Wisconsin Wins Most Boring Game Ever
by BSD on Feb 8, 2009 6:28 PM EST
in Basketball
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If I were one of the 14,686 fans in attendence at the Bryce Jordan Center, I would ask for my money back. In fact, I'm thinking about calling my satelite television provider and demanding a discount on my monthly bill. The biggest travesty of this game is that none of us will get that two hours of our lives back. This rivals the infamous 6-4 football game against Iowa as the worst sporting event ever.
You have to suck pretty bad to hold your opponent to just 54 points and still feel like you lost in a blowout. But that's exactly what Penn State did. They started off well working out to a 20-16 lead midway through the first half. But then Wisconsin went on a 12-1 run to take a seven point lead into the break. In the second half Penn State would pull within four or six points, but Wisconsin would answer and keep the Nittany Lions at arms length.
The Good
Not much. Andrew Jones chipped in with nine points and D.J. Jackson added six. Jeff Brooks even contributed four points. Usually when we get contributions from these guys you can count on Penn State winning pretty comfortably. Hopefully they can keep contributing like this down the road.
Overall Penn State played a pretty smart game only turning the ball over seven times. Too bad Wisconsin only turned the ball over six times.
Penn State was respectable from the free throw line hitting 10-of-14 shots. Talor Battle seems to have fixed his free throw motion. I noticed he used his legs and didn't fade away on his two attempts. And he made them both.
The Bad
There were entirely too many defensive lapses in the half court. Marcus Landry and Jon Leuer had several wide open layups under the rim. And too many guys were getting wide open cuts through the lane for easy points.
Jamell Cornley only had four points on seven shots in 39 minutes. At one point he looked like he injured his hand. He was also wearing a protective sleeve on one leg. On Thursday night they said he partially dislocated his left shoulder.
Talor Battle was getting destroyed every time he drove to the net and went down hard. (And yet he only got two free throw attempts!) One time he layed on the court for an extended period of time and got up holding his lower back. Another time he had to come out of the game and get his right arm looked at. At first I thought they were looking at his shoulder. But then the trainers were asking him to flex his fingers which makes me think it's a hand or wrist problem. The toll of the Big Ten season is really taking its toll on Battle and Cornley. Ed is starting to pay the price for playing these guys 38 minutes every night.
The Ugly
Penn State went 0-for-14 from three point range. Wow. You're not going to win any games like that.
Add that to the fact that Penn State didn't pull down an offensive rebound until midway through the second half and you have a recipe for disaster.
This entire game was ugly. It was slow, methodical, and just unbearable to watch. It's pretty sad when our football team scored more points against Wisconsin than our basketball team did.
Next Up
This was a game we needed to win. Wisconsin is a team that has been struggling, and if you want to be a tournament team you have to win these games at home. A week ago we were riding sky high thinking we could beat anyone in the nation. Right now I don't think there is another team in the Big Ten other than Indiana playing as poorly as we are.
We let two winnable games get away from us. Now we play three ranked teams in the next three games with Purdue, Minnesota, and Illinois. Two of those games are on the road, and then we travel to Ohio State after that. So at this point I have to say our tournament chances are not looking good unless we get things turned around quick.
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even more boring than the 6-4 game?
or was this just the most boring basketball game?
also, football games take about twice as long, so it would have to be a really boring basketball game for it to have been worse than that travesty of a football game
by The JuggerNitt on Feb 8, 2009 10:39 PM EST up reply actions
6-4
for me, anyway, was more a marvel than a bore. Today I wanted to take a nap, where 6-4 was more like stab myself in the eye.
BSD
so in comparison
6-4 was like driving by and stopping/rubbernecking to see a trainwreck (that unfortunately involved someone beloved to you), while this game was more like taking a drive through a state like Iowa or Nebraska.
by The JuggerNitt on Feb 9, 2009 9:29 AM EST up reply actions
Wow
Good thing I fell asleep during the first half, I guess.
"A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky, dangerous animals and you know it."
NIT NIT NIT
Well that game should drive any fair weather fans back from whence they came.
We just needed a couple players, a couple people to buy in to the fact and we were able to do it. --A.Q. Shipley
Or it killed them
That game embodied everything about why people hate on Big Ten Bball- sometimes it’s like watching a swimming meet take place in a pool full of wet concrete.
John Madden told me 90% of the game was half-mental...
by TheK-GunNeedsReloaded on Feb 8, 2009 8:12 PM EST up reply actions
Yeah, Wisconsin has a way of doing that when they're winning.
--
Mr. Bob Dobalina
by Run Up The Score on Feb 8, 2009 9:19 PM EST up reply actions
I made the trip to SC for the game
It was indescribably awful.
I will never get that time back. That's the crime.
That would be the 15 minutes I actually saw of this game. Missed the first half (installing Sirius for the future father-in-law), listened to the first 15 minutes of the second half on the radio, and watched the last awful five minutes at my house. Dear Friggin’ Lord.
This team appears to have hit the wall.
--
Mr. Bob Dobalina
by Run Up The Score on Feb 8, 2009 9:11 PM EST reply actions
What is it with Wisconsin?
I get playing tough defense. Totally understandable. When you don’t have the ball your job is to stop the other team from scoring.
But what is up with intentionally being so boring on offense? They certainly have the talent and execution to score more points. But they would drag it out and let the clock run down. Then they would run a play and get an easy layup seemingly at will. Why intentionally limit your possessions to let the other team hang around?
Mike
Black Shoe Diaries
I think it is coaching mentality, and honestly it sounds like you are describing
PSU football on the road.
We just needed a couple players, a couple people to buy in to the fact and we were able to do it. --A.Q. Shipley
It's quite simple
Bo Ryan trusts his stuff. He thinks his offensive sets are more efficient than other teams, so he slows down the game. If Wisconsin has roughly the same amount of half-court possessions of the other team, there is a good chance they will win because their offense more often than not ends up in a good shot, whereas the other team will not necessarily always get a good look because their offensive sets aren’t as fluid.
Beilein does the same thing for Michigan, Butler does this to perfection which is why they are good in the tournament, UCLA has mastered it, and Memphis almost ran this to a championship last year. They would run their motion dribble-drive hybrid and milk to clock because they knew no one could stop CDR and Rose one-on-one and then would trust their defense to be able to get enough stops to win. It’s good coaching if done right. Sometimes, like NFL football, boring is the best. (And yes, I know Memphis put up lots of points last year, but that was because of talent. Just watch them this year with Evans and you will see what I mean).
I see the merits in a system like this
but I also see how it can come back and bite you in the ass, since with slowing the game down, and intentionally scoring fewer points, you don’t get the opportunity to put up a huge lead on the other team, and if they can just get hot, or your defense breaks down at just the right moment, then the other team can come right back in.
Of course, tihs would probably not fall under the category of “It’s good coaching if done right” since that would be doing it wrong :-p
by The JuggerNitt on Feb 9, 2009 9:32 AM EST up reply actions
Again,
I thought the rebounding was better – but – oh the shooting was bad. They would spend 30 seconds setting up, nothing -
they might not have had many turnovers – but they came at very inopportune moments.
I think this was actually the game plan
and we picked a sucky day to do it. A sell-out crowd (I think) at the BJC was met with this crap. It looked clear to me that they were trying to plan to spread the ball around the entire game. DJ Jackson actually played somewhat competently, but Cornley and Battle really looked like they were trying to get other people involved… painstakingly involved. When they tried to get in the groove, it didn’t work.
Where was Babb? Where was Woodyard? Why was Morrisey playing at all?
Officiating the 2nd half seemed a bit slanted, but it was much much better than usual. One thing though. Refs need to start calling the travel a lot more than they do. It’s getting a little ridiculous.
there are just so many times
I can yell “watch their feet ref!” at the tv before I become a nuisance -
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