Sweet Sixteen Preview: Wisconsin vs. Butler

Wisconsin heads to New Orleans Thursday night to make their 5th Sweet Sixteen appearance in the last 11 seasons, facing the 8th seeded Butler Bulldogs.

The 4th seeded Badgers are coming off two big wins to start the tournament. Last Thursday the Badgers were a favorite to be upset by the Belmont Bruins. Belmont stuck around for a short time, but the Badgers were too much and pulled away, eventually winning 72-48.

The story was much different last Saturday against Kansas State. The 5th seeded Wildcats came in with one of the best scorers in the league, point guard Jacob Pullen. Wisconsin struggled to guard him the entire game, but thanks to little production from the rest of the Wildcats and a few defensive stops at the end of the game, Wisconsin scraped out a 70-65 game and held Pullen to "only" 38 points.

Butler, who made it to the finals last year against eventual tournament-winner Duke, started out this year's tournament by beating 9th seed Old Dominion on a buzzer-beating layup and narrowly upsetting the #1 seed Pitt Panthers.

The Sweet Sixteen will be a matchup of two similar teams. Both Wisconsin and Butler like to play a slow game, take care of the ball, and shoot tons of 3's.

Some key matchups to watch:

Shelvin Mack vs. Jordan Taylor

Both Mack and Taylor have the ability to produce on the offensive end. We saw Taylor explode for 39 against Indiana, and Mack put 30 up against #1 Pitt. Taylor has the edge as a distributor, and has double Mack's assist-to-turnover ratio on the season.









Matt Howard vs. Jon Leuer

The inside game will be vital for both teams. Leuer was able to score at will against Belmont in the second half, and put up 18 against Kansas State. Howard was the hero against Old Dominion, getting a rebound to score a buzzer-beating layup, and was able to score 16 against Pitt. Leuer will have to exploit his height advantage when he is matched up against Howard.





Keaton Nankivil vs. Butler's help defense

Butler's center, Andrew Smith, is not nearly as mobile as Nankivil. The Badgers will look to pop Nankivil outside the arc for an easy three. If Nankivil is able to hit a few shots it will open up the court and put Butler in a tough defensive situation.

Butler's bench vs. Wisconsin's bench

The Badgers' backups came up big in the win over Kansas State. Mike Bruesewitz scored 11 points, including a key three near the end of the game, and picked up 6 rebounds. Ryan Evans provided a much-needed spark midway through the second half. Butler regularly plays 4 backups. Should any of the big hitters get into foul trouble, both teams' benches will need to step up.






Bo Ryan vs. Brad Stevens

Ryan has never missed the NCAA Tournament while coaching Wisconsin, and has seen moderate tournament success in his tenure. Butler coach Brad Stevens might look like a teenager, but has made the NCAA Tournament in all four years at Butler, making it to the final round last year.

2010 NCAA Tournament, Round 1: Madness Indeed!

When I first saw this year's NCAA Tournament bracket, I couldn't help but think this was one of the weakest fields of 65 I have ever seen, with the absences of teams such as North Carolina (last year's champions), Connecticut, Memphis and Virginia Tech.

Despite this seemingly skimpy playing field, the first round of March Madness was one of the most thrilling and exciting in recent memory.

Three games went into overtime, with one of those heading to double overtime.

Nine games were decided by five points or less, and 10 games saw the lower seed advancing to the round of 32.

Here's some observations from the first round:



Newcomers


The Southern Conference Champion Wofford Terriers and SWAC Champion Arkansas-Pine Bluff Golden Lions made their first ever NCAA Tournament appearances.

Ark-Pine Bluff won the play-in game against Winthrop and earned the right to take on #1 seed Duke, who proceeded to quickly diminish any hopes of a second tournament win for the Golden Lions, beating them 73-44.


#13 Wofford, in its first tournament appearance, drew the 4th seeded Wisconsin Badgers.

In a game that was much too close for my liking, Wofford fought back from a ten point deficit to take their first lead of the game with around five minutes left.


Jon Leuer, however, proved to be too much for the Terriors.

With less than 30 seconds remaining, Leuer hit a baseline jumper to put the Badgers up 51-49. After a Terrior turnover Leuer was fouled and hit both free throws to seal the victory for the Badgers.




Major Upsets

#14 Ohio over #3 Georgetown

Georgetown looked great heading into the tournament. They lost in the Big East Tourney Championship Game on a shot by West Virginia's DeShaun Butler in the closing moments of the game.

Ohio, on the other hand, had a losing conference record this season and was seeded ninth in the MAC Conference Tournament.

Despite the daunting challenge, Ohio came out with guns blazing. Armon Bassett dropped 32 points as the Bobcats toppled the Hoyas in convincing fashion, 97-83, wreaking havoc on brackets all over the country.

The win was the first tournament win for Ohio since 1983, when as a 14 seed they knocked off the third seeded Kentucky Wildcats.

#13 Murray State over #4 Vanderbilt

Danero Thomas. You had probably never heard of him before this game.

Expect to see his game-winning shot over and over in future March Madness commercials.

The inbound play that led to Thomas' winning shot was intended for the Racers' star Isaac Miles. Instead, Thomas, the third option on the play, received the pass and proceeded to shock Vanderbilt, 66-65.

This upset marks the second time in three years that Vanderbilt stumbled in the first round as a four seed. (In 2008 they lost to Sienna)



Close Call

#2 Villanova over #15 Robert Morris

Villanova needed overtime to put away the Colonials.




Scottie Reynolds, Villanova's star point guard, shot abysmally from the field the entire game, going 2-for-15 (13%).

He made up for it in the closing minutes of the game by drawing fouls and sinking his free throws, as the Wildcats went on an 11-3 scoring run to end regulation and force overtime. Reynolds made 15 of 16 free throw attempts on his way to 20 points.

Nova escaped becoming just the fifth 2 seed ever to lose to a 15 seed in tournament history.

Leuer Wins Big Ten Player of the Week

Jon Leuer was last week's Big Ten Player of the Week after his impressive performances against Iowa and Illinois. Over the two games Leuer amassed 38 points, 9 rebounds, 6 assists, and 3 blocks.

This is Leuer's first Big Ten POTW of his career, and the second POTW the Badgers have earned this year (Trevon Hughes in December being the other).

The Badgers take the court on Friday in the Big Ten Tournament, playing the Illini for the second straight game.

LIVE BLOG: Wisconsin Badgers Basketball at Indiana

Join Two Cents in our live blog of the Badgers - Hoosiers matchup.

Here is what ESPN has to say about tonight's game:

Wisconsin had one of its most dominating defensive games of the season in a win against Indiana earlier this month. It was the kind of effort Hoosiers coach Tom Crean is looking for from his team.

The 17th-ranked Badgers go for their sixth straight win over struggling Indiana on Thursday as they try to improve to .500 on the road in Big Ten play.

Wisconsin (20-7, 10-5) has the top scoring defense in the conference, allowing 57.1 points per game. It was especially impressive in an 83-55 win at home against Indiana on Feb. 13.

The Badgers forced a season-high 21 turnovers, which turned into 29 points, and had 15 offensive rebounds which led to 18 second-chance points.

Wisconsin's effectiveness on the glass came despite missing leading rebounder Jon Leuer, who has played the last two games after missing the previous nine with a broken wrist.

Leuer has come off the bench since returning, and in a 70-63 win over Northwestern on Sunday, he finished with 11 points, four rebounds and three blocked shots in 22 minutes.

"That was experience that we got back on the floor in those situations, and that's why he was out there," coach Bo Ryan said. "Plus, even with that tape on his hand, his hands in the post are the best of our bigs."

With Leuer struggling to make shots due to his injury, Jason Bohannon continues to play well. Bohannon finished with 17 points Sunday and scored a career-high 30 against Indiana earlier this month. He's averaging 19.5 points and shooting 52.2 percent from 3-point range in February.

The Badgers have struggled on the road, going 3-5 overall, but they have won their last two visits to Bloomington and will be facing a Hoosiers team that has dropped eight in a row.

Indiana (9-17, 3-11) never led in an 81-58 loss to Minnesota on Saturday, shooting a season-worst 32.2 percent and trailing 44-25 at the half.

Devan Dumes had a season-high 20 points off the bench, while leading scorer Verdell Jones III shot 2 of 8 to finish with 10 points. Christian Watford, averaging 12.3 points, scored three while connecting on 1 of 12 field goals.

In the last eight losses, the Hoosiers have been outscored by close to 15 points per game. They are allowing an average of 76.8 points in the last six.

"I told them after the game ... I don't hope the program is coming back, I believe that it will and I believe in those guys," Crean said. "I also told them that if we don't get better defensively and they can't do a better job of guarding their man ... they are not going to be a part of this moving forward. I don't have any patience for lack of getting up into people defensively."

Indiana has lost 14 in a row to Top 25 teams since beating then-No. 14 Purdue 77-68 on Feb. 19, 2008.

Let us know what you think of the live blog. We would love to have your feedback!

Wisconsin Holds Off Northwestern To Earn 20th Win

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