Senior Night

Wisconsin seniors Jason Bohannon and Trevon Hughes have a chance to finish the season with the most career wins of any Badgers. It will take four more victories and the task continues tonight against Iowa on Senior Night.

It is ironic that they face the Hawkeyes in their final home game since Bohannon is practically the prodigal son of Iowa basketball and Iowa was the other school on Hughes' final list as well. The butterfly effect would tell us that the quality of Iowa basketball could be substantially different today if Iowa had signed this pair.

Steve Alford and Iowa were fresh off a second-place Big Ten finish and a tournament title that year. The Hawkeyes signed a 5-man class, two being JUCOs, but only one was a guard. Needless to say, Iowa would have loved to have Pop or J-Bo or both. Could that have kept Alford from getting canned? Perhaps not. But the Todd Lickliter era would have been completely different and Wisconsin would have been worse off, especially last season.

The reality is the the power has shifted toward Madison -- Bo Ryan and his senior guards are a big reason why.

Hughes has always been one of my favorite Badgers, despite his flaws and I've enjoyed watching him grow as a leader on this team. Bohannon, on the other hand, has earned a ton of respect just this year and is currently playing the best basketball of anyone on the team. J-Bo will never light the room with a great interview like Hughes might, but both players have come up big in the clutch in their final season together.

A win would assure Wisconsin the #4 seed in the Big Ten Tournament, now that Illinois has dropped to 10-7 in conference. The Buckeyes wrapped up a share of the title Tuesday in its final league contest, officially killing UW's title hopes.