WISCONSIN BADGERS @ WAKE FOREST

The anticipation of this game is killing me, so I had to start writing before the game starts in case I lose my enthusiasm… I thought I’d write a little at each commercial if anything is worthy of news.

I’ve had a knot in my stomach all day today like I was about to get on a plane and play a big nationally televised game… but I’m just watching. I parked my car downstairs and ran so fast I slipped twice on the stairs… but didn’t realized i hurt my knee until minutes later - after I had ESPN turned on already. The adrenaline is running high.

It’s 6:05pm.. time to tip off. Go Bucky

Chappell, who’d dad played at Wake, sucks right off the bad. Air-balled a lay-up, and turned the ball over once or twice, and gave up position deep under the basket. Steimsma comes in and makes a strong move to the basket. I hate Chappell. Why are him and Nixon still starting?

15:35 left in the 1st Wisconsin down 10-3
Alando is about to shoot two after drawing a foul. Nixon’s finally out of the game and replaced by Flowers, who is a much more solid player. Nixon seems to be so slow on defense this year. Some missed shots by Butch, but you can tell he’s ready to play today. He wants this one, and that’s good to see.

The commentary on ESPN before the game was nice - talking about how the Big 10 is stronger this year (the strongest it’s been in years) and even a little mention about Wisconsin being decent by Vitale.

11:41 left in the 1st 21-16 Wake
Why the hell are Nixon and Chappell in the game if they have no clue how to play defense? JESUS!!!!!! The only thing keeping us in it is Kam hitting deep 3’s… it’s like he can’t miss. Landry got 2 minutes, screwed up on defense and got pulled. Krabbenhoft is in… isn’t hurting them. And the whole team just got beat on a fast break. GET CHAPPELL OUT OF THE GAME.

10:20 first half Wake 21-20
Time out by Wake. Butch nails two jumpers… such a sweet shot. They’re playing zone against us because we’ve been able to get the ball inside on penetration…. now we’re shooting them out of the zone.

7:49 first half Wake 25-20
Well, we can’t make a shot to save our lives. The announcers keep talking about Tucker has to get involved or we can’t win. Really? Is he miraculously going to make all the shots? We’re 15-1 when he scores under 10 points ya know. Idiots. No, not idiots: robots.
Chappell, again, sucks. He couldn’t defend someone if they’re shoes were tied together. Or box out. What the hell is going on here? All of a sudden we forget how to rebound cuz we’re not playing a team who’s all 6′4″????

6:00 first half 31-21 Wake
If things don’t change right now, this game is over. No one can guard Williams (their butt-ugly center) and he just keeps shooting. And making it.

3:45 first half 31-28 Wake
Chappell just drew a charge against Williams for his 3rd foul! That’s big…really big. What I realized Bo’s been doing is rotating big men (because he can) against Williams. This keeps our fouls to a minimum and keeps fresh legs in the game to shut him down in the long run…. it’s starting to work. He’ll have to sit the last 4 minutes now.

Tucker still has no field goals. I forgot to mention that Joe got about 8 quality minutes in the first half. No points I don’t think. I know he traveled once too… but solid defense and a couple nice rebounds. We’re on a 7-0 run and have the ball, hopefully we can keep it up!

Fckin Jay Bilas just said Wisconsin is methodical… what a retard.

HALFTIME 37-32 Wake
Gray for Wake has 20 points… that’s just stupid. I guarantee he won’t be close to that in the 2nd half. The only guy who can shoot right now for Wisconsin is Butch… although Taylor and Butch both have 10. Butch has 4 rebounds. WI is being out rebounded 17-12, which CAN’T happen in the 2nd half if they want a chance. Way too many 2nd chance points for Wake. WI is also shooting 37% from the floor… I can’t see this continuing once they settle down.

Landry got some PT down the stretch, but really looked like a Freshman. Through the ball away on an out-of-bounds play, missed some shots, just looked raw. I’m sure he’s nervous, being on national TV for the first time, but he’s gotta get over it right now in the locker room. Suck it up and play like you can.

My prediction for the second half: Williams fouls out with about 9 minutes left. Tucker (who only has 2 free throws right now) ends up with 12, Badgers will go down by 9 early, but pull back then pull away and win by 7. Butch leads the team with 22.

15:51 2nd half 47-40 Wake
Well, Tucker’s nose is broken. He came out with a plastic mask, and after 2 plays he took it off, probably because he couldn’t see anything. Ugly-ass Williams got his 4th foul when he tried to pick a fight with Michael Flowers. Williams is now my pick for asshole of the year.

Steimsma has 2 great blocks… unfortunately, we still can’t make a shot.

We’ve been down 9 a couple times now, so one prediction is correct so far… now it’s time for the comeback… Landry looks like he’s coming around too. Looks much more comfortable.

11:37 second half 56-50 Wake
Butch is still scoring. Landry’s still kickin it up… but we cannot get a god damn rebound. They don’t have their two best big guys in the game right now and we’re still not getting rebounds. Everyone is just jumping straight up into the air instead of boxing out their man. I just don’t get it.

We’re really lucky to be down only 6 points right now. It could easily be 15… Butch, with 3 fouls, has to be careful down the stretch here in order to stay in the game to score, cuz it seems like he’s the one tonight. Also, Kam has to step up and play better defense on Gray… he’s scoring waaay too much. Flowers? Where are you?

9:27 2nd half 60-60!!!
Tucker just got a dunk blocked… that sucks… but we got the ball back. Tucker hit a 3 to tie the game and has 16 points now. It’s approaching the 9 minute mark where Ugly-Ass is predicted to foul out. I have a feeling Bo’s talking to them about that in this break… take it to him!!!

Joe got his first two points on an assist from Tucker. I like the way he’s playing today… really solid, confident. We’re even shooting 75% from the line… not bad for WI.

K.. gotta go watch Ugly left-right-left-right….

7:29 second half 68-64 Wake
We have no idea what we’re doing. Can’t rebound still… unbelievable. If this doesn’t change after tonight, its going to be a long, long, long Big 10 season.

Tucker’s about to shoot 2… which he’ll make 1 of (I was right), so we’ll be down 7… this is so sad. Butch has 4 fouls… his 4th was on a ghost foul where evidently a gush of wind blew somebody down and Butch was the closest to him… so a foul had to be called.

Ugly-Ass still hasn’t fouled out… but Tucker’s the one trying to take it to him inside. And I still don’t understand why Kam is guarding Gray instead of Flowers… but whatever.

3:54 second half 77-70 Wake
This thing is out of hand at this point. We’re down far worse than the score. Since we know we can’t rebound, we’ve given up completely. Chappell refuses to get in front of Williams, instead allowing him to catch, turn, and lay it in every time he touches the ball. It’s incredible that it happens 2 times, but 5, 6, 7 times?
Kam, instead of taking a 3, decides to dribble in 1 foot and take a long 2 and brick it. YOU CAN’T MISS FROM 3 - SHOOT THE DAMN BALL.

I’m done.

FINAL 91-88 Wake Forest
It’s the same old Badgers. No fight until the last 2 minutes of the game. Was it an exciting final minutes? Sure it was. Typical? Damn right. No passion until their life is on the line… Tucker and Kam hit key 3 pointers (and deep) as time was winding down. A couple of near-steals could’ve turned it around under 30 seconds to play, but Wake wouldn’t miss a free throw. Kam had the last shot from about 30 feet and nearly made it to tie the game with no time left, but could’ve also forced a foul in my opinion.

SUMMARY
Rebounding will determine our season from here on out. With all the second-chance points that Wake was given because of lack of rebounding, the Big 10 teams have to be licking their chops. It’s a shame fans feel we deserve to be in the top 25 when we can’t beat the 23rd ranked team.

If we would’ve played well, and lost, it would’ve been one thing. But we played like crap for 39 minutes, and barely lost. That’s just a shame.

The box score below is from UWBadgers.com

Official Basketball Box Score
Wisconsin vs Wake Forest
11/29/05 7:05 pm at Joel Coliseum (Winston-Salem, N.C.)

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VISITORS: Wisconsin 4-1
                          TOT-FG  3-PT         REBOUNDS
## Player Name            FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF  TP  A TO BLK S MIN
05 Chappell, Jason..... f  3-7    1-1    4-4    2  1  3   3  11  2  1  1  1  24
42 Tucker, Alando...... f 10-27   2-6    5-8    2  1  3   2  27  5  2  0  0  33
32 Butch, Brian........ c  8-12   2-4    1-2    4  6 10   4  19  2  1  1  0  26
04 Nixon, Ray.......... g  0-1    0-1    0-0    0  1  1   2   0  1  0  0  0  12
23 Taylor, Kammron..... g  6-13   4-6    2-2    0  1  1   4  18  0  5  0  3  37
01 Landry, Marcus......    2-4    0-0    3-4    1  1  2   1   7  2  1  0  0  12
22 Flowers, Michael....    1-4    0-2    1-2    0  2  2   3   3  1  0  0  1  27
34 Stiemsma, Greg......    0-2    0-1    1-2    0  1  1   4   1  0  0  2  0  12
45 Krabbenhoft, Joe....    1-3    0-0    0-0    1  3  4   2   2  1  1  0  1  17
   TEAM................                         8  1  9
   Totals..............   31-73   9-21  17-24  18 18 36  25  88 14 11  4  6 200

TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 11-34 32.4%   2nd Half: 20-39 51.3%   Game: 42.5%  DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half:  3-9  33.3%   2nd Half:  6-12 50.0%   Game: 42.9%   REBS
F Throw % 1st Half:  7-10 70.0%   2nd Half: 10-14 71.4%   Game: 70.8%    4

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HOME TEAM: Wake Forest 6-1
                          TOT-FG  3-PT         REBOUNDS
## Player Name            FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF  TP  A TO BLK S MIN
31 Williams, Eric...... f  8-13   0-0    1-1    1  3  4   4  17  0  6  0  2  23
33 Strickland, Trent... f  3-7    0-2    3-4    5  5 10   2   9  3  3  2  0  35
55 Visser, Kyle........ c  5-10   0-0    3-4    3  4  7   3  13  5  1  4  0  26
01 Gray, Justin........ g 11-20   2-5   13-13   0  3  3   1  37  2  3  0  1  37
04 Hale, Harvey........ g  1-5    0-2    2-2    0  2  2   4   4  2  1  1  0  24
00 Ellis, Chris........    2-5    1-2    2-2    1  4  5   4   7  0  0  3  0  19
02 Dukes, Shamaine.....    0-0    0-0    0-0    1  1  2   0   0  1  1  0  0   3
11 Stanley, Cameron....    0-0    0-0    0-0    0  1  1   0   0  0  0  0  0   3
23 Swinton, Kevin......    0-2    0-0    0-1    3  2  5   2   0  0  1  0  1  11
34 Drum, Michael.......    1-3    0-2    2-2    1  1  2   1   4  0  0  0  1  19
   TEAM................                         3  1  4
   Totals..............   31-65   3-13  26-29  18 27 45  21  91 13 16 10  5 200

TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 13-31 41.9%   2nd Half: 18-34 52.9%   Game: 47.7%  DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half:  3-9  33.3%   2nd Half:  0-4   0.0%   Game: 23.1%   REBS
F Throw % 1st Half:  8-9  88.9%   2nd Half: 18-20 90.0%   Game: 89.7%    1

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Officials: Les Jones, Mike Eades, Jamie Luckie
Technical fouls: Wisconsin-Flowers, Michael. Wake Forest-Williams, Eric.
Attendance: 14665
Score by Periods                1st  2nd   Total
Wisconsin.....................   32   56  -   88
Wake Forest...................   37   54  -   91
ID-375951
ACC/Big Ten Challenge

Points in the paint-WIS 26,WF 42. Points off turnovers-WIS 23,WF 9.
2nd chance points-WIS 14,WF 14. Fast break points-WIS 11,WF 11.
Bench points-WIS 13,WF 11. Score tied-3 times. Lead changed-3 times.
Last FG-WIS 2nd-00:05, WF 2nd-00:50.
Largest lead-WIS by 2 1st-18:49, WF by 10 1st-06:09.