Badgers 77, Kangaroos 31: Jared Berggren Fills It Up

Unquestionably, the biggest concern for the 2011-2012 Badgers is post play, or more generally, big man play. The Badgers’ best bigs from the 2010-2011 season, Jon Leuer and Keaton Nankivil, have taken their talents to German. With the two combining for about 60 minutes per game last season, the experienced, obvious replacement simply doesn’t exist. Where will the production come from?

Jared Berggren took one step towards answering that question on Tuesday against Missouri-Kansas City, as he hit 8-of-9 shots from the field and scored a career-high 21 points in a 77-31 victory. The production came from all over the court, as Berggren hit 4-of-4 three-pointers, 4-of-5 two-pointers, and made his only free throw of the night.

As tends to happen with small early-season samples, Berggren’s shooting percentages look much prettier after the solid shooting night. His field goal percentage moves from 45.2% to 55%, his three-point percentage shoots from 23.1% to 41.2%, and his free-throw percentage jumps from 66.7% to 75.0%.

Pretty numbers, no doubt. The sample is still small and the opponents are still bad, so they must be taken with a grain of salt. But this isn’t completely unprecedented. Berggren shot 32% from the three point line and an overall 49% from the floor, good for an effective field goal percentage of 55.6% — a better total than Jordan Taylor, Jon Leuer, and every other non-Keaton Nankovil player last season.

Even entering Tuesday’s game, Berggren continued to be blisteringly hot from inside the arc, completing 11-of-18 shots. Part of this is a height advantage over players from smaller schools, but Berggren has also shown the most effective post moves from a Badger big in some time. Whereas Keaton Nankivil and Jon Leuer played on the perimeter, Berggren can get into the post work his way to the basket in a variety of ways, creating the easiest shots on the floor. In the end, that is the purpose of the swing offense — the easy shot.

The three-point shot may not always be so kind to Berggren — his previous outing against Wofford saw a 1-for-6 brickfest from beyond the arc. But performances like Tuesday night’s force defenders to respect that shot and can free up inside space for a slashing Josh Gasser or Jordan Taylor or Ryan Evans. Even a marginal improvement from the three-point line — think 35-38% — and not only would it be an efficient shot for the 6’11” junior, but it would create opportunities for the entire team all around the offensive basket.

Oddly enough, Berggren didn’t grab any rebounds on the night. This shouldn’t be too much of a worry, though — the Badgers rebounded 38 of the 42 missed baskets by the ‘Roos, a tremendous 90.4% defensive rebound rate. The Badgers were able to consistently get rebounds from the guard position last season, ranking in the top 60 of 345 NCAA schools in guard rebound rate. The lack of offensive rebounds was somewhat worrying, as the Badgers only recovered seven of 28 missed shots. That will be something to watch, as the Badgers will  need to extend possessions to beat better teams like North Carolina or Big Ten opponents.

Berggren wasn’t the only bright spot for the Badgers. Mike Bruesewitz recovered from a brutal shooting night against Wofford to post 10 points on nine shots from the field as well as six rebounds. Ben Brust continued to look like an offensive force, posting 12 points on nine shots from the field. Ryan Evans’s offensive game showed some familiar holes on a 3-for-7 shooting night, but he corralled seven rebounds  and managed two blocked shots as well.

With the “campus round” of the Chicago Invitational Classic now over, the Badgers will face the Bradley Braves with a 2-0 record in the event (including Saturday’s game against Wofford). The upcoming games in Chicago will be the first of the season away from the Kohl center for Wisconsin and also the first against a  top-200 team according to the Pomeroy ratings. The Badgers will be the prohibitive favorites in the event, which also includes Nevada and a Jimmer-less Brigham Young squad.