🏀MARCH MADNESS:  Bucky Game, But Bears Got Game — Baylor Knocks Badgers Off Dance Floor! ☹️

Badger Caged
Caged Badger
PHOTO: Miss Shari
Creative Commons License

🏀MARCH MADNESS:  Bucky Game, But Bears Got Game — Baylor Knocks Badgers Off Dance Floor! ☹️

By Paul Wickham Schmidt

Courtside Exclusive
March 21, 2021

The Wisconsin Badgers (18-13) made it respectable. But, the #1-seed Baylor Bears seized control early in the first half  of the South Second Round Game from West Lafayette, IN on their way to a convincing 76-63 victory. The Bears thus move on to the Sweet 16, while the Badgers’ season ends. 

The three-point shot, which was the Badgers “best friend” in their round one victory over the North Carolina Tar Heels on Friday night, abandoned the Badgers and went over to the Bears. Baylor drained 8 of 17 threes for 47.1%, while Wisconsin shot only 37% from behind the arc, missing 13 of 21 attempts. Turnovers, often a Badgers strength, were their achilles heel this afternoon, with the Badgers committing 13 to the Bears’ four. 

Baylor led 42-29 at the half. To their credit, the Badgers hung in and cut the lead to seven points several times in the second half. But, they couldn’t get any closer. After playing consistently against North Carolina, the Badgers reverted to their regular season form with several long “dry spells” that helped seal their fate. Overall, however, Baylor was just too good. 

The Badgers were led by seniors D’Mitrik Trice (12 pts.), Nate Reuters (11 pts.), and freshman guard Jonathan Davis (10 pts.). The victorious Bears were paced by junior guard Matthew Mayer, who came off the bench to score 17, eight above his season average.

Although the Badgers were not expected to make the “Sweet 16,” they joined a growing list of Big-10 failures in this year’s NCAA Men’s tournament. Just before the start of the Wisconsin-Baylor game, the #8 Loyola Ramblers (led in spirit by their #1 fan, the famous “Sister Jean”) dominated #1-seed Illinois 71-58, in another “nobody saw this coming” upset. Of the nine Big-10 teams invited to the dance, only Rutgers, Michigan, Iowa, and Maryland remain alive, all with second round games coming up.  

Congratulations to Coach Greg Gard and his team on another winning season and NCAA Tournament birth.

Not all news was bad for Wisconsin sports over the weekend. The Badger Women’s hockey team beat Northeastern on Saturday to win the “Frozen Four” and the NCAA Championship!

On Wisconsin!

Bucky Badger
Bucky Badger
UW Mascot

🏀MARCH MADNESS: BADGERS COME OUT SNARLING, DEVOUR TAR HEELS IN DANCE OPENER, 85-62!

 

Ferocious Bucky Badger
Bucky Came Out Hungry & Ferocious With A Tar Heel Meal On The Menu, Creative Commons Licenses

🏀MARCH MADNESS: BADGERS COME OUT SNARLING, DEVOUR TAR HEELS IN DANCE OPENER, 85-62!

By Paul Wickham Schmidt

Courtside Exclusive
March 20,2021

After staggering into the NCAA Tournament, losers of five of their last six, the senior-laden Wisconsin Badgers (18-12) looked for at least one night like they belong in the Big Dance.

The 9-seed Badgers finally put together a full 40-minute game, eviscerating the 8-seed North Carolina Tar Heels (18-11) in every facet on their way to a very convincing 85-62 win in the first round of the of the NCAA South Regional before a COVID-protocol-limited crowd on Purdue’s home court in West Lafayette, Indiana. The were some Badger fans in the stands, and  they experienced a rare Badger blowout inflicted on a credible opponent.

Senior guards Brad Davison (29 points) and D’Mitrik Trice (21 points) led the #25 Badgers, who drilled 13 of 27 three-pointers. No other Badger was in double figures, although seniors Micah Potter and Aleem Ford chipped in nine apiece.

The Tar Heels’ front line was supposed to dominate. But, the Badgers controlled the boards 37-34, including 28 defensive rebounds to keep the Tar Heels reeling all night. For North Carolina’s Hall of Fame coach, the legendary Roy Williams, this was his initial first round failure after 29 consecutive W’s.

Of course, this year’s mediocre Tar Heel squad, from the middle of an underwhelming ACC pack, yet not without some young talent, bore little resemblance to Williams’s championship-caliber teams of yesterday year. Bucky came into the season with great promise, ranked in the top ten, primarily on the strength of the senior core coming off a Big-10 co-championship in the COVID-halted 2020 season. 

But, the Badgers struggled through the Big-10 season, finishing with a lackluster 10-10 record (17-12 overall), good for only a 6th place finish in conference. Mostly significantly, they were 0-8 against the conference’s premier teams: Illinois, Michigan, Ohio State, and Iowa. They clawed their way into the Big Dance largely by beating up on non-conference foes and Big-10 bottom feeders.

The Badgers led wire-to-wire on Friday night, coming out strong and energetic and keeping up the pressure, leading 40-24 at the half. Nevertheless, Badger fans couldn’t relax because, unlike past Wisconsin squads, this team throughout the season blew some sizable leads with long dry spells that let their opponents seize control.    

Last night was, however, totally different. Although the Tar Heels came out with a much improved offensive showing in the second half, particularly from their “bigs,” the Badgers basically matched or exceeded them basket for basket to maintain, and even expand their halftime lead. The Tar Heels never got closer than 12 points, and the Badgers settled at a comfortable 14-18 lead for most of the stanza.

Most pundits had given Coach Greg Gard’s Badgers a chance against Williams’s slightly favored, yet highly inconsistent, Carolina squad. But, few, if any, saw this complete and convincing blowout coming.

So, at least for one night, the Badgers looked like a team that belongs in March Madness, rather than an imposter whose invitation suggested a past reputation for consistent excellence rather than the current less-than-inspiring group who limped into the NCAAs, after losing to Iowa for the third straight time in the conference tournament.

It’s probably a good thing for the Big-10. Although generally considered the “premier conference” in America during this COVID-infected season, two of the conference’s highly seeded teams, Ohio State (#2) and Purdue (#5), suffered shocking upsets on the first day. Another perennial power, Michigan State, blew a big lead and lost to a lightly regarded UCLA squad in the tournament “play-in” game. 

The Badgers should savor this moment of redemption. Because, their dance is going to get much more challenging tomorrow afternoon when they face the #1 seed Baylor Bears (23-2) at 2:40 PM from West Lafayette. The game will be on CBS and the Bears are an early six point favorite.

Go Bucky!

Bucky Badger
Bucky Badger
UW Mascot