Badgers have had a nice run since the last post.
Was really impressed with their performance in the Maui Invitational. Played a couple of really solid, veteran type teams and came out on top. 3 games in 3 days with different game scenarios and they persevered. On top of that the re-tooling Badgers were clearly more ready yesterday than the re-tooling Golden Eagles. Gave me a lot of hope for the season. The Big-10 has some solid teams at the top and the season will be a grind. Assuming no major injuries Bucky seems like they could finish in the top-half and earn themselves a tournament bid.
In terms of the individual players there have been a couple of nice surprises. Jon Davis is clearly on another level this year. You could see hints of it last year, but he's gotten better and without a bunch of upperclassmen I think he's asserting himself more than last year. Davison looks more at ease this year on both ends of the court. Hopefully that continues. Crowl still has work to do but is pretty effective. Wahl is Wahl, solid and tough. Hepburn looks like the real deal and really solid if not spectacular on both ends of the courts. I expect great things of him if he stays all 4 years.
Their only real major lack is a bench. They have some "OK" guys coming off the bench, but nobody who can score or provide much spark. If Bowman can become a little more consistent on offense he could be that guy, and I suspect might start in place of Davison next season.
After that weird, tumultuous season last year, it is good to see Gard get the ship back on course. Sometimes it's addition by subtraction. Doesn't seem like they are really missing that senior class at all at this point. I'm not interested in re-hashing all that crap but that group along with Tucker clearly just needed to move on.
Was really impressed with their performance in the Maui Invitational. Played a couple of really solid, veteran type teams and came out on top. 3 games in 3 days with different game scenarios and they persevered. On top of that the re-tooling Badgers were clearly more ready yesterday than the re-tooling Golden Eagles. Gave me a lot of hope for the season. The Big-10 has some solid teams at the top and the season will be a grind. Assuming no major injuries Bucky seems like they could finish in the top-half and earn themselves a tournament bid.
In terms of the individual players there have been a couple of nice surprises. Jon Davis is clearly on another level this year. You could see hints of it last year, but he's gotten better and without a bunch of upperclassmen I think he's asserting himself more than last year. Davison looks more at ease this year on both ends of the court. Hopefully that continues. Crowl still has work to do but is pretty effective. Wahl is Wahl, solid and tough. Hepburn looks like the real deal and really solid if not spectacular on both ends of the courts. I expect great things of him if he stays all 4 years.
Their only real major lack is a bench. They have some "OK" guys coming off the bench, but nobody who can score or provide much spark. If Bowman can become a little more consistent on offense he could be that guy, and I suspect might start in place of Davison next season.
After that weird, tumultuous season last year, it is good to see Gard get the ship back on course. Sometimes it's addition by subtraction. Doesn't seem like they are really missing that senior class at all at this point. I'm not interested in re-hashing all that crap but that group along with Tucker clearly just needed to move on.