Well, Cinderella isn't a delicate flower, is she? She kicked Wisconsin's butt in the Sweet 16 last night. Of all the possible outcomes of that game, I did not conceive of the one that happened. That was awful (or awesome depending on your perspective). I knew it was over when the Badgers started jacking up desperation shots with about 10 minutes left in the game, which is very un-Badgerlike. So, Davidson gets to play the Kansas Jayhawks. Kansas should win, but they better watch out.
For Bucky Badger, it was a surprisingly successful season. Losing Alando Tucker and Kammron Taylor did not make things look good going into the season. Frankly, I think Bo Ryan deserves any and all accolades for coaching this team to a 31-5 record. This is not to say there was no talent on the team, but he made more with less. This is not surprising to Badgers fans, of course. Ryan has a system, he plugs players into it, and they are by and large successful. Just ask Michigan State.
It will be interesting to see if the Badgers will maintain this level of play in the Big Ten over the next few years. While the national media bashes the Big Ten at every opportunity, I think there will be an increase in the quality of play, and the Big Ten will resume its role as a power conference. You know Michigan State will be there. Illinois won't be down for long, Indiana will be OK once they get a new coach, Purdue is a team that will be a force in the next few years, Ohio State will have their one-year studs circulating in and out, and even Minnesota will become better with Tubby Smith as the coach...and, having Blake Hoffarber at the end of games will help the Gophers. So, there will be a lot of quality teams looking to knock Bucky off his perch.
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2 comments:
I saw the second half and it was pretty amazing. That Curry is a nice player.
Your analysis of the Big Ten is probably right. Given all the hype about the incoming class for the Gophs, it will be interesting to see if they get back into the first division. I suspect that the Badgers will remain tough - the new guys they have coming in fit Bo's template. The program I'm curious about is Michigan. If they start to get better, then things really start getting interesting.
Well, it will be interesting to see what John Beilein does in the next couple of years at Michigan. He put together some pretty good teams at West Virginia. Every year since they won the NIT, they were supposed to be on the cusp of greatness, and it just hasn't happened. But, if Beilein can recruit at all, they will be pretty good again soon. I should have mentioned them too, but being how bad they have been of late, they slipped my mind.
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