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Basketball Preview: #5 Texas Longhorns (9-2) vs. Wisconsin Badgers (9-2)

Posted by Trips Right on December 23rd, 2008 under Basketball

With the exception of personnel, I could probably cut and paste the Michigan State Preview and not be a whole hell of a lot off in terms of what to expect from Wisconsin. We’re playing the Badgers. They’re coached by Bo Ryan. They’re going to guard the hell out of you, try to control tempo on offense by running possessions deep into the shot clock, and they’re going to play smart, sound, fundamental basketball on both ends. It’s not sexy, but it works well, and Bo has recruited the type of kid that excels at this style. On to the personnel.


Marcus Landry Badgers’ frontcourt warrior.

The Backcourt

Trevon Hughes and Jason Bohannon combine to make a very experienced and complimentary backcourt tandem with skills that mesh on the offensive end of the floor. Trevon Huges is the Badgers best option creating off the bounce, while Bohannon is a good spot up shooter that does a very good job defending the opposition’s best weapon on the other end. Both are above average deep shooters and reliable free throw shooters averaging 80% and 73% from the foul line respectively. I suspect Bohannon will be chasing Abrams off of jumpers the majority of the night, but the good news is Bohannon is not nearly the defender that Travis Walton is, and AJ should have an easier time finding good looks.

The Frontcourt

Any conversation about the Badgers frontcourt and the team in general has to start with do it all forward 6-7 Marcus Landry. The senior has added a deep shooting capability to his offensive repertoire, hitting 12-27 from beyond the arc for the year. Longhorn fans should be all too familiar with Landry’s capabilities from last year’s game, a game in which Marcus had 14 points on 7-13 shooting.

Joe Krabbenhoft is another senior forward who has been stuffing stat sheets in order to make up for the departure of Brian Butch’s team leading 12 points and 7 rebounds per game last year. Krabbenhoft is Wisonsin’s version of Justin Mason, and he’s averaging 7 points 6.4 rebounds and nearly 3 assists per game. Defensively, he’s a good defensive answer for Connor Atchley in that Joe is comfortable playing on the perimeter.

John Leuer is the Badger’s biggest player and he’ll likely draw Pittman. The 6-10 225 lb sophomore is an adept rebounder who can score inside and out. He’s hitting 50% from deep, and averaging nearly two offensive boards per game.

The Bench

Keaton Nankivil, Tim Jarmusz, and Rob Wilson provide frontcourt and wing depth, but the Badgers only have one true ball handling guard that backs up the starters in freshman Jordan Taylor. Taylor is more of penetrator and distributor, and the Longhorns could help off the freshman guard when he’s in the ball game. He’s really not a threat to hit from deep at this stage in his career.

Keys to the Game–Offense

Run your stuff.
A Bo Ryan defense is not going to give up quick catch and shoots to Texas’ first option or even second option when the Horns run their sets. Texas can’t get frustrated if for instance Abrams is denied the ball and the second option Atchley is chased off his jumper. Don’t kill the set by dribbling the basketball or reseting. Texas needs to run its plays and continue these plays out to option 3 and 4 because the Horns simply don’t have the personnel to manufacture points by dribbling to create against a good Badger defense.

Inside-Out
Again, against solid and sagging man-to-man defenses like Wisconsin’s, catch and shoots and dribble drives will not be available unless the defense as a whole is forced to help and recover. Texas has the personnel to force the help in recover by entering the post and generating offense of the collapsing help. Post kickouts to the perimeter will give Texas’ perimeter players the edge they need to dribble by recovering Badger defenders. I’ll take AJ, Mason, and James slashing versus Bohannon or Hughes when either of the two Badger guards are chasing the basketball. If the Badgers are allowed to maintain their perimeter shell consistently against Texas, Texas will have a hard time breaking 50.


Coming out party?

Gary Johnson
I think AJ is going to struggle getting good looks. James can be a factor if he’s patient but the jury’s still out on that. Connor’s struggling, and Pittman probably won’t get the looks he needs to be effective. Mason will have to run the show and guard a very good offensive player. The one player that possesses the skill set, in my opinion, to really give the Badgers fits, is GJ. Defensively, the Badgers really have no answer in their frontcourt for Gary’s quickness coupled with his 15 foot range. Landry isn’t quick enough to float with GJ and Krabbenhoft isn’t strong enough or athletic enough to keep Gary out of the lane and off the glass. Gary needs 15 shots this game, and he can be a key in freeing up the Longhorn perimeter game when the Badgers have to start helping.

Run
I like Texas’ players 1-5 in any kind of a foot race with the Badgers. Points will be at a premium this game, and any easy buckets will take pressure off Texas having to score in a halfcourt setting. This key goes hand in hand with the first key on defense.

Keys to the game–defense

Pressure.
Texas has more depth. Texas has more athletes. Texas needs easy buckets. It’s a no brainer. If I’m Barnes I play two separate games. I body blow with Pittman and Chapman in 5-10 minute bursts using 3/4 court soft token pressure to make Wisky use precious seconds in their shot clock before getting into an offense. It will also lull the Wisky guards into a false sense of security right before Texas goes to its quick trapping pressure. When I’m on offense I run my sets trying to get easy looks off inside/out strategy.

Then, bam. I hit the Badgers with 90 ft quick pressure with personnel that includes James, Mason, Ward, Johnson and Abrams looking for steals and turnovers. Long quick athletes all ove the floor. Jay Bilas’ wet dream. Under no circumstances do I allow the Badgers to walk the ball up the court make or miss in either pressure scenario the entire game.

One and done
Texas has to rebound the basketball on defense for two reasons. First, the Horns can’t afford to play defense for 50-60 seconds on possessions extended by offensive boards. Secondly, Texas must get control of the defensive backboards so they can start their running game. If they allow the Badgers to stay even on the glass, Texas will be fighting an uphill battle.

Contest Aggressively
The Badgers don’t possess the slashers and penetrators that the Spartans do. Texas can afford to really run out on Bohannon and try to smother Hughes. Hell, if they don’t, the Badgers will just knock down open looks all night. Texas needs to play tough, in your shorts, Big 10 style defense and let their superior athleticism take over.

Prediction
I think Texas will show up tonight after a disappointing loss, an embarrassing loss in a game the Horns controlled for 35 minutes. Wisconsin has played just 1 major conference school in Virginia Tech and I suspect this game will go very similarly to the Horn’s win against Villanova in MSG. Remember, Villanova had played a similar schedule. If the Horns hit free throws they’ll win comfortably. Call it 65 to 55 Texas.

For more info check with our friends at BON:

Morning Coffee Is Offended By Rick Barnes’ Offense

Texas Travels To Madison Looking For 10th Win

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4 Responses

  1. Bob in Houston said:

    December 23rd, 2008 at 10:53 am

    TR, I think you’re on target with the analysis and the likely outcome. Ryan has very little in the way of experience on the bench. Texas has to take advantage of that.

    But if they don’t do the things that break down Wisconsin’s D, they just won’t be able to score, and the home court will give the Badgers a boost. I think (expect… welllll, hope) that Texas will come into the game with a different mindset, based on the by-and-large tentative effort against MSU, and having lost.

  2. Kafka said:

    December 23rd, 2008 at 1:35 pm

    Great pre-game analysis, Trips. It gives me an idea of what to look for in the game.

    I look forward to this game. The horns are facing another great coach who has learned a bunch from the Mich State game. Have Barnes and the horns also learned a lot from that game? We’ll see.

    Wisconsin surely learned the benefits of over playing Abrams to deprive him of shots. Will UT be able to take advantage of the extra attention that Wisconsin gives Abrams? For example, will screeners for Abrams get passes when they dive to the bucket?

    Will Mason try to penetrate into the paint to finish or dish tonight?

    I agree that the horns should pressure and run relentlessly. If the game is played at a half court tempo, then Wisconsin wins. If the game is harum scarum, then UT wins.

    Will Dex be able to score efficiently? If not, he probably does not play much but Gary will play a lot.

  3. Bob in Houston said:

    December 23rd, 2008 at 2:45 pm

    Let’s see if Johnson can “back up” the 20-point game, like they expect you to do in drag racing (don’t ask).

    If he does, IMO, that’s a really good sign for the next three months.

  4. Trips Right said:

    December 23rd, 2008 at 2:49 pm

    He’s our key, Bob. One worry I have is AJ reverting back to his non-shot selection havin’ self. It’s quite possible he’ll turn back into the gunner after the disappointing loss. A game in which he was very patient.

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  • RRR commented on the blog post Mid-Season Thoughts and OU Pre-Game   ago

    Thanks Trips. I’m hoping for lots of Willie Warren trying to be Sheron Collins. TMG in sync is the scariest thing to face in Norman. That or we get beat up on the boards which seems to be recurring theme of Texas Tech road games.

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  • Blake Stansbery commented on the blog post Recruiting the Trenches   ago

    TP welcome to the network.

    I like how you broke this down, and identified which positions history shows a high star ranking has proven to be important. I personally feel that after what all the recruiting sites dub their top players that there is a major falloff. We all love that the recruiting sites bring

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  • Hiphopopotamus commented on the blog post Did Rick Barnes use a plant last night to distract KU players?   ago

    I’m convinced.

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  • Mister Mike commented on the blog post Thoughts on the win in Austin   ago

    Don’t follow basketball as much as you guys do here, but I did watch that game last night. Using my extensive experience in analyzing the sport (next to none) the game felt like it had that “Big Game” feel to it, but somehow it just didn’t turn out that way. Kind of…lackluster?

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  • Mister Mike commented on the blog post Carl Pelini Remains Red   2 minutes ago

    Personally, I think it’s going to be a long time, if ever, before Carl considers leaving. Him and Bo share some kind of vulcan mind-meld when it comes to the defense. He knows exactly what Bo wants and what he expects and he gets that shit done. I’m glad NU awarded him

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  • Trips Right commented on the blog post Texas Hoops vs. Kansas: Post-Mortem   3 minutes ago

    EP, Gillispie is a helluva coach but he’s a horrible representation for any marquee program.

  • skymonkeyhorn commented on the blog post Texas Hoops vs. Kansas: Post-Mortem   4 minutes ago

    Yeah but El Paso / West Texas are known for unknown phenomena , like the lights , strange things happen out in the desert.
    Gilly may be a UFO flier for all we know.
    Look at Trips he is kind of strange with his fantasy on trim and stripper poles, sometimes I think that Trips

  • Hiphopopotamus wrote a new blog post: Thoughts on the win in Austin   4 minutes ago

    We weren’t overly impressive, and at the same time, it may have been this team’s most impressive win. The game didn’t have much rhythm. We never shot it well. In fact, our two best guys can’t be much worse from the field. But damned if we didn’t guard them – especially in that first half.

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  • Farmer Ted wrote a new blog post: Carl Pelini Remains Red   6 minutes ago

    We all know that Carl Pelini is a popular guy, and now we’ve learned that Tennessee recently courted him to fill their DC vacancy.  Carl said no:
    “We’re on the verge of something great at Nebraska,” Pelini said. “I love working with Bo. That’s all I’m going to say about it.”
    Fortunately for Husker fans, Carl is

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  • Trips Right commented on the blog post Texas Hoops vs. Kansas: Post-Mortem   10 minutes ago

    Patrick, no this is hilarious (From Chip Brown):

    And Barnes finally admitted after Monday night’s 80-68 loss to No. 1 Kansas that he can no longer have guards Justin Mason and Dogus Balbay on the floor together.

    “We just can’t, otherwise it’s five on three,” Barnes said.

  • Mister Mike commented on the blog post ”Bo Made Me Cry.”   11 minutes ago

    The problem Ted is that Bo doesn’t like to give anyone the appearance that he’s not in control of the program. For some reason, he feels that the flow of information to the recruiting sites and services is far too much, and he’s seeking to try and control that. There’s a reason why

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  • Trips Right commented on the blog post Did Rick Barnes use a plant last night to distract KU players?   19 minutes ago

    Wholesome goodness. Thanks for posting.

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  • HenryJames commented on the blog post Another night, another would-be hero   21 minutes ago

    I think Kiper has Okung too high at number five. He’s a right tackle in the NFL, and no one will take a RT that high.

  • skymonkeyhorn commented on the blog post Texas Hoops vs. Kansas: Post-Mortem   25 minutes ago

    Basketball is a simple game of passing,dribbling,catching,shooting and denying the other team from scoring. Simple yet played by chess masters that know what they have (known quantities) in players,chemistry, and heart (will to win).
    Maybe they are also an unknown phenomena to the stubborn, mad,lusting minds of entrenched coaches that are playing the games

  • uthookem commented on the blog post 2011 Texas Football Recruiting   39 minutes ago

    I consider this thread incomplete until a picture of Barney Frank is added.

  • HenryJames commented on the blog post Scholarship Numbers & Junior Days   39 minutes ago

    I summer in Brookshire.

  • Texastough commented on the blog post Texas Hoops vs. Kansas: Post-Mortem   59 minutes ago

    “As long as he is putting teams into the tourney every year, I think he is untouchable. ”

    Thats basically the equivalent of being one of the top six or seven Big 12 teams, which doesn’t cut it. I think he has to average top 2-3 in Big12 and sweet 16 or so to be

  • Bob in Houston commented on the blog post Texas Hoops vs. Kansas: Post-Mortem   1 hour, 5 minutes ago

    Bob, essentially what you are saying is that we are not a well coached basketball team. I agree.

    Jordan Hamilton is a selfish and lazy player. He is a terrible fit to play for Barnes. Not sure if either one will be around next season at this rate.

    I’ve seen too much player development and too much

  • skymonkeyhorn commented on the blog post Texas Hoops vs. Kansas: Post-Mortem   1 hour, 6 minutes ago

    Oh ! Trips your one liners are getting very very good in a nice sort of way. This was a great one.
    Almost a classic. “ponderos, shouldn’t you be supersizing something somewhere?”
    Keep up the good work……
    “Admirable that you continue to attempt an analysis with some type of hope for them”

  • Farmer Ted commented on the blog post ”Bo Made Me Cry.”   1 hour, 7 minutes ago

    Good read, Mike. There’s a lot of truth in there. I do believe that one of the reasons that Florida’s recruiting class was rated so highly is that 100% of their signees were offered scholarships by Florida. If Florida loses interest in a kid, his stock drops a bit. That’s defensible

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  • Ag_in_TX wrote a new blog post: Did Rick Barnes use a plant last night to distract KU players?   1 hour, 17 minutes ago

    If you watched the game, and if you have one drop of testosterone in your bloodstream, you couldn’t have missed her. The redhead with huge tracts of land – right behind the KU bench – who stood for every time out and stared at the KU players.

    She stuck out like a sore thumb. Never

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  • Darius Pourceau commented on the blog post Recruiting the Trenches   1 hour, 19 minutes ago

    Welcome to the site guys! Aaron Rodgers is the man.

    http://bornhogwild.fantake.com/

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  • Art Vandelay commented on the blog post Texas Hoops vs. Kansas: Post-Mortem   1 hour, 21 minutes ago

    Bob, essentially what you are saying is that we are not a well coached basketball team. I agree.

    Jordan Hamilton is a selfish and lazy player. He is a terrible fit to play for Barnes. Not sure if either one will be around next season at this rate.

    We went scoreless for 10:54 during

  • Trips Right commented on the blog post 2011 Texas Football Recruiting   1 hour, 31 minutes ago

    Well done. The Barney Frank line blindsided me like a strain of juarez clap. Funny stuff.

    I’d like for us to go out of state for a QB and at least 1 maybe two CB’s. Is Quandre tall enough to play corner or angry enough to play safety?

    Rumor around the campfire is

  • skymonkeyhorn commented on the blog post Texas Hoops vs. Kansas: Post-Mortem   1 hour, 44 minutes ago

    I feel our pain…
    Was Barnes wearing a helmet last night. I did not notice as I was in awe of the blood being spilled
    on the floor for almost 11 minutes without a point.
    Coach Knight was reading this blogs out loud for TV.
    The most insightful was that Barnes needs to go to the 7-8

  • James commented on the blog post 2011 Texas Football Recruiting   1 hour, 46 minutes ago

    Barney Frank and Mormon quips in the same post. My Tuesday is complete.

    Texas HS football is going through a phase (era?) where the best athlete talent is being put on offense. DBs aren’t being developed in vast quantities. Why wouldn’t you go after a couple OOS DBs?

  • Trips Right commented on the blog post Texas Hoops vs. Kansas: Post-Mortem   1 hour, 49 minutes ago

    ponderos, shouldn’t you be supersizing something somewhere?

  • Trips Right commented on the blog post Texas Hoops vs. Kansas: Post-Mortem   1 hour, 51 minutes ago

    Gillispie’s a mid-major clown because of his off the court indiscretions. Seriously, The University of Texas is much too high profile to risk its brand and image with this moron. And anyone that mentions Augie Garrido should be permabanned the intertubes. The situations aren’t remotely similar.

    If you want to go down the

  • Trips Right commented on the blog post Texas Hoops vs. Kansas: Post-Mortem   1 hour, 57 minutes ago

    Leonidas, none of those points came against Dex. Boxscores aren’t reality, they’re like porn movies. If porn was real everyone would be a plummer.

    As for Pittman on offense, Aldrich wasn’t playing him straight up, he was getting a double virtually everytime down. That’s not Aldrich’s fault but it’s reality.

    Pittman rarely

  • Mister Mike commented on the blog post Nebraska Fits the Profile of the 2010 National Champion   2 hours, 3 minutes ago

    Good line. What is the thinking on his ability vs. the injury?

    It’s funny you should ask. I’m working on putting something together right now that will be discussing this very topic. I know you’re waiting with bated breath for it too. Admit it.

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