Bo & Badgers Cannot win it all

UCLA's recruiting classes cannot get any better than they are. Yes they have been to three final fours but look at who they have played along the way to get to them. Like another poster above mentioned most of UCLA's matchups have been favorable. If Memphis loses tonight their style CAN still win a championship, so long as they continue to get top five recruits and have a starting five of which ALL will be in the NBA running it (like this year), the two are apples and oranges, by the way. Listen, in the big scheme of things nothing is ABSOLUTE, perhaps I may be proven wrong, if so HAPPY FRIGGIN DAY, but even when defending the Badgers I think I have always brought facts and logic to the argument. To me this DDM offense of Memphis is taking the nation by storm at all levels and to me it is that style of offense (regardless of who is running it) that seems to be an absolute killer to Howland and Ryan's style of defense. Again, UCLA has NBA potential all over the place on their roster and they keep getting shut down by more atheltic teams who dribble drive and then can kick out and hit the outside shot. In the vast scheme of D1 there are not ALOT of teams that could beat a Bo Ryan Badger team consistantly, but the handful that could would be regularly looming in the Final Four. With the new NBA rule, the rich jsut got richer if you know what I mean and I don't think that four #1 seeds all in the Final Four is a fluke going forward, I think the Final Four will be wrought with #1 and #2 seeds in the future. I think the old rule with the "best kids" going pro and skipping college benefited most of the other D1 schools and hurt the powerhouses as it leveled the playing field. Now with the new rule in place the traditional powers just got their advantage back. Again, I love Bo, I am not questioning his style overall, and if we keep winning conference titles, and ahvign 30 win seasons and making regular trips to the dance with varying success, hey, I am all for it, no complaints, but the reality is that something has to change IF he/we want to take the next step.

Quick example of a SMALL change, look at Krabbenhoft, the guy was a scoring machine from inside AND OUTSIDE in high school. The arc is the same distance in college, so is the free throw line etc... now all fo a sudden Krabbs can't shoot. That is coaching, sometimes I think Bo coaches the killer instinct out of guys. You don't have to chaneg the swing, you don't have to  change your defense, you don;t have to change your overall philosophies, but some of the smaller philosophies MIGHT need tweaking, liek giving guys a little more freedom on offense, like giving some talented freshman more courttime during the season so they can contribute in March. I'd rather lose a game in December giving a freshman some minutes and have him ready for March than NOT giving him those minutes and winning that December game only to not have that depth come March (ya feelin me). I know this team CAN score, I know they aren't a plodding Dick Bennett style of basketball, but SOMETIMES, just SOMETIMES in MARCH you plain just need to outscore another team, SOEMTIMES even if your defense is playing great the other team still scores and YOUR TEAM needs to just plain be able to outscore them. It is not game in and game out, that is why the regular season hides these faws so well, because there is always "next game" that makes us forget, but March is not that kind. Ie, against Davidson the Badgers needed the ABILITY to outscore Davidson, and the Badgers couldn't do that, they lost Trevon a great defender) and Davidson was hitting everything and the Badgers needed to be able to score points and they couldn't. Same with UCLA against Memphis, some teams can't be shut down defensively and you have to be able to outscore them, UCLA can't do that. Note even when UW or UCLA score alot of points, it is usually set up by great defensive efforts that allow them to run their offense efficiently. When they can't do that they get stymied. Again, love Bo, love Badgers, but reality has set in.