Lame

The 'Cuse appears to so far be 1-1 in the new unis, beating UConn yesterday and losing to Notre Dame today. About their expected performance level. However, the tops are nowhere near skin tight, as you can see below. They are definitely tighter than normal tank top jerseys, but they do not hug the torso. That is lame. The new unis are now far less amusing than previously hoped. If anyone sees anything different on Arizona, Florida or Ohio A&M, that is, notices that their jersey tops are legitimate second skins, let me know.

What do Ohio A&M, Syracuse, Florida, and Rafael Nadal Have in Common?

They're all contractually committed to wearing short pants!
How is Ohio A&M going to make the Final Four wearing bloomers and skin tight tops? Do the 'Cuse and Ohio A&M think this new look will help them recruit European players? Or score European women on off-season trips? Won't the skin tight tops accentuate the love handles on Ohio A&M's Terwilliger or the scary twigginess of Corey Brewer? Hilarious. I may chart the performance of the applicable teams--the 'Cuse, Arizona, Florida, and Ohio A&M--after their imposition of said ridiculous uniforms. I promise to provide updates.
And who knows, given Nadal's record, particularly on clay, maybe there's something to the man capris:

Alando vs. the All-Father

There seems to be some debate among the media and the various coaching fraternities about who's the Big Ten's MVP for this past college basketball season. Specifically, several stories have come out today claiming great consternation between the choice of Alando Tucker and Greg Oden as league MVP. My response-- are you kidding me? Have people forgotten that the "V" in MVP stands for "Valuable"?

Ohio State (originally known as Ohio A&M College), was 6-1 without Oden, the only loss being a competitive nine point defeat at the home stadium of the semi-pro team known as North Carolina. With Oden, they certainly improved their interior defense and rebounding. But I believe that even if Oden had missed the entire season, Ohio State would still be no worse than second in the Big Ten. Look back at their schedule. Maybe they lose at home to Michigan State and lose the second Wisconsin game. In non-conference play, they probably lose to Tennessee (Oden had a huge game in that one). That's three more losses, two more conference losses. I don't see what other games they lose without Oden. Their only match-up against Indiana, a seven point win? Debatable--Othello Hunter is a good interior player, certainly good enough to bother D.J. White. They'd still lose to Florida and still lose at Wisconsin. No way that Penn State beats them either time, regardless of how close the games appeared. A final loss at Michigan? Maybe, but given Michigan's horrid record in the clutch, also very debatable. So without Oden, I am very comfortable estimating that Ohio A&M would be 24-6, 13-3 in the conference, tying for best record overall, but losing the first tiebreaker to Wisconsin after getting beat twice.

Now where would Wisconsin be without Tucker? Lets see-- losing to Marquette on the road in December (28 points, 5 boards), losing to Pitt at home in December (32 points, 10 boards), and losing at home to Winthrop in November (21 points in a 3 point OT win), and likely losing on the road at Georgia (29 points, 8 boards in a hard fought ten point win). That's three more certain non-conference losses, and probably a fourth as well. During the regular season, with no Tucker, the Badgers would have lost at Nortwestern (Wisconsin was down at the half, struggled the entire game,and only Tucker's inspired play in the second half allowed UW to pull that out--17 points, in the second half, 8 rebounds), lost at home to Ohio State (17 points, 6 rebounds in a narrow win), lost at Illinois (17 points, 8 boards, plus a clutch offensive rebound and falling down assist late in the game), lost at Minnesota (29 points, 9 rebounds in a closer-than-it-looked 13 point win), and lost at home to Michigan State (26 points, exactly half of Wisconsin's total points). Do people not realize that Alando is Wisconsin's only player who can consistently create offensive opportunities? Kammron is a good jump-shooter, but only a decent penetrator. When he drives, he relies more on getting fouled than getting to the basket. Butch, until he dislocated his elbow, was a good jump shooter and a decent low post threat, although not against athletic defenders. Alando can post people up, hit turnarounds from the wing, drive to the basket, hit three pointers (although not that consistently), and finishes around the basket like no one else on the team. And when asked, he can rebound like a power forward. Simply put, he is the most athletic player on the team, the best leader, and the best scorer. It's like if you combined Brett Petway's athleticism, Carl Landry's scoring ability and Mateen Cleaves' leadership. The Badgers would likely be 8-8 in the league without Alando, and would have had at least 3 more non-conference losses, making them a 19-11 team. With that type of a record, I doubt they would even be ranked. But look at where Tucker has taken Wisconsin--ranked fourth in the nation, 13 league wins (a school record) and 27 regular season wins (another school record).

Alando is a once in a decade player for Wisconsin-- a freakishly athletic and skilled fifth-year senior who is still around only due to injuries and a perceived lack of fit in the NBA. Oden is a ferociously talented player with uncanny defensive timing, who Ohio State is borrowing for two seasons at the most. He's a fine rebounder, his offensive game is improving, and he closes the lane on defense. In fact, there's a strong argument to be made that he should be Defensive Player of the Year in the Big Ten. But there's no way he's the most valuable player in the league, because his value to his Ohio A&M pales in comparison to Tucker's value to Wisconsin. Hell, Oden's not even the most valuable player on Ohio State.

Conley should beat him out for Big Ten freshman of the year hands down. Conley broke the Ohio State single season record for assists, and lead the league in the category. He led the league in assist to turnover ratio. He led the league in steals. He's the best dribble penetrator in the Big Ten. He beat Michael Flowers, Wisconsin's best defender and one of the best defensive guards in the league, off the dribble on the most important possession of the season when Flowers knew he'd be driving. But even then, Flowers couldn't stay in front of him. After getting by Michael, Conley hit a runner with his right (non-shooting hand) to win the game and the regular season championship. And he did all of this playing point guard, the game's most mentally demanding position. And that play was typical of his performance throughout the season. Conley consistently made important plays down the stretch to win games, like Saturday's game against Michigan. Anyone who votes for Oden as freshman of the year over Conley isn't thinking straight.

Thus, I think it's unambiguous, even though Oden's team accomplished more, Tucker is far, far more valuable to Wisconsin than Oden was to Ohio State. Without Tucker, Wisconsin is like Illinois this year-- a good defensive team that can't score, and is stuck in the middle of the Big Ten pack. Without Oden, Ohio State is still one of the best teams in the league. And Oden isn't even the most valuable player, or the most valuable freshman on his own team. Conley is.

So, Dear Media and Coaches: look at what happened, think about which player was really the most valuable, and make the right decision. Given the growing attention given to talented high school players, part of our national obsession with "the next big thing," Oden has the hype behind him. But Tucker got the results. As Public Enemy memorably said, "don't believe the hype."

Green Issues

So the Badgers' two point victory over Michigan State was certainly exciting, especially right at the end. It had been a rough stretch for Kam--struggling with his shooting against Sparty the first time around, missing that front end of the one and one at Ohio A&M; and because of those two losses seeing our shot at a Big Ten title go down the dumper. Thus, I was heavily relieved and elated and surprised actually to see him hit that shot. My hopes were low on that possession, especially after he missed an easier jump shot the previous time up the floor. (Did anyone recall how that first shot by the free throw line that Kam missed was almost exactly the same shot that he made to beat Sparty two years ago?). A great shot for the team, and for everyone's spirits after struggling through the roughest stretch of the season. And again, for Kam, that was a wonderful way to end your last ever home game.

However, as noted in this article in the Trib, we didn't play particularly well offensively. The article discusses the recent three game stretch where we've struggled on offense, losing two out of three. The Trib piece does neglect to mention that MSU and Ohio A&M are excellent defensive teams, two of the four best defenses in the Big Ten, alongside us and Illinois. Just before this MSU, O A&M, MSU stretch, we sliced and diced Penn State to smithereens, playing wonderful offense. But even with MSU's defensive prowess, you would have hoped, as I did, that facing MSU for the second time in 11 days with plenty of time to prepare, would have led us to have a little bit of a better performance. Maybe it was lacking Butch for the first time (Stiemsma and Landry both got in pretty quick foul trouble in the first half), maybe it was Flowers over focusing on his defensive assignment, or Kam (until the end, thankfully) having a poor shooting night. Oh, and after seeing Chappell barely hit the rim on two jump shots, I guess I'll stop calling for him to shoot. Whatever the cause, UW was not putting the ball in the hole like it can. I guess you give Sparty credit for playing good tough defense. And to be honest, they are a bit underrated. They've had a bunch of health problems all throughout the season, and are now finally healthy. Losing at Michigan was a bit embarrassing, although I guess Neitzel had the flu. The point being, they're better than their record, especially their record in the Big Ten. They're certainly better than Iowa and Illinois, two teams they trail in the Big Ten standings.

Unfortunately, if Sparty is our offensive kryptonite (being green and white), we better get some lead underpants because barring a miraculous performance by Northwestern, we'll be playing them for a third time come Friday night in the Big Ten Tournament. Now it may not be particularly important for our seeding to win the tournament, particularly because it's debatable whether anyone at the NCAA seeding committee pays attention the final of our tournament. But it would be helpful to at least make it to the weekend proper. If we win the likely Sparty double rematch, we would then have a likely match up with Indiana, which would be a tough game, but a nice win going into the tournament if we could pull it off. Anyhow, given the potential first-round match up with Sparty, my ardor for our league tournament has cooled. Now I'm just hoping we can win a game or two. Plus, all the Tournament brackets I see us being put in (when we're listed as a #1) have some sick, slightly underperforming #2, like Florida or UNC, who I just watched do a Phoenix Suns impersonation all over Duke (they probably have a better bench than any NBA team). So my enthusiasm for the tourney generally is also on the wane. Or maybe it's just rising nervousness. Regardless, it's going to be a tough road to hoe for UW from here on out. Tough outs everywhere, except maybe in the first round of the NCAA tournament, depending on our seeding.

The other green related news deals with the green showed Ahman Green, in order to get him to leave the Green Bay Packers. The Texans anted up a four year deal worth about $23 million, with over $6 million in guaranteed money to get him to head down to Houston abandoning one of the most storied franchises in league history for one of the least. Ahman's departure leaves a big hole in the Packers' starting backfield, and one that we obviously could have prevented had we just thrown him some cash before the free agency period started. That would have been my preferred option. Especially because it's not like we lack the money. I think the Packers had somewhere between the fourth and sixth most cap room in the league going into free agency. I guess Thompson drew a line somewhere about Ahman's value. However, I'd be surprised if the Packers didn't underestimate what he'd be able to get out in the free market, and were hoping that he'd realize that their pre-free agency offers were quite reasonable.

If that's what they were thinking, they misread the market. Several economic indicators should have led them to believe that a lot of money would be thrown around this offseason. The NFL just increased the salary cap, and with the franchise and transition tags being liberally applied, few playmaking free agents are out running around. The former Ravens linebacker, Thomas, and Clements, the Bills corner, were about it. (They were shortly snapped up by the Patriots and the Niners, respectively.) So, most teams had big piles of money lying around to spend on decent but flawed players, like Ahman-- a formerly great running back, still good, but most likely on the downslope of his career. You'd think that teams would save their cap room to resign their own best players, but some apparently feel their needs are so glaring that they're willing to drastically overpay to fill a niche. And that's what it appears the Texans did with Ahman and their running back spot, where they've had a mild to gaping hole for their entire franchise history. I suppose if Ahman plays wonderfully next season, decently the next, and then they cut him, it'd probably turn out to have been a good deal for the Texans. But just having Ahman in the backfield isn't going to keep David Carr upright-- that is, it's not going to fix their serious offensive line problems. If the line play struggles like it usually does, I'm going to feel bad for Ahman.

The question then becomes, what are the Packers going to do? The remaining running back free agents include-- Dominic Rhodes, Travis Henry, Chris Brown and Jamal Lewis. Nobody you'd get too excited about. It'll be interesting to see if we are willing to overpay one of them, in turn, to replace a back who another team overpaid. I wouldn't be too upset about picking up Henry, who's been a fairly productive back when he's gotten the opportunity. But I think the loss of Green means that the Packers will be seriously considering taking a back in the first few rounds of the draft, likely even more seriously than they were before. Since many mock drafts noted the Texans' need for a running back, maybe this means that they go in another direction with their picks and a talented runner that should have gone earlier falls to us. I can still dream about Adrian Peterson, can't I?

Skinning the White Weasel

Seriously, no more of Michigan State's Drew Neitzel running around hitting three pointers that touch every part of the rim twice before falling in. I, like most Badger fans I imagine, am pissed. I'm pissed that Sparty pushed us around last time. I'm pissed that Kam missed the front end of that one and one. I'm pissed that Butch had that freakish injury and then started crying on national television. Accordingly, I really want the Badgers to take out the frustration of the last week and a half on Sparty. I am pissed, and I demand a whuppin'.

Since our loss in East Lansing, I've thought it over, and Wisconsin's talent level is better than Michigan State's. They basically have a bunch of relatively athletic but relatively unskilled relatively big guys. Then they have a couple athletic, but not overly scary guards, and then Raymar (also not a real name) Morgan, a raw Shannon Brown-type, and Mr. Eminem wannabe, who's game is basically running hard off of illegal screens and shooting jump shots. Whoopety do. (Did anyone notice how totally standard white-bread his parents were? They were shown in the stands during the last game. Is someone pretending to be "from the streets" or is it just me? Friggin' poseur.)

Anyhow, we're better and it's time to show it. MSU will probably try to do a tight man on man defense, like last time. We have to respond effectively. Drive by it and go to the basket, or look to pass when someone comes to help. Make them foul you. People who aren't Alando seem to be afraid of driving; I'm guessing this is because it increases your chances of turning the ball over (in addition to easing the opposing team's transition to a fast break) and thus Bo likely disapproves of doing so until the shot clock is getting low. But I really think it's the best option when the other team is pressing perimeter players that closely. I also say we switch around Trevon and Flowers on Neitzel, as opposed to just Flowers. He looked a little worn out by the end of the Spaty game. Until Ohio A&M's last play, that combination did a good job of frustrating my pick for Big Ten Freshman of the Year, Mike Conley, Jr., aka mister "I wish I had a pencil-thin mustache." Also, our back court defenders need to accentuate the ever-so-slightly moving screens Sparty runs for Neitzel. Ram them hard. Go sprawling sideways. Wear mouthguards.

And, of course, rebounding. We need to do it, particularly on the defensive end. (Badger frontcourt--put your ass on your man and push him away from the basket.) Also, it would probably help matters if the refs looked over the rulebook before the game and rediscovered the foul called "Over the Back." Hopefully, this time our coaching staff will be able to do some pointed lobbying to this effect without drawing technicals. (Sigh...) Finally, we need to make Sparty pay for sending three or four people after offensive rebounds. Bo prides himself on having his team take high percentage shots. Hey, Bo--close range shots on 3 on 2 breaks ARE high percentage shots. Get the defensive rebound, hurl the ball down court to Kam or Hughes or Bohannon or Alando, and get easy points. It's fun, it's relatively easy-- it can actually be "Showtime" as Magic and Worthy demonstrated. Like those Laker teams, we have a really athletic jumper/finisher who is great on the break in A-Tuck. And for god's sake, pushing a 3 on 2 break is certainly a more efficient means of scoring points than waiting for Sparty to get their defense set.

Also, as I stated in a previous post, I urge someone to take a sign to the game that reads "Marquise is a Delicious Breakfast Juice" on one side, and "Trade in Your Marquise for a Dannon Frusion Smoothie" on the other. Vengeance. Retribution. Deterrence. Rehabilitation. Redemption. Death to Sparty.

I'll never ask for anything else ever.

As for Randy "next time i'll shake my dick" Moss possibly becoming a packer, i haven't been more excited about anything Green Bay since we fired Mike Sherman. I want this like I wanted Vince Young. Not because he's that good anymore, but because he's Randy Moss. I liked him when he was a viking. I imagine I'll have to keep tabs on my manhood if he becomes a Packer. It's real life fantasy football. Its The Green Bay southern pride Dick Droppers starring Favre and Randy. please! Pleeeaaase! Mr. Man, It has to happen. Yes. Yes it does.
In the 'just keep playing so we don't have to deal with you being gone' twilight of Brett Favre's career, sucking with Randy Moss would be a new low. However, it is irresistably sexy. And we wouldn't suck. He'd make us much better. Even if he has lost a step, he's better than he's played in Oakland at any point over the last 3 years. There, he played for ridiculous coaches, and with quarterbacks that wouldn't start for the Badgers. Here, he would definately burn up the vikings (twice), he wouldn't have to be the best reciever on the team and he love's to put W's "up on Lamboo field". He has to wear 84 though.
Please. Anyone against the idea should just think back to the 8 seasons he played for the Queens. How many 'what if we had him' conversations did you have? It'd be worth him busting just to see him in a Packer helmut. Randy Moss. We could have him. I don't care if he only has 20 catches. 8 of them will be touchdowns. I guarantee it. I wouldn't care if he was coming out of retirement. He'd snap once. What if he snaps at soldier? What if he snaps in the playoffs? SNAP!!
Plus he talks southern. Him and Favre would be homies. Favre could put some rims on a lawn mower for him. I swear to god i have the Packer proshop in my phone and I'm ordering a jersey the second it goes down.

Streamlined

Is what i say. Streamlizzled. With Brian Butch gone, the badgers are a better team. I feel bad saying it. Wait, no i don't. The biggest weekness of our team has been inconsistant play in the low post. Brian Butch is the most inconsistent player on the team (tied with Kamikazi). Stiemsma, Chappell and Landry getting more minutes, will help the team more than not having Butch will hurt it.
The rebounds will be missed, but the field goal and free throw percentages wont. Not to mention how irritating it is that Brian Butch only has 14 blocks (he's 7 ft. tall, he plays 20 minutes a game).
Butch shoots %48 from the floor and %59 from the line. Stiemsma; %54 and %74, Chappell; %45 and %64, Landry; %52 and
%59. Granted, Butch shoots 3's, but Landry shoots them better (%34 vs. %44), and Stiemsma shoots deep 2's. They all play better defense than Butch.
Obviously it never hurts to be deep, but watch the energy that these guys play with knowing that they wont get pulled over a touch foul. Especially Stiemsma. For christssake the guy d'd up Sean May and for some reason got sat the whole second half. He's never been Ryan's boy, now he has to be. I'm excited. He's an animal.
All year we've had a 10 (sometimes 11) man rotation. At times it has killed momentum and hurt chemistry. Now our boys can relax and play ball. physical ball. And we wont have to watch Butch run the NCAA's slowest spin move into defender's chests anymore.
Against bad teams Butch was our best center, against good teams he was our worst. I know his best game was against Pitt, but Gray and Kendall play D like its the allstar game (and don't forget, Gray was sick ;).