Photo by: Brian Rothmuller/Icon Sportswire
Lucas: Wahl inspiring the Badgers, even by name
January 02, 2022 | Men's Basketball
Junior has mastered an art that is now focal point of game prep
MADISON, Wis. – Micah Shrewsberry, a former Purdue assistant, has given Penn State fans more than some food for thought. The first-year head coach actually has a sandwich named after him – the "Shrewsburger" – at a local eatery minutes away from the Bryce Jordan Center in State College, Pa.
For $15 bucks, you can purchase the sandwich – hamburger patty, cheese, lettuce, bacon and peanut butter – at the Field Burger and Tap located at the Toftrees golf resort, which is where ex-Wisconsin coach Bo Ryan always used to bunk his teams the night before playing the Nittany Lions.
Naming food after athletes or coaches is nothing new, of course. Penn State football coach James Franklin also has a burger on the menu at the Toftrees. But how many players can say that they have their name on a fundamental drill used during practices? Tyler Wahl, for one.
"Honestly, I'm blessed to have a drill named after me," said Wahl, breaking into a smile.
Not a sandwich? "A drill," stressed the UW junior. "And I like it because it's a drill for the basics which transfers into the game. It also brings a lot of energy to the practice. It's one of the first things we do the day before the game to set the tone for what we're about to bring the next day.
"It emphasizes the little things that win games."
On Monday night, the Badgers resume Big Ten play at Purdue's Mackey Arena in West Lafayette, Ind. There may not be a more intimidating venue in college basketball because of the noise level generated by the fans. More so now than ever with the Boilermakers ranked No. 3 in the nation.
The Badgers will need all the energy they can muster in this environment, particularly in defending Purdue's trio of 6-4 Jaden Ivey, 6-10 Trevion Williams and 7-4 Zach Edey. They combined for 49 points (16-of-25 FG), 18 rebounds and 13 assists in their last game, a 104-90 win over Nicholls State.
Contesting shots close to the rim without fouling will be one of the keys, something that underlines the concept of "Walling Up" on defense. Or going up vertically, raising your arms behind your ears (without slapping down), to disrupt the shooter. It's known as "Wahling Up" at the UW.
But that's only one element of the jump-Wahl drill that first-year Wisconsin assistant Sharif Chambliss brought with him from Wright State. More to the point, Chambliss explained, "It's an energy-giving drill with things that aren't going to show up in the final stat sheet of the game."
Part One: A team manager attacks a defender who's guarding the rim. He must Wahl-Up.
Part Two: The defender must then take a charge from an assistant wielding a blocking pad.
Part Three: After picking himself off the floor, the defender must dive for a loose ball.
Part Four: A teammate rushes to the defender and helps lift him to his feet.
"That might be the most important part of it," Chambliss observed. "You're not doing those other three things for yourself. You're doing them for your team. Those are things and ways that can help your team win. And those are factors that we try to instill in our guys. Tough things.
"You're not talking tough. But these are tough plays you can make to win basketball games."
On why Wahl is so adept at walling up, Chambliss said, "He understands verticality. When you jump up, you're going to take some contact. And you can either be strong and keep your arms above your head or not. Sometimes when people come into you, the arms tend to go down.
"Every time they go down, and the person with the ball is trying to explode towards the rim, it's going to be a foul. The perception is that you're swinging down instead of keeping your verticality. You have to make them go through you (to score at the rim)."
Taking a charge is a given at Wisconsin. No better example of that art is Brad Davison.
"For sure, it has changed with the flopping rules that have been put into place," acknowledged Wahl who has also taken his fair share of charges. "I've gotten called for a couple of warnings for flopping. You just have to be aware of that semi-circle (3-foot radius from the center of the basket)."
Added UW assistant coach Joe Krabbenhoft, "With the charge arc, they don't want to call as many charges, and you've got to be more careful with how many you attempt to take. We used to take way more. But now you can't with the arc. It's certainly changed things."
During the drill, Krabbenhoft is responsible for holding the blocking pad and smacking players after they have "Wahled Up." You hear two thumps. Pad on player. Player on floor. Through it all, Krabbenhoft can't stop grinning. "You've got fall in love with hitting the floor a little bit," he said.
It's in character with how the tenacious, spirited Krabbenhoft played for the Badgers.
"Hey, man, you can't find a better person to hit someone with a pad than Joe Krabbenhoft," said Chambliss, also a former UW player. "I've seen Joe bleed everywhere on a basketball court. He's one of those guys who is tough and doesn't mind physical contact."
Krabbenhoft is of the mindset that you can't manufacture toughness. One of his favorite quotes is from ex-Butler University coach Brad Stevens. "He was at the podium at the Final Four, "Krabbenhoft recalled, "and someone asked, 'How do you get your guys to take charges and dive on the floor?'
"He answered, 'I recruit guys who take charges and dive on the floor.'"
Krabbenhoft could relate.
"For most of our guys, it's in their DNA. It's part of the reason why we recruit them."
Whereas Krabbenhoft has the blocking pad in his hands, Chambliss has the ball. So after the players gets up after being knocked down, taking the charge, Chambliss will roll the ball on the floor in one direction or the other to simulate a 50/50 game situation. Diving after it is Part Three of the drill.
Part Four is the helping hand. "It's just a team culture type of thing, I feel," Wahl said. "It sends the message that you're there for your teammate, 'If you're going to make a hustle play, I'm going to be there to get you right back up and we're going to go out there and get this thing done together.'"
In sum, Krabbenhoft said of the drill, "It brings some juice and energy to practice."
It's also conditioning players to aggressively contest shots without fouling, a necessity.
"The first couple of years, I was always the energy guy, and I was trying to make plays and that kind of got me into trouble a few times," Wahl admitted. "This year, in the Loyola scrimmage, I got into foul trouble, and I was like, 'I just can't foul anymore.' I kind of figured that out."
The temptation is to bring the arms down and swat at the ball.
"I feel like it was something that the coaches had to talk to me about," Wahl said of his early growing pains in learning how to play defense, specifically walling up without drawing a whistle. "Coach Krabb came up to me and said, 'You don't need to make the home run play every time.'"
It's a process and something Krabbenhoft, the power forward, learned by trial and error.
"It took me at least two years, I was into my junior season, when I started figuring out how to stop people without fouling," he said. "You have to teach guarding without fouling. Coach Gard has done a tremendous job of that. The biggest teacher is the bench because you come out when you foul.
"Tyler has always had natural instincts. Now, it's a matter of doing it – going vertical on a jump wall and not trying to block every shot. Young guys want to block everything. But you can be just as effective going straight up and leading with your chest.
"Steven Crowl has gotten some cheap fouls arm wrestling with guys. But he does a good job of chesting up and going straight up. Chris Vogt has gotten better. Early in the year, I thought he was trying to block things that were unblockable. Now, he's doing a better job of chesting up without fouling.
"As you get older, you learn that if you don't foul, you stay on the floor a little bit longer."
Williams and Edey, in particular, will pose the ultimate challenge on Monday.
A looming intersection between Boiler Up and Wahling Up.
For $15 bucks, you can purchase the sandwich – hamburger patty, cheese, lettuce, bacon and peanut butter – at the Field Burger and Tap located at the Toftrees golf resort, which is where ex-Wisconsin coach Bo Ryan always used to bunk his teams the night before playing the Nittany Lions.
Naming food after athletes or coaches is nothing new, of course. Penn State football coach James Franklin also has a burger on the menu at the Toftrees. But how many players can say that they have their name on a fundamental drill used during practices? Tyler Wahl, for one.
"Honestly, I'm blessed to have a drill named after me," said Wahl, breaking into a smile.
Not a sandwich? "A drill," stressed the UW junior. "And I like it because it's a drill for the basics which transfers into the game. It also brings a lot of energy to the practice. It's one of the first things we do the day before the game to set the tone for what we're about to bring the next day.
"It emphasizes the little things that win games."
On Monday night, the Badgers resume Big Ten play at Purdue's Mackey Arena in West Lafayette, Ind. There may not be a more intimidating venue in college basketball because of the noise level generated by the fans. More so now than ever with the Boilermakers ranked No. 3 in the nation.
The Badgers will need all the energy they can muster in this environment, particularly in defending Purdue's trio of 6-4 Jaden Ivey, 6-10 Trevion Williams and 7-4 Zach Edey. They combined for 49 points (16-of-25 FG), 18 rebounds and 13 assists in their last game, a 104-90 win over Nicholls State.
Contesting shots close to the rim without fouling will be one of the keys, something that underlines the concept of "Walling Up" on defense. Or going up vertically, raising your arms behind your ears (without slapping down), to disrupt the shooter. It's known as "Wahling Up" at the UW.
But that's only one element of the jump-Wahl drill that first-year Wisconsin assistant Sharif Chambliss brought with him from Wright State. More to the point, Chambliss explained, "It's an energy-giving drill with things that aren't going to show up in the final stat sheet of the game."
Part One: A team manager attacks a defender who's guarding the rim. He must Wahl-Up.
Part Two: The defender must then take a charge from an assistant wielding a blocking pad.
Part Three: After picking himself off the floor, the defender must dive for a loose ball.
Part Four: A teammate rushes to the defender and helps lift him to his feet.
Tyler. Wahl. ❌😤
— Wisconsin Basketball (@BadgerMBB) December 9, 2021
Top two defender in college basketball, and he ain't number two... pic.twitter.com/U4cewWFw13
"That might be the most important part of it," Chambliss observed. "You're not doing those other three things for yourself. You're doing them for your team. Those are things and ways that can help your team win. And those are factors that we try to instill in our guys. Tough things.
"You're not talking tough. But these are tough plays you can make to win basketball games."
On why Wahl is so adept at walling up, Chambliss said, "He understands verticality. When you jump up, you're going to take some contact. And you can either be strong and keep your arms above your head or not. Sometimes when people come into you, the arms tend to go down.
"Every time they go down, and the person with the ball is trying to explode towards the rim, it's going to be a foul. The perception is that you're swinging down instead of keeping your verticality. You have to make them go through you (to score at the rim)."
Taking a charge is a given at Wisconsin. No better example of that art is Brad Davison.
"For sure, it has changed with the flopping rules that have been put into place," acknowledged Wahl who has also taken his fair share of charges. "I've gotten called for a couple of warnings for flopping. You just have to be aware of that semi-circle (3-foot radius from the center of the basket)."
Added UW assistant coach Joe Krabbenhoft, "With the charge arc, they don't want to call as many charges, and you've got to be more careful with how many you attempt to take. We used to take way more. But now you can't with the arc. It's certainly changed things."
During the drill, Krabbenhoft is responsible for holding the blocking pad and smacking players after they have "Wahled Up." You hear two thumps. Pad on player. Player on floor. Through it all, Krabbenhoft can't stop grinning. "You've got fall in love with hitting the floor a little bit," he said.
It's in character with how the tenacious, spirited Krabbenhoft played for the Badgers.
"Hey, man, you can't find a better person to hit someone with a pad than Joe Krabbenhoft," said Chambliss, also a former UW player. "I've seen Joe bleed everywhere on a basketball court. He's one of those guys who is tough and doesn't mind physical contact."
Krabbenhoft is of the mindset that you can't manufacture toughness. One of his favorite quotes is from ex-Butler University coach Brad Stevens. "He was at the podium at the Final Four, "Krabbenhoft recalled, "and someone asked, 'How do you get your guys to take charges and dive on the floor?'
"He answered, 'I recruit guys who take charges and dive on the floor.'"
Krabbenhoft could relate.
"For most of our guys, it's in their DNA. It's part of the reason why we recruit them."
Whereas Krabbenhoft has the blocking pad in his hands, Chambliss has the ball. So after the players gets up after being knocked down, taking the charge, Chambliss will roll the ball on the floor in one direction or the other to simulate a 50/50 game situation. Diving after it is Part Three of the drill.
Part Four is the helping hand. "It's just a team culture type of thing, I feel," Wahl said. "It sends the message that you're there for your teammate, 'If you're going to make a hustle play, I'm going to be there to get you right back up and we're going to go out there and get this thing done together.'"
In sum, Krabbenhoft said of the drill, "It brings some juice and energy to practice."
It's also conditioning players to aggressively contest shots without fouling, a necessity.
"The first couple of years, I was always the energy guy, and I was trying to make plays and that kind of got me into trouble a few times," Wahl admitted. "This year, in the Loyola scrimmage, I got into foul trouble, and I was like, 'I just can't foul anymore.' I kind of figured that out."
The temptation is to bring the arms down and swat at the ball.
"I feel like it was something that the coaches had to talk to me about," Wahl said of his early growing pains in learning how to play defense, specifically walling up without drawing a whistle. "Coach Krabb came up to me and said, 'You don't need to make the home run play every time.'"
It's a process and something Krabbenhoft, the power forward, learned by trial and error.
"It took me at least two years, I was into my junior season, when I started figuring out how to stop people without fouling," he said. "You have to teach guarding without fouling. Coach Gard has done a tremendous job of that. The biggest teacher is the bench because you come out when you foul.
"Tyler has always had natural instincts. Now, it's a matter of doing it – going vertical on a jump wall and not trying to block every shot. Young guys want to block everything. But you can be just as effective going straight up and leading with your chest.
"Steven Crowl has gotten some cheap fouls arm wrestling with guys. But he does a good job of chesting up and going straight up. Chris Vogt has gotten better. Early in the year, I thought he was trying to block things that were unblockable. Now, he's doing a better job of chesting up without fouling.
"As you get older, you learn that if you don't foul, you stay on the floor a little bit longer."
Williams and Edey, in particular, will pose the ultimate challenge on Monday.
A looming intersection between Boiler Up and Wahling Up.
Players Mentioned
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