Don't get me wrong... Davidson earned this victory! But don't you think it irresponsible for the summary description of an Elite Eight game to NOT EVEN MENTION that Wisconsin only got 12 minutes out of Trevon Hughes who missed most of the game tdue to "re-injury"? He only SCORED 25 points in the previous game - (more than Beasley!!!), and was certainly the defensive quickness that was missing in allowing Richard 13 assists and 11 points. ANY INTELLIGENT ANALYSIS of this game would AT LEAST identify it as a critical factor - but here it is not even worth mention, because we need to "hero-worship" Curry.
I take nothing away the the guy - he is a phenom... I hope he continues his unbelieveble roll against the Jayhawks - at least enough to make it interesting. I just believe it is lousy reporting to fail to even mention such an important aspect of the game - or to point out that his replacement Bohannon isn't half the defender Hughes is... certainly Richards wouldn't have been nearly as effective in feeding Curry for bucket after bucket.
Again, they earned the victory - just a shame Bucky wasn't full strength - and by far their worst performance of the year, (just as I'm sure Georgetown would say of their game last Sunday).
Congrats to Bucky for a31-5 season - ain't many who can say they got 31 this year. After Butch going down last year and Hughes playing hurt most of this season, and out for most of this game, Badger fans everywhere will just be begging for one healthy tournament run next year... Reload 'em and win another 30 next year, BO!!!! Congrats to seniors Butch, Stiemsma, and Flowers for leading this team to far greater heights than their #40 pre-season rating!!!
Would it have been worth reporting if Curry had missed 3/4 of the game, and Davidson lost??? Hughes and Flowers have shut down pretty much every high-scoring individual the Badgers faced all season... in addition to Hughes being one of their leading scorers.
Like I said - it was AT LEAST WORTH ONE LINE in the summary article of the game, door knob!
"Would it have been worth reporting if Curry had missed 3/4 of the game, and Davidson lost???"
Sure. But Curry is a sophomore sensation that has pretty much single-handedly brought his team on a 25 game win streak and now an Elite 8 appearance. Hughes is a wildly inconsistant player who should be honored he was on the same floor as Curry for 12 minutes tonight. He didn't do anything in the 12 minutes he was on the floor.
You are right about the reporting in this article. This was less a recap of the game than an editorial about Curry's impending sainthood (just a joke).
Hughes' injury should have been mentioned.
But, by the same token, Curry's Davidson teammates should have been mentioned more. If this team were only about Curry, they would not have made the Elite Eight. More credit should have been given to McKillip's coaching, and Richards once again led in assists. Richards led the nation in assists all season long, and he gets nothing more than a footnote in this "story." Yes, Curry was the star and the difference, but Davidson would have lost if they hadn't played such active team defense and if the other players hadn't stepped up and showed they could score.
Please don't get me wrong. I love watching Curry. He has the best shot I have seen in college hoops since Allen Iverson. (What I keep thinking about is where was the love earlier. Curry led the nation in scoring on a team that ended the regular season ranked 23 in both the AP and Coaches polls-- why no mention of him for individual awards like the Naismith? And for that matter, we really need to re-visit the problem of seeding in this tournament. While I think the committee got it right most of the time, there is no way Davidson is a 10 seed. If they truly were considered to be the 23rd-best team in the nation by both major polls, shouldn't the committee have followed suit and given them a 6 seed. Teams between 21-24 should be 6 seeds or pretty close-- maybe a 5 or 7. Davidson is only a 10 seed on paper.)
Living here in NC not far from Davidson, I know how good they are (Any coincidence that they play in the same conference as Appalachian St. who upset Michigan in football this year? What a great year for the Southern Conference!) and I love watching Curry. But can we tone down the hero worship just a bit? The fact that he is twice as a good a player as anyone else on the court doesn't mean the writers needs to give him ten times the press as his teammates.
first off congrats to davidson they played a heck of a game, wisconsin had a great year but this post is absolutely worthless. How can a Badger fan complain of injuries when we were perfectly healthy the whole year. It is the reason we won 31 games because unlike last year we had no major injuries. In regards to Hughes, whether he was in today or not it wouldn't have made much of a difference. We were flat out dominated and J Bo reigning threes was the best we could have hoped for offensively in the 1st half. I knew at halftime we were in deep shit playing a three point shootout which is Davidson's game. You have to realize that Davidson is much quicker than us (including Hughes) and some of the shots Richardson and Curry hit, it would not have mattered if you put Yao Ming in front of them on those threes. That team is on fire, look out Kansas!!
Maybe it's worth a mention. But Hughes didn't even play 12 minutes when Bucky took out Texas in Austin. So, while it might or might not have made a difference, the fact does remain that Hughes had a monster night against KSU, and I know that I wasn't alone in thinking that he might continue that trend against Davidson. But, whether he could have or not is pointless now; Davidson rocked us big time, JBo played very well in the first half, but the Wisky team just didn't seem nearly as with it as they did throughout the season. They looked befuddled out there at times, and I am sure that Hughes wouldn't have been able to fix everything that went wrong for Bucky last night. So, either way, Davidson won, they flat out played, and if they keep up the insanity, they'll do well against Kansas.
