A familiar scene

To be perfectly honest, Super Bowl 45 will be something that I can look back on for a few years when faced with getting over the disappointment of the Packers' fellow Wisconsin sports teams. Fortunately, we have another team/school that's been surging to the forefront: the Wisconsin Badgers. Being just one week removed from one of the most impressive performances by a team of my rooting interest in my lifetime, the Badgers helped us relive some of the same emotions we felt two Sunday's ago (and on October 16th). For the second time during the school year, and only the second team in collegiate sports history, the Badgers knocked off the same school when they were ranked #1 in both football and basketball by defeating the Ohio State Suckeyes 71-67. The only other team to defeat a team both in football and basketball when they were tops in the country was Florida. As much as I wanted to attend yet ANOTHER game in which O-S-Who was ranked #1, it would have been both a financial burden and a prime example of pushing my luck a little too far. Had I been in the Kohl Center Saturday afternoon, there's no doubt in my mind that JT wouldn't have gone completely OFF and rallied from 15 down to top an extremely talented college basketball team.

Unfortunately, the other main rooting interests of myself and many others in Wisconsin in regards to basketball have failed to meet expectations: the Marquette Warriors and the Milwaukee Bucks. Especially the Bucks. During a stretch in which I expected Milwaukee to go on a mini-run before the All-Star break and perhaps sneak back into playoff position, they have faltered while showing literally no signs of a turnaround. Sorry, but you don't deserve to make the post-season when you lose to Indiana and Detroit in the Bradley Center. Combine this with the fact that the NBA is my least favorite professional sport out of the four major sports in America and you've heard just about all you're going to hear out of me about the NBA. I will say this, though...last year, the Bucks were able to sneak up on people because nobody expected anything of them. Going into the 2010-2011 season, we were considered to be contenders for the Central Division crown...oops. With great power comes great responsibility. Apparently the Bucks never had that power in the first place. I'm not counting them out yet (10th place in East, 4.5 games out of 8th), but I'm not going to put all of my eggs in that basket. Give me a call when the playoffs role around (not literally, please).

Continuing with the theme of depression, the Marquette Warriors. Yesterday was another example of a team that competes for about 30 minutes every game and then for some reason hits a proverbial brick wall. I'm pretty sure there isn't a team in the country that looks forward to playing Marquette, but they probably take solace in the fact that they know they'll control the final ten minutes. They should still be a 19-20 win team based on their remaining Big East schedule, but some of the games that we've seen MU let slip away (there are too many to list) definitely leave a bad taste in our mouths. The one positive that we can take out of Marquette's performance this year is how they always at least remain within striking distance in every single game. Remind you of a certain team that just completed their season? I don't see an NCAA Division I champion when I look at the Warriors, but they are a team that has slightly underachieved even though many experts didn't expect them to compete night in and night out like they have. I still believe Marquette will make some noise in March, whether it's a couple of early round upsets or giving a more renowned opponent a run for their money.

Enough about underachieving...let's look at a team that overachieves almost every single season: the Wisconsin Badgers. Picking up where we left off, the Badgers went down 47-32 after Jared Sullinger (who I thought played like a softy all afternoon) put home a layup. Immediately after Ohio State went on this monster run to start off the half, two things popped into my mind. I see why this team is ranked #1. There is still a lot of time on the clock. Once the Badgers went down 15, I began to put most of my faith in the announcer jinx when the lead announcer (his name escapes me at the moment) mentioned that Wisconsin wasn't built to come from behind. First of all, that's what she said. Second, I agreed. My mind immediately skipped backwards to the horrific beating Wisconsin took at the hands of an Ivy League school last March. I think Jordan Taylor's mind also regressed back to this game, and his second wind kicked in in a way I hadn't seen since the Penn State game about a year ago (and not just because I was there). A 15-0 run later and we had ourselves a tie ball game. It remained tight for basically the remainder of the game, but Taylor continued his hot shooting, freshman Josh Gasser played a key role and Mike Bruesewitz hit the game clinching trey ball with the shot clock winding down to help Bucky knock off a number one team for the first time in nearly 50 years. I think it's fair to say that Ohio State is our bitch.

Unfortunately, even though we all knew it was coming, the Wisconsin student section stormed the court after the victory. At first, I got caught up in the moment but then quickly became very disappointed in kids who I thought were a little sharper than myself. If you go back to my post on the regulations of being a fan, the Badgers' victory doesn't quite meet the criteria of court storming. Even if it did, it's the freaking Kohl Center. That place is a death trap for opponents. Obviously, defeating Duke last year was a big deal because we were unranked and the Dukies were in the top five, but this was a different situation and it should have merited a different reaction. One other note...if someone actually did spit in Sullinger's face after the game, he deserved it. Quit flopping. You're 6'9" 280. Man up.

Wisconsin is now ranked #10 in both polls, but another big game is looming as the Badgers must travel to West Lafayette to take on the 11th ranked Boilers. Purdue is a tough place to play and I recall Wisconsin having a tough loss there last season. I wouldn't be surprised to see the same this year. The Boilermakers lucked out this year by avoiding a trip to Madison, so hopefully Wisconsin wouldn't be punished for losing this game. I believe we'll keep it close and a big shot here or a costly turnover there should be the difference in the ball game. When looking at the big picture like we did with Marquette, the answer is simple: the Badgers aren't built for a deep run in March. We've seen it time in and time out...a sharp shooting team or a run-and-gun style always seems to have an advantage over Wisconsin's slow paced swing offense. The Badgers always seem to have trouble game planning for teams that they aren't as familiar with, and my concern applies to this season's team as well. However, Wisconsin has shown the ability to speed things up every once in awhile and get open looks early in the possession...at least when they want to. Incredible free throw efficiency could also help us forget about the failures of the past. I see Wisconsin as a 3-5 seed when it's all said and done depending on how some games-that-could-go-either-way games go down the stretch.

I'll leave you with a little something special to help get you excited for March. Consider it my Valentine's Day gift to each and every one of you (F*** this holiday).

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