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As they prepare for their first regular season game Sunday, the No. 21 Wisconsin men’s basketball team welcomes University of Wisconsin-Whitewater to the Kohl Center tonight.

The Badgers are coming off 10 days’ rest after defeating Augustana at home 81-57. UW will use the final preseason game to help solidify its lineup and prepare for the challenges of the regular season.

“If you go back and look at the history, the reason we developed this with teams, like real teams, who have offenses and defenses they use throughout the year and have a system is because they are more competitive games,” Wisconsin head coach Bo Ryan said. “We have had so-called ‘All-Star’ teams or former players who were all-Big Ten or all-MAC conference [come in here] and all they do is run one simple pick and roll; they don’t play any defense, and they don’t hustle as much as these teams do.”

Ryan stressed playing schools like Whitewater in the preseason because it gives his squad a better chance to get ready for the regular season. Ryan also emphasized that the smaller schools come into games against Division I opponents with an upset in mind — as his former team demonstrated on Sunday when UW-Platteville defeated Division I Bradley University 84-79 in Peoria.

The Badgers know UW-Whitewater well, having a 47-4 record against the Warhawks, who are ranked No. 4 in the Sporting News Division III poll. Whitewater is coached by Pat Miller, who played for Ryan for a semester at UW-Platteville.

“He was a great player, and he’s done a great job coaching,” Ryan said. “I’ve been able to look at some things they have done, and they’re going to be pretty good because they were pretty good last year. … It’s a good year to play a team like Whitewater.”

The Warhawks are led by junior Matt Goodwin, who was named a Division III preseason All-American. Goodwin averaged 17.8 points and 3.6 rebounds per game during the 2007-08 season.

Tonight’s game — Whitewater’s first of the season — has a lot of implications for the Badgers as well. As the last game of the preseason, the coaches will take a closer look at their team to see who is going to start or see significant minutes off the bench during the season.

“I don’t write down a script before we play these games and say this is what we are automatically going to do,” Ryan said. “That is dictated by how we are playing. I think there are a lot of coaches that go into these games and you look at the score being five points, six points, eight points, and maybe they had intentions of playing all 15 guys, but that doesn’t happen.

“You still are playing to compete and be on the left-hand side. But, hopefully there are some combinations of different guys going into the game and, as we always do, anyone who wants to discuss redshirting, we will after the Whitewater game.”

The Badgers hope to solidify their lineup for the regular season, particularly at the five spot. Against Augustana, Wisconsin started sophomore forward Keaton Nankivil, who played 17 minutes and had seven rebounds.

The Wisconsin coaching staff will also be looking for their seniors to help the younger playersmature into good Division I basketball players. Ryan stressed players like forward Marcus Landry, who Ryan said has learned a lot during his career at Wisconsin.

“Marcus fits into that mold of being a guy that has learned quite a few things, and it his turn to make sure the other guys learn from what he does,” Ryan said. “He’s constantly working on it. He’s not there yet. … He has come a long way since his freshman year.”