MIKE LUCAS Senior Writer

BY MIKE LUCAS
UWBadgers.com Senior Writer

MADISON, Wis. — No. 25 Wisconsin will wrap up its regular season on the road Sunday, traveling to play No. 5 Iowa at Carver-Hawkeye Arena. Here are three things to know:

Best of the Best

Whether it's ESPN's Joe Lunardi, CBS Sports' Jerry Palm, USA Today's Scott Gleeson, or Fox Sports' Mike DeCourcy, the "bracketologists" love the Big Ten. With one game left in the regular season, Michigan and Illinois loom as No. 1 seeds, and Ohio State and Iowa as No. 2 seeds (though there's not a consensus with the Hawks who have also shown up, in one case, on the 3-line). The experts are split on Purdue as a 4-seed or 5-seed. Lunardi has Wisconsin as a 6-seed, along with Oklahoma, Tennessee, and USC. The others have the Badgers as a 7-seed. The general view is the Big Ten will have nine in the 68-team field.

Obviously, everything is subject to change. But, thus far, the league has proven to be the toughest and most competitive in the nation, which is not a surprising storyline to any of the conference's head coaches. Like the UW's Greg Gard. Over the last handful of years, Gard has seen a developing trend whereby the "bottom and middle'' programs have gotten stronger and stronger. Observed Gard, "But this year we have more elite at the top than we've ever had. By elite, I mean Final Four worthy. I think there's four right now that are probably in that category. And, in my time here, we've never had that.''

Given the Big Ten's overall strength from top to bottom, one through 14, Gard cited, "For the most part, there's not a game where you can show up and cruise … you have to be consistently good …For us, we have to play with such a small margin of error against those teams (at the top of the standings) specifically because they're that good.''

When quizzed on how this season's Big Ten compares with previous seasons, senior Brad Davison noted, "One of the things that is glaringly different this year than other years is the lack of home court advantage and the home court environment – fans in the stands – that atmosphere and what that does. It's always hard to win on the road and usually you've got quite a bit of an advantage at home. So that's a little different this year. You kind of throw that out the window and just throw the ball in play. Obviously, the numbers and statistics speak for themselves. We have three teams in the Top 5 (AP poll); four in the Top 10. Five, six, seven teams all year in the Top 25. That's pretty tough to beat.''

 

Finding the Silver Lining

In Tuesday's loss at Purdue, Wisconsin had five players score in double-figures for only the third time this season. They went 16-of-21 from the free throw line, matching their most makes and takes from the stripe in the last 11 games. Or since Jan. 15 against Rutgers. They turned it over only six times. They didn't allow any points in transition. They got off to a fast start (13-5). Although the Badgers still came up short on the scoreboard (73-69), a common outcome in Mackey Arena (4-42), there were some positives to take away from Tuesday night's game at Purdue.

"I actually walked off the court – and then going through the film a couple of times – I felt we played better that night than we had played in a couple of weeks,'' Gard said. "Obviously, the final result wasn't what we wanted it to be. But I thought we played better basketball and that's a step in the right direction … because I didn't think we had played well for a good two to three weeks, so hopefully this is a trend back. We practiced better … we cut better … we screened better … they've been some points of emphasis.''

The offense has come under review all season as far as "just trying to find that flow and that rhythm and that continuity'' according to Gard. "That has been an on-going challenge as we've gone through the year here … trying to be more consistent offensively. Some of it is shot selection. Some of it is finishing in the paint. Some of it is getting in the paint more. All those things have been a focal point. Nothing has been normal about the preparation, one of the many reasons why we've had some issues hitting a stride offensively.''

How can the Badgers jump-start the offense? "That's a conversation that we've had all year after every game,'' Davison said. "How can you get better shots? How can you make your looks? And that comes down to getting better shots and maybe passing up good looks for great looks. So, we've spent a lot of time talking about it. Putting in new sets. Watching film. Going over motion in trying to show everyone where the opportunities are to attack and create for yourself. But also, to create for others.''

Soon Everyone is 0-0

Questions abound. How have the players dealt with the ups and downs? How have they coped in this COVID-impacted environment? How have they handled not reaching the preseason expectations that they had for themselves and others had for them based on their seniority and last season's finish? "Every season has its own unique challenges,'' Davison said. "Every season I've been here, we've been hit with a different storm or different trials and tribulations or different adversity.'' Regarding the toll that the pandemic has taken, he said, "It's draining, physically and mentally. But everyone is going through stuff this year. We're fortunate and thankful to be playing the game we love.''

On internalizing those aforementioned expectations, Davison confided, "Our life kind of revolves around basketball. That's what we do. We go from basketball to our apartments. It's very easy to be consumed with how you are doing strictly with basketball. If you win, it's easy to get too high. If you lose, it's easy to get too low really quick. The outside world wants you to do that, too. We really just try to keep it inside our locker room. Hold each other accountable. Encourage each other. Continue to move forward. We know we can't change the past. We can't change what we didn't do this year. But at the beginning of the year, we made multiple goals and most of those goals are still in front of us. We know we have one more game in this regular season and then everyone's record is 0-0. We can either talk about what has happened in the past. Or we can talk about what's going to happen in the future and what we're putting our mind towards and what we're working towards and what we're practicing for. The way I look at it, there's a lot to be positive about. There's a lot to look forward to.''