The People's Choice

A poll on uwbadgers.com asking who was Wisconsin's most valuable player this season has Michael Flowers comfortably in the lead with 46% of the vote, followed somewhat surprisingly by Joe Krabbenhoft (19%), Brian Butch (16%) and Jason Bohannon (11%).

Flowers got my vote as Wisconsin's MVP as well. Lacking guard depth this season, Flowers logged a team-high 1,139 minutes and he made every one count. Despite a few statistical blemishes on his defensive record (Manny Harris at Kohl Center, Drew Neitzel in the Big Ten Tournament and the infamous Stephen Curry), Flowers delivered on high expectations defensively. He also led the team in assists for the second straight year.

Delivering the unexpected was what made Flowers so special. The senior's remarkable improvement on 3-pointers was vital to Wisconsin's success. After shooting 27-of-86 (31.4%) from deep last season, Flowers proved to be the best 3-point shooter among UW regulars this year, hitting on 49-of-119 (41.2%) attempts, including a phenomenal 44% in Big Ten play.

Some would argue that even the unexpected became expected of Flowers. A team as steady as the Badgers will not be remembered for very many glamorous plays, but this Madison LaFollette grad was behind most of them: the game-winning sequence at Texas; raining treys in the first-half at Indiana; the steal and score to beat Michigan State. When everyone was waiting to see who would step up, Flowers usually did. And that is why he was the most valuable Badger in 2007-08.

Brian Butch, Jonte Flowers attend Portsmouth
Fellow senior Brian Butch joined Mike's brother Jonte Flowers this past week at the Portsmouth Invitational Tournament, a sort of pre-draft prep camp. Both players will need to do a lot of work over the next few months to convince an NBA team to take a shot on either of them.

Over the course of three games, Butch played fairly well, although he did not necessarily stand out from his teammates. He continued to shoot the ball very well from behind the arc (43%), though he was nearly incapable of getting to the free throw line. Butch averaged 14 pts, 7.3 rebs, 2.7 assts, 1.7 stls & 1 block as his team posted one win and two losses. Flowers' team also went 1-2 and his stats were similar (13 ppg, 5.3 rpg, 3 apg & spg) to Butch's.

Even without Butch, Michael Flowers or Greg Stiemsma next season, the Sporting News has listed Wisconsin as a possible No. 1 seed in next year's NCAA Tournament. As TSN notes, the Bo Ryan has plenty of returning talent at his command, though you would be hard-pressed to find the Badgers in the top ten of anyone's early rankings. However, each list seems to be giving UW respect despite its personnel losses.

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Man, kids can be annoying can't they? I watched a video posted to Wisconsin's official website a few weeks back that shows the team practicing in Omaha for the tournament. It is pretty boring until the very end when the players are shown acquiescing to the dozens of children screaming for their favorite Badger to sign something. Some kids don't even know the players' names (some kid yells, "Hey, 45!" at Krabbenhoft). Trevon Hughes is ever the ladies man ... and autographs a girl's forehead!

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The demand for Milwaukee Bucks autographs might be at an all-time low, but the team appears to have taken a step in the right direction by luring John Hammond away from Detroit to be its new general manager. Hammond has spent the past six years as the vice president of basketball operations for the Pistons, who are closest thing to NBA royalty you'll find in the Eastern Conference these days. The connection between Hammond and former NBA Coach of the Year Rick Carlisle bodes well for the Milwaukee's future, unless Chicago snaps him up sooner.

So at least there is something to be optimistic about in Milwaukee, now that the Buzz Williams hiring at Marquette is off to a great start.

On the Stove Top: Links (4/3)

As we delve into the off-season, content is harder to come by. Thus, a collection of links to catch up on the week's happenings ...

- If you have time, read Monday's article by Rob Hernandez on Jonte Flowers in the Wisconsin State Journal. The whole story was well done, but the Michael Flowers quote rehashed by Hernandez is what stuck out to me:

"Good leadership produces winners,'' Michael said. "But great leadership produces other great leaders. That's what I think of Jonte."

Some might have heard a variation of that quote at some point, but I had not. That shows a great level of respect was present in the Flowers household as all those brothers developed into great athletes ... no doubt fueled by some scrappy driveway pickup games. Now, Jonte finds himself with an opportunity to play basketball professionally, his first step being the Portsmouth Invitational. The same invite led Kam Taylor to a professional contract in Spain; let's see if Flowers can do better.

- The St. Paul Pioneer Press named Jordan Taylor its 2007-08 Player of the Year this week. Will Minnesota's Mr. Basketball be Taylor's next accolade? He cannot arrive in Madison soon enough.

- Speaking of next year's new comers, one rumor gaining steam this week is that Phoenix-area wing Ryan Evans will be joining the Badgers in 2008 as well. Evans, whose father played at UW, seems capable and willing to walk-on to the program, but the intriguing part of this rumor is exactly when and for how long Evans might be paying his own way. Would he in fact be given only a one-year free ride his freshman year, thereby "holding" a scholarship for Jamil Wilson starting in '09, or be a preferred walk-on for a few years with the possibility of earning a schollie down the line. An ArizonaPreps.com article referenced on the Wishoops.net message board seems to be the source of the speculation.

- The collegiate season will culminate this weekend, but the summer high school circuit is already underway. Wishoops.net is running a series of previews for some of the state's best amateur programs, including the following:
:: Wisconsin Playground Warriors 6U (feat. C Evan Anderson, Sussex Hamilton G Kameron Cerroni & Milw. Lutheran G T.J. Kadima)
:: DTA 16U (feat. Milwaukee-area talent like G Flavien Davis & Milw. Custer PF Calvin Godfrey)
:: Tosa Bandits 17U (feat. Wauwatosa East G Keondre Gholston & the Lawson brothers of Racine St. Catherine's)

-Snubbed by the NCAA Tournament committee, Ohio State marched through the NIT and dominated UMass in the second half to claim its own postseason title Thursday night. Small consolation for the Big Ten.

Assuming Kosta Koufos goes pro, Ohio State will be facing the loss of its three top scorers again this offseason. The Buckeyes do have a nice, young nucleus on the perimeter in David Lighty, Evan Turner and Jon Diebler. But Dallas Lauderdale and McDonald's All-American B.J. Mullens are no Greg Odens.

- If you are a glutton for punishment, take another gander at the numbers from Davidson's demolition of Wisconsin in the Sweet 16. From a defensive efficiency standpoint, the game was far and away UW's worst of the year, allowing 1.34+ points-per-possession. The 18-2 advantage for Davidson on fast breaks sheds some light on how that happened.

- Camp Lambeau came to the defense of the swing offense. I myself think the offense--as espoused by Bo Ryan--has some inherent shortcomings, but that discussion is for another day.

Reflecting Back On Wisconsin's Exit

After getting a good night's rest, I feel better equipped to make more rational statements about Wisconsin's season coming to a close.

I want to give some props to Jason Bohannon, the one player that seemed determined to create something out of nothing when all seemed lost for UW. He scored 11 points, dished a team-high three assists and added one steal. An unfortunate year-long trend for the team has been the lack of assists. Assists can be viewed as a subjective statistic at times, but I think passing is one area in which the Badgers can be a better team next year.

The typically reliable Joe Krabbenhoft only tallied three rebounds and had three turnovers as well. If that weren't bad enough already, Stephen Curry was caught guarding Krabby many times, but Joe did not post him up successfully at all. That's inexcusable. He needs to take a big step forward offensively next year as a senior. And he will be needed inside with the departures of Brian Butch and Greg Stiemsma.

Being upset by a 10-seed was another terrible ending to a great season, no matter how good Davidson really is. Luckily, the Badgers were truly playing with house money at this point, despite their lofty top-ten ranking. If you would have told me to start the year that Wisconsin would be Big Ten regular season and tournament champs, go 31-5 and make the Sweet 16, I would have been ecstatic. That is the only thing that can comfort Badger fans at this point. Try it, it works.

As you might expect,the initial reaction by a few other Badger bloggers was much like mine--one of despondence, frustration, and surprise at seeing a totally different Wisconsin team out on the court. The Wisconsin Sports Bar actually broke down the six losses that Davidson has suffered this season and determined that a shift in the ratio of Stephen Curry's 3-point attempts to the team's 3-point attempts as a whole has made the Wildcats a better team. The other trend in Davidson's losses were foul trouble for Curry or an advantage from the line for its opponent. Last night, Wisconsin did not get Davidson into any foul trouble and therefore did not have a significant enough advantage in that area (14/21 vs. 9/12) to make up for Curry's supporting cast hitting 6-of-13 from long-range.

The play of the "other players" did not escape Davidson head coach Bob McKillop. Point guard Jason Richards played flawless basketball, but the rest of the team is talented too. In fact, Davidson was ranked higher than Wisconsin in those all-important preseason polls. With the Big Ten clearly experiencing a down year, Davidson may have been just as battle-tested as Wisconsin thanks to their pre-conference schedule.

On UW hoops message boards, expressing the usual mix of hopeless doomsday theorizing or stoic, blind support of the program. Many posters are simply giving Davidson a lot of credit. I plan on rooting for the Wildcats from here on out. My pool brackets have already flat-lined anyway.

Redemption for the Flowers family
Things looked bleak for Winona State in the first half against Augusta State in the NCAA Division II Championship game. But the Warriors (38-1) did something in the second half that the Badgers could not do in their game: play with confidence. Winona State punched back and with 10 minutes left in the game, had completely erased what had been a 16-point deficit. Led by Jonte Flowers, Winona State then extended the lead and held on for a 87-76 win.

Flowers, the tournament's MVP, pulled a mini-Curry, exploding for 25 of his 30 points after halftime, compared to Augusta State's 32 second-half points. He hit some timely 3-pointers and stepped up his trademarked defensive pressure even in the face of foul trouble. He would have been a nice addition to UW's program, but I doubt he would trade his experiences in Minnesota for anything. I did notice that Flowers missed two fast break layups off of his own steals. Mike Flowers had some trouble finishing on the break this year also -- do small hands run in the family?

Congratulations to the whole Madison LaFollette crew (Flowers, Quincy Henderson, Curtrel Robinson) at Winona State that captured its second national title in three years.