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.