Michigan 64, Wisconsin 58: Groove back

It was only a matter of time.

Senior Zak Irvin came into tonight having averaged 3.25 ppg in his last four outings, with a macabre 4-for-31 mark from the field during that stretch. Luckily for Michigan, fellow senior Derrick Walton has carried the load, but Irvin was relegated to the shadows in the process, seemingly set to play out his college career beset by a particularly aggressive case of the yips (or some variation of that).

The thing about the yips is that it often makes a dramatic exit once its clawing embrace is shed. Irvin made several big second-half shots -- including what must have been a cathartic breakaway dunk to put Michigan up eight with under three minutes to play -- en route to 18 points and a 64-58 victory against No. 11 Wisconsin Thursday night in Ann Arbor.

Although Wisconsin was without guard Bronson Koenig, this will still go down as a resume-building win for the Wolverines, who looked to avenge the loss in Madison. Michigan played with fire in that first meeting Jan. 17 at the Kohl Center, choosing to avoid double-teaming Badgers big man Ethan Happ. That strategy paid off, as Happ finished with 11 points on 5-for-13 shooting, a mediocre night for him.

Eventually, though, the fire burns you. In tonight's matchup at the Crisler Center, Happ hit the Wolverines for 18 first-half points (8-for-9 from the field). More importantly, however, Happ managed just four second-half points before fouling out in the final minute.

Luckily for the Wolverines, Moritz Wagner brought his A game, too, tallying 12 points on 4-for-7 shooting in the first half to keep Michigan afloat in the face of Happ's prolific first half. While Irvin's line was encouraging, Wagner (21 points) was the undisputed star of the show. Perhaps the most impressive of his buckets was a take from the left wing, when Wagner started right then went left behind his back en route to a nifty finish at the rim.

Not much else went well for the Wolverines in the first half. Michigan struggled most when reserve center Jon Teske drew into the lineup -- Happ went to work on Teske. Compounding the frontcourt issues, DJ Wilson put up zero points in the opening frame (he went scoreless in the matchup at Kohl). On top of all that Derrick Walton went 1-for-6 in the first half for three points, despite coming off of a string of superb play that had pushed him into the All-Big Ten First Team discussion. It was also an uncharacteristically sloppy half for the Wolverines (seven turnovers).

Nonetheless, UW went just 1-for-7 from beyond the arc in the first half, which ended with the visitors up just 31-30.

Michigan's turnover issues continued to start the second half, when a Dmitrik Trice steal turned into two points the other way. Then, Zak Showalter buried a three and Happ backed Wagner down for an easy two (after which Michigan started doubling him) to open a 38-30 lead.

Michigan did not allow the game to get away, embarking on a crucial 8-2 run that included Wilson's first -- and only -- points on a dunk assisted by Irvin.

In a key sequence to follow, Irvin banked in a shot-clock-beating triple and Happ picked up his third foul with about 12:34 to play. Not long after, Irvin buried a long two to get him to 12 points on the night, his first strong showing since he scored 12 in the home blowout of Indiana.

With the score knotted at 47, Walton (five points, five rebounds, eight assists) found a way to make a non-scoring contribution, driving into the lane and dishing to Muhammad-Ali Abdur-Rahkman who knocked in a triple while being fouled, putting Michigan up 51-47 after his free throw with just under eight minutes to play. Michigan kept rolling when Mark Donnal blocked a Happ shot that led to an Irvin three at the other end.

Irvin's aforementioned dunk put Michigan up eight with just under three minutes to play, and the Wolverines held on for the win to move to 7-6 in Big Ten play.

Although Walton's streak of prolific scoring came to an end, he found other ways to contribute. Wagner produced a masterful performance to neutralize Happ's big first half and the Wolverines made adjustments at halftime to limit Happ in the final 20 minutes.

Sure, UW was without Koenig, but this will still look like a good win. More importantly, if Irvin's performance is indicative of how the rest of his season will play out, the Wolverines might just finally be rounding into a stabilized, dangerous form as postseason play approaches.

Elsewhere in the B1G: Au Revoir, Gopher

Photo credit: Michael Hicks

No. 25 Minnesota 7, No. 19 Wisconsin 20

When James White reeled off a 49-yard run on Wisconsin's first play of the game, Gophers fans had to be thinking one thing: Here we go again.

The No. 25 Minnesota Gophers met its cross-divisional rival, No. 19 Wisconsin, looking to keep Paul Bunyan's Axe for the first time since 2003. A week after James White ran for a 93-yard score on Wisconsin's first play against Indiana, it seemed like the Badgers were poised to run all over yet another Big Ten foe.

The Gophers proved their mettle after that initial burst from White, however, holding the Badgers to a field goal and then forcing them to go punt on their next two drives. Meanwhile, the Minnesota offense struggled to get going; luckily for them, the defense provided the first touchdown score of the afternoon for either team.

Faced with a 3rd & 6 from UW's 36, QB Joel Stave tossed an interception to Aaron Hill, who took it to the house for six. For a heavy underdog, that play was exactly what the Gophers needed to make it to halftime with life.

With that said, the Gophers failed to stay on the positive side of the turnover ledger in the first half. The Gophers lost a fumble on the first play of the second quarter, then another on a promising drive into UW territory. Following the latter turnover, the Badgers drove down to the Minnesota 1-yard line, where White punched it in to regain the lead.

Nelson later committed an intentional ground penalty, ultimately leading to a Wisconsin drive starting at the Minnesota 49. Once again, the Minnesota defense flexed its muscles, holding the Badger offense to a field goal after it had gotten all the way down to the Gopher 2-yard line.

Heading into the half down 13-7, the Gophers had to be mostly pleased with the first 30 minutes of football in TCF Bank Stadium. Whether the Gophers could ride those good feelings to an upset victory depended on the offense's ability to grind out long drives, just like they've done throughout their 4-game winning streak.

Elsewhere in the B1G: Badgers steamroll Hoosiers in the rain 51-3, White runs to career day

File photo (obviously)

Recent history indicated that the Badgers would roll through the Hoosiers with ease today at Camp Randall Stadium: in their last three meetings, Wisconsin has defeated Indiana by a combined score of 204-41.

But, facing an Indiana offense that has scored points against everyone --including 28 against Michigan State-- this game, on paper, presented a tricky test for a Badgers squad coming off a tough victory against a good BYU team last week. With Ohio State unlikely to lose a game (let alone two), the Badgers likely weren't headed for the Big Ten title game for a third time in as many years.

However, a BCS at-large bid remained a possibility. One way for the Badgers to continue their rise up the BCS rankings was, quite simply, to score a lot of points. As dynamic as the Indiana offense is, the IU defense could be most generously described as "malleable."

The first minute proved to be an eventful one. Indiana received the ball to start the game and drove down to the Wisconsin 45, where Nate Sudfeld had a wildly inaccurate deep ball --its trajectory seemingly altered by the wind and rain-- picked by Sojourn Shelton. On Wisconsin's first play, James White romped up the middle of the field untouched for a 93-yard touchdown score (the 44th of his career).

On the next drive, Sudfeld and tailback Stephen Houston botched a handoff, which Wisconsin's Brendan Kelly recovered at the Indiana 14. A few plays later, Melvin Gordon waltzed into the end zone with ease to  put the Badgers up 14-0 three minutes into the game.

The rain kept falling on the Hoosiers, literally and figuratively.

On the next IU drive, Sudfeld mishandled a shotgun snap, which resulted in a 3rd & 23, effectively killing the drive then and there. It's understandable for an up-tempo team like Indiana to maybe have some issues playing in the rain; nonetheless, it seemed as if the Hoosiers had never played in inclement weather before today.

After starting from their own 43 yard line, the Badgers drove down to the IU 13, met with a 3rd & 2. Somewhat surprisingly, the Hoosiers stuffed the White run for no gain, leading to just a Jack Russell field goal for UW.

Despite that small victory, the Hoosiers were down 17-0 with 6:25 left in the first quarter while having shown little ability to hold onto the ball in the cold November rain.

Miscellaneous Minutiae, 10/29/13

Well, here we are: Michigan State week. Hopefully the Wolverines got their rest and ate their Wheaties during the open week, because a win this weekend will take nothing less than their best effort:

• This is old news as if this posting, but tight end A.J. Williams has been suspended for this Saturday's game. Legal ramifications aside, I'm honestly not too sure how big of a loss this is for the Michigan offense. As a blocking tight end, Williams hasn't exactly been a great blocker, and not having Williams at Borges's disposal might curb the desire to run power into the teeth of the Spartan front seven. In any case, Williams's absence means you'll see a lot more Jake Butt and Jordan Paskorz. 

• Minnesota's 35-24 victory over Nebraska this past Saturday was as big of a win as the program has seen in some time. With that said, the Gophers head to Bloomington this weekend, where they'll have to contend with a truly fearsome Hoosier offense. Defense and David Cobb have been enough to carry Minnesota to victory the past two weeks; they'll likely need to make a few more plays through the air if they're going to keep up with Kevin Wilson's offense. 

• Speaking of the Hoosiers, Indiana defensive coordinator Doug Mallory (brother of Michigan secondary coach Curt Mallory) is tuning out the criticism re: his defense's performance. Also at the same link, Tre Roberson might get the start this weekend over Nate Sudfeld. 

• The Only Colors on the Spartan offense potentially approaching "average." 

• The Badgers will need some help if they're going to grab a BCS berth this season, even if they win out. 

• Michigan basketball opens up its exhibition season against Concordia tonight (7 ET). Perhaps it is a sign of the times that I am looking forward to watching this and am even devoting an iota of attention to it during a week leading up to Michigan-Michigan State on the gridiron. Regardless, the only thing worth paying much attention to is the various lineups John Beilein will trot out. If you get the chance to watch, Beilein hopes that you'll get to see a lot of the freshmen out there tonight. 

• Also on the basketball front, as expected, Mitch McGary is out for tonight's exhibition tilt. 

A Trip To Camp Randall, or "What A Ground Game Looks Like"

Fouad Egbaria

Before Saturday night's game, I had the chance to head to Camp Randall in Madison for the Wisconsin-Purdue game, which kicked off at 2:30. It was my first trip to that stadium, and I have to say, if you ever have the opportunity to go: do it. On a general note, after a few visits this year, Madison is easily my favorite college town not named Ann Arbor.

In Big Ten country, I've now been to Penn State, Ohio State, Purdue, Northwestern, Indiana and Wisconsin. For the purposes of comparison, however, I should note that the trips to Beaver Stadium and the Horseshoe came in 2008, so the environment for those games against a horrendous Michigan team might not have been representative of a typical big game setting.

Saturday's game was Wisconsin's Big Ten opener against the Boilermakers, a 41-10 rout. Purdue's Rob Henry-led offense was so painfully inept that it reminded me of Michigan in 2008. Even the simplest of throws seemed to be a difficult task for Henry, who finished 18-for-36 for 135 yards, good for just 3.8 yards per attempt.

Gary Andersen's squad got off to a bit of a slow start, allowing the Boilers to pick up a pair of first downs on their first drive and then going three-and-out when Wisconsin got the ball. Despite many Badger fans clamoring for sophomore Melvin Gordon to take over the starting role at tailback, James White got the start.

However, on the next drive, it was the Gordon/Jared Abbrederis show. The Badgers went 95 yards in eight plays, powered by Gordon and Abbrederis, finishing with a Gordon five yard run to give UW an early 7-0 lead. Following a Purdue three-and-out, James White took one to the house on 3rd & 1, a 70-yard scamper to put the Badgers up 14-0 late in the first quarter. White put on a pair of slick juke moves a the line of scrimmage and then five yards downfield before turning on the afterburners en route to the end zone (check the replay at 0:34 of the video below).

Purdue showed signs of life to start the second, with a nine play, 55-yard drive capped by a 22-yard touchdown run by Purdue QB Rob Henry. On Wisconsin's next drive, Joel Stave tossed an interception that was returned to the Badgers' 10 yard line. However, after a Pat Muldoon sack on second down, the Boilers managed just a field goal. Unfortuunately for Darell Hazell's squad, that was as close as the game got, as the Boilers failed to score during the final 40 minutes or so of the game.

From a football perspective, the Boilermakers aren't exactly a tough opponent but watching the Badgers run block and then watching Michigan attempt to do the same against UConn was like night and day. UW didn't have much success running between the tackles against Arizona State, but it didn't really matter as Gordon was able to carve up the Sun Devils on the perimeter.

In this one, the Badgers' ground game was firing on all cylinders, to the tune of 388 yards on 48 carries (393 on 47 if you remove a Stave sack). Freshman tailback Corey Clement was 17 yards away from giving the Badgers their third game with a trio of 100+ yard backs in the young season.

It was 24-10 at the half, and Clement made it 41-10 on the first play of the fourth quarter. No matter who you root for, watching Wisconsin run the ball with that trio of running backs is pretty darn cool. Quite honestly, it is a shame how things went down in Tempe last week, because I think the Badgers are very close to being a top 10 team. Even though Michigan and Northwestern are both undefeated, it seems to me that the Badgers have a stronger football team than either of them. The Wisconsin-Ohio State game this Saturday in Columbus will be possibly the biggest game of the conference season.

It won't be easy for the Badgers to steal a win at the Horseshoe. But, quite honestly, UW has just as good of a shot to do it on the road as either Michigan or Northwestern (who get the Buckeyes at home).

Some miscellaneous notes from my trip to Madison:

• From an aesthetic point of view, it's crazy how much easier it is to get a crowd to all wear red than it is for Michigan and its maize/neon yellow/whatever you want to call it. 

• Wisconsin's first down chant, "First and 10 Wisconsin" is going to be stuck in my head for many days to come. The Badgers had 22 first downs on Saturday. 

• Ann Arbor is obviously much smaller than Madison, but it was nice to be able to walk around town before the game without constantly being surrounded by large crowds (that is, until you get close to the stadium itself, obviously). Sidewalk space on gameday is a neat thing. 

• Joel Stave hasn't struggled like Devin Gardner has in the turnover department, but consistency has been a point of concern for him thus far this season. Stave was 12-for-19 on the day, good for 158 yards and a 0:1 TD to INT ratio. Like Gardner, however, you can sort of tell that Stave's confidence might not be where it needs to be, especially after some incompletions. Upon seemingly every big missed connection, Stave did a little wind-up motion with his right arm; it's completely plausible that that arm can get cold given how much Wisconsin runs the ball. For instance, late in the third quarter on the first play of a drive, Stave missed a wide open Abbrederis downfield for what would have been a touchdown had he not left it way short. Stave also peppered several other overthrows throughout the game. He has a decent enough arm and is fairly accurate in the short game, but at times his mechanics leads to inaccuracy when he looks downfield. The Badgers can't afford to have Stave misfire on those sorts of potential big plays when they visit Ohio State on Saturday. Jim Polzin of the Wisconsin State Journal had a nice piece summarizing Stave's day against Purdue. 

• Even though the game was never truly in question (even when Purdue cut it to 14-10), the crowd got pretty loud when it needed to be. It's always difficult to gauge relative crowd noise, especially since I was sitting in the last row underneath an overhang, but I was impressed by the crowd's ability to turn it up a notch when necessary. The Kohl Center crowd for Michigan's Feb. 9 game against the Badgers was more consistently impressive, in my opinion, but that was obviously a much bigger game that was also close throughout. 

• As far as finding a ticket goes, it didn't seem too difficult. The game was sold out, but tickets were going for as low as $45 or so on StubHub a few hours before kickoff, and they weren't too hard to come by around the stadium. Then again, it was only Purdue. Unfortunately for Badger fans, the remaining home slate isn't incredibly attractive. Northwestern comes to Camp Randall on Oct. 12, and Penn State will visit to close the season on Nov. 30; other than that, UW also gets BYU and Indiana at home. 

• The wave--the same sequence that you'll see in the Big House--was started...in the second quarter. That's a definite wave etiquette violation, but hey, when you can run the ball like Wisconsin can, I guess things like debilitating ennui and paralyzing cynicism don't have the brain-soil in which to thrive like they do among Michigan fans these days. 

• "Jump Around" is every bit as cool as it seems (although it's hard to really tell based on this iPhone video):  

• For what it's worth, this is what the student section looked like just after kickoff (for the people who complain about Michigan's student section). With that said, it filled up eventually: 

• Food...there is a lot of it, and it is all good. I would highly recommend just walking down State Street, as you're bound to find something good from a wide variety of cultures. 

• As a general aside, there seems to be quite a bit more in terms of live music around Madison than there is in Ann Arbor. 

• Additionally, the Memorial Union Terrace is a must visit if you're in town. You wouldn't ever think about hanging out at the Union in Ann Arbor on a Friday night or a sunny summer afternoon, but that is not the case here. 

• Speaking of the terrace, I still can't get over how cool it is that the town is situated between two lakes (Mendota and Monona). 

• Wisconsin's band put on a nice James Bond-themed halftime show; like pretty much every other band, Wisconsin's band was also sadly much louder than Michigan's. That's not to say that loud=good, but not being able to hear the MMB is still incredibly bothersome. 

• As far as piped in music goes, off the top of my head I remember at least one Seven Nation Army, Build Me Up Buttercup, Twist and Shout and it seemed like Avicii's "Wake Me Up" was played before nearly every kickoff. Overall, unlike Penn State, for example (based on my lone visit there in '08), Wisconsin seemed to have a nice balance between piped in music and the band going. 

• It's funny how the UW student section's, uh, more profane chants don't seem so cool when you're a couple of years out of undergrad. In that vein, I hope Michigan can come up with something better than the Temptation "You Suck" thing, which is pretty stupid and not clever whatsoever. 

• The Capitol building at night is something to see:

• There's a lot more to say, but if you live anywhere near Madison, I'd suggest making a visit, even if it's not on a Wisconsin gameday. The town has an Ann Arbor-esque feel to it, and yet without a doubt has its own distinct charm. It's truly a shame that the Wolverines won't head to Camp Randall again until 2017. Thanks, Maryland and Rutgers. 

HTR's Top 25: Week 4

Week 3 is in the books, which sadly means we're already a quarter of the way through the regular season schedule. Putting that thought aside, this was another exciting week of football around the country, with big games going on out west, in Texas and in Big Ten country.

Rank	Team
1	Alabama
2	Oregon
3	Ohio State
4	Clemson
5	LSU
6	Stanford
7	Florida State
8	Louisville
9	Georgia
10	Texas A&M
11	Oklahoma State
12	South Carolina
13	UCLA
14	Miami (FL)
15	Oklahoma
16	Michigan
17	Northwestern
18	Washington
19	Ole Miss
20	Florida
21	Arizona State
22	Baylor
23	Notre Dame
24	Texas Tech
25	Wisconsin

Bullets: 

• All week, the talk was about how important this weekend was for the Big Ten. Whether or not a better performance would have done anything at all vis-a-vis the conference's reputation is debatable, but needless to say the Big Ten didn't do well this week. The Buckeyes did get a win on the road at Cal, but the Badgers went down in the desert at Arizona State and the Huskers completely collapsed at home against UCLA after having built up an 18 point lead by the halfway point of the second quarter. Additionally, Illinois couldn't beat Washington at Soldier Field, Purdue lost a close one to Notre Dame, Minnesota struggled against Western Illinois and Penn State fell at home to UCF. The conference went 7-5 over the weekend. 

• Speaking of Wisconsin, that ending was one of the more mind-bogglingly nonsensical finishes I've ever seen. Spencer Hall has a nice breakdown of what happened at the end of what was otherwise a fun game to watch. In short, Wisconsin definitely did not play that the right way whatsoever, but there had to have been some sort of penalty called on Arizona State for a delay of game. At minimum, that sequence of events required some sort of action from the refs, who did absolutely nothing. I feel bad for the Badgers; I understand the desire to set up an ideal spot on the field for your kicker, but sometimes you just need to take what's there, lest you risk something disastrous happening...which, is exactly what happened. 
• 
  

• Some will argue for Oregon at the top spot, and that's definitely reasonable. However, Alabama just went into Kyle Field and beat Texas A&M at its own game. This Alabama team is probably not Saban's best, but it was good enough to drop a whopping 49 points on the road against the No. 6 team in the country. Until Alabama loses, I see no reason why they shouldn't remain in the top spot. 

• Louisville didn't do much this week to change my general perception of them: they're a very good team, but I just can't confidently call them great given their competition. I didn't watch their game this weekend, but a 27-13 victory against a bad Kentucky team doesn't exactly inspire confidence. 

• The State of Mississippi. Texas has seen better days, but the Rebels' 44-23 victory in Austin is still a solid one for Hugh Freeze's now 3-0 Ole Miss squad. Meanwhile, Dan Mullen's Bulldogs lost at Auburn. Unfortunately for the folks in Starkville, it looks like Ole Miss is the top team in the state, a point worsened by the fact that Freeze is in his second season in Oxford while Mullen is in his fifth in Starkville. Whether Freeze makes the Rebels a legitimate contender remains to be seen, but we've probably seen enough from Mullen's tenure in the SEC West to know that Mississippi State probably won't get there. That's by no means a knock on Mullen's coaching ability; the reality is that that division is just too stacked, what with Alabama and LSU (and now Texas A&M as of last season), recovering Auburn and Arkansas programs and, perhaps most painfully for Mississippi State, Ole Miss under Freeze. 

• Pac 12 South. Oregon will once again represent the Pac 12 North in the conference title game barring some ridiculous happenings, but the race in the South should be a wild one, with Arizona, Arizona State and UCLA all looking to contend. UCLA appears to be the strongest of the bunch, but the Sun Devils picked up a nice win against what should prove to be another solid Badgers squad. Meanwhile, Arizona has looked good while playing absolutely nobody, but that will change with their Sept. 28 trip to Washington. 

Miscellaneous Minutiae, 9/11/13

A few things on this 82 degree day in Chicago (somehow over 10 degrees cooler than it was yesterday):

• It's a big week for the Big Ten, with Wisconsin traveling out west to face Arizona State and Ohio State taking on a rebuilding but dangerous Cal team. Additionally, Nebraska takes on UCLA at home, looking to avenge last year's loss out west. Adam Rittenberg makes a "Delany=Mickey Goldmill" analogy. Good, good.

• Speaking of, Bucky's 5th Quarter previews UW's tilt in Tempe. ASU will be aggressive defensively, so hopefully Joel Stave is ready to make a few more plays through the air if the running game happens to stall here and there (unlikely, but it's also unlikely that the Badgers have a third week with three 100+ yard backs). 

• Sippin' on Purple charts the performance of Colter/Siemian against Syracuse in the Prose Bowl. The Wildcats take on Western Michigan this week (I'm thinking about heading up there for it). It will not be close, and Glopknar will memorialize the crushing victory with tremendous video skills. I can't wait to find out what Traevon's coverage/squat status is this week. 

• If you want to go to Alabama-TAMU this week, you better have a little money. 

• Hammer and Rails previews Purdue's matchup against Notre Dame at Ross-Ade Stadium. Needless to say, Purdue hasn't exactly had the best of starts, getting pummeled by Cincinnati and then squeaking by Indiana State. That, combined with their lack of recent success against Notre Dame and the Fighting Irish's desire to get back on the winning track probably means this one ends up in the losing column for the conference. 

• Michigan-Ohio State: BAND WARS. 

One Vote For Wisconsin Basketball Not Being "Boring"

Kohl Center--Feb. 9, 2013 (Fouad Egbaria)

Continuing with this year's theme of "just posting whatever, whenever I want" rather than doing things like building a coherent BRAND, I wanted to drop this Andy Glockner article here before we get to t-minus one week to Michigan football.

As excited as I was for the 2012-13 basketball season--an excitement that rivaled its football counterpart for the first time ever--it's hard not to get excited about this season, too. Yes, Trey Burke and Tim Hardaway Jr. are gone, and I won't get to use the "Trey Burke is not human" and "adventures in THJ's shooting" tags here anymore. Nonetheless, the Wolverines will once again be in the thick of things in the Big Ten; and, as we saw in March, anything can happen in the Big Dance.

I'm also excited for Big Ten basketball in general, in a way that's somewhat more difficult to feel about Big Ten football because of the respective quality of the two leagues. Big Ten football has seen better days, but the basketball league is perhaps as strong as ever.

Anyway, after visiting Madison a couple of times this year (one time for, yes, that game in February) and another just to see the town, I've developed a little thing for that Ann Arbor-esque town situated between two lakes in southern Wisconsin. With that thing has come an increased following of Badger sports. The Glockner article above is worth a read if you're looking for a basketball fix before we plunge into the black hole that is football season.

Glockner attempts to make a case for some vague sort of aesthetic value to be found in UW's Gradgrindian efficiency, which, like he says, is "very much in the eye of the beholder." Whether or not you agree with him is irrelevant (no, UW basketball is not as fun to watch as, say, Louisville, Kentucky, and yes, Michigan at the height of its powers), but there are some interesting bits in there, including this, regarding when UW takes its shots:

Wisconsin is well known for making defenses defend late into the shot clock, but even that reputation isn’t entirely accurate. Two coaches at league rivals said more or less the same thing: The Badgers are the most bimodal team they face, with the vast majority of shots coming either in the first seven seconds of the shot clock — yes, the first — or the last seven. 

Popular opinion of the Badger offense claims that they simply swing it for 30 seconds before Jordan Taylor/some 6'8'' lumberjack/whoever throws up a trey, but that doesn't always seem to be the case. That will definitely be something to keep an eye on this season, as I've generally been of the aforementioned popular opinion.

Also, there's this:

Last season the Badgers struggled with very poor outside shooting from the frontcourt but still won 23 games and earned a 5-seed in the NCAAs (where they lost to Ole Miss in the Round of 64). Ryan believes last year was a bit of a fluke in terms of the shooting, with point guard Josh Gasser missing the season due to injury and forward Jared Berggren, who made over 37 percent of his threes in 2012, connecting on just 25 percent last season.

Remember when UW got thumped at Florida, 74-56, early in the season? And how the Badgers finished 13th in the nation in three-point attempts but 225th in three-point percentage? Not that you didn't know this already, but, like him or not (and for everyone not wearing Badger red, that would probably be "not"), Bo Ryan is a sorcerer. After that Florida game, I figured there was no way the Badgers would finish the way they did, with a first-round Big Ten Tournament bye and a 5-seed in the Big Dance. Of course, they did, and no one was all that surprised.

Ryan does get guard Josh Gasser back, Brust will likely continue to give fans of other Big Ten teams night terrors and Sam Dekker is a rising star. On the other hand, the Badgers have a lot of production to replace, this time in the frontcourt, with the graduation of Mike Brusewitz, Jared Berggren and Ryan Evans.

However, as 2012-13 showed once again, the Badgers are institutionally conditioned to weather these sorts of things, and I'd imagine they will be in or near the top third of the Big Ten standings this season.

Fortunately for Michigan, they will get a crack at the Badgers at home this season. That said, a trip to the Kohl Center is also on the docket, and the Wolverines will once again look to come away from that place with a win for the first time since 1999.