Trevon's Team

In Bo Ryan's first eight seasons at Wisconsin he never had the same full-time starting point guard three years in a row. Now, in his ninth season as head coach, he has senior Trevon Hughes.

Remember that even though Devin Harris started as a freshman, Travon Davis was the starting point guard in Bo's first season. So Hughes, the kid from Queens, has bragging rights among Badgers in the Ryan era.

The 2009-10 Badgers have some good things going for them and Hughes is chief among those. But this year's team also has the burden of answering a lot of questions about it's own identity and whether last year's struggles were just bumps in the road or an indication of things to come.

When Hughes burst onto the scene as a sophomore, some fans saw him destined for the NBA; as his career unfolded, others blamed him for everything that went wrong for the Badgers. Hughes probably has been one of the more polarizing talents in recent memory.

Here what we know: Hughes will finish his career in Wisconsin's Top 10 all-time in steals and assists. He has been honorable mention All-Big Ten the last two seasons. Last season he posted career highs in minutes, 3-pt FG and FT percentage, assists, points and rebounds per game. His assist-to-turnover ratio has improved significantly.

In his second year as a starter, Hughes developed the knack for the big play, as his game-winning shots in the final seconds beat both Virginia Tech and Florida State last year. His teammates call him Pop, but you can call him the "ACC Killer." (Duke even brought in it's next point guard a year early to prepare for Hughes).

There is room for improvement, no question. Hughes must improve his shooting from the dreadful 34.4% mark (32% on threes) he posted in Big Ten play last season. He needs to be more vigilant in probing the defense, especially when the team looks to him to create as the shot clock winds down. Too often in the past two seasons, we have watched Hughes milk the clock before firing a bad 3-pointer. Those shots kill his shooting percentages and do not tax the opposing defense. Wisconsin will also need Hughes to play his best defense consistently.

Maybe most importantly, the coaches are expecting more leadership out of their senior guards. Hughes has learned how to be a leader from both Joe Krabbenhoft and Alando Tucker. He said he is up to the challenge.

"That's part of being the point guard; it comes with the territory," Hughes said on Media Day. "Joe was more outspoken and I like to lead by example. The team always looks to the point guard so I have to be on top of my game each and every day. I need to be more vocal."

On the court, Hughes led his team last year by pacing the Badgers in scoring 11 times. Only 13 times was a player other than Hughes or Marcus Landry (10x) the leading scorer. With Landry gone, you know teammates will be expecting Pop to lead the way again.

Bo Ryan runs the show off the court, but between the lines the proverbial buck stops with Hughes. It's his team and his time.

: : :

To see more of Hughes' career accomplishments, check out these resources:
Wisconsin Basketball 2009-10 Prospectus [pdf]
Wisconsin Men's Basketball Record Book [pdf]

Takin' Care of Business

Both the Wisconsin Badgers and your author have been busy handling some business over the last 10 days. Since my last post, Wisconsin has tackled Ohio State in Madison and Indiana at Assembly Hall to continue it's march back up the Big Ten standings.

The Badgers have been able to avoid the letdowns that plagued the middle portion of the season. As a result, Wisconsin is beating those opponents they are expected to beat. The upperclassmen have continued to lead the surge. Marcus Landry did work inside versus Ohio State in a "must win" and paced the team with 18 points while adding seven rebounds. [box score]

Curiously, Thad Matta kept Buckeye big men Dallas Lauderdale and B.J. Mullens on the bench for much longer than necessary after early foul trouble. The duo combined to play only 34 minutes. It was great to see a Badger opponent changing the lineup to respond to UW going small. The Buckeyes were flustered.

Jason Bohannon has played great defense in the last two games, as he has drawn more favorable assignments (pure shooters) in Jon Diebler and Matt Roth. J-Bo's experience is showing. In addition, Trevon Hughes and Joe Krabbenhoft were both superb against Indiana in what turned out to be an easy victory. [box score]

Krabby posted another career-high with 18 points against the Hoosiers and continues to prove that his more aggressive (and competent) offensive repetoire is no fluke. That has probably been the highlight of the season so far for me. I have been critical of Krabbenhoft's offesnive approach over the years. However, in addition to being consistent in a season of ups and downs, Krabby has added reliable 3-point range and a willingness to look for his shot this year. He is now probably one of top five most complete players Wisconsin has ever had.

Next comes a date with the Michigan State Spartans on their home court this afternoon. There's no need to get up in arms over Spartan senior Goran Suton calling Wisconsin "dirty" (it sounds like it was a leading question and a quote with little substance). What I took from Suton's comments was validation of the Wisconsin-Michigan State rivalry:

"I like Michigan more than Wisconsin. That's pretty bad."

Tom Izzo got even more candid with the Detroit Free Press.

This is a very important game for both teams. Michigan State is eager to erase the memory of last season's meltdown in the Big Ten tournament. However, it is an even bigger game for the Badgers. A win would be the defining moment of the season, practically removing memory of the season's six-game losing skid by replacing it with a sixth straight win. It is a tough task, but then, it always has been. And as a Wisconsin fan, you know that every Bo Ryan team has as good a chance as anyone to win in East Lansing, where Northwestern and Penn State have already handed the Spartans home losses.

Traditionally, Michigan State's Achilles' heel has been turnovers. This could bode well for Wisconsin again because the Badger fingers have been a little stickier lately, averaging over six steals/game in the last eight contests while still limiting their own turnovers.



Now it is time to do it again Top Ten competition ... godspeed, Badgers.

Hawkeye Down

Iowa certainly delivered one of the lowest moments of Wisconsin's season in Iowa City, but the Badgers shot down the Hawkeyes for a measure of payback on Wednesday night. Wisconsin's upperclassmen took turns picking apart the Iowa defense, leading to an enjoyable 69-52 win.

Statistically Wisconsin led Iowa in every traditional category, including all three shooting percentage stats. The team was especially effective converting buckets after Iowa turnovers. [box score] And the best part about watching it from the comfort of my own home was that the totally worthless "stand up old people" chant by the student section was barely audible!

In the first half, the junior back court of Jason Bohannon and Trevon Hughes combined for 21 of the team's 36 points on a mercurial 8-of-13 shooting from the field (3-of-4 on treys) and five assists. Hughes finished with 6 assists, 2 steals and only 1 TO. Hard to believe, but the assist total was a career-high for Pop. Bohannon, on the other hand, has now nailed 14-of-19 (73.6%) from 3-point land in the last four games. Keep your fingers crossed for more of that.

After the halftime break, Marcus Landry came to life and Joe Krabbenhoft continued to put in a full day's work. The senior forwards totaled 16 of UW's 33 second-half points. Landry surpassed the 1,000-point plateau for his career, but it was Krabby's aggressiveness on offense that helped subdue any hopes Iowa had of pulling an upset. He finished with a team-high 16 points.

Jon Leuer looked really comfortable working the glass against Iowa's big men and grabbed eight rebounds.

Iowa seems to have uncovered a really nice player in sophomore Jake Kelly. Kelly is extremely quick with the ball; he shook Hughes on a few occasions. His 17 points were the bright spot for Todd Lickliter's crew.

Yesterday, the Wisconsin State Journal had a nice article on the progress made by the fifth upperclassmen in Bo Ryan's rotation: Kevin Gullikson. With the return of Keaton Nankivil, Gully is bound to see a decrease in minutes. However, unless his superior post entry passing ability magically transfers to someone else, Gullikson will still have a place on the floor from time to time.

: : :

I had to chuckle at a few whistles in this game. Two of Jordan Taylor's fouls were complete and utter whiffs by the officials. The first was when one of the Hawkeyes stumbled after getting an offensive rebound and JT just happened to be in the vicinity. The second time, Taylor was playing defense on a drive but did not appear to even touch the player in question. He left the floor amazed that he had to explain himself to Greg Gard.

In Iowa's defense, when Kelly (or was it Gatens?) dove to the floor to save the ball after it was stripped by Krabbenhoft he never hit touched the end line. The referee had a different idea.

Rewinding Wisconsin-Texas

The first thing that came to mind as I left the Kohl Center a week ago was something my friend Mike said during the game -- that Texas got its points so much easier than Wisconsin did.

While the Badgers strained to get more of their baskets, the Longhorns made things look easy. Pulling down 38 rebounds (15 offensive) to UW's 22 rebounds was the primary culprit. Of course, the silky smooth jumpers that A.J. Abrams dropped over, around and through tight Badger coverage seemed like a dream too. But the combination was a nightmare for Bo Ryan's club.

The game's flow was stilted by too many whistles from Ed Hightower. On the Wisconsin side, both Marcus Landry and Jon Leuer were saddled with foul trouble. However, Texas was just as affected, if not more. Enormous center Dexter Pittman and skilled big man Connor Atchley both sat the majority of the second half after picking up their third and fourth personal fouls, respectively. What a shame too -- I thought watching Atchley and Leuer go at each other would have been a great comparison.

Damion James picked up the slack, notching his second straight double-double (18 pts/15 rebs) against the Badgers. Gary Johnson added 16 & 8 in 33 minutes to Abrams' game-high 21 points as Texas dominated Wisconsin in the front court matchup. [box score]

No one other than Abrams impressed me from the Texas back court. Trevon Hughes was superb for the Badgers, but his 18 points, 4 rebs, 3 assts and 1 steal were not enough by itself. That stat line will always be overshadowed by Hughes' ill-fated drive for two points when Wisconsin trailed by three points on its final possession. The whole state is still shaking its collective head on that one ...

The remarkable thing really is that Wisconsin was still in the game at the end. The Badgers shot the lights out in the first half, finishing 9-of-19 behind the three-point line (compared to Texas' 3-of-16). Yet the team still trailed at the break thanks to an"alley-oop" by Texas that could have easily been offensive goaltending. Add that to Johnson's banked jumper late in the shot clock after a great defensive stand by UW and you have a game where the luck was simply on the side of Texas. The Badgers only turned the ball over once after halftime, but the game came down to free throws. Texas was unconscious, missing only one freebie the entire game (15-of-16); Wisconsin was only average (14-of-21). The result, a five-point loss as predicted, could have been reversed with a swing of a few free throws on each side.

Looking back, UW got nice games from Jason Bohannon and Hughes, but nothing from the bench, the seniors and little in the paint. Landry was a non-factor and Joe Krabbenhoft had a terrible night. His bad pass at midcourt right out of a timeout in the latter stages of the game was a huge shift in momentum at a crucial spot and was one of four Krabby turonvers in the game. Bo's Badgers can only go as far as those two seniors take them.