The UW men's basketball team kept its undefeated conference season going with wins over Michigan and Iowa last week. Here is The Daily Cardinal's weekly report on the No. 2 Badgers (7-0 Big Ten, 21-1 overall):
Player of the Week:
Alando Tucker
Senior forward Alando Tucker had possibly his most dominating week of the season in wins over Michigan and Iowa, but his performance against the Wolverines was disguised because he battled foul trouble for most of the game. Still, in only 18 minutes, Tucker had 16 points on 6-of-9 shooting.
""I was picking my points and I scored in spurts and it happened real quick,"" Tucker said.
Three days later, Tucker took the tape off his right thumb and exploded for 27 points and converted 11 of his 14 field goal attempts. The senior was aggressive early because he said he saw on tape that he was letting opponents' defenses to dictate what he was doing early.
""I want to dictate what I do, and not let the defense dictate what I do,"" Tucker said.
Tucker was also named co-Big Ten Player of the Week which he shared with Ohio State center Greg Oden.
X-Factor of the Week:
Brian Butch
Junior Brian Butch looked more like an offensive weapon rather than an X-factor against Michigan and Iowa, but nonetheless the center gets the honor this week. With Tucker battling foul trouble against the Wolverines, Butch went 6-for-8 in 20 minutes to finish with 16 points. At Carver-Hawkeye arena the Badgers struggled to find first-half scorers not named Alando Tucker. Butch came out in the second half and hit two threes and a deep two to get his team going. The junior finished with 13 points and a career-high 14 rebounds.
""I think it was just one of those things where it just happened where you are feeling good, feeling confident and that definitely helps everything,"" Butch said.
On Deck: Indiana
UW travels to Bloomington, Ind. to take on Indiana (5-2 Big Ten, 15-5 overall) Wednesday. Indiana currently sits in third place in the Big Ten.
ABBA's ‘Alando'?
The attention around Tucker has reached a new level now that local radio station WOLX 94.7FM has created a song for the Badgers' star. The station remade ABBA's ""Fernando"" into ""Alando."" You can download the song at WOLX's website.
Lyrics include:
Since the last big game I haven't seen a man like you so great.
Can you hear the band, Alando.
""That is the funniest thing I have ever heard since I've been here,"" Tucker said after Monday's practice. ""That was the first time I had heard ABBA. [Henry Perez-Guerra], our trainer, just gave me the original ABBA album. He said he wants me to listen to it and be able to repeat the songs for him tomorrow.""
