Game Day Open Thread - Wisconsin Badgers

by Mike on Mar 5, 2008 3:52 PM EST in Basketball

	Go State!
Penn State 14-14 (6-10)		Wisconsin Badgers 24-4 (14-2)

Call me crazy, but I have a good feeling about tonight. Things are very upbeat in State College. We're on a two game winning streak and I like what I'm hearing from the Penn State players.

"The confidence is very high right now," Cornley said. "We've won our last four games at home but we're walking into a good situation to go ahead and close out these next two games against two good teams.

"I think we're capable of winning and I think the team believes that we can win."

Meanwhile, Purdue was upset by Ohio State last night effectively laying out the red carpet for Wisconsin to cruise to a number one seed in the Big Ten tournament. This has Badger Nation a bit overconfident.

There's not much good to say about Penn State basketball these days: they don't win much, and their only win of note this year came at home against Michigan State, a team that's known to become Mr. Hyde when it leaves East Lansing (that is, if Mr. Hyde was 5'2", 97 pounds). Penn State has lost to Michigan, Iowa, and twice to Minnesota. You may remember them from such games as Wisconsin 80, Penn State 55 -- and that was a road victory for the Badgers.

...

While the Badgers do have to play forty good minutes tonight, this game should not be a source of major discomfort...Let's call it Wisconsin 70, Penn State 60, and hope that it's not even that close.

Uh, does anyone care to remember Illinois in 2006? Nobody gave Penn State a chance against the Illini who were ranked #6 in the country and riding a bagillion game home winning streak. The Nittany Lions went into Champaign with nothing to lose and came out with a win. Let's hope that can happen again tonight.

The game will be televised at 9 PM on the Big Ten Network. I'm traveling this week so I'm going to try to find a bar to watch the game. Have at it in the open thread.

Go State! Beat Wisconsin!

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Comments

It's good to be optimistic

but I'm not holding my breath tonight.

by ignition719 on Mar 5, 2008 6:11 PM EST 0 recs

what the heck, i suppose i'll believe

i read a blog about the AFL, maybe that's a sign i need to get back into basketball.

damn central time zone, though, not sure if work will go that late (for the record, i hope not).

The Big Eleventh Blog

by Big 11th on Mar 5, 2008 6:41 PM EST 0 recs

That's the spirit

Did we give up after the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor? Hell no. Now get out there and fight!

Mike
Black Shoe Diaries

Hail to the Lion!

by Mike on Mar 5, 2008 7:38 PM EST up 0 recs

um

(not now he's on a roll)

The Big Eleventh Blog

by Big 11th on Mar 5, 2008 7:59 PM EST up 0 recs

17 point dogs

I'll just be happy losing under 10 and being in the game for awhile, we are not very good at Wisconsin over the years. But hey, prove me wrong boys.

by runngunn29 on Mar 5, 2008 8:52 PM EST 0 recs

cornley's out

oh boy.

by runngunn29 on Mar 5, 2008 8:57 PM EST 0 recs

Wow.

I would rather watch womens basketball. This team is bad.

.85 points per minute in teh first half. No FT's attempted.

Meanwhile, Florida is sticking it to UT with 3 Freshman starting. Too bad. I would really like to be able to pay attention to BB.

Eric Watters Atlanta, Ga.

by ech2os on Mar 5, 2008 9:53 PM EST 0 recs

did you really think

this team would be competing at Wisconsin tonight without Cornley? It was a 17 point spread before it was known that he wasn't playing, a blowout was basically inevitable.

And do you really expect us to do things equivalent to Flordia, the two-time defending champs? Our programs are at completely different levels. It's like a Temple fan complaining that they're not like us this year in football.

by runngunn29 on Mar 5, 2008 10:47 PM EST 0 recs

I didn't expect 23 points in the first.........

28 minutes. I don't care what state the program is in that is inexcusable.

And you're stating the obvious in different words reiterating what I was driving at with Florida. That's how bad this BB team is. And frankly, there is no good reason for it.

Eric Watters Atlanta, Ga.

by ech2os on Mar 6, 2008 10:00 AM EST 0 recs

Step Back From The Ledge For A Moment

We were playing the Big Ten Champs with a rotation that featured four freshmen with our two star players sitting sitting back in State College. There is a definite improvement from last year and we have some big men coming in next year that should compliment our guards very well. The program is headed in the right direction. Maybe not as fast as some people would like to see, but it's headed in the right direction nonetheless.

Mike
Black Shoe Diaries

Hail to the Lion!

by Mike on Mar 6, 2008 10:39 AM EST up 0 recs

That May Be Mike......

but at the end of the day.....let's quit making excuses. The same thing happens with the football team......if ifs and buts were candy and nuts.....etc etc.....8 trips to the NCAA Tournanment in 70+ years.

They just got rid of Joey Harrington in Atlanta. Apparently, the fans in Detroit used to call him "Blue Skies" Harrington because according to Harrington, despite how he played it was always looking brighter. Well, as of yesterday, it hasn't gotten brighter for Harrington and I am not holding my breath on the Basketball team.

Its like listening to Hawks fans......oh well this year we drafted so and so and what's his name is going to be healthy this year and then.......oops.....same old Hawks.

Eric Watters Atlanta, Ga.

by ech2os on Mar 6, 2008 11:56 AM EST up 0 recs

Well

I look at it this way...If I'm going to get blown out, I'd rather it be with my two star players sitting on the bench injured while four freshmen are out there getting experience than with a team full of seniors who spent the last four seasons in the system and haven't shown any improvement. At least this way we have some things we can point to as positives to build on. If there was no young talent on the team and nothing coming in next year I would be worried and say we need a change here.

It's like back in 2004 with the football team. They were getting lousy recruiting classes and losing for years. It didn't look like there was much talent on the team and kids didn't want to come to Penn State. That's bad and a change was needed. Obviously they didn't fire Joe, but they did bring in Galen Hall to overhaul the offense and they took Jay out of the recruiting coordinator job and gave it to McQueary. Things turned around and we're back to winning.

When Ed took over this program there was nothing here. I mean nothing. Moral was absolutely horrible. He was basically given a bunch of bricks and told to build a cake with them. It's been a long road, but they're turning the corner. You can't deny the improvement this year, and with everyone coming back from the team you saw last night there's no reason to think they will not improve next year too. In my view Ed has earned the opportunity to see this team grow. In two years when Battle, Brooks, Jackson, and Jones are juniors I expect them to be competing in the top half of the Big Ten standings. If not I will agree it's time for Ed to go.

Mike
Black Shoe Diaries

Hail to the Lion!

by Mike on Mar 6, 2008 12:56 PM EST up 0 recs