Posts Tagged ‘Wisconsin’
Good Defeats Evil
Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus.
Unranked Wisconsin upset #5 Duke, 73-69 last night in Madison, giving Duke their first loss of the season and first loss in the ten years of the Big 10/ACC Challenge.
Duke played their typical game. They bitched. They moaned. They flopped. They delivered cheap shots. They are the Thierry Henry of college basketball. But this time, THEY LOST.
Wisconsin played with unbelievable passion and intensity for the entire 40 minutes. Every player made big shots, fought for rebounds, and played stellar defense. I was worried about an emotional letdown after the Badgers started the game with incredible intensity, but that’s the great thing about college basketball. These guys can actually keep it up for an entire game.
Uncle Brent and Bobby Knight called the game on the four letter network, with Holly Rowe interviewing Badger coach Bo Ryan both at halftime and at the conclusion of the game. Coach K? Didn’t hear from him. Frankly, I don’t blame her for preferring to interview the interesting, charismatic, humorous guy rather than the automotron. Of course, any game called by Uncle Brent is a BIG GAME, and he didn’t disappoint. And Knight is always interesting, even though he confused Trevon Hughes and Jordan Taylor several times.
Hughes led the Badgers with 26 points, including 19 in the second half. It seemed like every basket he made was huge. He also had zero turnovers. Jon Leuer had 17 points and 7 rebounds, while redshirt freshman Ryan Evans was the energy guy and defensive stalwart and finished with 8 rebounds and 2 blocks.
Kyle Singler led Duke with 28 points, including a couple of ridiculous heaves in the first half, but he scored only 11 in the second half. Nolan Smith and Jon Scheyer came in averaging 18.5 and 16.8 points per game, but finished with 13 and 10.
Wisconsin finished with 17 assists and 5 turnovers, while Duke had 11 of each. Wisconsin is now 2-0 this season vs. the ACC, having defeated Maryland in Hawaii last week.
The Big 10 finally won the Challenge, so maybe now they can get a little respect, and maybe even a ranking for the Badgers. All the preseason prognosticators had Wisconsin failing to make the tournament in March, but Bo Ryan is the man. Best damn coach in the country.
Random Thursday
Cliff Lee dominated the yankees last night, just dominated. From the nonchalant catch of a pop up to his behind-the-back stab of a one-hopper, to his ten strikeouts and complete game, 122 pitch performance. The Stadium was silenced. A-Roid, after tearing through the division series and ALCS, went 0-4 with 3 strikeouts. Back to the old A-Roid? Now Pedro takes on AJ Burnett tonight in Game 2. Burnett is an imposter, but I really hope Pedro pitches well. I haven’t looked forward to a WS game like this that didn’t involve the Red Sox in a long, long time. I really wonder if the fans will chant “who’s your daddy” at Pedro. Do they remember how that worked out for them last time? Hopefully the Phils will pound Burnett so hard that Pedro can just go six and leave with the lead. That would be perfect. Then Girardi can go through 10 more pitchers all while having the look on his face like he’s taking a crap.
The Celtics are 2-0 in the new season, beating the Cavs on the road and destroying Charlotte in the home opener last night. The Celtics didn’t even play all that well last night and still cruised. Looking good. They’re so much deeper than last year and KG looks better than I thought he would. The defense is intense as always, too. And Rondo hasn’t really shown all that much yet, at least as far as being aggressive taking the ball to the hole. I’m sure that will come soon. Rasheed is an absolutely awesome addition to this team.
Liverpool beat Manyoo 2-0 on Sunday and looked terrific doing it. Torres played and scored, but Gerrard wasn’t able to make it onto the field. They did show him sitting with his lovely wife Alex several times, though. They played with great tenacity and life, really for the first time this year. The team apparently lost yesterday to Arsenal in the Carling Cup, but the big teams usually play a lot of youngsters in that competition. Alberto Aquilani was supposed to make his Liverpool debut in that game and he should be able to help the big club soon. He was one of the two big signings over the summer, and I think he’s coming back from a broken ankle. Looking forward to seeing him play. Liverpool now sits fifth in the Premiership, six points behind Chelsea, although Man City and Villa have a game in hand behind them. The Reds play Fulham on the road Saturday.
Wisconsin plays Purdue at Camp Randall Saturday. Hopefully the bye did them a world of good. They’re on a two game losing streak right now, and are seven point favorites. That may be a little high. The Badgers haven’t really beaten anyone soundly all year, and we’ll see if Scott Tolzien continues to throw bad interceptions. Maybe the kid, Curt Phillips, will see more of the field in this game.
Badger hockey hosts UNH for two this weekend, but neither game is on tv. I wonder if there will be any arrests of UNH players, given that it’s Halloween weekend in Madtown.
The Bruins host New Jersey tonight. The Devils were a boring team to watch before, now their coach is Jacques “neutral zone trap” Lemaire. I plan to stick to baseball. The Devils are 6-4 on the year, the Bruins 5-4-1. The B’s currently sit in fourth place in the Northeast Division.