The UW men's basketball team can finally settle down and relax in familiar settings tonight as the Badgers return home to play the first of three consecutive games at the Kohl Center. However, as friendly as \home"" may be for the Badgers, the red-hot Iowa Hawkeyes will in no way be a pleasant sight.
Coming off two consecutive victories against Top 25 opponents, including an impressive win against then-No. 8 Illinois Jan 15, Iowa Head Coach Steve Alford has his Hawkeyes looking to continue their winning ways after jumping out to a 3-0 conference record. A great deal of the success in Iowa City early this season has been a direct result of the change in attitude, and personnel, in Alford's crew.
""I think Steve [Alford] has players that understand that if [they] are going to get anything done this year, [their] margin of error is kind of like Wisconsin's was last year,"" UW Head Coach Bo Ryan said.
When the Hawkeyes take the floor tonight, there will be few familiar faces. Gone are the days of Luke Recker and Reggie Evans. Gone are the selfish seniors who were more worried about themselves than their team. With them, gone are the struggles and disappointments of last season.
Instead, Alford has replaced his talented senior class of last season with a group of role players who have made the most of their opportunities and taken the Big Ten by surprise. This was most likely Alford's plan when he pulled his players' last names off their jerseys before the season began in order to ensure that the same situation from last year would not materialize.
""His players haven't backed away from the situation,"" Ryan said. ""The players that are there have bought in [to Alford's system], ... They should get credit for what they've been able to accomplish under the circumstances.""
Leading the charge for the new-look Hawkeyes is senior guard Chauncey Leslie, who leads the Hawkeyes in scoring with 16.1 points per game. His supporting cast is like that of Wisconsin in that they both have a guard-heavy lineup. Freshman guard Jeff Horner has made an immediate impact for Iowa, averaging nearly 10 points per game, and leading the Hawkeyes in their victory over Illinois last week.
Aiding the guards is junior forward Glen Worley (13.1 ppg, 5.4 rpg), who showed his explosiveness in Iowa's victory over Michigan State by dropping 29 points on the Spartans. Junior center Jared Reiner will also provide problems for Wisconsin, as the big man is second in the Big Ten in rebounding with 8.8 rpg in addition to his 7.9 ppg.
Aside from the play of Reiner down low, UW and Iowa are extremely similar in the way they go about their business on the basketball court. Despite having major contributions from freshman in Horner and Wisconsin's Alando Tucker (12.9 ppg, 5.5 rpg), neither team is exceptionally deep, as both teams only play seven or eight guys. Furthermore, both teams have established themselves through a tough defensive mentality, as UW and Iowa are two of the top three teams in the Big Ten in scoring defense.
With the Badgers and the Hawkeyes matching up so well, tonight's game will be no different than any other Big Ten game: a fierce competitive struggle that most likely goes down to the wire.
