February 2, 2007

Grab Bag: Attendence, money, and hoops.

First, as noted by INCH Wisconsin is once again leading the nation with an average of almost 15,000 tickets being sold for each game. This leads 7 NHL teams as well.

Secondly, the Wisconsin State Journal had an article about the marketing side of Wisconsin athletics. Even with an 80 million dollar budget, the university only spends around 750 thousand on self-promotion. Right now, it seems like the biggest hurdle is the fact that everyone knows season tickets for football and men's basketball sell out, so it's important just to keep the interest levels high. Of course, this brings up the question: if the student's don't arrive till midway through halftime, are they doing a good job with their most important constituents?

Third, hoops lost to Indiana on Wednesday. While not entirely unexpected, it does hurt us in a bunch of ways. One, all of a sudden Indiana becomes the third horse, and I'll explain why later. Second, Michigan State may have the biggest pull in who is getting the #1 seed in the Big 10 tourney. Although you can't tell it by their 1-7 record, Penn State does play Ohio State, Wisconsin, and Indiana a total of 5 times remaining on the season, but do the Nittany Lions ever pose a threat? Michigan State, on the other hand, plays the top 3 teams 4 times, all of them at the Izzone save for a trek to Madison. If MSU fails to protect their house against any of those three teams, either Indiana drops out of contention or the Wisconsin - Ohio State becomes the Big 10 title game.

So, what caused Indiana's uproar? First off, their losses, in traditional Big 10 fashion, are on the road, at Ohio State and Illinois. Second, they only played Ohio State and Wisconsin once this year. Third, they've only had 3 road games so far, and while @ Northwestern and Purdue may not be daunting, they travel to MSU, Iowa, and Michigan, where they could very well lose 2 games.

January 29, 2007

Versatility Key to Badgers?

As I was reading the AP and UWBadgers report of yesterdays win over Iowa, I started thinking that it looked like we were doing something different in each game. I decided to list the top 3 Badger scorers, along with any remarkable stats in each of the 'power conference' games, along with our loss to Missouri State. I mainly looked at points, shooting, rebounds, fouls, and turnovers. Typically, Wisconsin will commit between 13 and 19 fouls a game, get 34 rebounds, shoot 45%, and have around 11 turnovers. Steals and blocks are nice, but we didn't seem to ever break double digits so I mostly ignored them. Look over the highlights from box scores with me, won't you?


@Iowa: Top 3 Scorers: Tucker, Butch, and Landry. Notes: Shot 7 of 19 from beyond the arc, had 11 less offensive rebounds than Iowa. Two Iowa players shot 3 of 17 or worse.
Michigan: Top 3 Scorers: Butch & Tucker tied, as did Taylor and Landry. Notes: Shot only 6 3's, making half. Nobody had more than 4 rebounds total.
@Illinois: Top 3 Scorers: Taylor, Tucker, and Stiemsma. Notes: Made 18 of 21 free throws. Shot 3 of 16 3's.
Purdue: Top 3 Scorers: Flowers, Tucker, Chappel & Taylor. Notes: Only shot 40% overall. Only 7 turnovers. Shot 3 of 17 3's. Purdue registered 25 fouls.
@Northwestern: Top 3 Scorers: Tucker, Taylor, Butch. Notes: Shot 2 of 12 3's. Committed 15 turnovers.
Ohio State: Top 3 Scorers: Taylor, Tucker, Flowers & Landry. Notes: Landry had 4 blocks. Really, that's the only thing that jumps out.
Minnesota: Top 3 Scorers: Tucker, Taylor, Chappel. Notes: 8 people saw more than 10 minutes on the court, Wisconsin was up by 17 at the half.

@Georgia: Top 3 Scorers: Tucker, Taylor, Landry. Notes: Outrebounded by 8, mainly coming from the offensive glass. Georgia shot 30% overall, and committed 18 turnovers.
Pitt: Top 3 Scorers: Tucker, Butch and Taylor. Notes: Shot 8 of 16 3's. Pitt committed 28 fouls, which led to 44 free throw attempts.
@Marquette: Top 3 Scorers: Tucker, Taylor and Landry. Notes: Committed an uncharacteristic 28 turnovers.
Florida State: Top 3 Scorers: Tucker, Taylor and Butch. Notes: FSU committed 30 freaking fouls! Committed 18 turnovers. FSU went to the line 12 times.
Auburn: Top 3 Scorers: Taylor, Tucker, Bohannon. Notes: Had 9 steals total. Made 6 of 12 3's.
Missouri State: Top 3 Scorers: Tucker, Flowers, and 4 tied for 5 points. Notes: Shot 2 of 15 3's. Shot 40% overall.


What did we learn? Tucker and Taylor are our chief shooters. Tucker was always in the top 3, and was leading scorer two-thirds of the time. Butch was slotted in regularly as well, but the way we rotate the big guys, it's less that Butch isn't shooting well and more that Butch isn't in the game. Landry and Chappell got scoring nods as well.

The only consistent facts among the notes is that we can't shoot the three-ball with any consistency, and we play a good defense. After that, it's a wide world. We get fouled a lot! We can't get as many boards as we'd like! We turn the ball over too much! They turn it over too much!
Of course, a team that runs 9 deep on every single night will be inconsistent. That's maybe our biggest strength. What team will you see? Will Taylor be lights-out, drain 6 3's and go 10-12 from the line? Will Tucker repeatedly draw fouls, forcing the opposition go to the bench early? We 4 effective big men: that's 6 ways to put any 2 of them together.

Oh, and Marcus Landry jumps higher than you. Would you like him to show you?

Edit: ESPN's Forde Minutes pointed out something else I suspected: No Wisconsin's fouled out yet. That helps a ton.

January 27, 2007

Finally Some Respect

Since my cohorts have seemingly given up on this blog this week in favor of sitting around and watching TV or playing video games, it seems you are forced to be subjected to another post from me. Not that that's a bad thing, but still -- variety is the spice of life. I'll try to get their lazy butts posting again. The other day I came across something that has been somewhat rare on ESPN.com this college basketball season -- extended articles and pieces about the #2/3 ranked Wisconsin basketball team and potential player of the year candidate Alando Tucker. First, there was this article by Andy Katz outlining Tucker's and Texas' Kevin Durant's cases for POTY. It was interesting, particularly because for an extended period of time, the article was the top headline on the website. While Katz's love for UW is no secret (my roommates and I keep trying to figure out if he graduated from here), its rare for Wisconsin to be getting so much respect from the national media. More interesting, and something I found out about yesterday morning before going to work from TheBigFella, is this chat with Tucker. My personal favorite is Tim from Chicago's comment:

Tim (Chicago): I read an article that you've never smoked before. How then do you explain the smoking of Michigan on Wednesday? Are you a liar?
Alando Tucker: That's the only kind of smoking that I give. I guess what I do on the basketball court, if that's considered smoking, then I have to be held accountable.

Not that you'd know he doesn't smoke by looking at Tucker. He always has the old "high eyes" -- ever since he was a freshman. These features on ESPN are compounded by a poll on the college basketball front page that I saw earlier yesterday afternoon that asked which team should be number one in the polls -- UCLA, Florida, UNC, or Wisconsin. Incredibly enough, UW was leading the poll with around 36% of the votes. Another glance at the college basketball SportsNation poll now, however, reveals the question: "Who should be the national player of the year?" And despite Katz's article barely mentioning Greg Oden and instead focusing on Durant and Tucker, the two choices are Durant and Oden. Not surprisingly, last I checked, Durant was killing the 40-year-old man with about 70% of the vote. Then there is the Power 16, voted on by 8 of ESPN's top "experts" on college basketball. You can see in their votes here that a few are picking Wisconsin as the #2 team (Howie Schwab) or even the #1 (Andy Glockner). The other voters have UW in the same place as the ESPN poll (#3), with the exception of noted Wisconsin haters Doug Gottlieb and Jay Bilas, who have the Badgers ranked #4 for some inexplicable reason.

And yet it remains my contention that we could be overrated. To be certain, our nation-high 16 game winning streak and 20-1/6-0 in the Big Ten record is phenomenal. I have no doubts we should be ranked as high as we are currently, if not higher. And we are an amazing basketball team. Watching the games in the beginning of the year against even the scrubby schools like UW-Stout, UW-Milwaukee, etc., we still looked amazing. Better than I have seen a basketball team of UW's in the past. They just appear more athletic, poised, and experienced than other teams on the court. And from my courtside seat for the Ohio State game, I could see how players like Tucker, Taylor, Flowers, and yes, even Butch are taking this year very seriously. We outplayed Oden and OSU in that game, and I was nervous about us losing it. Indeed, as I've said to my roommates many times before, this year is Michael Flowers' coming-out party, and we're all invited. He is having a break-out year. Incredibly enough, it is usually his defense, smart, turnover free dribbling and passing, and clutch playmaking ability that has lifted the Badgers out of the small holes or ruts they have occasionally found themselves in in a few games. Sure, sometimes its Tucker doing what he's always done, but more often than not, its the hometown junior. So you might be asking yourself if I'm praising the team with all of the above, how can I think the Badger basketball team is overrated?

Let me rephrase. The basketball our boys are playing right now doesn't make them overrated. But the way we start out slow almost every game is concerning. Our lack of good free throw shooting and tendency to let teams like OSU and Northwestern back into games is concerning. The way we play down to teams like Northwestern is concerning. I know this is the Big Ten, and no wins are going to come easy, especially away from the Kohl Center (even though we're 4-0 on the road this year), but these are the kinds of things that cause teams to lose games late in the season that they otherwise should win. And our schedule is TOUGH the next few days. This is a big couple days for the team, with games at Iowa on Sunday (Noon on CBS), and then at Indiana on Wednesday (7pm on ESPN local). If we get through those two games on the road without our usual shenanigans (bad free throw shooting, playing down, coming out slow, etc.) then I'll feel a lot better about not labeling us as potentially overrated near the end of the season. This is what concerns me the most though, and what I most DO NOT want to see happen -- a Big Ten conference/tournament win, and then a lackluster and flat performance in the tournament in the first or second round and our unceremonious exit from it. It has happened to good teams many times before, and I really hope this isn't our year to be subjected to it.

But I digress. It was at this point that I was thinking about writing a little bit about Wisconsin hockey, but after last night's AWFUL performance (if you can even call it that) against WCHA bottom-feeder Minnesota State-Mankato (they were 2nd to last in the WCHA and we lost to them 3-1 in HORRIBLE fashion at the Kohl Center -- both Olinger and Drewiskie both had penalty minutes, what else is new), I have since thought better of that. Probably because it would just anger me beyond belief, and I kinda want to go into tonight's game against MSU with some semblance of a positive attitude. Either way, so much for us playing better after Christmas -- we might even be playing worse. Good work Mike Eaves. Maybe I'll stay optimistic and hope for us to hit our stride come WCHA tournament time, even though we won't get into the NCAA tournament with a WCHA Final Five win anyway. So, instead of talking hockey, I'm going to bitch about something else -- the Kohl Center's status as a "great" venue to watch college basketball. Actually, I'm not really angry about that distinction per-se (our "old people" are generally better fans than most school's, our facility/amenities are much better, and our record at home practically unmatched), but I AM angry about the distinction of the Grateful Red being an "awesome" student section. I'm sorry to say, but they are anything but. I would almost even put the "Block Party" volleyball student section ahead of the Grateful Red. At least they are more knowledgeable about their sport, and usually more passionate. Then came this article from the Badger Herald on Thursday, which I must say I disagree with wholeheartedly. There is no way the Kohl Center is #2 on that list ahead of the "Izzone" and Assembly Hall. That's a joke. Based on student section alone, Michigan State would have to be the best, followed closely by the "Orange Crush" and Indiana. We're a distance behind them, and maybe even behind Ohio State and Minnesota. One only needs to look to the last game against Michigan for proof. I watched that game on TV (and not in person courtside) and the crowd was BARELY audible. The student section sounded like whispering mice. With the exception of a few "bullshit" chants and the "Hey" song, I heard almost nothing all game. Contrast that with a game at Michigan State or Illinois (or better yet Duke, UNC, or Kansas) and you can hear the students ALL GAME. They are jumping up and down on the sidelines and screaming "oooooo" on the defensive end, chanting all game, and harassing the players with innovative and funny chants. All the Grateful Red comes up with is profanity. And sometimes not even that. I am convinced all we need is a decently large group (10-15 people) of knowledgeable, funny, and most importantly LOUD basketball fans with good student tickets in section 115 row 10 or so to start and lead some new chants during games. And if I wasn't a senior already this year, and if the student section didn't ALREADY stink for basketball and be so good for hockey (I've already found my favorite people/section/chants for a sport, and its not basketball), I might consider doing it. Either that, or students need someone to cheer AGAINST -- meaning an opposing fan in Michigan State green, Ohio State red, etc. Seriously, someone should get on this. Wouldn't that make you the ultimate Badger basketball fan if you came to every game dressed up in the opposing team's colors and cheered stupid and obnoxiously for them just to get the Grateful Red fired up and loud? I know for a fact that would polarize and unite the student section and make them louder than ever. But therein lies the quandry. Are you still a Badger fan if you're dressing up in opposing colors and not cheering for UW every game? A question for the ages, perhaps. I will not ponder it anymore today. Instead, I'll get ready to cheer with a GOOD student section at the hockey game tonight. I bid you all adieu until next time.

January 22, 2007

In the Red Zone, et al

Today marks the first day of spring 2007 classes at the University of Wisconsin - Madison. Being students ourselves -- albeit ones nearing the ends of their collegiate careers -- the current 6 posters (there should be one or two more joining eventually) will still be attempting to maintain daily updates to this blog, but we're not perfect, and various things compete for our attention while we attend this wonderful institution. Jobs, student papers, Greek life, being social, and maybe even a little homework compete for our time, and obviously a blog such as this one may not be first or even 5th on such a priority list. Still, I am confident we Badger Backers can deliver, and who knows, we may even get more organized.

For the time being, I am VERY pleased with how things are going on this blog. Still, we need more content on a daily basis, and I for one hope to make sure that happens. To that end, last week I found myself with nothing to do late one night (it is winter break from classes, after all), and saw a mysterious copy of In the Red Zone: The History of Camp Randall sitting on our shithole of an apartment's coffee table. Intrigued and in a somewhat sober state of mind, I walked into my room and popped it in my computer. I was expecting a crusty, boring historical review of Camp Randall stadium, from its roots as a Civil War training ground and Confederate POW camp to its now modern status as one of the top 25 places to play and watch collegiate football. What I got was far from crusty, and actually kind of interesting. While I knew most of the historical significance of Camp Randall's location, I didn't know details. Indeed, in this documentary, it was the details that were most interesting. For instance, I was unaware the Camp Randall site was a county and state fairground for years, serving as the site for the Wisconsin state fair until well into the 1900s before it moved to the Milwaukee area. I also didn't know the initial stadium was located around where the Engineering Hall and the Engineering sprinkler is located right now, rather than in the opposite southwest corner of the reserved land area. I also didn't know of the bleacher collapse in the old stadium, or the mysterious (to this day it remains unsolved) fire/arson of the old state fair grandstand in 1922. Plus, Camp Randall was used as a training ground and troop deployment area during World War I and II, as I remember. And did you know that in 1957, rather than add costly seating to top of the existing first tier, the university lowered the entire field more than 10 feet and added seats to the bottom of existing areas? It was around 1957 that UW football was hitting the big time, as well, with Alan "The Horse" Ameche winning the Heisman just 3 years before and a 3rd Rose Bowl appearance coming up against USC in 1963. I also knew stories about the dorm rooms in the east side of the stadium -- the so-called "rooms on the 50." I can imagine what a terrible living environment that had to be, but I think it would be totally worth it just for the story to tell your kids later in life. "Hey kids, do you know where I was when Alan Ameche ran in his Heisman winning season? I was sleeping underneath the 50 yard line!" In 1965 the upper deck was added, and in 2002 work began on the now completed renovations to Camp Randall -- including Kellner Hall, two levels of suites, Bucky's Locker Room, and more bathrooms. And while I knew bits and pieces regarding "The Surge" in 1993, I didn't realize how dangerous and crazy it was. I'm amazed no one was killed. And I'm even more amazed it hasn't happened again, especially during a game like Michigan last season or Ohio State in 2004. Having sat in the student section for 4 years now, I don't think the danger of something like that has lessened at all, unless steps were taken that I am unaware of. The student section just often times gets too crazy for its own good (only occasionally), and I can't tell you the number of times I've been pushed into the people in front, behind, or to the side of me during a touchdown, interception, big play, etc. I just hope something like that doesn't happen again because of poor planning or refusing to learn from the past on our part.


Still, Its cool to think about the historical significance of the building I'm sitting in right now, the ground beneath my feet, and the countless Wisconsin athletes who helped to make the football program, the athletic department, and the university itself what it is today. I'm glad I watched the video for that reason alone, but also because it makes me appreciate the facility that much more, and not just take it for granted even when I've spent so much time here. I may not have been around to see "Crazy Legs," "The Horse," or even one of my personal favorites, Rufus Ferguson and his patented "shuffle," but thanks to DVDs like this, I can at least experience them in some capacity. And even if Rufus' shuffle pales in comparison to "The Icky Shuffle" used by Bengals running back Icky Woods in the early 1990s -- immortalized through Tecmo Super Bowl fame, you still gotta love the fact that Wisconsin had a tailback that was that charismatic. Can you imagine Ron Dayne ever doing something like that? Not Brian Calhoun, he's too much of a class act. Anthony Davis probably would've gotten hurt halfway through his form of the shuffle, which probably would've been hyped up to be the greatest thing in the world, been awesome for the first few seconds, then collapsed into a fit of wussy whining and inability to do it in big games or after big touchdowns. Wait, are we still talking about dancing? Hmm...maybe not. What I do know is that I would pay upwards of $100 for PJ Hill to start a new modern-day shuffle. Except I hope his shuffle involves some form of the new crazes to hit dance floors, like "picking up loose change," "my head hurts and my hand is on fire," and "the paint machine." Seriously PJ, make this happen, we beg of you. I mean, someone has to bring that sexy back. YEAH!

January 21, 2007

The new recruits (part I)

Big win for the Badgers yesterday against Illinois. The Big Ten has some of the most intimidating home courts in the nation, with few more daunting than Assembly Hall. I think I heard on Disney’s stepchild station that the Illini are like 102-6 (or I guess 102-7, now) at home over the past seven years or something and that sea of orange deserves a lot of the credit.
So, you got to love the fact that the Badgers went in there and pulled out a tough win. It says a lot about this team.
But I’m a football guy, and with the NFL Conference Championship games going on today, my thoughts quickly turned to that glorious oblong piece of pig. And without any rooting interests in either game other than being anti-hurricane and with national signing day drawing near, I decided it’d be a good time to take a look at the Badgers’ new crop of recruits, especially with their big win in the Artist-Formerly-Known-As-The-Citrus-Bowl fresh in our minds.
Now, there are a lot of recruits to get through (16, so far), so I’m going to split this up into three parts. Here’s part one:

Josh Oglesby, OT
There’s really no other place to start than with Oglesby, the prize of the Badgers’ 2007 recruiting class. This 6-7, 320 lb. man-child is the heir-apparent to everybody’s hero, Joe Thomas, and is expected to anchor the left side of the Badgers’ line for years to come.
And judging from Oglesby on tape, he will. He straight up dominates kids.
Oglesby comes off the ball and just pounds and manhandles any defender that comes in sight. And, unfortunately for many smaller, pubescent high school linebackers in the Milwaukee area, Oglesby is quick enough to get to the second level.
The most impressive thing about Oglesby, though, is not only does he play physically, he seems to want to play physically. He wants to manhandle you. He wants to dominate you. Once he’s finished clobbering some kid, he’s off looking for the next one.
And on every clip I saw, Oglesby blocks and pushes and fights until the whistle. You can just tell he lives to push kids’ shit in.
He’s nasty — and you got to love that if you’re a Badger fan.
My only concern, though, is that Oglesby isn’t very fundamentally sound, yet. He plays high and seems to rely solely on his sheer size and strength when he’s blocking, which is kind of understandable when you realize how ridiculously massive he is.
He doesn’t so much block kids as toss them around like a dog playing with a chew toy. And you have to wonder if he’ll be able to do that when he’s lined up against d-ends and linebackers who are just as big and physical as he is.
But, again…the dude’s 6-7, 320 lbs. and he has a mean streak. So, I’m not too worried about it.
Oglesby might not be the same player as Joey T, who relied on the best fundamentals in college football to dominate his opposition instead of brute strength. But, at first glance, Oglesby looks like he’ll be every bit as dominant.

John Clay, RB
This kid can run the football.
He’s not a sprinter. I’m not saying he can run — I’m saying the kid can run the football.
On tape, Clay shows great vision. He follows his blocks well and once he’s in the open field, he makes smart, quick cuts to turn good runs into game-breakers.
And though he makes some great cuts to get upfield, he’s not afraid to lower his shoulder and level someone.
There’s just not a whole lot not to like…Clay hits the hole hard, follows his blocks well and knows what cuts to make to move the ball downfield.
ESPN also has him listed at 6-2, 220 lb., which is a lot of running back. And a big-time college weight-training program should do him well, making him into a slimmer, but even stronger runner.
My only concern is — just like with any recruit — can he do what he did in high school at the next level?
Clay fights for extra yardage and seems to always fall forward. But, can he do that against Michigan or Ohio State’s linebacker corps?
His size says he probably should. But we’ll just have to wait and see.

Zacchaeus Brown, RB
I’m a little bit confused by Brown.
On tape, this kid looks ridiculously fast. He just blows by defenders. He usually doesn’t even need to use a move or make a cut most of the time — he just switches to that “next” gear and runs around and away from people.
But, then I looked at his reported 40-time on rivals.com and it said “4.6.”
Now, for you and me, that’s pretty fast. But, for a 5-11, 185 lb., D-I running back, that’s not very fast. Obviously, there’s a difference between speed and “football speed,” but from looking at Brown on tape, this kid’s game is straight speed. He makes it to the sideline and then just turns on the jets.
So, needless to say, I’m a little concerned that slower high school competition might have made this kid look better than he actually is.
But, there are still plenty of things to like about Brown.
First of all, he has great balance. Brown is often able to break tackles simply because he always keeps his feet under him. When he gets tripped up, he’s able to regain his balance quickly, and from there, it’s off to the races.
Second of all, he’s shown some great hands. I saw one clip where Brown gets a ball lofted up to him while he’s running up the hash mark, right in the direct line of two defensive backs. He jumps up for the ball, catches it at its highest point, gets rocked and still holds on.
It was only one play, one catch, but it was impressive nonetheless.
So, right now, Brown looks like a potential third-down back down the road, and if he’s as fast as he looks on tape, he should be a pretty good one.
I’m also happy with Brown for another reason: He’s from Florida, which means the Badgers are expanding their recruiting base.
Florida is one of the three so-called “speed states” (the others being California and Texas) and it’s great to see the Badgers starting to plant some seeds in these areas.
It’s because of recruits from these states that the Gators are the Gators, the Trojans are the Trojans, and why the Longhorns are the Longhorns.
It’s not a coincidence that Florida, Texas and USC have won the past four national championships. Just think about where their recruiting bases are.

Quincy Landingham, S
A two-way running back and safety in high school, Landingham, according to ESPN, decommitted from Michigan State after the Spartan’s coaching change, committed to Wisconsin instead, and is probably in Madison right now after graduating early from high school to join the team this spring.
This should work out well for the Badgers for a number of reasons.
First of all, Landingham is smart and, just like quarterbacks, offensive linemen and linebackers, you want your safeties to be smart. According to rivals.com, Landingham graduated early from Bloomfield Hills (MI) Lahser with a 3.8 GPA and scored a 28 on his ACT. So, it’s nice to see that Landingham has a good head on his shoulders.
And he plays smart, too. He has good instincts and seems to always get himself where he needs to be to make a tackle or a play on the ball.
Second of all, Landingham shows a lot of potential to be a good return man for Wisconsin. While watching tape of him run the football, one word consistently came to mind: elusive. Landingham’s fast, he’s shifty and, most importantly for a return guy, he’s able to juke and jive his way out of a crowd and find open field. He’s tough to bring down and he has breakaway speed — just what you want out of a return man.
Third of all, the kid’s an athlete. He has the speed to stay with receivers, the hops to out jump them for the ball and the strength to knock their asses down if he doesn’t get it.
The one thing I’m a little worried about is his tackling. He hits hard and square, but it doesn’t look like he keeps his feet well. They just die and go limp on impact.
It’s just a little thing that’s easily remedied with practice, and to be honest, I’m more impressed that Landingham tackles with his shoulders instead of with his arms, like so many d-backs.
I think Landingham’s going to be a good one for the Badgers.

Kevin Rouse, ILB
The phrase “high-motor” is thrown around a lot these days, but whatever it is, Rouse has it. This kid’s a hustler.
On tape, Rouse consistently fights through blocks and through all the line traffic to get to the football. He takes good angles and he meets the ball carrier at full speed. He has some pop to hits, too, which is always nice to see.
But, the most impressive thing to me about Rouse is that he goes 100 percent every play and he doesn’t quit until it’s over. Caught on the opposite side of sweep play? Doesn’t matter. Rouse is sprinting down the line and making the play. Quarterback bootlegging away from him on a full sprint? Doesn’t matter. Rouse is fighting through blocks, taking a good angle and is there to take him down.
The kid’s also got some speed. Rouse just looks faster than everyone else on tape and he closes on the ball carrier very well.
Right now, Rouse is listed at 6-0, 220 lb., which is fine heading out of high school, but he’s probably going to want to get a little bit bigger so he can fight off centers and fullbacks in the Big Ten. But, that probably shouldn’t be a problem in a big time college weight-training program.
I’m excited to see what this kid can do.

Okay, so that’s all for now. I’ll get to the next batch some other time.

We make winning look bad

Yesterday's men's basketball game was so typical of many of Wisconsin's games, both this year and in past years. All of us watching the game together on TV, complaining about how terrible Wisconsin is playing. It seems like we're getting dominated on the offensive glass (a look at the stats shows we weren't, but it seemed that way), we're not defending their perimeter shooters, we're taking stupid shots, etc. Everyone I talked to about the game focused on how ugly our team looked, and they did look pretty sloppy though much of the game. We did win the game though.

We seem to win a lot of those games. When we look bad, it seems like other teams consistently play down to our level. I don't know enough about the ins and outs of basketball to be able to explain why, but it seems like we must be doing something to make our opponents play sloppy. There's no way we're pulling out all these ugly games on luck alone.

One of Wisconsin's biggest strengths is our ability to win ugly games. Any team can win when their shots are falling and they're doing everything right. But even the best teams have off nights. Wisconsin seems to have a skill for pulling out wins even when they stink up the joint. In the tournament, where one off night can end it, this ability to find a way to win may be huge.

Our football team also has a skill in winning ugly games. Witness our bowl game, in which we seemed to be getting throughly outplayed by Arkansas for large chunks of the game. Stocco seems to be the personification of winning while making it look bad. In three years as a starter, very few Wisconsin fans have found many nice things to say about him except that he did win a lot of games.

Just think of Wisconsin as the Sam Cassell of college sports.

January 20, 2007

Wisconsin vs. Minnesota (Once and for All)

This comparison is current as of the date above.

After having many "arguments" (I put the word in quotes because their side of the debate is flimsy and laughable, at best) with people who come from the lesser state of Minnesota and may or may not attend the questionable university which is located there, I have decided to definitively present the evidence and end the "debate" once and for all. I know Gophers fans will undoubtedly come up with some criticisms of these statistics, rankings, and head to head match-ups, but they are usually either incomprehensible, irrelevant, or just plain stupid. Here, then, let us look at the 20 men's and women's sports both universities have as well as the yearly Border Battle and Director's Cup, broken up into 4 parts. Listed from most to least important in my humble opinion, the first are the "Big 4" that everyone cares about and those sports that get the most media exposure (except for baseball, since UW doesn't have it anymore...*sigh*). Next come "The Middle-Tier" 4, then "The Small Time" 6, and finally "The Who Gives a Shit" 6. In some cases I only calculated post-1990, since that is what I would define as the new "modern" era -- you know, the one I've been alive in. Notice, I gave each sport an amount of categories that are up for grabs, based on what I considered to be more important, nationally recognized sports. Thus, the Border Battle and Director's cups are each worth 15 (with each category being worth 5), Football and Men's Basketball have 13, Men's Hockey and Volleyball 11, "The Middle-Tier" 4 are each worth 7, and the last "Small Time" and "Who Gives a Shit" 12 sports are worth just 5 points each). Without further ado, then, lets take a look at the numbers and considerations:

Part 1: Border Battle, Director's Cup, and "The Big" 4

  • Border Battle (yearly competition for points in every sport)
    • All-time record: 1-1 [PUSH]
    • Current points: 225-95 [UW]
    • Total Point Differential: 810-830 [UM]
    • Notes: We won the competition in its first year 235-205, they won it last year 350-530.
    • Edge: 5-5-5 [PUSH]
  • NACDA Director's Cup (yearly competition that awards points based on each US university's finishes in up to 20 sports, 10 for men and 10 for women, and each national champion receives 100 points)
    • All-time record (times UW has been ranked higher vs. times UM has): 6-7 [UM]
    • Current Rankings: UW - Tied for #4 | UM - #28 [UW]
    • Top 25 Finishes: UW - 10 | UM - 12 [UM]
    • Edge: 5-10 [UM]
  • Football
    • All-time record: 49-59-8 [UM]
    • Record since 1990: 13-5 [UW]
    • Battle for Paul Bunyan's Axe record: 32-23-3 [UW]
    • Current Rankings: UW - #7/5 | UM - NR/NR [UW]
    • Heisman Trophy Winners: UW - 1 | UM - 0 [UW]
    • Consensus All-America Selections: UW - 20 | UM - 33 [UM]
    • First Team All-Big Ten Selections: UW - 181 | UM - 174 [UW]
    • Bowl Records: UW - 10-8 | UM - 5-6 [UW]
    • Top 25 Finishes since 1990: UW - 7 | UM - 0 [UW]
    • Big Ten Conference Championships: UW - 11 | UM - 18 [UM]
    • Rose Bowl Wins: UW - 3 | UM - 1 [UW]
    • National Championships: UW - 0 | | UM - 6 [UM]
    • Intangibles: The disheartening losses in the battle for Paul Bunyan's axe in the last few years, including in 2005 ("you're not coming into my kitchen and cooking for free" -- notorious Wisconsin-hater Lou Holtz calls the game in favor of UM, when suddenly a B-Will touchdown, blocked punt, and UM fumble give us the game) and 2006 (an utterly dominating performance by our team on both sides of the ball at Camp Randall); the fact that UM currently is without a coach (Glen Mason was fired just before new years); the absolute atrocity of watching a game in the off-campus Metrodome (a situation that will mercifully be remedied in 2009 when TCF Bank Stadium opens on campus); the clearly superior fan base and marching band of Wisconsin, including traditions like Varsity, Jump Around, etc. [UW]
    • Notes: All 6 of UM's national championships came before 1962, with most of them won in the decidedly un-modern 1930s and 40s.
    • Edge: 9-4 [UW]
  • Men's Basketball
    • All-time record: 84-97 [UM]
    • Record since 1990: 18-13 [UW]
    • Current Rankings: UW - #2/3| UM - NR/NR [UW]
    • Consensus All-America Selections: UW - 6 | UM - 3 [UW]
    • First Team All-Big Ten Selections: UW - 53 | UM - 31 [UW]
    • Top 25 Finishes since 1990: UW - 6 | UM - 2 [UW]
    • Big Ten Conference Championships: UW - 16 | UM - 8 [UW]
    • Big Ten Tournament Championships: UW - 1 | UM - 0 [UW]
    • NCAA Tournament Appearances since 1990: UW - 10 | UM - 3 [UW]
    • Sweet 16 Appearances since 1990: UW - 3 | UM - 1 [UW]
    • Final 4 Appearances since 1990: UW - 1 | UM - 0 [UW]
    • National Championships: UW - 1 | UM - 0 [UW]
    • Intangibles: As with football, UM currently has no coach, after Dan Monson's "resignation" (a nicer word for what really happened -- him being fired) and Jim Molinari's appointment as interim coach; Williams Arena (aka the "Barn"), UM's home court since 1928, is rich in history but woefully outdated -- the facility only has a capacity of 14,625, compared to the modern Kohl Center's 17,142. [UW]
    • Notes: Both of UM's top 25 finishes since 1990 occurred during the period between 1993-1999, when, under coach Clem Haskins, it was later revealed certain student athletes were ineligible due to NCAA rules violations. This was UM's second use of ineligible players -- in the 1977-78 season, the NCAA declared all UM games forfeits and the Big 10 lists the Gophers' record that year as 0-27 and 0-18 in conference.
    • Edge: 12-1 [UW]
  • Men's Hockey
    • All-time record: 78-144-15 [UM]
    • Record since 1990: 21-44-5 [UM]
    • Current Rankings: UW - NR/NR| UM - #1/1 [UM]
    • Hobey Baker Memorial Award Winners: UW - 0 | UM - 4 [UM]
    • AHCA First Team All-America Selections: UW - 25 | UM - 35 [UM]
    • First Team All-WCHA Selections: UW - 25 | UM -47 [UM]
    • WCHA Conference Championships (MacNaughton Cup): UW - 3 | UM - 11 [UM]
    • WCHA Playoff Championship (Broadmoor Trophy): UW - 11 | UM - 13 [UM]
    • NCAA Tournament Appearances since 1990: UW - 12 | UM - 14 [UM]
    • Frozen Four Appearances since 1990: UW - 3 | UM - 4 [UM]
    • National Championships: UW - 6 | UM - 5 [UW]
    • Intangibles: While the tradition of UM hockey is truly unmatched by any team in the country, it has long been known throughout college hockey circles that the student sections and fans at places like Cornell and Wisconsin (the Crease Creatures) far outmatch their strangely quieter counterparts at UM's Mariucci Arena. Furthermore, Mariucci itself -- while a great facility in its own right -- is severely outmatched by UW's Kohl Center -- Mariucci has a capacity of 10,000 and is 13 years old already, while UW leads the nation in attendance every year with a capacity of 14,000 in its relatively modern (9 years old) facility. [UW]
    • Edge: 2-9 [UM]
  • Volleyball
    • All-time record: 25-34 [UM]
    • Record since 1990: 19-15 [UW]
    • Current Rankings: UW - #10/11 | UM - #6/8 [UM]
    • AVCA/NCAA All-America Selections: UW - 9 | UM - 4 [UW]
    • First Team All-Big Ten Selections: UW - 31 | UM - 37 [UM]
    • AVCA Top 25 Finishes since 1990: UW - 12 | UM - 7 [UW]
    • Big Ten Conference Championships: UW - 4 | UM - 2 [UW]
    • NCAA Tournament Appearances since 1990: UW - 14 | UM - 11 [UW]
    • Final 4 Appearances since 1990: UW - 1 | UM - 2 [UM]
    • National Championships: UW - 0 | UM - 0 [PUSH]
    • Intangibles: While UW's Field House is one of the oldest volleyball venues in the country (it was dedicated in 1930), it is also one of the largest and most steeped in tradition, with a capacity of 11,500; Wisconsin is consistently among the leaders in the country in attendance, being ranked 3rd in 2004 with a total of 69,350 and an average of 4,079; The Field House was also home to the largest collegiate volleyball crowd in history when 13,194 attended the NCAA final in 1998; UW has led the Big Ten in attendance for 10 straight years, including the last 7 years in a row; UM ranked 3rd nationally in attendance last year and has been in the top 10 for the last 7 years, but both numbers come up short when compared to UW; UM's Sports Pavilion only seats 5,700, while UW's Block Party student section is among the largest and most dedicated in the country. [UW]
    • Notes: The UM media guide lists the volleyball team's all-time record against UW as 30-28 + UM's 2 wins this year = 32-28. Not sure why this discrepancy exists, but take it for what you will.
    • Edge: 6-4-1 [UW]
Total (part 1): 39-33-6 [UW]

Part 2: "The Middle-Tier" 4
  • Wrestling
    • All-time record: 35-52-1 [UM]
    • Record since 1990: 5-11 [UM]
    • Current Rankings: UW - #15/17 | UM - #1/1 [UM]
    • Team Big Ten Conference Championships: UW - 0 | UM - 9 [UM]
    • Individual Big Ten Conference Championships: UW - 63 | UM - 81 [UM]
    • Team National Championships: UW - 0 | UM - 2 [UM]
    • Individual National Championships: UW - 16 | UM - 18 [UM]
    • Notes: UM also leads in All-Big Ten selections, which I left out.
    • Edge: 0-7 [UM]
  • Women's Basketball
    • All-time record: 28-27 [UW]
    • Record since 1990: 17-12 [UW]
    • Consensus All-America Selections: UW - 0 | UM - 4 [UM]
    • First Team All-Big Ten Selections: UW - 11 | UM - 9 [UW]
    • Top 25 Finishes since 1990: UW - 0 | UM - 4 [UM]
    • NCAA Tournament Appearances since 1990: UW - 6 | UM - 5 [UW]
    • Final 4 Appearances since 1990: UW - 0 | UM - 1 [UM]
    • Notes: I left out current rankings because neither team is currently ranked, as well as national championships since neither team has won any, and Big Ten Conference championships for the same reason. I also left out Sweet 16 appearances, which UM has more of than UW by a margin of 3 to 0. 3 out of 4 of UM's consensus All-Americans played prior to 1990, with Carol Ann Shudlick in 1994 being the lone "modern" All-American.
    • Edge: 4-3 [UW]
  • Women's Hockey
    • All-time record: 12-24-3 [UM]
    • Current Rankings: UW - #2/2 | UM - #7/7 [UW]
    • First Team All-WCHA Selections: UW - 10 | UM - 15 [UW]
    • WCHA Championships: UW - 1 | UM - 4 [UM]
    • NCAA Tournament Appearances: UW - 2 | UM - 4 [UM]
    • Frozen Four Appearances: UW - 1 | UM - 5 [UM]
    • National Championships: UW - 1 | UM - 3 [UM]
    • Notes: I left out record since 1990 since UW first began its women's hockey program in 1999. For that reason, I threw out any records UM had prior to 1999 (in 1998 and 1997) for fairness reasons. The other things left out were: the Patty Kazmaier Award (top female hockey player), since UW and UM both have 1 winner -- Sara Bauer in 2006 and Krissy Wendell in 2005, respectively; First Team All-America Selections (because there are 3 separate bodies in the AHCA, JOFA, and CCM that have their own lists and the UW/UM media guides don't use the same organization to calculate their All-Americans; and Frozen Four appearances, which UM leads 5-1 over UW.
    • Edge: 2-5 [UM]
  • Softball
    • All-time record: 13-9 [UW]
    • First Team All-Big Ten Selections: UW - 2 | UM - 7 [UM]
    • First Team All-America Selections: UW - 0 | UM - 2 [UM]
    • Big Ten Championships: UW - 0 | UM - 0 [PUSH]
    • Big Ten Tournament Championships: UW - 0 | UM - 1 [UM]
    • NCAA Tournament Appearances since 1995: UW - 6 | UM - 5 [UW]
    • National Championships: UW - 0 | UM - 0 [PUSH]
    • Notes: I calculated everything from 1995-on since that is the first year UW established softball. Any records prior to 1995 I threw out for fairness considerations. I left out current rankings since neither team was ranked last year nor ranked in this year's preseason softball polls. The UM media guide lists their softball team's overall record vs. UW as 9-11. Not sure why this discrepancy exists, either. I also left out top 25 finishes since 1995, since neither team had achieved this feat.
    • Edge: 2-3-2 [UM]
Total (part 2): 8-18-2 [UM]
Total (parts 1 + 2): 47-51-8 [UM]

Part 3: "The Small-Time" 6
  • Men's Track & Field
    • Individual Big Ten Championships: UW - 406 | UM - 170 [UW]
    • Team Big Ten Championships: UW - 35 | UM - 6 [UW]
    • NCAA Tournament Appearances: UW - 90 | UM - 70 [UW]
    • Individual National Championships: UW - 27 | UM - 12 [UW]
    • Team National Championships: UW - 0 | UM - 1 [UM]
    • Notes: For team Big Ten and National championships, I added together indoor and outdoor totals to arrive at each number. I left out all-time record and record since 1990 since Big Ten track doesn't face off against each other. I also left out first team selections in the Big Ten and All-America, as well as current rankings and times finished in the top 25.
    • Edge: 4-1 [UW]
  • Women's Track & Field
    • Individual Big Ten Championships: UW - 163 | UM - 51 [UW]
    • Team Big Ten Championships: UW - 15 | UM - 1 [UW]
    • NCAA Tournament Appearances: UW - 44 | UM - 27 [UW]
    • Individual National Championships: UW - 33 | UM - 1 [UW]
    • Team National Championships: UW - 0 | UM - 0 [PUSH]
    • Notes: I left out the same things as with men's track & field for the same reasons and to be fair and for issues of similarity. I got the numbers the same way as well, by adding together the indoor and outdoor seasons.
    • Edge: 4-0-1 [UW]
  • Men's Cross-Country
    • Individual Big Ten Championships: UW - 25 | UM - 7 [UW]
    • Team Big Ten Championships: UW - 39 | UM - 4 [UW]
    • NCAA Tournament Appearances: UW - 45 | UM - 17 [UW]
    • Individual National Championships: UW - 4 | UM - 0 [UW]
    • Team National Championships: UW - 4 | UM - 0 [UW]
    • Notes: I used the same system as for track & field, except here I didn't have to add indoor and outdoor since there is only one season in cross-country.
    • Edge: 5-0 [UW]
  • Women's Cross-Country
    • Individual Big Ten Championships: UW - 10 | UM - 1 [UW]
    • Team Big Ten Championships: UW - 13 | UM - 0 [UW]
    • NCAA Tournament Appearances: UW - 20 | UM - 9 [UW]
    • Individual National Championships: UW - 3 | UM - 0 [UW]
    • Team National Championships: UW - 2 | UM - 0 [UW]
    • Notes: Same system as for track & field and men's cross-country.
    • Edge: 5-0 [UW]
  • Women's Soccer
    • All-time record: 10-7 [UW]
    • First Team All-Big Ten selections: UW - 17 | UM - 16 [UW]
    • Big Ten Championships: UW - 1 | UM - 2 [UM]
    • Big Ten Tournament Championships: UW - 2 | UM - 1 [UW]
    • NCAA Tournament Appearances: UW - 14 | UM - 5 [UW]
    • Notes: I left out national championships because neither team had any, although UW did take 1 second place and 1 third place, while UM has zero across the board. I also left out record since 1990, since the first year of Big Ten women's soccer was 1994 (although the two teams did play prior to 1994). I also left out current rankings and first team All-America selections because there are multiple organizations which award All-Americans and each athletic program doesn't always recognize the same ones.
    • Edge: 4-1 [UW]
  • Women's Rowing
    • All-time record: 5-1 [UW]
    • Current rankings: UW - #10 | UM - #12 [UW]
    • First Team All-Big Ten selections: UW - 10 | UM - 7 [UW]
    • CRCA First Team All-America selections: UW - 1 | UM - 0 [UW]
    • NCAA Championship Appearances: UW - 3 | UM - 1 [UW]
    • Notes: This is normal weight rowing, not women's lightweight rowing, which UW won the national championship in last year. Since Big Ten rowing didn't begin until 2000, I didn't calculate record since 1990. Even though in rowing teams don't directly compete against each other 1 on 1, I calculated the all-time record by comparing the number of times UW finished higher than UM in the Big Ten standings (since 2001, since UM didn't join the Big Ten in rowing until then) with the number of times UM finished higher, much like the way I did it for the Director's Cup all-time record. I also left out top 25 finishes since 1990, and Big Ten and National Championships, since each team has none.
    • Edge: 5-0 [UW]
Total (part 3): 27-2-1 [UW]
Total (parts 1 + 2 + 3): 74-53-9 [UW]

Part 4: "The Who Gives a Shit" 6

  • Men's Tennis
    • All-time record: 48-58-3 [UM]
    • Record since 1990: 6-14 [UM]
    • First Team All-America selections: UW - 0 | UM - 8 [UM]
    • Individual Big Ten Championships: UW - 4 | UM - 15 [UM]
    • Team Big Ten Championships: UW - 0 | UM - 4 [UM]
    • Notes: I left out individual and team national championships, because neither team had any. I also left off first team all Big Ten selections, top 25 finishes, and current rankings because neither team was ranked in the top 25 at the end of last year (Minnesota was ranked #35 in the final ITA).
    • Edge: 0-5 [UM]
  • Women's Tennis
    • All-time record: 34-12 [UW]
    • Record since 1990: 14-3 [UW]
    • First Team All-America selections: UW - 0 | UM - 0 [PUSH]
    • Individual Big Ten Championships: UW - 0 | UM - 0 [PUSH]
    • Team Big Ten Championships: UW - 1 | UM - 0 [UW]
    • Notes: I left out the same things as I did for men's tennis, for mostly the same reasons and for issues of similarity.
    • Edge: 3-0-2 [UW]
  • Men's Golf
    • Individual Big Ten Championships: UW - 4 | UM - 8 [UM]
    • Team Big Ten Championships: UW - 3 | UM - 6 [UM]
    • NCAA Tournament Appearances: UW - 13 | UM - 27 [UM]
    • Individual National Championships: UW - 0 | UM - 2 [UM]
    • Team National Championships: UW - 0 | UM - 1 [UM]
    • Edge: 0-5 [UM]
  • Women's Golf
    • Individual Big Ten Championships: UW - 0 | UM - 2 [UM]
    • Team Big Ten Championships: UW - 1 | UM - 1 [PUSH]
    • NCAA Tournament Appearances: UW - 1 | UM - 1 [PUSH]
    • Individual National Championships: UW - 0 | UM - 0 [PUSH]
    • Team National Championships: UW - 0 | UM - 0 [PUSH]
    • Edge: 0-1-5 [UM]
  • Men's Swimming & Diving
    • Individual Big Ten Championships: UW - 41 | UM - 120 [UM]
    • Team Big Ten Championships: UW - 0 | UM - 8 [UM]
    • NCAA Tournament Appearances: UW - 37 | UM - 42 [UM]
    • Individual National Championships: UW - 2 | UM - 16 [UM]
    • Team National Championships: UW - 0 | UM - 0 [PUSH]
    • Notes: Individual Big Ten and national championships include: swimming, diving, and relay events.
    • Edge: 0-4-1 [UM]
  • Women's Swimming & Diving
    • Individual Big Ten Championships: UW - 42 | UM - 62 [UM]
    • Team Big Ten Championships: UW - 0 | UM - 2 [UM]
    • NCAA Tournament Appearances: UW - 15 | UM - 21 [UM]
    • Individual National Championships: UW - 0 | UM - 1 [UM]
    • Team National Championships: UW - 0 | UM - 0 [PUSH]
    • Notes: Individual Big Ten and national championships include: swimming, diving, and relay events.
    • Edge: 0-4-1 [UM]
Total (part 4): 3-19-9 [UM]

Grand Total (parts 1 - 4): 77-72-18 [UW]

January 19, 2007

Northwestern, we are the shit

For those of you who don't know me, a long-standing tradition of mine has been to hate on my very own Wisconsin Badger men's basketball team. It's not that I prefer to cheer for other teams instead, (although most people who know me will tell you my sports allegiances are erratic at best) but rather I find our style of play to be somewhat boring. Before I continue, I will have all of you know that, all things considered, I am a Wisconsin Badger fan above all else so don't be disillusioned by my posts on this blog.

Well, on to the matter at hand then. Before our basketball season began this year I held my usual position of "we're not the 7th best team in the nation" and other viewpoints that would likely be considered anti-Wisconsin hoops when discussing the prospects for our team with my roommates/friends. During our conversation I made a deal that I would whole-heartedly support our basketball team if we could beat Northwestern in Evanston on January 13th. I chose this game because, as many of you likely know, Wisconsin has a robust tradition of losing in Evanston to teams that have no business being on the same court/field/track/lake/pool/etc. as us.

Much to my surprise something happened in between our wager and the Northwestern game...I actually started to like our basketball team. I found their play to be exciting (sans our fleet of under-achieving, over-rated big white boys) and their winning to be amazing. So as I watched our game against Northwestern this past week I was torn. On the one hand I really wanted to show up all my roommates by correctly predicting what would appear to be a massive upset to the untrained eye. On the other hand, my new-found love for Wisconsin basketball (and the fact that I attend this fine institution) compelled me to cheer on our squad. Well, wouldn't you know it, we actually won!

To make a long story short, I hereby profess my undying allegiance to the Wisconsin men's basketball team...until next year.

ON WISCONSIN!