Purdue's 65-52 victory over the Wisconsin Badgers on Sunday afternoon really shouldn't surprise anyone. First of all, the Badgers really aren't playing good enough basketball to beat any of their ranked opponents, outside of a contest against an overrated Michigan team. Secondly, Wisconsin barely ever wins at Purdue. Hopefully many of you realized those two things and spent more of your day watching football than you did the Badgers' loss.The Badgers, right now, are what Bob Uecker would refer to as "Four A". He uses this term when talking about a player that is too good for Triple A ball, but not good enough to cut it in the pros. The same applies to this year's Badgers right now, who are better than the bad teams but not good enough to beat the better ones. The Ben Hendrickson of the Big Ten, if you will.
When it comes down to it, the Badgers just don't have the talent that they did in years past. That's why I think the early part of the Big Ten season is so important. They should use this time to figure out how they can be most effective as a team, so when tournament time comes they are playing their best ball. Don't dwell too much on the wins and losses right now, just try to learn from your positives and negatives and figure out how to beat Purdue next time.
I think this is going to be a common theme though, at least for a while, of the Badgers being a "good bad" team. All we as Badger fans can ask for is to see them play their hardest and start to win when it counts.
(I feel like I wrote this post with a very fatherly tone about the Badgers. Someone feel free to chime in with some more thoughtful analysis on this game in the comments).
It was a better weekend for Marquette, however, as they knocked off West Virginia by a score of 75-53 on Saturday. Despite the large margin, both Dominic James and Jerel McNeal saw all 40 minutes of action. It's an impressive victory over a ranked opponent, and I'm starting to really believe in this Golden Eagles team.
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