The Big Ten was supposed to be the easiest puzzle to put together. With only 11 pieces required for assembly, this puzzle was made for a kid in elementary school. Now, as the regular season draws to an end, no one knows how it fits together any more. The top of the conference has four teams legitimately in contention for a share of the title, while at the bottom, four teams are fighting each other not to finish last. The remaining three teams rest in the middle with the possibility of finishing above, below or right at the .500 mark.
The Badgers (17-11, 10-5 Big Ten) will prepare for their final regular-season game tonight when they take on the eighth-place Michigan Wolverines. A victory would put them in contention for at least a share of the conference title, while a loss could set them back as far as the fifth or sixth seed in the conference come Big Ten Tournament time. The implications of this game reach further than anyone could have imagined at the beginning of the season.
Michigan no longer plays with the luster of the team that won the Big Ten Tournament title and made a second-round NCAA appearance four years ago. Since that appearance, the Wolverines have failed to accumulate a winning record in the conference and have made only one appearance in the post season with a NIT bid two years ago.
Under the tutelage of first-year head coach Tommy Amaker, Michigan (10-15, 5-9 Big Ten) is once again going to end with a losing record. Of the Wolverines’ five victories in the Big Ten, only two are against teams with winning records: Minnesota and Wisconsin. Michigan defeated UW 64-53 back in early February. Since then, both teams have taken opposite paths in the conference. Wisconsin has won five straight games after the loss, while the Wolverines have dropped five of their last six.
As this season has proven, records mean nothing come tipoff. Any team can beat another on any given day. Michigan brings a balanced scoring attack to the court, while those same players have allowed the opponents to score at will on the other end of the court. Michigan allows an average of 70.7 points per game, while only scoring 67.3 points.
UM’s top three scorers, LaVell Blanchard (14.3 ppg), Bernard Robinson (11.8 ppg) and Chris Young (10.8 ppg), are just three of the 11-man rotation the Wolverines have relied on heavily all season. All in all, 14 players have seen action this season, including seven different starting rotations. Michigan’s ever changing starting lineup has been a problem for the Wolverines but also presents a unique situation for teams getting ready to play Michigan. Every player must be scouted, making it hard for teams to focus on specific sets.
UW head coach Bo Ryan noted how the Wolverines’ multiple rotations could turn in their advantage.
“Michigan proved that no matter who was on the floor, if they played well together, if they moved the ball around, if they did good things, good things would happen,” Ryan said.
However, there is no question of who Michigan’s go-to guy has been. Blanchard, a 6-foot-7 junior forward, leads the team not only in scoring, but also in rebounding with 6.5 boards per game. Robinson and Young are right behind Blanchard with 4.6 and 5.7 boards per game respectively. Defensively, Young, a 6-foot-9 senior forward, leads the team with 36 blocks, while Robinson, a 6-foot-8 sophomore forward, leads the team with 30 steals a game.
Unlike UM, the Badgers have slowly but surely adjusted to the game plan of their first-year head coach. Ryan’s swing offense had UW struggling at the beginning of the season, causing missed shots, misreads and, ultimately, turnovers. Those areas have since gelled together; the team no longer looks lost at the top of the arch, but confident. Although nowhere near perfect, Wisconsin has put together a game plan that has won them five straight.
“They’re picking up things every day,” Ryan said on his team’s knowledge of the swing offense. “It’s a joy to see it when guys are making better reads. [They] hopefully will make better reads Wednesday than we did last week, and so on and so on throughout the year until they make us stop playing. But there are still a lot of things we can do better.”
Junior guard Kirk Penney continues to lead the team with 14.9 points per game. Freshman Devin Harris follows with 11.8. Senior Charlie Wills, with 10, is the only other player averaging double digits per game, but freshman Mike Wilkinson teeters on the edge with 9.9 points per game while leading the team with 5.9 rebounds per game.
