Wisconsin Wins America's Youth Classic

As expected the Wisconsin mens basketball team won their own tournament The America's Youth Classic, by defeated Savannah State, Florida A&M, and Colorado. None of these teams are basketball powerhouses but, it does get them closer to be ready for the Big Ten season and is a step up from playing the Division 3 schools they were playing in preseason.

The Badgers were able to beat Colorado tonight by using their height to get offensive rebounds and get the ball inside, along with dropping the three point shot. Trevon Hughes was not as impressive as past games but, he was able to drop four three point shots which is really a good sign. If he can team a consistent three point shot with his ability to get by defenders and into the lane, he could really be a scary guy. Michael Flowers finally showed up big in the scoring column getting over the 10 point mark which was led by a couple three pointers and some easy fast break points. Brian Butch was his same self that he has been in the last couple games, being one of the Badgers leading scorers and scoring the bulk of his points on the inside, which I am really liking over him hovering around the perimeter as in years past. Butch still missed some of those easy shots but, he is getting stronger as he is getting used to playing inside. Greg Stiemsma though not being the offensive threat had a big game on the defensive end blocking four shots. Marcus Landry appears to not be the big time scorer I was expecting this year but, he is going to be a very good player for the Badgers. Landry will be a guy that will score 10 points, grab 5 boards, and have 3 to 5 assists per game which will be just what the Badgers will need as long as Butch and Hughes keep up their scoring. Freshmen Jon Leuer continues to look good as he went 4 for 4 from the field tonight and appears to be the top big man off the bench. Not so much tonight but, last night against Florida A&M Jason Bohannon seemed to break out of his recent funk and seemed to be hitting every open three he was given and playing a much better all around game. Hopefully Bohannon can be his old self and help stretch opposing teams defense to allow Butch and Landry to have room inside to score. Unfortunately there was no sign of fellow WD alum JP Gavinski on the court, so there will be no comments on his improvements. He did score last night against Florida A&M on a tip in though. First points of the year which is a good start.

One thing that will continue to bother me all year is the non redshirting of freshmen Keaton Nankivil and Tim Jarmusz. These guys will only be playing in garbage time which just seems to be a waste of a year for them. Why not redshirt these guys and give them a full four years of player time, specially will the departure of big men Butch and Stiemsma at the end of this year.

I had stated in my last post that I was interested to see how former Milwaukee King player Jermyl Jackson-Wilson has developed in college. Well he appears to be the same player that I remembered from high school. At only 6'5 he did a pretty good job of battling with the 7 footers of the Badgers. Not a big time scorer but, he makes up for that by being active on the defensive end and being an extremely active rebounder. Jackson-Wilson is really a fun kid to watch play.

I didn't post yesterday do to the fact that the Badger game just wasn't that interesting last night, which resulted in me not really watching it. Along with the fact that I was extremely tired and wasn't in much of a thinking mood at the time either. I should be back tomorrow with some kind of post if I'm not too tired. It may be about football or possibly one of the college basketball games that are on.