Crunchtime is here in college basketball and it’s near—well, kind of gettingnear—in the NBA. That makes every game important for the Marquette Golden Eagles and WisconsinBadgers, fighting for maximum advantage in the NCAA tournament, as wellas the UWM Panthers and Milwaukee Bucks, fighting just to have apostseason. The Observers studied MU and UW onscreen Sunday, but Franksaw the best game of the day in person.
Frank: Itook time out from the college games to catch a fifth-grade showdown inShorewood. My friend Angelina and the St. John Vianney team fromBrookfield played the St. Robert Bobcats.
Artie: The Bobcats. Of course.
Frank: Angelinaand her fellow Shamrocks played great, but they didn’t have the luck ofthe Irish. Lost by a point on a shot with two seconds left.
Artie: Makes for a long ride back west on Capitol Drive, ain’a?
Frank: TheShamrocks are good sports, and Angelina left the gym smiling. Then Icompleted a little experiment in watching televised hoops.
Artie: Keeping the sound off?
Frank: No,that’s for games involving Dick Vitale. In this case, I watched half ofeach game live and half via my DVR, zipping past all the timeouts andcommercials. I wanted to see how much time I could save the second way.
Artie: Your findings, professor?
Frank: Ofcourse the 11 a.m. MU game at Louisville began only after seven minutesof blathering. Then from tip-off to halftime, it took 42 minutes inreal time to consume 20 minutes of game clock. In the second half,using the DVR cut things to 36 minutes.
Artie: And you used the extra time well?
Frank: Thingswere complicated. When I got back from Shorewood I was able to watchthe second half of the UW game in real time. That took a whopping 57minutes! When the Badgers had finally beaten Michigan,60-55, I went to the DVR and saw the second half of Marquette’s 62-58loss. Then it was back to the first half in Madison, which took only 28minutes on DVR.
Artie: And this all proves... what?
Frank: The TV timeouts didn’t take as long as I expected—under two minutes. I’msure they’ll lengthen out at tournament time. But missing both tedioushalftimes saved at least 40 minutes—and I used that time to watch theShamrocks!
Artie: Thatsecond half for UW sure seemed long, even though there weren’t anyunusual circumstances. In fact, there was a highly usual circumstance:The Badgers let their opponents get back into the game.
Frank: A week earlier they blew a 12-point lead at Michigan State and lost.
Artie: SundayI was thinking, “Here we go again.” It’s happened to UW all season,especially during that six-game losing streak in January. Somewhere inthe second half something happens, like they almost stop playingdefense or they can’t adjust to something.
Frank: OnSunday I noticed something I hadn’t associated with UW: shaky freethrowshooting. There were three times down the stretch when someone onlywent 1 for 2, and they were 12 for 18 overall.
Artie: At that level, 67% ain’t good.
Frank: They’re only 71.5% through 28 games, and that can kill you in the Big Ten tournament or the Big Dance.
Artie: Brickin’ from the line is something we’ve been seeing from Marquette.
Frank: Avalid concern; they’re at 70.9% through 29 games. A lot of that relatesto Dominic James, who made only 46.1% from the line before breaking hisfoot against Connecticut.
Artie: MUfans won’t have nightmares about James going to the line with an NCAAgame at stake, but the loss of his defense and leadership is justtragic.
Frank: Ofcourse it puts extreme pressure on the other senior guards, JerelMcNeal and Wesley Matthews, and on their only real inside threat, LazarHayward.
Artie: McNeal shot badly against Louisville (3for 19) and he was only 2 for 5 from the line. It seems like hisfree-throw shooting is falling off.
Frank: He’s at 71.2%. Not terrible, but not good for such a scorer. Hayward and Matthews are above 80%.
Artie: Ithink they’re all just wearing down. Even when James was there, thosefour were playing more than 35 minutes every game. Now McNeal and theothers must be thinking they have to pull even more weight.
Frank: Andhere comes the Big East tournament, when they might play on three andeven four straight days. And the NCAA the following week, where youstay alive by winning twice in three days.
Artie: Themargin for error was small even with James because MU went only sevendeep. But now? It’s just a shame, because they had the potential to gofar in the NCAA.
Frank: Theystill have the defense and heart to stay in any game. And in the moderngame so much depends on three-point shooting, where McNeal and Matthewsare both over 40%. If they’re hot...
Artie: But can youcount on that for five or six straight games? On Sunday they lost byfour to a tough team, on the road, and with McNeal struggling. It’scourageous, but in the end Louisville had a deep bench and an insidegame.
Frank: Firstthings first. If MU wins one of its last two games, it’ll be 24-7overall and 13-5 in conference. That should keep them as the No. 4 seedin the Big East, with a first-round bye.
Artie: Justlike the Badgers. If they win one of their last two they’ll be 19-11and 10-8. That’ll make them No. 4 or 5 in the Big Ten and clear of thefirst round.
Frank: I think the Badgers could take the conference tournament because the top teams aren’t that far apart.
Artie: I’m not so sure. MichiganState is potentially a really, really good team. Yes, the Spartans arebeatable, but the Badgers have to figure out what the heck happens tothem in the second half.
Frank: We have two other teams to talk about: the Panthers and Bucks.
Artie: UWM was 16-13 in the regular season, 11-7 in the Horizon League. Nothing wrong with a winning record.
Frank: Theyearned a home game in the league tournament, but after that they’llplay in Indianapolis. And if they win a second game, they’ll facetop-seeded Butler in the semifinals on the Bulldogs’ home court.
Artie: Lookslike the NIT, perhaps, for the Panthers. But the Badgers’ revival sinceJanuary probably kills a dream NIT matchup of UW vs. UWM.
Frank: We should, in candor, remind our readers that we consigned the Badgers to the NIT weeks ago.
Artie: Let the readers remind themselves. It’s not our job to remember what we said. We’re too busy saying more.
Frank: Um,now for the Bucks. As we speak, they’re 29-33 and clinging to the lastplayoff spot in the East, but facing a big week: games against theirtop pursuers, New Jersey and Chicago, as well as a road game at Cleveland.
Artie: Twelveof their last 20 games are at home, but those 12 include games againstNew Orleans, Boston, Portland, the Lakers and two against Orlando. Plusthey have games at Orlando and at Miami.
Frank: They must be hearing the footsteps of the Bulls and Nets.
Artie: Butthey could also make some footsteps for Detroit and Philly to hear.It’s amazing that the Bucks have hung in there without Michael Redd andAndrew Bogut.
Frank: I’m sure, in this economy, thatthe fans would love the chance to pay playoff prices for twofirst-round games against the Celtics or Cavs.
Artie: The Downtown restaurants sure would love it. The Bucks’ chicken-wings stimulus package!
Photo: Senior leadership down to two.
