![]() ![]() He lacks the speed or size to consistently get good looks. As much as I appreciate what Chucky does on the court, taking a player 1 on 1 off the dribble isn’t his strength. Freshman Connor Essegian got better there as the season went along, but with the game on the line or the shot clock running down, it was mostly Hepburn. I can’t recall a Badger team that didn’t have a single player that could consistently create their own shot. The last thing I have to mention is lack of shot creation. The good thing is these are issues that can be improved but we’ll have to wait 7 months to see it. ![]() Far too often it seemed like Bucky relied on individual post play to score and as we saw, it wasn’t overly successful. The Badgers offense was best when the ball was moving around and screens were being used to set up back door cuts or mismatches. It looked as though both players struggled with contact and forced up shots just to try and be involved in the offense. For a player that scores almost all of his points in or around the paint, shooting 42% on the season is not going to cut it. Crowl took and made some triples so his number isn’t as concerning, but Wahl struggled to find his finishing ability after the ankle injury. The main post players for Wisconsin, Tyler Wahl and Steven Crowl, both shot under 50% from the field on the season. ![]() For every other matchup, the consistent struggles to convert layups were alarming. Against Purdue they at least had the excuse of a 7’3″ giant roaming the paint defensively. With free throws not being the issue in losses against Michigan and Purdue, the inability to finish in the paint can be swapped in. The scary thing is the season average could have been considerably worse if it weren’t for major improvements in the last 5 games. Those wins would have pushed Wisconsin to 7th in the conference instead of 11th. In two of their losses in the second half of conference play, making even 75% of their free throws would have won them the game. If you are scoring a lot through your normal offense then it’s not as big of a deal but when your margin for error is already small, you can’t afford to miss freebies. That’s an abysmal number plain and simple. As a team, Wisconsin shot 67% from the line for the season. There were plenty of other issues, but these are two things that can be easily fixed and realistically shouldn’t be issues to begin with. There are really only two things that fall under this category for me: free throw shooting and finishing at the rim. I’m starting with the ugly because after the finish to the season, I really want to close this article with something positive. ![]() Mandatory Credit: Kayla Wolf-USA TODAY Sports The Ugly Madison, Wisconsin, USA Wisconsin Badgers forward Tyler Wahl (5) shoots a basket under coverage by Penn State Nittany Lions guard Jalen Pickett (22) during the second half at the Kohl Center. With potentially the entire roster returning for next season, there is reason to believe next year could be special. Even though this season was a disappointment overall, there were some positives. Yes I know, the season isn’t officially over for the Wisconsin men’s basketball team, but we’ve seen enough to know that not much will change with an extra NCAA tournament or NIT game. ![]()
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