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Beasley and Wildcats await Badgers

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Also by Mike Ackerstein:

Badgers get the best of Beasley (March 24, 2008)
Beasley and Wildcats await Badgers (March 21, 2008)
My 65 reasons to love March (March 13, 2008)

by Mike Ackerstein

Friday, March 21, 2008

OMAHA, Neb. – It might not have been pretty, but Wisconsin was eventually able to secure a win Thursday night over Cal-State Fullerton in the first round of the NCAA tournament.

The Badgers reward? A second round matchup with Kansas State and its Player of the Year candidate Michael Beasley.

Only a freshman, Beasley averaged 26.5 points and 12.4 rebounds per game this season and would likely be the NBA’s top draft pick this June should he leave the Wildcats after the season.

Against USC Thursday, Beasley found himself in early foul trouble but still managed to finish with 23 points and 11 boards – his 27^th double-double of the season.

“It’s pretty tough,” Brian Butch said of guarding Beasley. “I don’t think you’re going to stop him. He’s just too good of a player for us, we’ve really got to concentrate on playing good solid team defense.”

“There’s not going to be one guy that’s going to stop him, or one team that’s going to really stop what he does. You’ve to really just try to slow him down.”

Beasley isn’t the only Wildcat freshman that poses a threat to the Badgers though. Bill Walker scored 17 points in the first-half against USC and averaged 15.8 points on the season. When Beasley was forced to sit on the bench in the early going against Southern California, it was Walker that kept Kansas State in the game.

Saturday’s matchup will also be a battle of playing styles. While third-seeded Wisconsin has gotten done on the defensive end this season, 11^th-seeded Kansas State has been a force offensively, averaging 78.7 points per game.

“In this tournament it’s a battle of playing style,” Walker said. “If we can play to our tempo and our place we can win the game. If they slow it down they can win. Just a battle of tempo.”

Kansas State will have the luxury of playing close to home Saturday. Manhattan, Kansas is just a few hours from Omaha and if Thursday’s crowd was any indication, it will be a very pro-Wildcat bunch.

Wisconsin’s tournament hopes were dashed in the second round last season when UW was upset by UNLV.

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