A very positive, sporting post. While I am a rabid Davidson fan, having grown up there in the Lefty Driesell era, I now live in Big Ten country (Columbus, Ohio) & have caught many a Big Ten game over the years. I have great respect for the Wisconsin program & often cheer for them. I don't know what to say about what to expect from the game -- I imagine it would be useful to understand how Purdue seemingly had your number this year. I look forward to an exciting game!
Thanks for the analysis of the game. Living in ACC country I am not that familiar with Wisconsin's game and would not comment on Wisconsin. That said, here are my thoughts from what I have heard.
Wisconsin will not have a field day on the inside. Davidson has defended well in the most most of the year, holding Hansbrough to 14 and Kevin Love to 10. Davidson did a great on Hibbert as well. Davidson has a very fine tuned offense. Coach McKillop is one of the best coaches in the game. Defenders will be fighting through two and three screens all day long. Georgetown's guard just tired by the end of the game. Chasing Curry all day is tiring enough, but when you add the screens, they were exhausted. Davidson won't score much inside unless it is off the drive. They have very little post game. They will grab some offensive rebounds.
Curry has the ability to keep Davidson in any game. If he is on, they can hang with any team in the country. Richards is one of the top point guards in the country (leading the nation in assists). I was very impressed by some of the passes he completed against Georgetown defense. Davidson is always searching for the third scorer. Andrew Lovedale seems to have filled that role for the time being.
Admittedly I have not seen much of Davidson this year. Only the games in the tournament. However what I did see in those two games leads me to believe that:
Davidson is going to have to find a way to get some production from someone on their frontline.
The Wildcats are going to have to get out to a good start.
Davidson will lose if they need Curry to score 30 or more to be in the game.
Wisconsin is not going to allow the dribble penetration that Richards was getting away with in those first two games, and I'm sure all of the Davidson faithful have heard of Michael Flowers by now as far as Curry is concerned. Curry will get some looks, afterall it's impossible to completely shut down a jump shooter if he's willing to take shots as far out as he has been willing to, but most will be much more contested than they have been thus far in the tournament. The bottom line is that be it through Lovedale or someone else, Davidson is going to need one of their usual role players to have the game of their lives (imo) for the Wildcats to be in this game.
Wisconsin is not going to give up many points in transition, even though I'm sure McKillop is going to try to speed up the tempo as pretty much every team we've played this year has. Also, due to Wisconsin's style, Davidson is not going to be able to come back from 16 down (or whatever it was) like it did against Georgetown on Sunday. Wisconsin doesn't turn it over, and doesn't foul you. It will envoke a half court style, that is going to slow the game down, and force you to set an offense. All of this equates to a team that is really pretty immune to comeback losses. Only problem is that this style also make it difficult for the Badgers to come back from large defecits, although they have done it a couple of times this year (most notably down 14 to MSU in the conference tournament semi's).
I'd say that if Davidson isn't ahead by 8 or more at the half you're probably in trouble.
Why aren't any Badger fans asking how Davidson will defend Butch on the perimeter? The guy likes to step out and shoot 3s and has decent success doing it.
This also allows our guards to go down low and post up. Most guards are not used to defending the post up and can get called for fouls. Michael Flowers is an excellent post up guard. Jason Bohannon also does a decent job posting up for a guard.
Our other Big Greg S. likes to play out high because he is a very good passer and it also opens the lane for guards to penetrate. Marcus Landry is a very quick forward that has very quick feet and can explode to the basket.
I see Davidson having some difficult match ups when the Badgers use this in their swing offense. Doesn't anyone think this will be a Badger advantage?
Why aren't any Badger fans asking how Davidson will defend Butch on the perimeter? The guy likes to step out and shoot 3s and has decent success doing it.
Excellent point Ri0. That's the whole point of the Swing Offense. Other teams are real uncomfortable putting their big men on the defensive perimeter because they know it makes the post soft. That's the whole point. It allows for open looks inside by Wisconsin's best shooters.
So, when Davidson gameplans this, it's going to be interesting how they handle it. Do they leave Butch open by posting their big men, or do they play strict-man defense and get our best shooters down low for the 6 ft floater/jumper glass shot (the Krabbenhoft special).
Either ways it's a tough call for Davidson.
Hey Davidson fans: one more question: does your team play zone d? I didn't see any in the first two games, but I may have missed it?
Great analysis. I, too, feel for Davidson to have a chance they have to go up early. Wisconsin seems too disciplined to count on them to squander away a 10+ point lead. I understand that Flowers is a tenacious defender but so far this year, I believe it's only been taller defenders that have been able to keep Curry's point production down. And Flowers at 6'2" is basically the same height as Curry. Should be an interesting match-up.
