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.

No comments: