Can you guess today’s theme? Not just Pitt, but the same for Wisconsin.
The Badgers are 10-1, the best start of Bo Ryan’s five seasons. Considering just four of the team’s 15 players are upperclassmen, it’s possible that this team has grown more over the pre-conference season than any he has had at Wisconsin.
That doesn’t mean there aren’t concerns six days before they open the Big Ten season against Iowa at home. The team’s free throw shooting has been shaky at times, especially Tucker’s. Its defense has been, as Ryan likes to say, “a work in progress” although the team has made strides in that department in the past month.
The Badgers also have little experience playing on the road. They lost their lone road game, 91-88, at Wake Forest Nov. 29.
That’s why this evening is so important.
At 5 p.m., the Badgers, ranked No. 24 by the Associated Press and No. 22 in the coaches’ poll, play at Pittsburgh, a 10-0 team ranked 23rd by the coaches. The game should provide a much-needed test for both teams. Wisconsin gets to play at the Petersen Events Center where the Panthers have won 56 of 61 games. Pitt gets a ranked opponent after playing a schedule that, according to collegerpi.com, ranks 235th out of 334 teams.
(For those confused about the starting time, remember that Wisconsin is in the Central Time Zone. The game is still 6pm Eastern.)
The CollegeRPI SOS is accurate, but does not include the Wednesday game against South Carolina. With basketball regular season barely 1/3 of the way through, that is a big omission. It actually raised Pitt’s SOS by around 40-45 spots. Smaller sample sizes create wider variances.
As I was saying, the theme is “testing”:
Saturday, we should find out how physical the Badgers really are. They’ve only played one team anywhere near their skill level this season and that was Wake Forest, a team that doesn’t mind a game of strength, but would rather deliver body blows with fluid combinations of three-pointers and fast breaks.
While strength was an asset for the Badgers last season, Pittsburgh has been among the most physical programs in recent seasons, especially on defense.
Saturday’s game should be a good measuring stick for both teams. It is also an excellent scouting opportunity for Marquette coaches and fans. The Eagles will face the Panthers twice this season and should get an idea of how strong Jamie Dixon’s undefeated group is on Saturday prior to New Years’ eve gatherings.
And though Pittsburgh’s calling card remains rough, tough and tumble play, the point guards could be the difference in the game.
Not to mention give Pitt a good idea of how it stacks up against Marquette and the rest of the Big East. Marquette lost to Wisconsin earlier in the season, but beat South Carolina at the Great Alaskan Shoot-out. Right now Marquette is probably right in the middle of the Big East, and this will help indicate whether Pitt is right within the orbit or slightly higher.
Draft Express also goes with the testing concept.
WISCONSIN AT PITTSBURGH. Pittsburgh is undefeated on the season, but was really only tested once and that was in their game at South Carolina. This game will teach us more about how good a team they really are. Wisconsin has played a much tougher out of conference schedule. They are 10-1 on the year with their only loss being a close one to Wake Forest. They have some pretty good wins against top tier teams from lower level conferences, which may not sound impressive because they don’t have big names, but they are still good basketball teams that aren’t easy to beat. This would be a huge win for the Badgers as well if they could pull this off. Perhaps their best win of the year so far.
How obvious is the theme? Even Dick Vitale picked up on it.
Speaking of Pittsburgh, we’re going to find out a lot about Jamie Dixon’s club when they go against Bo Ryan’s Badgers. With Carl Krauser in the backcourt, an improved Aaron Gray up front, and the Zoo rooting on the Panthers, this should be a thriller. Diaper dandy Sam Young had 16 points in a big win at South Carolina earlier in the week. If Levon Kendall can play as well as he did against the United States over the summer in international play, Dixon has the potential to smile this season.
I know everyone is really tired of hearing Kendall’s performance over the summer. So am I. Problem is, we haven’t heard the last of it because Pitt has yet to start playing on ESPN. All of those announcing crews have to have their chance to talk about it.
There’s something of an incongruity when it comes to Pitt — and this applies to any team that has played a rather soft schedule — everyone is arguing that they are overrated, yet if Wisconsin beats them it is a big win. This, despite the fact that Wisconsin is actually ranked slightly above Pitt — and no one is claiming Wisconsin is overrated.
So as a service, here are the advanced spins from the national college basketball punditcracy.
If Pitt wins: A good win for Pitt, but it was at home; and they have played such a cupcake, home-laden schedule leading up to the game that they still should be punished and ridiculed for it. No real harm to Wisconsin who went on the road against a very good team.
If Wisconsin wins: A big win for Wisconsin on the road against a team that rarely loses at home. Shows how a good non-con can prepare a team (even if they barely left their home court all through the non-con). Pitt will have a tough loss that they had coming because they just weren’t prepared for the step-up in competition because of their lousy non-con and not testing themselves.
Now I’m not saying there aren’t some kernels of truth in there, but this is how you can expect to see the storylines.
Naturally one of the themes that will be heard on any broadcast of the game today will be the 2004 meeting of the teams in the NCAA. If you need a refresher you can find my recap here, along with the media recap. The great advantage of the blog is you can check responsespsonses and reactions at the time rather than memory-addled rewinds.
Wisconsin’s Greg Stiemsma gets a puff piece in one of the Wisconsin papers. He had five blocks against Louisiana Tech, and is part of the troika of big men inside for the Badgers. Bo Ryan, Wisconsin’s head coach, gets a puff piece in the context of looking at tonight’s game — aided in part by the fact that Ryan has a PA connection of being from Chester.
That’s why Ryan believes tonight’s game is crucial to both teams, and says playing the Panthers will help prepare the Badgers for Big Ten play.
“Pitt is a tough team, they are obviously playing very well right now,” Ryan said. “They’ve had a lot of success over the years and they’ve made their building a tough place to play. I think both teams could use a big win to get them jump-started for the conference schedule. It will be a tough game, but we’ve just got to make sure we do the things that made us successful to this point.”
Pitt of course, wants a win and end the year the right way.
“This is going to be my first experience playing against a team like this,” Young said. “This is going to be the best team we’ve played thus far. But we’ve worked hard and practiced hard. We had a good practice (Friday), and I think we’re ready.”
The Pitt defense, which has been stingy all season, will be severely tested by a Wisconsin lineup that features three players that are at least 6-10. Alando Tucker, a 6-6 forward, leads three double-figure scorers for the Badgers with an average of 17.5 points per game.
After allowing 71 points in a season-opening victory over St. Peter’s, Pitt has limited its past nine opponents to 60 points or less. The Panthers are yielding an average of only 54.6 points per game.
Both teams have the ability to play slow-down. Pitt coach Jamie Dixon said Wisconsin’s style would be a continuation of what the Panthers saw in South Carolina, when Pitt scored the least amount of first-half points this year.
But, he said, while South Carolina presented a sizeable lineup inside in 6-11 Brandon Wallace and 6-8 Renaldo Balkman, Wisconsin possesses a “completely different” player in the middle.
“These guys don’t put the ball down on the floor,” Dixon said, referring to 6-11 Brian Butch, 6-10 Jason Chappell and 6-11 reserve Greg Stiemsma. “They’re bigger, stronger, wider. But they’re not as athletic.”
Against Louisiana Tech, Butch registered game highs in points (18), rebounds (10) and assists (5) and a career high in blocks (3), while Stiemsa had a career-high five blocks to go with five points and four rebounds off the bench.
Wisconsin killed Louisiana Tech 78-52. This is a team that likes to score. They had one game where they didn’t score at least 71 points or more (a 54-51 win over UNC-Wilmington). According to the numbers, this is one of the most efficient teams on offense. They don’t commit a lot of turnovers, and they do a good job with each possession. The game should be something since Pitt is one of the most efficient defenses in the country.
Yeah, it’s safe to say the wife is going to be pissed at me for wanting to listen to this game on New Year’s Eve. But I don’t see how I can not.
