Coming off of their biggest win of the season at Marquette (9-2) this past Saturday, the UW men's basketball team (9-1) is looking to ride this momentum into another difficult week.
Since the Badgers will grace the court of the Kohl Center this Wednesday, there really will not be much time to relish the win.
""It's on to [the] next as we always say,"" head coach Bo Ryan stated at Monday's press conference. ""I hope I'm coaching guys that every game, every practice, every time they come out it isn't any different as far as their approach to what they gotta do.""
While the focus has shifted to the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (2-9), it would be horrendous to think that UW will not feed off the play of their all-everything senior leader Alando Tucker.
Tucker heads into this week's matchups tied for 18th in the nation and first in the conference with a scoring average of 20.2 points per game, and has clearly made his presence felt to opposing defenses.
""You can show a player a little bit better, maybe what they're not seeing but what's coming and then they can prepare for it,"" Ryan said.
Perhaps the one area where Tucker has electrified not only the fans, but jump-started his team at certain points, is the number of dunks he has thrown down.
""Alando has to feel in his position that he's got to be somebody who can make things happen. [For] some guys it's referred to as they smell the rim. When he smells it he usually gets there."" Ryan explained. ""Alando has the ability because when you have the leg strength and the coordination to be able to leave the floor, get some contact, play off that contact and then make a play ... A lot of the better players, that's what they have.""
The truth remains that it is not a game of one-on-five but a game that requires full teamwork and a unit to work as a whole in order to succeed.
""We've won games and done pretty well when [Tucker] was a contributor as well as the main donor to what was happening in a game,"" Ryan said. ""[But] he's needless to say the part of the whole that's been the most consistent.""
Now, 10 games into the season, there is somewhat of a consistency that can be analyzed on the UW squad. That consistency is the solid bench play of the non-starters, most recently the coming-out party for freshman Trevon Hughes and sophomore Marcus Landry. While some may question the distribution of minutes that changes every game, the team knows playing time relies on what makes them better for that particular time.
""It's the environment, the element, the type of game, the size [and] the speed,"" Ryan noted. ""There's a lot of factors that go into who's on the floor and who isn't. You just have to go with what you feel.""
Every player goes to practice knowing if they are going to see the floor in actual game situations, they will have to prove that they are worthy.
""They know the other guys around them are working hard too,"" Ryan claimed. ""When somebody gets minutes it wasn't a shock to any of the guys on the team.""
