The Champagne Room

I want to take 5 minutes out from my basketball breakdowns to talk about something that is going on right this minute 145 miles northwest of here on the shores of Lake Mendota.

The Wisconsin Marching Band just finished up their last practice before the final home game of the regular season.

Back in the stone age of the 1970s and 80s before the Badgers went to bowl games this practice was the last practice for the band and for the 4th and 5th year seniors who marched up and down that practice field on so many hot, freezing, wet, and sweaty afternoons and evenings. It is an emotional time for those seniors. So many memories are made, so many friendships forged, and so many experiences are enjoyed during one's time in the band and this was usually the end of the road for those seniors.

When the whistle blows for your first ever tryout practice for the band, Before you even have an instrument in your hands, before you ever play one note of Varsity, and before you eat one rock you are told that Freshmen line up on the left side of the field, everyone else goes on the right.

Four to five years later practice ends and the seniors go back to that same left side of the field. Champagne bottles are brought out onto the field, cigars are lit and the seniors are soluted by the underclassmen and Mike Leckrone. Everyone sings varsity, corks are popped, and champagne is poured over everyone. On what is typically a dark, 40 degree night there is no greater rush than getting a half a bottle of Andre doused on you.

When you talk to band members and ask them how much effort and time is put into being a member of the band they usually give you a half laugh and a quick comment like "well, you know." And, you do know. The sacrifices are 6AM wake up calls on gamedays, shorts only in November. It is having to blow as much hot air as possible through your horn just to keep it from freezing up. It is dips in the lake after a humid August practice, long bus rides, and longer Saturdays in the hot sun.

But one a chilly Friday every November none of that matters, it is memories, it is friendships, it is those magical moments you never forget, and it is pride in your band and in your school. Cheers.

The Hunt for Red November

Step 2 of my basketball preview will be breaking down the Badger's schedule game by game. I will withold comments on the Big 10 games until closer to the new year.

I still wish the Badger's non-conference schedule would be tougher, the first 3 games will probably cause the Badgers to have a submarine-like SOS for at least a month, but there are some challenges along the way.

Lets go:

IUPUI-FW: I honestly cannot tell you one thing about this team.
W 84-45

Savannah State: Yikes, this team will be lucky to finish in the top 310 teams this year
W 91-55

Florida A&M: I wish they would bring their band- so the Badger band could kick their ass, just like the Basketball team kicks ass here

W 74-59

Colorado: Hopefully the Badgers do dominate so they can be well-rested for the 3rd game in 3 days. Colorado is not very good at all, probably the 11th team in the Big 12

W 69-57

Georgia: Georgia let me down last year. Badgers need to be careful here as the Dawgs can defend and are very athletic.

W 71-63

Duke: Finally! The Badgers get an ACC team not named Maryland or Wake Forest. We've been waiting so long for Duke or UNC, but be careful what you wish for- a trip to Cameron is not easy. The Badgers match up very well with Duke, however. If Flowers can continuously slash to the lane and dish to Butch and J-Boh the Badgers can win. But it is Cameron

L 81-78


Wofford: Wofford is a small school from Spartanburg, SC, not to be confused with Winthrop who is a small school from Rock Hill, SC. Withrop is good and almost beat our Badgers in Madison last year. Wofford is not a good team.

W 84-50


Marquette: BRING IT ON. History tells me that this will be a great game. Paper and video tells me that Marquette will be a tough matchup. But the game is in Madison. Therefore, this is an easier one to pick

W 76-71


UW-Milwaukee: The last time Wisconsin went to Milwaukee was 6 years ago, was on campus and was a nail biter. This one will not be an easy game and could prove dangerous if the Badgers do not shoot well and get out-worked on the boards. Jeter will have his team up, but the Badgers are better.

W 59-52


UW-Green Bay. Along with Milwaukee, the Phoenix should end up in the top 3 of the Horizon. They are slowly improving, but they aren't winning at the Kohl.

W 65-49


Valpo: Holy crap! Another team from the Horizon! What, would no one from the Valley or the MAC come to Madison. This is Valpo's first season in the Horizon, but that is the least of their worries on this night.

W 75-58


Texas: This is the toughest non-conference matchup in my mind. In order to win Flowers is going to have to take DJ Augustin out of the game. Control Augustin and get in his head and he becomes a turnover machine. If the Badgers can keep it close Rick Barnes will screw it up down the stretch. But I am afraid of Bo's boys on the road in non-conference games ouside of the state.

L 78-62


That puts the Badgers at 10-2 and probably just inside or outside of the top 25 going into the Big 10. I can maybe see this team going 11-1, and would not be shocked with a 9-3 or even 8-4 record if they cannot turn the Kohl into a fortress against MU and Georgia. 8-4 would not be a disaster, but it would force the team to probably win 10 big 10 games in order to make the NCAA tourney.

Quickly, conference W-L:

@Mich: W
Iowa: W
Illinois: W
@PSU: L
NU: W
Mich: W
@Purdue: L
IU: W
@Minn: L
@Iowa: W
Purdue: W
@Indiana: L
Minnesota: W
@Illinois: L
@OSU: L
MSU: W
PSU: W
@NU: W

Big 10 Record: 12-6, good for a tie for 2nd with Indiana.

22-8 regular season record would be remarkable and is probably slightly inflated (although BT Wonk had the Badgers 13-5 tied with MSU- which would probably make the Badgers the #1 seed since the Badgers do not go to East Lansing)

A 22-8 record with a 1-1 record in Indy and wins over Georgia, MU, UW-M, Purdue, Illinois, IU, and MSU (all projected tourney teams by me) would probably warrant a 4-5 seed in March.

I think the Badgers are realistically in the 4-7 seed range come March and their ceiling is probably a sweet 16 run unless the bracket opens up like it did in 2005.

My next post will be a Big 10 preview followed by my national preview.

It's almost time

As I sit at home watching the Badgers take on UW-Eau Claire, it is shocking to realize that the mens hoops season is all of 4 days away when the Mastadons of IU-FW rise from the ashes to take on the Badgers.

I spent a good deal of my lunch hour reading some of the preseason articles. A lot of people seem to be down on the Badgers, and for some good reasons- the bad taste left in everyone's mouth after the events of 3/18, the questions surrounding Michael Flowers, the improvements of IU and MSU, and the graduations of Kam Taylor and Alando Tucker are pretty much the most prominent reasons to be down on the Badgers.

However, it would be short-sighted to just dwell on those reasons heading into the season.

First of all, what happened on March 18 was nothing more and nothing less than a team who lost a key cog in its wheel and was playing bad basketball at a bad time to play bad basketball. Had the NCAA tournament been held 3-4 weeks earlier not only would Wisconsin had been a #1 seed, but they might have won it all.

While I am also concerned with the LOA of Flowers, he is back on the team and will have plenty of time to get back into the swing of things in the next two weeks before the Badgers play anything resembling a difficult game.

And while MSU and IU should be better than the Badgers, the Badgers and us fans can only worry about our team.

So that brings us to the 3 graduations. First off, losing Chappell is probably a net positive. The guy was absolute rubbish for most of last year. I feel better with Greg Steimsma, anyways.
Taylor and Tucker hurt, no doubt. You just cannot lose an excellent ball handler/scorer and also arguably the greatest player in program history and just move on without difficulties, but programs have to move on. Personally, I have a world of confidence in Marcus Landry, J-Boh, Hughes, and one of our bigger freshman to step up and pick up the points, minues and leadership that graduated last May.
And that goes without mentioning the guy who I think will be one of the 3 best players in the conference by year's end- Brian Butch. Oh sure, Butch needs to step up and be tougher/score more/dominate/not disappear/DUNK. But why can't he? In 3 years he has certainly showed us all of those characteristics, and after the way his season ended last year he has all the motivation in the world to shut jackasses like Doug Gottlieb up.

So how 'bout it all of you out in Badgerland, what can we expect of our heroes this season?

My Big 10 preview and game by game look ahead is coming this weekend.