The players, coaches, and fans of the UW men's basketball team received quite the blow Sunday afternoon.
The 49-48 loss at the hands of the Ohio State Buckeyes sparked a crash only comparable to the Great Depression here in Madison. Last Monday, the stock of the Wisconsin Badgers basketball program was at an all-time high as the school received its first No. 1 ranking ever. Then, just as quickly as it spiked Monday, the market dipped sharply Tuesday with a tough loss at Michigan State. With a Big Ten title still possible, however, UW was ready to rebound despite intimidating conditions in Columbus. With a four-point lead with three and a half minutes to go, it looked like the market might rebound—instead, it collapsed.
Sunday was like getting tortured for two hours straight by Jack Bauer. He went for the bone-breaking tactic with Brian Butch's elbow injury, hit you with the right cross with Kammron Taylor's missed free throw, hit you with the left cross with Mike Conley Jr.'s floater, came with the straight jab with Ron Lewis' block at the buzzer and then finished with the uppercut as thousands of Buckeye fans stormed the court, blocking the Badgers from getting to their locker room.
""It's very disappointing,"" Taylor said. ""We haven't lost two games in a row in a long time and there's no excuse. So even though they were on the road, we still had a chance to win both games.""
It's amazing what one point can mean. If Conley doesn't make the floater, Wisconsin somehow survives all that torture and would be preparing to clinch at least a share of the Big Ten title Saturday against Michigan State. Instead, there were more sad faces and negativity outside the UW locker room Sunday than there has been inside Penn State's locker room all season combined.
And that's where I get worried.
Sure, Sunday was awful. It was sad, it was annoying, it was extremely depressing—it felt like the season was over. But it isn't.
In the midst of fighting back tears and doing his best to remain positive about the state of the team, Taylor said the most negative statement of the season.
""Nothing's guaranteed,"" he said about the possibility of getting another late-game opportunity to make a play. ""I mean, anything can happen in the tournament. [Ohio State] could lose, we could lose in the first round. So we just have to take it a game at a time.""
Excuse me, you can't lose in the first round. I see where Taylor is coming from, because nothing in life is guaranteed, but that isn't exactly what you want to hear from your senior point guard. Yeah, you could lose in the first round, but unless you want to be the first No. 1 seed to do that, or the first No. 2 seed since Iowa State lost to Hampton in 2001, you cannot lose in the first round.
Look, we all saw what happened last season. The bottom fell out of a pretty good team that faced a lot of adversity. The possibility of losing junior center Brian Butch is out there, but this year's team is older, and too good to let last season repeat itself.
Saturday's game against Michigan State is set for 11 a.m. on ESPN. It won't affect the standings (Wisconsin is locked for the No. 2 seed in the Big Ten Tournament), but it will affect the NCAA seedings and quite frankly the fate of the 2007 Badgers. Michigan State is playing its best basketball of the season and Wisconsin needs the win for confidence.
Even if UW pulled out the win Sunday, it would still be obvious that the offense is in a funk. It's time to rebound. In the grand scheme of things, we can all get over last week. People might say that Saturday's game and the Big Ten Tournament don't mean a whole lot—I beg to differ.
The Badgers need to send Taylor and fellow seniors Alando Tucker and Jason Chappell out of the Kohl Center with a big win this weekend and they need to carry that momentum to Chicago. Want a Final Four run? Don't underestimate the importance of a Big Ten Tournament run first. Whether they beat Purdue, Indiana and Ohio State en route to a tourney title or they beat Minnesota, Iowa and Illinois en route to the tourney title, it will give Wisconsin the opportunity to still get something out of the conference season and it will get the entire team its swagger back.
Taylor also said something more positive in that interview—and this is what all of Wisconsin needs to remember: ""We're 26-4,"" Taylor said. ""A lot of teams would die to be in that situation, so we just have to bounce back.""
Bounce back, Wisconsin.
Adam can be reached at hoge@dailycardinal.com.
