There was a time — and it didn’t last long — when it looked like the exhibition season might actually be providing something in the way of answers for the Wisconsin basketball team.

Halfway through the two-game schedule, one point guard had been eliminated from the three-way “next Devin Harris prize pool;” every big man that was supposed to be capable of filling minutes looked like he was capable of doing just that; and the Badgers seemed to be establishing that their press defense — with large bodies rotating constantly — was a viable option.

And then Platteville happened: and then Michael Flowers and his six board, four steal, zero turnover performance at point happened; and then Brian Butch, Greg Stiemsma, Jason Chappell and their zero combined minutes happened; and then the reality of a full-court press being unreasonable without the right personnel happened.

What Badger nation is left with going into the first game of the season against Penn this Saturday is no answers to crucial questions facing UW. The exhibition season — which, at best, seemed like a feasible way to determine what Wisconsin could count on going into the regular season — instead served as proof that every single question-mark on Bo Ryan’s squad will still be a question-mark for the foreseeable future.

Here are two big issues facing the Badgers and how they should play themselves out:

Drawing a point blank: There have been three possibilities at point from the beginning: Shariff Chambliss, Kammron Taylor and Flowers.

Seemingly, Flowers played himself back into contention for the starting point guard position Tuesday and Chambliss all but played himself out of contention.

But that fact has to be hedged by the fact that the exact opposite happened in the first exhibition game. To some, this might indicate that Taylor — who, while he has shot inconsistently, has at least been consistent running the Badger offense — should be the frontrunner for the position.

But Bo’s going to have to ask himself which player offers him the greatest advantage at the position going into a Big Ten season with two teams (Michigan State and Illinois) that have as much or more talent as the Badgers and have true point guards.

Chambliss is an attractive option for anyone who can’t quite get over the good ole Harris days. He would offer the Badgers a shooter in the swing offense — something that Harris proved can translate in a slew of points.

But, with Clayton Hanson failing to establish himself as a reliable shooting guard thus far, it just doesn’t make sense to take Reef’s marginal point skills away from the ‘2’ (where his skills easily surpass marginal). In the sets Bo has used with a point guard and four forwards, Chambliss certainly makes sense; he can run the point effectively enough and can turn himself into a shooting guard in a spot. But other than that, the Badgers just need him to be a spot-up shooter too much to ask him to bring the ball up court.

Kammron Taylor will be an interesting player to watch. After coming out and shooting the lights out for about three minutes against Parkside, he’s been a miserable scorer for a game and three-quarters. But his five assists against Platteville were a team high, and Bo indicated after the Parkside game that that was what he was looking for the most improvement from in his point guards.

Michael Flowers, undoubtedly, offers the highest upside of the any Badger guard. He can score, he can pass, he can play defense and he can run the court. But he’s a true freshman; putting a true freshman who has already shown himself to be an inconsistent commodity at the helm of an otherwise stellar team might prove to be a mistake.

Outlook: Though Taylor will likely get the first shot at the point, Flowers provides a more attractive option. As such, the freshman should be given the most time until he proves that he shouldn’t, Chambliss will continue to see time in one guard-four forward sets (but mainly will start at shooting guard).

Big men on campus: The forward rotation fulfilled even the most egregious expectations for it against Platteville. Eight-deep, everyone scored, everyone rebounded, everyone defended and everyone passed. The only thing that could bring them down was injury –precisely what did bring them down against Platteville.

Wilkinson, Tucker and Morley are all great forwards and will provide a lot of quality minutes for the Badgers this season (and are plenty for UW to blow Platteville out). But for the Badgers to run a press this season, they’ll need more bodies than three.

Stiemsma, Butch and Chappell are too valuable to the Badgers to be spending their time on exercise bikes. As Bo said Monday, “What’s-his-name, Lance, Lance (Armstrong) might have been happy to see them over there, but I certainly wasn’t.”

Outlook: Against teams like Platteville and Parkside that don’t have the height or — more importantly — the talented height to go against the Wisconsin frontline, the frontline won’t become an issue. But, when the Badgers face big men like Paul Davis, they’ll need a constant rotation of players to guard him. If these early injury problems pervade the regular season, UW will be in trouble.

So, with the exhibition season out of the way, the Badgers haven’t answered many of the questions that fans were hoping they would.

But at least one thing’s been proven: Division I schools really can swamp Division II and Division III schools with exponentially heightened talent. Guess that’s something.