As Drew Neitzel's last second 3-point attempt came up short, Kammron Taylor and the rest of the Badgers could breathe a sigh of relief.
For Kammron, he ended his Kohl Center career with a bang. With 3.9 seconds left, he drained the biggest shot of his Badger career. Simultaneously, he wiped away any doubt that he was a clutch player after he missed the front end of a one-and-one against Ohio State two Sundays ago.
For the Badgers as a whole, beating Michigan State was key. After getting torched by Neitzel in their previous meeting, the Badgers could simply not be swept by the Spartans. Furthermore, allowing MSU to become just the second Big Ten team to beat them in Madison under Bo Ryan's tenure would have been a depressing way to conclude the regular season.
Instead, the Badgers ended the regular season on the highest of highs. The Kohl Center was rocking Saturday, with Kam as its maestro, and the Badgers can expect that to carry over in Chicago.
Bo Ryan hopes his team will learn from the last three close games against Michigan State and Ohio State.
""Those were hard fought battles,"" Ryan said. ""Now I'm hoping that that helps our players. We'll see.""
But while the Badgers sent the pesky Neitzel and his Spartans packing this past weekend, Tom Izzo's bunch can't be forgotten. Friday, in the second round of the Big Ten Tournament, UW matches up against the winner of Thursday's No. 7/No. 10 game, which sports MSU and the lowly Northwestern Wildcats.
On Feb. 19, the Badgers had yet to play Michigan State with just three games remaining in the season. Now, they have a chance to match up with the Spartans three times in four games. That type of close familiarity can breed instant rivalries.
But, for the Badgers, it doesn't stop there. If they can dispatch of that opponent, next up may be another familiar foe. The Indiana Hoosiers will face the winner of the Penn State/Illinois match up. And there's nothing the Badgers would rather do then send the Hoosiers packing, after Bloomington saw Wisconsin's first Big Ten defeat. With UW only playing Indiana once this season, the Badgers haven't yet had the chance to exact revenge.
And then there's the championship scenario that everyone's waiting for: Sunday's possible matchup with the No. 1 Buckeyes. With an average scoring difference of two points in two games this season, Wisconsin and OSU's possible title match up will be for a No. 1 seed.
That's all assuming the committee pays attention to the Big Ten tourney, because they didn't three years ago. When Devin Harris helped the Badgers storm through the conference tournament and defeat Illinois, UW was ranked 8th overall in the country, but garnered only a No. 6 seed in the bracket and a second round matchup with Pittsburgh, while Illinois sat there with a No. 5 seed.
So while Kam's 3-pointer helped the Badgers to breathe a sigh of relief, it also refocused them. Wisconsin has a chance to face every team that has knocked them off this season in the Big Ten. They can't bring Brian Butch back, but they have the chance to right just about every other wrong.
For the Badgers, there's not much more their coach can do. It's all up to the players and their momentum, something they have a lot of thanks to No. 23.
""If you're fortunate to play three games in a row, there aren't any special plays you're putting in, there's not really anything you're changing,"" Ryan said. ""That's where you're counting on your players to go with what they've learned and hopefully you're the hot team.""
Storming through the conference tournament would be just the thing to make the Badgers temporarily forget about Neitzel and Mike Conley Jr. as they pick up a No. 1 seed.
Too bad they won't see Missouri State too.
Pepper is a senior majoring in political science. He can be reached at sepepper@wisc.edu.
