Though the chance of an NBA season seems dubious, at least there is college basketball to get excited about.

The Wisconsin men’s basketball team pleased fans statewide with an impressive season opening win Saturday afternoon by overwhelming an inexperienced Kennesaw State team 85-31 at the Kohl Center. A balanced attack of outside scoring, unselfish ball movement, superior rebounding and shutdown defense were the keys to UW’s success.

The Badgers effectively kept KSU guard Markeith Cummings in check offensively, allowing only 18 points on a 5-of-15 shooting night from last season’s leading scorer in the Atlantic Sun Conference. Wisconsin head coach Bo Ryan said he was proud to see his players support each other to contain Cummings.

“We had a challenge guarding a guy that will probably lead that league in scoring again,” Ryan said. “He’s a guy that can score against anybody. He could start for any team in the Big Ten or ACC, Cummings. I thought we did a pretty good job on him considering the number of times he tried to score.”

With such an easy victory, perhaps one challenge for Wisconsin will be finding enough minutes to satisfy the team’s array of capable contributors. Since 10 Badgers scored and five players finished with double figures against KSU, Ryan will have plenty of chances to test players striving for playing time during these early non-conference games.

Preseason All-American point guard Jordan Taylor will clearly be the difference maker for Wisconsin as a senior floor general this year. His leadership was on display against KSU, as he involved the whole team by dishing out seven assists and adding 11 points, four rebounds and a couple of steals.

Wisconsin will also rely on returning frontcourt starters Mike Bruesewitz and Ryan Evans. The tandem of forwards combined for 20 points in the season opener, but Ryan said he expects his players to make statements through more than simply scoring the basketball.

“We never want people to make a statement just with their scoring,” Ryan said. “We want people to make it with rebounding, defense, passing and screening. We like good all-around players. Hopefully, that’s what they’re doing now, getting better in all of those areas.”

Evans and Bruesewitz met that challenge, combining for 14 rebounds and adding four assists apiece while defensively holding the Owl offense to only 23 percent shooting from the field. Another centerpiece to the Badger frontcourt will be 6-foot-10 forward/centerJared Berggren, who Ryan said he believes will take over the post and make a statement alongside Evans and Bruesewitz this season.

Ryan said he was also impressed by the increasing level of comfort freshmen Traevon Jackson and Frank Kaminsky displayed Saturday, playing in their first college basketball game.

“They played well; they mixed it up,” Ryan said. “They got in there and did some things that helped the team defensively and offensively. They seemed to feel a little better after the few minutes that they did get in the first half and then what they got in the second half.”

Of course, Ryan also entertained the media as usual at Monday’s press conference after fielding a Facebook question about whether he would consider competing on ABC’s “Dancing with the Stars.”

“Well, I’ve got a day job and I’m going to stick to that right now,” Ryan said. “There is an old saying about how in life things happen and everything else, but you want to go out dancing. I do a lot of dancing when nobody else is around. It certainly wouldn’t be on national TV right now. I’d have to polish up a lot of moves.”

Ryan added an anecdote about the closest encounter a member of his family has had to dancing on national television when he described how his father challenged MC Hammer to a dance off during the Final Four.

“MC Hammer comes walking through,” Ryan said. “[Butch Ryan] goes up to MC Hammer and throws the gauntlet down and challenges him to a dance contest right there. He says, ‘I think I think I’ve got better moves than you.’ Well, this bodyguard goes up to my dad and tried to grab him. And we kind of discouraged the bodyguard from doing that. MC Hammer took a liking to him, but he never danced again for my dad, so he probably knew better.”