The roller coaster ride that was UW men's basketball team's regular season has finally come to a halt. Now, a new post-season ride begins and the Badgers are ready for the journey.
First up for Wisconsin and the Big Ten will be the crowning of the conference Player of the Year on Tuesday. Junior Alando Tucker has proven to be a major contender for the title after he closed out the regular season by leading the Big Ten by averaging 20 points a game in league play. Prior to Tucker, the last Badger to lead the conference in scoring was Don Rehfeldt in 1950.
"Alando is the most valuable player because he does the most to help our team," UW head coach Bo Ryan said in his weekly press conference. "But Alando knows that he has had some help, especially defensively … He appreciates that."
Guards Kammron Taylor and Michael Flowers have aided Tucker's defensive efforts. Taylor has been second to Tucker in scoring this season with 14.6 points a game and has lead the team in minutes played with 34.9, while Flowers has been leading UW in steals with 37 on the season.
Though Tucker has received some support on defense, Ryan believes that is the area where he has improved the most.
"People don't talk about his defense a lot, but I like it, he commits," Ryan said. "His defense is better.
"He is also stronger with the ball when he gets it inside and also as a leader."
Up the hill: After the naming of the Big Ten Player of the Year, the Badgers will head to the conference tournament in Indianapolis, where UW has earned a No. 4 seed. The team's ranking has scheduled them to compete against fifth seeded Indiana in the quarterfinals of the tournament Friday at 1:30 p.m.
Despite IU's head coach Mike Davis announcing his resignation, the Hoosiers have been on a hot streak as of late by winning their last four conference games.
"They are talented," explained Ryan. "They've got players. It's a good team. You have to remember what was being said about them in November, December and January. What's changed? Now what has happened is the coach is stepping down. But they can play. They can make shots, they have one of the best big men in the country, and what don't they have?"
Wisconsin lost its final two games of the season largely due to sub-par second-half play, which will be unacceptable versus the Hoosiers should UW want to pull out a victory.
"All we know is that for 40 minutes between the lines, we just have to do things better than them in order to get it down and to play again in the next game," Ryan said.
The last time Wisconsin and Indiana met in the tournament was also in the quarterfinals in 2001. That time around Indiana got the best of Wisconsin 64-52.
The only time Indiana and Wisconsin met this season on Feb. 8, UW escaped with a 72-54 victory and held IU's "big man" Marco Killingsworth to 14 points, four shy of his average coming into that contest. During that game, Killingsworth also fouled out with 8:15 remaining.
Down the stretch: Though the announcing of the NCAA tournament bids will not come until Sunday evening, UW is expected to make it into the "big dance" after closing out the season with 19 overall wins and a 9-7 conference record. Also helping Wisconsin to a tournament invitation is its rating percentage index ranking. As of Sunday, the Big Ten had the highest RPI ranking of any conference in the nation with Wisconsin individually holding a No. 17 RPI ranking.
Ohio State leads the Big Ten with a No. 5 RPI ranking, followed by Illinois (9), Iowa (14), Michigan State (16), Wisconsin, Indiana (33) and Michigan (36).
"If [the Big Ten] leads in RPI all through the year, I would think seven teams [in the tournament] would be a nice number to have in a 11 team league," Ryan said. "So if there are seven teams, are we one of the top seven teams in the Big Ten? … Unless they change the math this year."
Two years ago when the ACC led the nation in RPI rankings, the NCAA invited seven of its then nine teams into the tournament. Ryan is hoping a similar situation will occur this year for the conference.
"Now how can you have the Big Ten lead in RPI and be talked about the way it was, and the year they did the same thing with the ACC, the ACC got like seven teams in," Ryan debated. "When the ACC had the highest RPI through the entire year, didn't they get seven in, a couple years ago when we got three?"
So far six teams have already received invitations to the "big dance." Included in the mix are Belmont, Winthrop, Penn, Southern Illinois, Murray State and Davidson.
