I heard somewhere the other day that some talking head called the UW men's basketball team the most "complete team" that there is right now.
The stats are backing that up. In five Big Ten games, we have 5 wins and 5 different guys score 20 or more points. We have had 7 different scoring leaders this season. There is no "star" on this team. Since his arrival at Wisconsin, Bo Ryan has had a super-star on his roster. But Devin Harris and Alando Tucker are gone
They certainly weren't on anyone's radar to begin the season, as their pre-season rank was somewhere around 40th.
Last year's team won a record 30 games, was briefly ranked #1 in the nation and upset two top 5 teams in Pitt and Ohio State.
No one expected anything near that from this team. Everyone figured it would be a two-team Big Ten race between Indiana and Michigan State. But as of right now, the Badgers are perched atop the Big Ten standings after an impressive start to conference play and a big win prior to that at Texas.
You don't have to have a long memory to think of another Wisconsin team that started the season out of the spotlight, climbed to the top of the rankings and then fell into oblivion at the end of the season. Here's hoping this year's basketball team does a little better than the football team did...
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This week's win over Northwestern was the official marking of the 10th anniversary of the Kohl Center - Home Sweet Home. The bball team opened the Kohl Center with a win over Northwestern and came full circle by beating them again this week. In fact, the Badgers have an 88% win percentage in the Kohl Center.
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<a href="http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=709600">An look at Stiemsma from jsonline.com</a>
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<a href="http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/news/story?id=3187410">This espn.com</a> article looks at a Forbes.com study that ranked the most valuable men's basketball programs based on: "our valuations on what the basketball programs contribute to four important beneficiaries: their university (money generated by basketball that goes to the institution for academic purposes, including scholarship payments for basketball players); athletic department (the net profit generated by the basketball program retained by the department); conference (the distribution of tournament revenue); and local communities (incremental spending by visitors to the county during the regular season that's attributable to the program)."
Wisconsin comes in at #9 with a value of $15.7 million dollars and $9.6 million in profit.
The top 20:
1. <a href="http://www.forbes.com/2007/12/27/college-basketball-valuations-biz-sports_cz_js_0102basketball_slide_2.html">North Carolina</a>
2. <a href="http://www.forbes.com/2007/12/27/college-basketball-valuations-biz-sports_cz_js_0102basketball_slide_3.html?thisSpeed=30000">Kentucky</a>
3. <a href="http://www.forbes.com/2007/12/27/college-basketball-valuations-biz-sports_cz_js_0102basketball_slide_4.html?thisSpeed=30000">Louisville</a>
4. <a href="http://www.forbes.com/2007/12/27/college-basketball-valuations-biz-sports_cz_js_0102basketball_slide_5.html?thisSpeed=30000">Arizona</a>
5. <a href="http://www.forbes.com/2007/12/27/college-basketball-valuations-biz-sports_cz_js_0102basketball_slide_6.html?thisSpeed=30000">Duke</a>
6. <a href="http://www.forbes.com/2007/12/27/college-basketball-valuations-biz-sports_cz_js_0102basketball_slide_7.html?thisSpeed=30000">Indiana</a>
7. <a href="http://www.forbes.com/2007/12/27/college-basketball-valuations-biz-sports_cz_js_0102basketball_slide_8.html?thisSpeed=30000">Illinois</a>
8. <a href="http://www.forbes.com/2007/12/27/college-basketball-valuations-biz-sports_cz_js_0102basketball_slide_9.html?thisSpeed=30000">Kansas</a>
9. <a href="http://www.forbes.com/2007/12/27/college-basketball-valuations-biz-sports_cz_js_0102basketball_slide_10.html?thisSpeed=30000">Wisconsin</a>
10. <a href="http://www.forbes.com/2007/12/27/college-basketball-valuations-biz-sports_cz_js_0102basketball_slide_11.html?thisSpeed=30000">Ohio State</a>
11. <a href="http://www.forbes.com/2007/12/27/college-basketball-valuations-biz-sports_cz_js_0102basketball_slide_12.html?thisSpeed=30000">Texas</a>
12. <a href="http://www.forbes.com/2007/12/27/college-basketball-valuations-biz-sports_cz_js_0102basketball_slide_13.html?thisSpeed=30000">Missouri</a>
13. <a href="http://www.forbes.com/2007/12/27/college-basketball-valuations-biz-sports_cz_js_0102basketball_slide_14.html?thisSpeed=30000">NC State</a>
14. <a href="http://www.forbes.com/2007/12/27/college-basketball-valuations-biz-sports_cz_js_0102basketball_slide_15.html?thisSpeed=30000">UCLA</a>
15. <a href="http://www.forbes.com/2007/12/27/college-basketball-valuations-biz-sports_cz_js_0102basketball_slide_16.html?thisSpeed=30000">Oklahoma State</a>
16. <a href="http://www.forbes.com/2007/12/27/college-basketball-valuations-biz-sports_cz_js_0102basketball_slide_17.html?thisSpeed=30000">Michigan State</a>
17. <a href="http://www.forbes.com/2007/12/27/college-basketball-valuations-biz-sports_cz_js_0102basketball_slide_18.html?thisSpeed=30000">Maryland</a>
18. <a href="http://www.forbes.com/2007/12/27/college-basketball-valuations-biz-sports_cz_js_0102basketball_slide_19.html?thisSpeed=30000">Syracuse</a>
19. <a href="http://www.forbes.com/2007/12/27/college-basketball-valuations-biz-sports_cz_js_0102basketball_slide_20.html?thisSpeed=30000">Arkansas</a>
20. <a href="http://www.forbes.com/2007/12/27/college-basketball-valuations-biz-sports_cz_js_0102basketball_slide_21.html?thisSpeed=30000">Xavier</a>
