Uncharacteristic Badgers

I haven't seen a ton of bad losses by the Badgers under Bo Ryan, but this past week they suffered one of the worst. Two things made it as bad as it was. Number one, it was poised to be a very big win. A chance to establish themselves in the upper echelon of the Big Ten this year. It was a chance to slow down the juggernaut being formed by our neighbors to the west. But that all fell by the wayside.

The second thing that made it so bad was the way that they lost. The Badgers pride themselves on being solid in several areas, team defense, taking care of the ball, making free throws and making good decisions. All four were absent down the stretch. They, led by Trevon Hughes, did not take care of the ball against the Gophers press at all. They tried to beat it with the dribble and after countless unsuccessful tries, their lead slipt away. I have no idea why Jason Bohannan even attempted to shoot that lay-up up by 4 points and 25 seconds left. He should have dribbled out of it and ran 5-10 seconds off of the clock and trusted his ability at the free throw line. He could have made it a six point game 10 seconds later than that layup would have done. It's just not smart basketball.

It just wasn't smart basketball. Which is what the Badgers have been about for the last decade plus. Hopefully it was an abberation and not an identity for this year's team.