Monday practice observations

11/17/09 12:20 AM

 Posted by Scott Kellogg Leuer impressive Jon Leuer, albeit against the scout team, was impressive. Leuer was finishing everything, whether he was catching the ball at the low block or further away from the basket. Leuer was never afraid to take a shot or make a move to the basket as soon as he got the ball. After that 8-for-10 field goal game he posted last Wednesday Leuer is a player I expect to make strides this season after a fair sophomore season. Bohannon confident One thing you want to see from any senior is confidence, and that’s what I saw from Bohannon every time he touched the ball in five-on-five situations today. You could tell Bohannon was thinking about what he was going to do with the ball before he touched it every time, whether was going to shoot, head...

Walk-on getting playing time?

11/16/09 2:03 PM

Posted by Scott Kellogg   When Wquinton Smith made the squad through the open tryout Bo Ryan conducted, it was a nice moment for the guard, but I don’t think anyone expected him to be anything more than a scout team contributor.   But if last night is any indication, it’s possible Smith may have worked his way into the rotation. Ryan inserted Smith into the game early in the second half, and although the Badgers had a comfortable lead, this was not garbage time. Smith was in the game with other starters and rotation players the entire time. Smith finished the contest with six minutes. He did not take a shot, but did not turn it over either, and had two steals.   Ryan said he liked the way Smith, who handled the point guard duties,...

Wisconsin 75, IPFW 46: Rapid Reaction

11/15/09 9:54 PM

Posted by Scott Kellogg   After Wisconsin’s comfortable win tonight everyone was talking about the 11 blocks the Badgers racked up against IPFW. What stuck out to me were not the blocks themselves, it was what produced then. Wisconsin had an admittedly undermanned IPFW squad taking poor-quality shots all night. The Mastodons only totaled 18 points in the first half because they couldn’t create shots for the individuals themselves or their teammates. The Badgers’ man-to-man defense was way too much for IPFW to handle, and easily the story of the game. IPFW shot 34 percent from the field and 23 percent from 3-point range.   Offensively the Badgers were good. Jon Leuer’s 8-for-10 from the field stands out. Some of Leuer’s...

Superior reflections

11/12/09 1:50 AM

Posted by Scott Kellogg Before the game I posted specific parts of the game I was keeping an eye on. Here’s how I thought those parts turned out. Ryan Evans I was happy to see Evans come out as the first sub. What he did the best was rebound. He worked hard on the board, and brought down eight rebounds in only 21 minutes. Superior isn’t a big strong, physical team by any means of course, but I was still impressed. I also wanted to see Evans come out confident, and I think there was sort of a mixed bag there. He brought the ball strongly to the hoop often, and took 10 shots, all signs of confidence. But there was one play where Evans got the ball on the win in transition with a Superior defender on the run and had the chance for either an open 18-footer or a pump fake and a...

Badgers' BCS road map

11/9/09 4:55 PM

Posted by Scott Kellogg   At this point in the season, standing in fourth place in the Big Ten, Wisconsin’s realistic goal should be playing on a January 1 bowl game, the Outback Bowl, come the postseason. But for the sake of it, let’s see what needs to happen for the No. 20 Badgers to catapult into the top-10 and qualify for a BCS bowl game.   Obviously, the first step for Wisconsin is to win its remaining three games. Not one ranked squad is on the Badgers’ schedule, which consists of Michigan, at Northwestern and at Hawaii. Pencil in wins for the one-win (in conference) Wolverines and the 3-6 Warriors. At Northwestern won’t be as easy, but still a game Wisconsin will be favored in. That’s the easy part, here’s...