Taking A Walk With Wisconsin (And A Wisconsin Fan)

Not necessarily related to the post, but Zach Bohannon taking selfies with every final four coach made me laugh.

For those of you that don’t know, I moved out to Los Angeles about a year and a half ago.  I miss Kentucky for a variety of reasons, but never more than I do during this part of the year.  The Big Blue Nation certainly is everywhere, but outside of the bluegrass it can get pretty diluted.  Not only that, but finding someone to talk college basketball with year round?  Nearly impossible.

That said, when I landed at my current job I found one other college basketball fan in the office – Adam McKibbin, a content writer for our company and a graduate of the University of Wisconsin.

Needless to say, the past week at work we have spent a majority of our time sending cautiously optimistic IM’s and easily forgivable snippets of trash talk.  So when it came time to get my post together for tonight, I figured what better way to cover Wisconsin than by hearing a little about them from one of their own?  He and I exchanged some questions about the game, and below we’ve got the answers.

If you’re looking for hard core analysis headed in to the game, move along.  But if you want fans bantering with each other (and if you’re at KSR, that ought to be up your alley), check it out.

Questions from me, to Adam:

Q: As college basketball fans, we’ve all heard that this Wisconsin team is different from the last few – though admittedly I didn’t take that in to account when filling out my bracket. What makes this Wisconsin team a LEGIT title contender?

A: This year’s team is, yes, more athletic and more versatile on offense than years past. Past-Badgers often had to control the pace (to a glacial pace) to stand a chance against great teams – and they beat some great teams, but it was hard to string several of those games together in a tournament. This year’s team was able to hang 85 on Oregon, with five players in double figures. They have multiple guys who can get hot from the perimeter and/or create shots, which hasn’t always been the case. We don’t have any players who have to take jump-shots when shooting free throws this year, so that’s pretty cool. They had a few inexplicable losses, but have tended to rise to the occasion against elite teams, beating three of the #1 seeds (Florida, Virginia, Arizona).

With that said, the differences are probably overstated a little bit. This isn’t the reinvention of some moribund program like Minnesota (no offense to the NIT champs). The Badgers have laid some tournament eggs that will haunt me to my grave, yes, but they also had the misfortune of running into the wrong Cinderellas sometimes; they were bounced by an 8th-seeded Butler team that wound up in the national championship, they were shot out of the 2008 tournament by some scrawny kid from Davidson named Steph Curry, etc. This year’s team has been very healthy, too. So luck plays into it a bit.

Q: Who is Frank the Tank, and why should we be scared of him?

A: Kentucky scared of Kaminsky? Not bad for a guy who averaged 4ppg as a sophomore last year. He can score from anywhere and usually find holes even when surrounded by length and muscle. He’s played well against elite defenses, obviously most notably in his domination of Arizona. He’ll be a factor even if his outside shot is cold, which can’t necessarily be said about some of his teammates. He usually avoids careless fouls and isn’t going to be psyched out. The press likes playing up his goofiness, but I’d expect he’d have a chip on his shoulder; he obviously wouldn’t have been deemed worthy to wear a Kentucky jersey. Maybe the signature game of his career already happened. Maybe not. There’s a historic precedent for happy endings for Frank the Tanks. You should also be scared of his deadpan wit.

Q: As someone who is just now paying attention to Wisconsin basketball, Bo Ryan seems like the kind of guy who is old and crotchety, but just barely missing out on the endearing side of ‘grandpa Bo.’ Am I wrong?

A: Objectively, I think that’s fair. He’s kind of a goof, too, when he’s not snacking on the souls of referees.

Q: If you were given an unlimited budget and a crew – what reality show are you producing with this years Badgers?

A: If you send me back to Madison with an unlimited budget, you’re going to get some amazing footage (if you ever hear from me again) and that crew is going to have the time of their GD lives. It will take Bo Ryan approximately two seconds to veto his team’s involvement in any capacity, but I’ll try to get Russell Wilson to tweet his support. I’m mad at you for making me daydream about this.

Q: Prediction for the game?

A: I had a nightmare that Kentucky won by 7 and I am 100% ridiculous enough to try to do some sort of stupid reverse-jinx with my prediction, so… Kentucky by 7!

Q: And here’s one we can both agree on. Tom Crean – best coach for Indiana to have, or worst?

A: BEST. Give that man coach-tenure. We Badgers of course aren’t very fond of Marquette, either, although we now welcome their alums to our bandwagon (feels just like football season), so it was special that Crean was able to stay close to us when he left Marquette. Fun fact: Coach Crean is 4-15 against Bo Ryan.

Questions from Adam to me:

Q: Who deserves the most credit for this very timely Kentucky blossoming? What the hell is happening here?

A: Honestly? No one really knows. There’s a top secret ‘tweak’ to the offense that Calipari implemented right before the SEC tournament, which was apparently just telling the guys to start hitting their shots. Just about every player has stepped up in new ways, but most notably Dakari Johnson. Early in the season he was a step slow and didn’t seem to commit to what Calipari was preaching, but he’s become a monster on the boards and almost unstoppable when he gets the ball down low.  Unless you foul him.  He is utterly stoppable from the foul line, but let’s keep that between us.  Forutnately, Dakari’s emergence coincides conveniently with the loss of our sophomore big man, Willie Cauley-Stein.

Q: From an outsider’s perspective, the narrative seems to be that Kentucky wins at will when they “play the right way” or whatever. What, if anything, makes you worry that they’d return to old bad habits while playing in a billion-dollar spaceship?

A: The thing that makes me worry the most is kind of related to the earlier question. There’s nothing we can point to that specifically made this team click, so you know – “easy come, easy go” is a fear. And then, of course as you mentioned, playing in a giant stadium is bound to make Aaron Harrison and James Young miss early on. Fortunately our guys get a lot of points in the paint, so if our jumpers are off, we should still be able to find ways to score.

Q: If UK wins and then prevails against Florida or UConn, how do you think this year’s team will be remembered compared to champions past? UK has had some wire-to-wire juggernauts, but I’d assume a team like this would be almost more satisfying to root for in some ways. Of course, the Badgers have never really put a juggernaut on the court, so I’m not sure how this works.

A: It is a little tough to say. Heading in to the season, we were predicting a possibility of going 40-0… so up until the Wichita State game, many fans were chalking the season up to an utter disappointment. That said, I’ve heard a number of fans saying they would take this tournament run over heading in to tomorrow nights game 38-0 any day.  And I think that’s where we’ll find the truth.  Final Four runs are more exciting when they come as a surprise – if this team wins it all, they won’t be viewed in the same way as the dominant 2012 team lead by Anthony Davis, but they will cement their place as the Galaxy Quest of Kentucky teams – never give up, never surrender.

Q: Thinking about the upcoming NBA draft, what needs to happen in order for you to finally declare allegiance to a pro team? Boogie and Randle twin-towering in Sacramento?

A: Great question! And I would love to hear some of the other Kentucky fans thoughts on this. I’ve been struggling for a while to find a team in the NBA to consistently follow and root for, and I think you’re right Adam. It’s going to take two marquee Kentucky players to earn my allegiance. The closest we have right now are the Pelicans with Anthony Davis and role player Darius Miller, but I saw a mock draft putting Randle in Boston with Rondo… and that would do it.

Though if Wall and Boogie somehow end up on the same team, Lexingtonians will disassemble their houses to build an arena downtown for that team.

Q: Of all the potential hypothetical names for John Calipari’s hair product, which would make you happiest? How about Rick Pitino’s?

A: Calipari already has one book called “Bounce Back” and another called “Refuse to Lose” – those easily morph in to a hair product slogan.  “Refuse to Lose your hair and get your youthful Bounce Back, with John Calipari’s hair glue – just one pass through and you’re done.”

As far as Rick Pitino goes?  Not possible.  Can’t sell a hair product that firmness can’t last all day.

Q: Let’s talk about the scouting report that really matters: fanbase partying. Badgers fans bring incredible tolerance to the table, passed down through generations and sharpened by Game of Thrones-ish winters. They will drink hard to celebrate and drink harder to drown a loss. What should they know about their new pals from Kentucky when they meet on the wild, world-famous streets of Arlington, Texas?

A: Perfect.  I think Wisconsin and Kentucky fans would get along great in any other setting. Y’all like beer, we like bourbon. Y’all like cheese, we use approximately 100 lbs of it on every hot brown. The thing about Kentucky fans though? They’re good people. Come in with a give-and-take and a desire to have a good time and talk about basketball, and you’ll have a friend for life. Just make sure you stay away from anyone claiming to be from Kentucky, wearing red and brandishing Crown Royal – they are Louisville fans, and they will get you arrested.

Q: And your prediction for the game, sir?

A:  I haven’t had any dreams predicting the results on Saturday, but it’s hard to bet against a Kentucky team that seems to have finally put all the NBA talent together in to a cohesive team (and I didn’t, in fact I bet for them). I expect it to be lower scoring than our past games, but I also expect Frank the Tank to come back to earth a bit as well against the hugeness of Dakari Johnson and the length and athleticism of Marcus Lee. Let’s say… 68-62 Cats.  And then I’m only one game away from winning our office pool.

I hope you all enjoyed our Wisconsin/Kentucky collaboration.  If you get a chance, thank Adam on twitter (@TheRedAlert) and make sure to treat him nicely when we send the Badgers packing Saturday night.

Go Cats.