The Wisconsin Badgers are fighting for their chances at a spot in the NCAA Tournament after a 4-9 stretch since Christmas has dropped them in the Big Ten standings. Throughout the tough times, there has been little-to-no support from fans for the young Badgers. On the show “Nine 2 Noon” on 97.3 The Game, former Badgers basketball star Brian Butch had some very strong words for fans who have done nothing but complain during this stretch.
Wisconsin Badgers Fans Need to Pay Better Attention to What Is Happening Around Them
On the show, Butch and guest host Doug Russell were talking about how Wisconsin had yet another 1-1 week last week. The discussion led Butch into a statement on the status of the Big Ten as a whole and how Badgers fans need to start perceiving it and their team:
“This is where I get upset with a lot of people. They’re frustrated with the Northwestern loss. Did you see what Northwestern did to Iowa? They beat them by 20. They’re frustrated over the Nebraska loss. Did you see what Nebraska just did to the third place Maryland Terrapins? Beat them in overtime.
“So part of my frustration with fans, Badgers fans, especially you, yeah, I’m talking to you guys, they yell ‘Fire Gard!’ I question to you how much you actually pay attention to the game. How much are you diving in and paying attention to college basketball? That’s my question. You’ve got Purdue with a one-game lead, but you got Northwestern, Indiana, Iowa, Maryland, Rutgers, and Michigan. Illinois is seventh in the league. Michigan State is eighth in the league.
“So to sit here and say that Wisconsin is out of it… and then let’s talk coaching. Let’s talk about that final play quick. For the longest time, Wisconsin, not the longest time, the last three games, close games, they’ve gone with a screen action. One time they did not set a ball screen for Chucky up top. Did not work.
“Next game against Penn State, good road win, they go with the go-screen for him, alright? So boom! You go-screen that action, there’s not really a screen, you drive hoping to get the defense confused in that, and boom, you findways to attack on that. They do that. They beat Penn State.
“They run the next one end-of-game situation, which is a tight situation, which is crazy that they’ve been in this. That’s four straight games: Northwestern, Penn State, Nebraska, Maryland. Not Maryland, Rutgers. So they use go-screen, they don’t run it the right way, and they lose to Nebraska.”
Butch described each end of game situation and what went wrong from an execution standpoint. He then said,
“To me, it’s not coaching that is the issue. It’s a little bit of the execution, but it’s also having young players. I think that’s the biggest issue right now. It’s the young players that make such a big impact right now on how you find ways to win and what you’re supposed to do in these situations. To me, that right now is the disconnect. They’ve got games in front of them and they’ve got to find ways to win.”
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