Wisconsin Badgers had a torrid finish to the 2020 season. They got rid of Kobe King, and it completely changed their team around. Badgers were the hottest team in basketball headed into March. There are many that wonder what could have been without COVID-19. We will never know. Expectations were high this season with most of Wisconsin’s roster back. They haven’t lived up to those expectations. Any time that Wisconsin has faced an elite team, they’ve lost to them. Their best win by KenPom standards is Loyola Chicago. But against the top 10 KenPom teams, Wisconsin is 1-5. The resume is not good and they did not look on the same playing field as Iowa last night.

What went wrong for Wisconsin? – Luka Garza set the tone early: Luka Garza is one of the best players in college basketball. That said, Wisconsin has a good set of big men to frustrate him. That didn’t happen. Garza went off in the first half and never slowed down scoring 30 points with eight rebounds. He was dominant against the combination of Micah Potter and Nate Reuvers. Garza cannot get off to a fast start or its curtains for the other team, in this case, Wisconsin.

What also went wrong for Wisconsin – Way too much D’Mitrik Trice: There was not a lot of scoring besides Potter and Brad Davison for Wisconsin. D’Mitrik Trice tried to help but it did not yield good results. Trice went 3-for-15 from the field. He missed almost everything last night. I get the idea of shooters shot, and against Iowa, the door is always open to shooting the basketball, but Trice needed to take a step back. Now he did have nine assists, so, it’s not like he didn’t look for his teammates. If Trice has a decent day from the field, Wisconsin is close in this one.

One last thing to think about – What’s the ceiling for this team?: Right now watching Wisconsin, they seem like a team that will be lucky to get into the Sweet 16. Now can they turn it around and be the team everyone thought they’d be? Sure. It starts with Nate Reuvers and Brad Davison. But right now, they’re going to be lucky to be in the second weekend. Wisconsin is 7-7 since their win against Michigan State on Christmas day.

Next up: Wisconsin will get a reprieve from the tough competition when they play Northwestern on Sunday. Now, it’s not an easy place to play, but Northwestern has been bad over the past few weeks. Wisconsin will look to avoid losing their third straight game.

Charlie.