Wisconsin Badgers: Tough match up against red-hot Oregon

In round one of the NCAA tournament, the Wisconsin Badgers will have a difficult test as they will face the red-hot Oregon Ducks.

After a brief one year hiatus, the Wisconsin Badgers are back in the NCAA tournament as the five seed and they will play Oregon for the third time in six seasons in postseason play. Despite having a few rough stretches, Wisconsin finished the season 23-10 overall, including a fourth-place finish in the Big Ten.

Wisconsin was led by senior Ethan Happ who put together one of the more impressive stat lines that you will see. On the season he averaged 17.5 points, 10.1 rebounds, 4.6 assists, 1.1 blocks, and 1.6 steals per game. He did just about everything for this Wisconsin Badgers team.

As of late, Happ has received some extra help on the offensive end from an unlikely source in Khalil Iverson, who over the last eight games has averaged 12.9 points on 61.8 percent shooting, along with 6.8 rebounds. If Wisconsin hopes to make a run in the NCAA tournament, Iverson must continue playing at this level on the offensive end.

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What will help Wisconsin the most is their defense, as they were one of the better defensive teams in college basketball this season, allowing just 61.4 points per game, which ranked ninth in the country. On the other hand, what may be their demise is shooting. Whether from outside where they’ve been hot and cold all season long, or at the free throw line where they are one of the worst shooting teams in the country, this will most likely play a huge factor in deciding games.

Looking ahead to Oregon, who may be the hottest team in the country, as they are currently riding an eight-game winning streak, which includes winning the Pac-12 tournament title. Although they are playing well now, this was an ugly season for an Oregon team that was picked to win the Pac-12 during the preseason, but as of February 23rd, held a conference record of 6-8.

In January they lost their best player and NBA prospect, Bol Bol to a season-ending injury, but recently have been picked up by the play of Payton Pritchard who had 20 points in the title game. Pritchard is the only starter left from the Ducks’ Final Four team in 2017 and his experience has shown in recent weeks. On the season he has averaged 12.7 points, 4.5 assists, and 3.7 rebounds. In addition to Pritchard, the Ducks have two other players averaging double-digits on the season, Louis King with 13.1 and Paul White with 10.6.

Similarly to Wisconsin, Oregon plays smothering defense allowing only 62.9 points per game this season, just behind the Wisconsin Badgers. So be ready for a low scoring game that will be within a bucket or two. Scoring in the paint for Happ and Iverson could be tough going as Oregon has implemented a lineup where four of the five players on the court are 6’9″ or taller. This likely means that Brad Davison, D’Mitrik Trice, and Brevin Pritzl need to be hitting their outside shots, as Happ may not be able to carry the team like he has done so many times in the past.

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Oregon is hot at the right time and while the Wisconsin Badgers are playing well, we have seen this season that they are easily beatable as well. At times scoring is difficult for this Badgers team and Oregon isn’t going to give up anything easy, so the offense must be clicking. Just about every year we see a 12 seed knock off a 5 seed in the tournament, hopefully, Wisconsin doesn’t let that happen to them.

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