
Potter did not provide a big statistical contribution on Saturday. In fact, he didn’t provide much of a statistical contribution at all. Potter played only seven minutes, grabbing two rebounds and not scoring any points. If I had told you before this game that Potter would post those numbers, would you have predicted Wisconsin would win by 20 and basically coast through the entire second half without any real scoreboard pressure? I doubt it.
Again, I don’t know if this “placebo effect” is real. We will find out in the next few weeks, especially this Friday against Ohio State. Yet, the notion that Wisconsin needed Potter to be a prime player — a high-impact contributor — in order for this team to improve, especially on the road, was refuted by this game. Potter was peripheral to what the Badgers did on the court, but Wisconsin looked so much better and more formidable nonetheless.
Did this team simply need to know that Micah Potter was with the Badgers not only as a friend, but as an eligible player? Is that all it took? Where was this kind of performance when Potter was ineligible, and not yet allowed to play? Potter didn’t change the dynamic for this team on the court, but maybe he has changed the dynamic in the locker room.
I don’t know any of this. I admit I am speculating.
The question, though, is very interesting… and I wonder if any other Badger fans are thinking the same thing. Stay tuned as the season continues.