Bracket tip courtesy of the Big East Tournament

Pick all of these teams to bow out early because they ain't that good. West Virginia squeaks by Providence and they're a lock all of a sudden? Seriously? And the Big Ten is the conference that's "down?"

If that conference gets two teams to the Sweet Sixteen it'll be a miracle.

Basketball Miscellany

Do you hate moving on? Maybe you'd like to retread the Badgers' loss to Indiana with the very linkable Big Ten Wonk.

The WSJ has a piece about Jason Bohannon that's worth a read.

While I was away, ESPN's Pat Forde wrote a nice piece about the state of UW basketball. (Thanks to Nicole for pointing it out.) I do take exception to the insinuation that Wisconsin suffers from a lack of basketball tradition. Anyone here familiar with the 1912 national champs? The one-loss team of 1915? The 1941 tournament champions? In the end, though, the selection committee will probably be too mired in the present to recognize the Badgers' greatness; they tend to prefer teams that have a history of performing well in the field of 64 and pay a little less attention to the field of 8 of six decades ago. Let's put it this way; if it looks like the Badgers and UNC are going to be vying for the last #1 seed, I would be shocked if UW wound up as anything besides a #2.

Can we please end the season today?

Finally, the loss to IU cost the Badgers their #2 ranking. They're now #4 in both polls, just behind #3 Ohio State. That ranking makes a lot of sense, because the Buckeyes have one more loss than the Badgers and lost the head-to-head matchup. Hopefully the Selection Committee does a little better than the coaches and the sportswriters when seeding time comes around.

Badger basketball team ascends to #2

Thanks are due to the Virginia Tech Hokies, who, in upsetting North Carolina, set the stage for the Badgers to continue to climb to heights they've never seen before. They're officially second in the nation, according to the AP, and the target on the team's collective back is getting larger as the weeks wear on.

The Badgers succeeded this week by riding Kam Taylor to victory. His performance was noted by the Big Ten, and he is currently the reigning Big Ten Player of the Week. Congrats to Kam.

The game against Northwestern was ugly. I don't have to tell you that. Basketball's a weird game; the three-point victory over OSU looked a lot more decisive than the six-point victory over Northwestern. The Wildcats just wouldn't go away; they capitalized on a lot of Wisconsin miscues, including a particularly ugly sequence to end the first half. Apparently, some members of the press were trying to call this a "moral victory" for Northwestern, and as this Wildcat columnist says, that tag is just inappropriate when you're close to getting an ACTUAL victory
instead. (And, by the way, Chris West sensed that the Wildcats would mean trouble for the Badgers.)

In hockey, the Badger defense showed up on Saturday, but there was no offense to be found as they split the series with Minnesota on the wrong end of a one-goal shutout. I watched the game half-interestedly at the bar on Saturday ("the sound was off, but I think I got the gist of it") while taking in the Eagles-Saints game. Whether my torpor was a result of the numbing effect the Colts-Ravens game left on me or the libations consumed during the game is anyone's guess. Anyway, the Badger Backer did watch the game, paying close attention, so see what he says right here.

In other news: the House Rock Built is grateful for the Badgers' Capitol One Bowl victory; Forbes says that the Wisconsin football team is the 15th-most valuable college team in the nation; and if you ever wonder why we only hear about the negative off-the-field incidents perpetrated by college athletes, this guy's got the perfect antidote.

Clarifying the "no respect" angle

Welcome to those of you who found their way here from the Isthmus. Unfortunately, the link that brought you here kind of bore a sensationalized title, namely "Sports media "desperate to find fault" with Wisconsin basketball."

I don't believe this is the case at all. The national media has, by and large, given the Badgers their due. The early versions of Joe Lunardi's Bracketology have featured UW as a 1-seed. Luke Winn of SI.com has them as the #1 team in the nation in his Power Rankings. They're getting plenty of respect.

What I don't care for are these self-styled maverick columnists who feel the need to do something nonsensical in order to stand out. Take, for instance, the guy who voted Boise State first in his final football poll, ignoring the forty-odd points Florida hung on until-then wire-to-wire #1 Ohio State. Or the jerk from a paper known as the Chicago Southtown, who somehow has the power to help decide whether or not baseball players get into the Hall of Fame. He turned in a BLANK BALLOT when voting time came around. Why? Because he's not sure who used or didn't use steroids. We don't know who's guilty, so let's assume everyone is! Or at least, let's do something ridiculous to drive traffic to our paper's website, right?

So, that's why I took on Jeff Goodman. His logic ("the Badgers beat a team I consider elite, but that doesn't mean they're elite! They only won by three!") did not impress me That's all.

People who are complaining that UW is getting no respect are letting their feelings from football season (well, to be fair, the last fifteen football seasons) run over and give them something to complain about. The national media is on to the Badgers. They like what they see. Simmer down and enjoy.

Desperate to find fault

Much has been made of a blog post by FOX college basketball writer Jeff Goodman, and rightfully so. He entitles his post "Badgers still aren't elite" and then proceeds to inform us that he's "taking nothing away from Bo Ryan's club."

Goodman says that the Badgers beat Ohio State because they are older and more experienced, and they were at home. One gets the impression that Mr. Goodman looked at the ESPN Bottom Line, saw that the Badgers only won by three, and fired off this post. Says he:

Has Alando Tucker's supporting cast improved all that much? Brian Butch is still inconsistent. Michael Flowers is still a good role guy. Sure, they added a couple of solid freshman guards in Jason Bohannon and Trevon Hughes, but is it enough to warrant a No. 4 ranking?

Well, if you buy into the notion that OSU is the #5 team in the nation, and the Badgers beat them, then the answer appears to be yes.

He then goes on to make this specious argument:

The bottom line is that Wisconsin will probably be the same team in six weeks when the two teams square off again while Ohio State will likely make major strides because of their youth and the fact that Greg Oden will be 100 percent by then.

Thad Matta will have fully integrated Oden into the offense by the time the Big Ten's top teams meet again - on Feb. 25 in Columbus.

At this point, if you're not thinking, "Are you KIDDING me?" then your name must be Jeff Goodman. Let me get this straight: the Buckeyes, led my Thad Matta, are capable of improving as the season goes on. The Badgers are not.

I respect Greg Oden's game, and I think he will be a difference maker, but teams will still be able to shut him down. The Buckeyes' MO is obvious; if you can't heave up a triple, get it inside to Oden. They give up a lot of the court that other teams (like the Badgers) use successfully in order to take high risk, high payoff shots. Get Oden into foul trouble (which -- some people are already grumbling -- is tough to do. I don't buy into the notion that NCAA refs are told to "protect" stars, but if it happens in the NBA, it's formally a possibility at the collegiate level too) and you take away half of the Buckeyes' game. Guard the perimeter effectively and you shut down the rest. This is something the Badgers did successfully for over 35 minutes on Tuesday, but if all you're looking at is the final score (coughcough Jeff Goodman coughcough) you don't really see that.

Bottom line is that before the Badgers intentionally softened their defensive scheme at the end of the game, they absolutely shut down Ohio State. If one of the three-pointers that the Buckeyes put up in the final minute hadn't gone in, or if a couple more of the four free throws the Badgers bricked in the same time period had been successfully converted instead, we wouldn't even be having this discussion. But some people only saw the forty-second ESPN highlight that showed that final OSU triple clunking off the back of the rim, and valorous defenders of the Badgers are forced to defend their team's performance when it was obvious to all viewers that for greater than 95% of the game the Badgers were firmly in control.

As further evidence, I point you to Big Ten Wonk, whose credentials meet or exceed any "real" columnist's as far as college hoops are concerned.

#4 Wisconsin 72, #5 Ohio State 69

Oh, what a night to have been at the Kohl Center. (Speaking of, why on earth would the UW Athletic Department force students renewing their tickets to go through the same lottery process as first-time applicants? Don't they want to encourage loyalty? What they're doing is alienating future customers. But I digress.)

Anyway, the Badgers looked good in all phases of the game tonight. The slim margin of three points is deceptive; the Buckeyes never got within more than 8 points of the Badgers for a stretch of over ten minutes that spanned from 11:16 to go in the game up until the 0:45 mark, when the Badgers went into a very soft defense that allowed the Buckeyes to get great three-point opportunities. Granted, the last three-point attempt that Jamar Butler heaved up just before the buzzer provided a tense moment for all the Wisconsin fans. But looking at the way the game played out, it is certain that the Badgers were the best team on the floor for 36 minutes. The last two minutes, obviously, is when the Buckeyes gnawed away at the Badgers' lead. The first two minutes provided Ohio State with is biggest lead of the night: 3-0, after their fourth attempt at a triple fell. They held that lead for all of 29 seconds when Kammron Taylor tied it up with a triple of his own. 37 seconds later, a Michael Flowers layup made it 5-3. Once the score ran to 7-6 Wisconsin, the Badgers kept the lead till the very end.

Alando Tucker did his usual big-game thing, scoring 17 points; Taylor had 25. Everyone seemed to make a contribution tonight. Flowers, Chappell, Butch ... they all showed up and added needed blocks, steals, assists, and points. This team needs to maintain its focus, and it can go far.

And Greg Oden should shave his damn beard.