BY MIKE LUCAS
UWBadgers.com Senior Writer
MADISON, Wis. — At the end of
Vitto Brown's first collegiate season, some of his older Wisconsin teammates were singing his praises, obviously not literally to the degree that Brown can sing in his velvety, baritone voice. But they saw potential in Brown, even though he played little. Now Brown is in that position as a departing senior and he's projecting sky-is-the-limit things for freshmen
D'Mitrik Trice and
Aleem Ford.
"I see promising, bright futures," Brown said. "They're both hard workers. They've both been in winning programs in high school, so they know what it is to win. By D'Mitrik getting all the experience that he has been getting this year (as the first guard off the bench), he'll be able to share that with Aleem after he comes out of his redshirt year. I think they'll both do great down the road."
While redshirting, Ford toiled on the scout team and often matched up against Brown on the wing during practices. Asked to be more specific about Ford's upside, Brown said, "He's a match-up nightmare. He's deceptively tall in that he's 6-foot-8 but he moves like a guard. He can shoot (from outside) and still finish over the top of guys. He's a multi-faceted player who can do a lot of good things."
Ford has tried to absorb everything. "Competing 24/7 is something I learned this year — I'd say just competing the entire time that you're on the floor," said Ford, who has gained 15 pounds since arriving on campus and now is up to 212. "In high school, I guess, if you're my height or just have my athletic ability, you could make up for some lapses on defense and things like that."
UW associate head coach Lamont Paris has been encouraged by how Ford has handled adjustments as a redshirt. "He just has to continue to be a blank slate and sponge up information and grow," Paris said. "The expectation would be that he picks up some of the defensive things that Nigel (Hayes) and some of the older guys have been able to pass on. He needs to get those things.
"But his offensive package is really good — he's got such a versatile skill set," Paris continued. "It's hard to throw a guy (into the mix) that hasn't played one second of basketball (collegiately) and expect that all of a sudden he's going to score 15 points a game. But he's got good length, size and athleticism. He's really talented, especially on the offensive end."
Last season, Trice and Ford were post- (high school) graduate teammates at IMG Academy (Bradenton, Florida). Trice, who's from Huber Heights, Ohio, averaged 12 points and 4 assists; Ford, who's from Lawrenceville, Georgia, averaged 14 points and 6 rebounds. As it turned out among the two good friends, Trice was a steady contributor as a UW freshman; Ford was not even dressing for games.
"I guess you could say that it has been kind of hard," said Ford, who just turned 20 in December. "But it's not about me. I was just making sure that I supported D'Mitrik when he had a good game or even a bad game. I was making sure I kept pushing him hard and he didn't put his head down — making sure he gives it his all. I've been itching to get out there. But I'm taking it one step at a time."
• • • •
Trice and Brevin Pritzl had locker stalls near the door of the cramped auxiliary locker room, normally used for NHL and NBA officials, in Madison Square Garden. After Wisconsin's overtime loss to Florida in the Sweet 16 last Friday, it went from cramped to nearly claustrophobic during the post-game, post-midnight interrogation from a deadline-conscious media corps that stormed the premises.
"This was definitely not the way we wanted to end the season, especially sending these seniors out on this (losing) note," said Trice, who played only eight minutes against the Gators, two less than Pritzl, and 10 less than Trice's season average (18.3 minutes) over 37 games. "It really hurts and it really stings on the inside. But I'm just taking it all in right now and moving forward with it."
Trice's job description will expand next season with the graduation losses of Zak Showalter and Bronson Koenig. "I'm definitely going to be in a way bigger role," Trice said. "And it starts now — just in getting the (returning) guys together and things like that. Moving into the offseason, I will definitely be preparing a little bit different knowing that there's going to be a lot more weight on my shoulders."
After accounting for 63 assists, 37 turnovers and 20 steals — to go along with a 5.6 scoring average, including six games in double-digits, and a team-high shooting percentage (38-of-91, .418) from the 3-point line — Trice will be one of the keys to the backcourt makeover. It surely didn't hurt that the 6-foot, 178-pound Trice got a couple of games under his belt as a starter when Koenig was injured.
"D'Mitrik, as a freshman, was pretty composed, poised and mature for a young guy," Paris said. "In some of the early games, his 3-point shooting was through the roof (18-of-30, .600 for 13 nonconference games). Once we got into Big Ten play, teams knew us better and could scout and prepare for newer players and it was a little more difficult for him to find shots that he liked."
But it was all part of the maturing and growing process. Pritzl can attest to that. As a true freshman, he saw action in one game before taking a medical redshirt because of a foot injury. This season, he appeared in 24 games and showed some grit to guard and track down loose balls as a big guard and small forward. In a 71-60 win over Maryland, he had seven points and seven rebounds.
"I didn't expect at all to be in the position that I have been and that gives me a little jump start going forward knowing what I have to continue to work on," said Pritzl, who struggled from the perimeter (5-of-21), unexpectedly so, given that he's the all-time leading scorer at De Pere High School (Wisconsin). Then, again, Showalter was 4-of-24 from the 3-point arc his first two seasons combined at Wisconsin.
"I've got to watch a lot of tape on what they did — Showy and Bronson — and I've got to try and incorporate that into my game. Those are two good players that you can take a lot of examples from and learn from. I'm going to have a lot of conversations with the coaches about them. What did they do that made them so successful? And how can we translate that to our games to help us?"
The Badgers used three guards off the bench: Trice, Pritzl, and Jordan Hill, who will be the only scholarship senior on the roster. He lends some valuable experience (76 career games) to the mix. "They have to take a jump," Paris said of Pritzl and Hill. "The beauty of it is that those guys have played some meaningful minutes in big games; Jordan more than Brevin because he has been around longer."
In the same breath, Paris noted how expectations will likely change for them. Beyond just holding down spots in the rotation, they will have greater responsibilities. "Whereas this season, if they came in and added, it was a huge shot in the arm and a boost," said Paris. "Next year, we're going to have to rely on one or both of those guys to contribute consistently."
It's no secret that the coaching staff is counting heavily on incoming guards Kobe King (La Crosse, Wis.) and Brad Davison (Osseo, Minn.) to have an impact as first-year players. That also holds true for the third member of their Top-40 class, 6-10 Nathan Reuvers (Lakeville, Minn.). For what it's worth, the recruiting pundits, a fickle lot, have passed along high marks on this trio from the beginning.
"The biggest thing about them is their ability to win at a high level — it's an underrated aspect, especially when they've all been the focal point of other teams," Paris said. "Opponents have been trying to stop them from scoring by sending double and triple teams and these three guys have still found a way to not only have really good seasons individually but to lead their teams to success.
"They're a very tight-knit group, they communicate well between themselves and others. It's so different now than 20 years ago. You have all of this social media and these guys have access to communicate with each other a lot more readily. And they've been communicating with our current players, too — reaching out to them in different ways. It's such a weird phenomenon."
But welcomed. Reuvers' ability to make the jump physically will determine his role on a frontline that will revolve around 6-10 Ethan Happ, a third-team All-American. Based on his overall production — he averaged 14 points and 9 rebounds and led the team in assists (104), blocks (43) and steals (67) — Happ will be on everybody's radar and watch list going into his redshirt junior season.
As it was, he was a Player of the Year finalist for the Wooden, Naismith and Robertson awards.
"And Ethan is still a ways away from where he will end up and I say that in the best positive light that I can," Paris said. "He has got unbelievable foot work to get past guys. But his ability to go over the top (of defenders) has room for improvement. His ability to shoot the ball has room for growth too. He has so many areas where he can still grow. If he can reach that potential, it's a scary thought."
Happ, the Associated Press's Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year, didn't disagree. "Obviously, my shot has always been an issue and hopefully I can get that down," said Happ, who had 21 points (9-of-14 FGs) and six rebounds in the Florida loss. Along with four assists, he was 3-of-4 from the free throw line, but only 5-of-10 in the NCAA tournament and 81-of-162 (.500) overall, an area to be addressed this offseason.
Happ was visibly disconsolate after the loss to the Gators. So much so that he begged off looking too far into the future when prodded on how he might go about leading as the lone starter coming back. "It's tough to lose four guys who have put so much into the program, but it's part of the process," he said. "I'm going to take what they bestowed upon our team and hopefully take that into next year."
If it's true that the best thing about freshmen is that they become sophomores — and it was written that way about Khalil Iverson, Alex Illikainen and Charles Thomas going into this season — they will have their work cut out for them to live up to those second-year expectations as juniors, notably Illikainen and Thomas. Iverson was a factor in the rotation. Illikainen and Thomas weren't.
"I really learned a lot from the older guys and how they lead and how they handle situations," said Illikainen, who scored 34 points in 27 games. "This offseason means a lot. I hope to take it to another level. There are a lot of minutes and points walking away. This is one of the biggest (turnovers) in the past five or six years. As a team, not individuals, we have to do it. Everyone has got to get better."
Iverson finished strong. In the three NCAA games, he averaged 25 minutes, made 4-of-8 shots from the field and 9-of-15 from the free throw line while contributing 5.7 points and 6.3 rebounds. Against Florida, due to the personnel matchups, Iverson logged a career-high 33 minutes and collected a career-high eight rebounds. He had 11 points and seven rebounds against Virginia Tech.
"It will be a huge offseason for all of them," said Paris, who could also throw Andy Van Vliet into that junior-to-be category. "They're the next wave from a class standpoint. This is a group that has played a bunch (Iverson, Illikainen and Thomas more so than Van Vliet). We have to have some development out of them when you look at the guys that we'll be losing this year."
• • • •
An emotionally-drained Showalter sat in front of his locker and patiently answered question after question. Mostly, it was the same question, "What were you feeling when Chris Chiozza made the game-winning basket?" Never lowering his head, Showalter looked straight ahead and said, "When I saw that go through the net, man, it just crushed me, I would say."
Later, he would concede, "That will play through my mind for years and years to come."
Later, he would admit, "To end your career on a game-winner is brutal."
Later, he would confide, "We've been on the other end of this numerous times."
Near the end of regulation, Showalter took a side-out pass from Hayes, lowered his shoulder and muscled his way to the 3-point line — left then right through Chiozza's tight defense — where he extended off one leg and sank a triple that would send the game into overtime. Turning to Aaron Rodgers, who was seated in the stands, Showalter went with the discount double check "belt" motion.
"I took two dribbles and I was stumbling, falling down — luckily I had enough space to get it up," Showalter said of the first and only field goal that he attempted from beyond the arc in the Florida game. "I didn't get too high immediately after (the shot). I had emotions but I calmed down pretty quickly and I was just hoping to get a stop to get five more minutes (in overtime)."
The Badgers resiliency was on display again. Against Virginia Tech, they outscored the Hokies, 10-1, in the final 2:25. Against Villanova, they outscored the Wildcats, 15-5, over the final 5:15. Against Florida, they were down by 12 points (68-56) with 5:23 remaining and by eight points (68-60) with 3:26 left in regulation. True to form, they went on a run in the closing minutes and fought back.
"This group," Showalter said, "was a very confident group from Day One and we never felt like we were out of a game. We always felt like we were going to make those plays down the stretch to get wins and we made a lot of those plays tonight (Friday). We just felt comfortable. We were always in the moment. Never nervous. Never doubting ourselves. This was just another example of that."
If these seniors leave anything behind, he hopes that it's that "never say never" spirit. "I'd like to think this group of seniors held our own and kind of took it to the next level," Showalter pointed out. "I know that was their goal (Hayes, Koenig, Brown) coming in behind me and I quickly got that message being with those guys every day and seeing how hard they worked."
Citing the highly-regarded recruiting class and the returning cast, Showalter feels like the Wisconsin program is in good hands. "I think it's in a very good spot," he suggested confidently. "I've said all along that the guys in this locker room that are going to play these next couple of years are going to take this program hopefully to an even higher level."
If they do, they can thank Showalter, Hayes, Koenig and Brown for showing them the path.
