This Wisconsin basketball team is already exceeding expectations

Before the season started, I don’t think too many people had high expectations for this Wisconsin basketball team. They are a team that is essentially ‘rebuilding.’ Outside of super-senior Brad Davison, Tyler Wahl, and Johnny Davis, these are virtually all new players who had little to no minutes last year.

The media preseason predictions and voting had the Wisconsin basketball team finishing in tenth in the Big Ten Conference. The last time the Badgers finished 10th in the Big Ten Conference was in 1997-1998 when there were just 11 teams in the conference. They finished 3-13 in the conference and 12-19 overall.

Since then, they’ve finished outside of the top four in the conference just three times. In 1999-2000 they finished 6th with an 8-8 conference record, 9th in 2017-18 (7-11), and 6th last year (10-10). Many Wisconsin basketball fans haven’t seen the Badgers finish 10th or lower in their lifetimes.

However, if things continue to trend the way they have been, we shouldn’t have to worry about them finishing in 10th this year either.

The Badgers have won the games they were supposed to win so far this year, winning the gimme games with St. Francis and Green Bay. But the next few games would be a  real test for them. They fell at home vs. Providence, 63-58, without their best player in Johnny Davis, who was nursing a heel injury.

Next, they went to Las Vegas to play in the Maui Invitational that included some very good teams. The Badgers came back from a very early and large deficit to Texas A&M and eventually won the game by double-digits. Next, they faced the no. 12 team in the country in Houston and led the entire game, including a 20-point lead at the half. They were able to hold off a late charge by the Cougars and headed to the tournament championship to face St. Mary’s.

In another close game throughout, the Badgers clawed back late from a deficit to pull out a victory and capture their first Maui Invitational Championship. Johnny Davis was named the tournament MVP and he and Wahl were named to the all-tournament team as well.

With a team as young as this, it’s really impressive to see how poised they are in the face of adversity. A lot of teams would bend to the pressure of momentum when the opposing team goes on a bit of a run, but this Wisconsin basketball team stays poised throughout the game and sticks with what works, and what works for them is their defense.

It was very apparent in their latest game against Georgia Tech. The Yellow Jackets are a high-scoring team that features one of the top scorers in the country, Michael Devoe. Devoe came into the game shooting 65% from three this season, which is just crazy.

The Badgers struggled to shut him down, especially from long range. He finished the game 5-10 from three, but all five came in the first half. He still scored 33 points, but the Badgers made it very hard for anyone else to score. No other Georgia Tech player scored in double digits. The Badgers held Georgia Tech to 66 points which is about 12 points less than their average.

With their offense stalling frequently, the Badgers needed to depend on their defense to keep them in the game, and that’s exactly what happened.

Until they can get their offense rolling, they will need to continue to play defense at a high level, which is something they’ve shown they can do. They have one more nonconference game this Saturday against Marquette before they start up conference play to get things going because once they get into the Big Ten schedule, things are going to get harder.

One thing is for sure though. This young Badger squad is already defying expectations and could be players in the conference this year.