White Suburban Punk

Wisconsin steamrolled RIT and BC blew out Miami yesterday in the Frozen Four.

The Badgers wrecked RIT right from the start.  They scored their first goal 1:27 into the game before RIT had even advanced the puck past the red line.  The forechecking pressure from the Badgers was simply relentless, and RIT couldn’t contend with the size, speed, and skill of Wisconsin.  The game winning goal was scored 9:38 into the game and Wisconsin led 2-0 at the break.  After more relentless pressure and two five on three advantages, Wisconsin led 6-0.  They gave up a goal with 27 seconds left in the second period.

In the third, Wisconsin had clearly called off the dogs.  The forecheck was virtually nonexistent, completely abandoned in a move that Gary Thorne and Barry Melrose called “classy.”  There was no need to humiliate them any more.  Wisconsin scored two goals in the third period, with the last one coming against a goalie who was playing in his first collegiate game.

BC led 3-0 going into the third period and then gave up a goal five minutes in to make it 3-1.  They then scored three goals in 1:35 to put the game away, but they most certainly did not call off the dogs.  They continued pouring it on, scoring a seventh goal with 3:40 left and continuing their pressure game after that.  Miami even got an interference penalty with 2:30 left while trying to slow them down.  As a non-BC fan, this seemed like the typical arrogant, spoiled brat, front-running attitude that has made BC so beloved in New England.  Other regions get behind their big time college athletic teams, even if the people didn’t go to school there.  Boston isn’t into big time college sports because they don’t have any big time college sports teams.  BC is on an extremely impressive run in hockey, but unfortunately, college hockey doesn’t count as a big time sport anywhere (except North Dakota).  BC’s football and basketball programs simply do not engender admiration, despite what the delusional Gene DeFilippo thinks.  Doug Flutie’s popularity in the 1980s is the exception, but that was because he was from Natick, not out of any general love for BC.  And BC went back to being an afterthought as soon as Flutie left.  I think BC students and fans actually piss people off locally more than make them want to join in.

Anyway, the final has all the makings of a classic.  These are clearly the two best teams in the country, they’re both hot, and they both can score in bunches.  It should be damn entertaining.

Photo from Wisconsin State Journal

The Final Four is now set in basketball and hockey.  Duke managed to flop their way past Baylor and West Virginia exploited Kentucky’s poor outside shooting.  I really don’t like the way Tennessee plays, and I still can’t believe Ohio State let that game get away from them, but Michigan State plays even uglier and somehow got them through to play Butler.  Can I hope for a Butler/West Virginia final?  I guess on principle I should root for the Big Ten, but I really don’t think I can.  Hopefully the crowd will really be behind Butler, given that the campus is just a few miles away, but I suspect a majority of the spectators will not be local.

BC fired Al Skinner, and it apparently happened last week.  This is just bizarre.  When I heard that he had interviewed at St. John’s, I wondered why he hadn’t been fired for expressing interest in another job, like AD Gene DeFilippo did to former football coach Jeff Jagodinski.  Turns out the deed had already been done.  DeFilippo apparently believes that someone else can do better than Skinner.  Two of the last three years have been below .500, but he had 7 NCAA tournament appearances since 2001.  Skinner had success with “weak” recruiting classes and DeFilippo has got to be delusional if he thinks that BC is going to become a destination for blue chip players, even if they are in the ACC.  Just like with the firing of Jagodinski, there is a strange arrogance at work here.  In big time college athletics, BC is just not that great of a job.

In hockey, however, Jerry York does have a great job.  I still can’t figure out who this BC team is, but they keep winning.  They blow a late 6-4 lead to Maine in the Hockey East championship game and then win 7-6.  Then they struggle with a tough Alaska Fairbanks team but beat them 3-1.  Then they score 9 goals against Yale but still have trouble putting them away and win, 9-7.  Maine scored the second-most goals in Hockey East, Fairbanks allowed the second fewest in the CCHA, and Yale led the nation in goals per game, so it appears BC struggles to stop good offensive teams but can score almost at will against the weaker defensive units.  So far in the tournament they have played two flawed teams, but that will not be the case with Miami, who are fourth in the nation in goals scored and second in goals allowed.  Miami has not been setting the world on fire lately, though, which BC does have to its advantage.  Miami lost in the CCHA tournament to Michigan, and then beat Alabama – Huntsville just 2-1, before beating Michigan in double overtime.  Miami has had a great season, but it still would’ve been cool to see Michigan playing at Ford Field.

Wisconsin came out kind of flat in the first period against Vermont but then took over in the second period and ended up scoring three power play goals to win, 3-2.  I hate to say this, but this team’s only real weakness appears to be the goaltender, Scott Gudmanson.  It’s not that he’s bad, he’s just inconsistent.  He definitely made some saves to preserve the game in the third period, but it probably shouldn’t have been that close in the first place.

The regional final against St. Cloud State was a better all-around performance by the team, although there was another soft goal given up by Gudmanson. This time the Badgers came out with fire and took a 3-1 first period lead, chasing the St. Cloud State goalie who had shut them out in the WCHA playoffs.  Each time St. Cloud cut the lead to one goal, the Badgers answered quickly and won, 5-3.

That sets up the ancient rivalry with RIT, the Rochester Institute of Technology, which is not RPI.  RIT won the Atlantic Hockey regular season and tournament, and has been in Division I since 2005.  The have no scholarship players, no draft picks, and no names on their uniforms.  They beat #1 seed Denver, 2-1, which was certainly an upset, but maybe not that much of a surprise.  Denver had been kind of reeling, losing two games in a row for the first time this season in the WCHA playoffs, to North Dakota in the semifinal and then Wisconsin in the third place game.  Coach George Gwozdecky had even benched his top line and had to pull his Hobey Baker finalist goaltender in the Wisconsin game.

But to not only beat UNH, but actually blow them out?  OMG RIT, WTF?  Wisconsin is fortunate for the long break between games, as that should diminish some of RIT’s momentum, but if they score an early goal against the Badgers, look out.  That is the first game of the two national semifinals, at 5:00 Eastern on ESPN2, Thursday, April 8.

Photo from US College Hockey Online

Yes, this shot went in

Wisconsin was beaten by the better team Sunday.  They were out of it from the opening tip, as Cornell raced out to 16-4 lead 5 1/2 minutes into the game.  At that point, Cornell had four missed field goals but had four offensive rebounds and Wisconsin’s Keaton Nankivil had just picked up his second foul.  Nankivil finished the game with no points and two rebounds in just five minutes.  The Badgers closed to within 24-21, but that was as close as it got.  It was 43-31 at the half, and Wisconsin had 6 turnovers, 5 by Trevon Hughes.  In a game in which Hughes had to play great, we got the bad Trevon instead. He’s been a good soldier for his four years, and has definitely improved a lot, but he remained maddeningly inconsistent, even in his senior year.  It’s Jordan Taylor’s team to run now, and Jon Leuer will be the clear star.  Next year’s team will go as far as he takes them. 

Other than the Badger game, the tournament has been truly outstanding.  It’s too bad about Kalin Lucas, but the end of the Michigan State/Maryland game was incredible.  Ohio State also looked strong, and Purdue landed the last punch in their brawl with Texas A&M.  Maybe the Big Ten wasn’t so bad, after all, with two round two wins vs. ACC and one vs. Big 12.  Five of the final 16 teams are from non-BCS conferences (Northern Iowa, Butler, Xavier, Cornell, and St. Mary’s), plus #11 seed Washington is still alive.

NCAA Basketball Tournament Conference Breakdown:

                          Round 1                   Round 2                                         

Big Ten               4-1                              3-1

Big 12                  5-2                              2-3

ACC                     4-2                               1-3

Big East              4-4                               2-2

SEC                      2-2                               2-0

NCAA Hockey Tournament

The field was picked Sunday morning and Michigan kept their 20 year streak alive by winning the CCHA tournament.  Wisconsin plays Vermont in St. Paul, with the winner getting the St. Cloud State/Northern Michigan winner.  Michigan is in Ft. Wayne playing tough Bemidji State (who will join the WCHA next year), with the winner playing Miami/Ala. Huntsville.  So, Miami.  Cornell gets to haunt me in another sport by playing UNH, with the winner getting Denver/RIT in Albany, and BC plays Alaska Fairbanks in Worcester, with the winner getting North Dakota/Yale.  The Fighting Sioux are on one of their patented late season hot streaks, winning the WCHA tournament as the 5 seed.  Wisconsin got shut out by St. Cloud after their goalie stood on his head in the semifinal, and then beat the snot out of Denver in the third place game.

The games are Friday/Saturday and Saturday/Sunday, and most are on ESPNU.  Some of the listings say they’re on ESPNU HD, but I don’t have an HD ESPNU channel on Direct TV.  Maybe something will happen this week?  Yeah, right.

I still have to get caught up on soccer.  Liverpool beat Lille to advance in the Europa League, but lost to Man United at Old Trafford on Sunday.

Photo from Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

I thought the tournament was supposed to be fun.  It had been up until this game, which was excrutiating.  Jon Leuer played great throughout, and definitely converted Clark Kellogg to his fan club.  Trevon Hughes had an excellent first half, but he started doing his dribble too much, drive, and throw up a wild shot that doesn’t have a prayer in the second half.  I expected a much better team performance from the Badgers coming off their worst game of the season vs. Illinois in the Big Ten tourney.  Wofford hit their first 8 shots of the second half, but to their credit, the Badgers stayed poised.  Leuer was truly awesome, especially at the end.  He hit the go ahead jumper with 17 seconds left, caused Wofford to turn it over on their next possession, and then hit both free throws to win it with 4 seconds left.  The Badgers had just 4 turnovers for the game, but also just 3 assists. 

Cornell is next.  Their strong perimeter shooting could spell the end for Wisconsin, although I still think the Badgers are due to play a great game.  I thought it was going to come today, but it didn’t, so either it’s about to happen or they’re just not that good.

“Up above Cayuga’s waters, there is an awful smell,

Some say it is Cayuga’s waters, others say it is Cornell.”

ON WISCONSIN!

Big Star’s Alex Chilton died yesterday.

With springtime and baseball right around the corner, the best four days in sports are upon us.  Wisconsin got a #4 seed, probably deserved.  I figured they would get a #5 or #6 because they usually get disrespected by the committee.  They should get by Wofford, but the Temple/Cornell winner could be trouble.  Especially Cornell, as Temple is pretty weak offensively.  If they somehow win that, I honestly think they could give Kentucky problems.  The Badgers struggle against teams that shoot well, especially from the perimeter, which is what makes Cornell a tough matchup.  But Kentucky doesn’t do that well.  Everyone talks about Kentucky’s youth, and sure, they turn it over and don’t make free throws like a young team, but I think the real factor with them is that they’ve haven’t played anybody.  Their best three games out of conference were North Carolina, Connecticut, and Louisville, and let’s face it, the rest of the SEC really wasn’t that good.

For today’s games, I think Northern Iowa/UNLV and San Diego State/Tennessee will be close in the Midwest.  I like UTEP over Butler (12/5) but I’m not getting on the Murray State bandwagon against Vandy.  I also like BYU to make a deep run.  Those games are in the West region.  In today’s East games, I like Texas over Wake Forest and Washington over Marquette.  That’s a tough one, as I really like Marquette, but they just have no size and Washington is hot.  In the South, Richmond/St. Mary’s should be a great one, and I like the winner to take out Villanova Saturday.  I think Baylor will make a deep run, and Old Dominion will beat Notre Dame.

Speaking of ND, the great Charles Pierce of the Boston Globe (and Marquette grad) says that Digger Phelps is despised.  And no one says it better.  Not exactly surprising news, anyway.

Tonight is the Penguins at the Bruins.  Seemingly everyone is calling for blood revenge for the hit on Marc Savard by Matt Cooke.  I sincerely hope it doesn’t get too ugly.

“Children by the million sing for Alex Chilton, when he comes around,  They sing, I’m in love, what’s that song?  I’m in love, with that song.”

Badger hoops played an almost impossibly bad game and still only lost by four points to Illinois.  The Badgers shot 28.6%, and that was after hitting a bunch of prayers late, so it was actually must worse than that.  Truly unreal, but at least maybe they got the bricks out of their system for a while.  I was really down on Illinois after Sunday’s blowout, but apparently they’re going to make the tournament, although there was another example of a player acting like a little brat in the first half when Dominique Keller ignored Bruce Weber on the bench.  At least Weber didn’t let him back into the game like he did with McCamey last week.  I don’t see high character guys on that team.

I’m not even going to go over the atrocious numbers from this game, but I’ll just reiterate: it’s almost impossible to shoot as bad as the Badgers did in this game.  There were at least five missed layups in the first half alone.  They couldn’t even make free throws, for crying out loud.  There’s no reason to think that this is a trend or that the Badgers have been exposed.  This was an extreme outlier of a performance, and luckily it doesn’t matter.  Much.  They’re probably looking at a 5 or 6 seed now, and there’s no chance of playing the first two games in Milwaukee. 

How does John Beilein not at least have somebody harassing Evan Turner?  With 2.2 seconds, you should at least be able to have someone get in his way, make him go around someone.

Badger hockey beat Alaska Anchorage in game 1 of the best of 3 playoffs last night, 4-1, but apparently they didn’t play very well.  It wasn’t on TV, but hopefully the WCHA Final Five will be.

Photo from Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

The Badgers displayed a workmanlike, clinical precision in a quality road win at Illinois that effectively ends the NCAA tournament hopes for the Illini.  They will lose again to the Badgers Friday in the Big Ten tournament and then will be NIT bound.

Jon Leuer was almost the entire offense in the first half, and it was clear throughout that Illinois had no answer for him.  He was still hurt when Illinois won in Madison earlier in the year.  Demetri McCamey, who scored 27 points for the Illini in Madison, had two points in the first half and 11 overall.  His decision making and shot selection were atrocious and then he compounded it by acting like a brat on the bench.  The game was considered a must-win for Illinois and they seemed to play very tight under the pressure.  Simply put, they don’t deserve an NCAA bid if that’s how they played in their biggest game of the year, at home. 

The Badgers built a 16 point lead in the second half and Illinois made a run to get within 55-50 after picking up the aggessiveness and getting a lot of calls from the refs, who were extremely inconsistent both ways.  Both Leuer and Trevon Hughes picked up 4 fouls before the halfway point of the second half.  But as soon as Illinois got back into the game, they started doing dumb stuff again.  McCamey forced a colossally stupid shot, then on the other end Keaton Nankivil got an offensive rebound and put back of a missed free throw.  On the ensuing possession, Illinois turned it over in the paint and McCamey intentionally fouled Jason Bohannon.  McCamey went to the bench pouting and tried to walk through Bruce Weber and then refused to make eye contact with him as Weber tried to talk to him.  Poise!

The Badgers cruised from there and won, 72-57.  Jordan Taylor played all 40 minutes and finished with 20 points, Leuer also had 20 on 8-13 FGs, and Hughes had 14 points and 11 boards.  Wisconsin dominated the offensive glass, picking up 17, including 7 by Hughes.  Wisconsin outrebounded Illinois 40-30 total.

The rematch is in Indianapolis at 2:30 Friday afternoon on ESPN.  Badger hockey clinched the #2 seed in the WCHA with a win Friday night at Minnesota and will host Alaska Anchorage next weekend in the best 2 of 3 conference playoff.

Look out, Jon Leuer is back.  Wisconsin destroyed Iowa on Senior Night at the Kohl Center, 67-40.  Leuer was fantastic, scoring 18 points on 8-9 field goals, grabbing 5 rebounds, 4 assists, and 3 blocked shots.  He scored ten unanswered points at one point in the first half, with 2 dunks, a blocked shot, and then 2 three pointers.  Not only was it his best game since his injury, but it was his best game of the season.  The game was tight for a little while, with the Badgers holding a 12-10 lead before a 14-0 run, including the aforementioned 10 in a row by Leuer.  They ended up with a 24-6 run over the final 12+ minutes of the first half and cruised in the second.  It was the last home game for seniors Trevon Hughes and Jason Bohannon.

Wisconsin’s last regular season game is Sunday at Illinois.  The Illini need the game badly, as they are certainly on the bubble for the tournament.  But Wisconsin will be looking for revenge after Illinois became the first unranked Big Ten team to win in Madison under Bo Ryan.  And the Badgers didn’t have Leuer for that game.  No matter what happens Sunday, it looks like these two teams will hook up again in the 4/5 game of the Big Ten tournament.  Time for a bold prediction: Wisconsin will win Sunday, win the Big Ten tournament, and go to the Elite Eight in the NCAAs.  Why not?  In the past, Wisconsin teams under Bo Ryan have tended to peak a little early and other teams have been improving more than they have as we reach March.  Not this year.  Of course, that’s probably a function of the timing of Leuer’s injury more than anything.  But this has turned into an absolutely solid team.  A requirement for a deep tournament run is strong guard play, and the Badgers have that in spades, with the seniors Hughes and Bohannon and the sophomore who plays like a senior, Jordan Taylor.  Leuer is definitely back, and Keaton Nankivil is a solid player who learned to step up in Leuer’s absence.  Plus, they’ve got some good bodies off the bench in Ryan Evans, former starter Tim Jarmusz, Rob Wilson, and Mike Brueswitz.  Given that the Badgers were generally picked to finish seventh or eighth in the Big Ten, Bo should win conference coach of the year and should also get consideration for national coach of the year.  The national media won’t be able to keep ignoring him for much longer.  The run starts now. 

Photo from Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

The Badgers got off to a rip-roaring start, but ended up barely hanging on for the win Sunday at Kohl Center.  Wisconsin was clearly making a concerted effort to get the ball down low early on, either through drives by the guards or passes into the post.  Northwestern also helped out by essentially not playing defense, and the Badgers ended up shooting 15-20 from the floor in the first half (75%), with just three turnovers, and led 43-29.

The second half was a different story, however.  The Badgers seemed to get tentative and Northwestern picked up the defensive intensity, extending their trapping zone defense.  Wisconsin’s offensive rhythm was completely screwed up, they started turning it over and taking bad shots, and got away from going into the paint.  Predictably, Northwestern crawled back into the game, and after Jon Leuer missed three straight free throws late, Northwestern’s leading scorer John Shurna somehow missed a bunny that would have tied the game with :30 seconds left.  With :10 left, Leuer blocked a shot off a drive from Northwestern’s Michael Thompson that iced it.  Leuer finished with 11 points, and 4 rebounds in 22 minutes, so he’s still inching his way back.  This was Northwestern’s last chance to get a signature win, and the Badgers were very, very fortunate to survive.  They’ve got to get better fast.  Three games left — at Indiana Thursday, Iowa at home, and at Illinois.  The Badgers fell to #17 in the AP and #19 in the coaches’ poll.  They’re also #19 in the RPI, and #10 in the Pomeroy Ratings.

The school honored Dick Bennett and the 2000 Final Four team at halftime, and Bennett also had a nice visit with the announcers during the game.  Ten years?  Actually, that sounds about right.  That was a great team, with exactly zero great players.  It was also a helluva way to start out that last decade for this sports fan, who also happens to love the Patriots (3 SB wins), Red Sox (2 WS wins), Celtics (1 championship), Badger hockey (1 national championship), and Liverpool soccer (won Champions League).  Gotta get Badger football back to the Rose Bowl.

BTW, Badger hockey split their final home series of the regular season against St. Cloud State, and those teams remain #3 and #4 in the polls released today.  3 of the top 4 teams are from the WCHA, with Denver back at #1 and Miami #2. Their last two series are at Michigan Tech and at Minnesota.

Underachieving Minnesota picked a helluva time to actually show and play like they care last night, as they beat Wisconsin 68-52 at Williams Arena.  Wisconsin’s hopes for the conference title are dashed.  The good news for the Badgers was that Jon Leuer made his return to the lineup, coming off the bench 2:30 into the game.  The bad news is that there is going to be an adjustment period, both for the player and the team.  Leuer looked extremely rusty last night, both with his shooting touch and on defense.  In fact, the team defense overall was pretty weak, although they definitely didn’t get any help from the officials.  It seemed like the Badgers kept getting called for touch fouls while Minnesota would hack and rake all they wanted without getting a call.  Bo Ryan actually received a technical late in the first half when the foul differential was 10-4.  At halftime, Minnesota led, 35-26, Leuer was 0-6 from the floor and Wisconsin was 3-18 from two.

Still, Wisconsin was able to cut the lead to three in the second half, but then they started missing shots again.  They had good looks, but they just weren’t going in.  One of those nights.  They also gave up a lot of offensive rebounds and got killed on the glass overall.  It was a pretty sloppy game that they deserved to lose.  Leuer finished 2-12 with four points and one rebound in 26 minutes.

Steve Lavin stated at one point that his friends who are scouts consider Leuer a lottery-level talent.  I know he’s good, but I”m not sure he’s that good.  Maybe next year he will really emerge into a force.  It seemed before his injury that he was starting to figure out how good he is.

With Minnesota dribbling the clock out, Gopher guard Lawrence Westbrook inexplicably drove the lane and attempted a dunk with 3 seconds left in the game.  He failed, but was fouled and hit two free throws.  Stay classy, Minnesota.