Making a return to the NCAA Tournament after missing it a season ago, Wisconsin basketball begins their NCAA Tournament run tomorrow night in Brooklyn. The fifth seeded Badgers will take on the 12 seed James Madison Dukes out of the Sun Belt conference. James Madison owns the longest active winning streak in the country at 13 games and is 31-3 on the season. Can Wisconsin basketball avoid falling victim to a 5-12 upset? Tip time is approximately 8:50 PM on CBS. Here is a preview of tomorrow night’s game.
Can Wisconsin Basketball Keep Up With James Madison’s Athleticism?
The Dukes are not a big team. The tallest player in their rotation is 6’9 so there will be a big advantage for Steven Crowl and Tyler Wahl in the paint. However, James Madison plays at one of the fastest paces in the country and is a top 10 scoring team in the country at 84 points a game.
I think Wisconsin basketball can keep up with the pace as the Dukes will go on runs, but will give up runs themselves. I am not sure if the Badgers can or want to play at a pace this fast for 40 minutes. At some point, I think they have to slow this game down more to their style. That should take away the Dukes flow. After not playing for 11 days, James Madison will want to run early and often.
Wisconsin Basketball Has to Make Shots
The Dukes are very good at defensive three point percentage as team only shoot about 28% from there. At the same time, the Badgers are giving up the highest three point shooting percentage of any team in the tournament field at 37%.
It won’t be a matter of if Wisconsin basketball can establish their paint presence, but when. You would expect James Madison to being double teams to Steven Crowl early or at some point. That should leave jump shots and three pointers there for the taking.
This can be a streaky Badger team shooting from three, but they were great shooting in Minneapolis last week. I think the shots will be there. Players like AJ Storr, Max Klesmit, and Chucky Hepburn are going to have to knock those down tomorrow if the Badgers are going to win. It sounds easy, but it feels like this game will come down to that.
Prediction
ESPN gives Wisconsin basketball a 67% chance to win tomorrow. The Badgers also enter this game 5.5 point favorites. I like the 5.5 points as of now.
The five seed is the most dreaded seed in the NCAA Tournament, However, as a fan, you have to like where this Wisconsin basketball team is at right now. After an abysmal February, they are beginning to peak into December and January Wisconsin where they are once the sixth ranked team in the country. If it was not for the February skid, this is likely a three seeded Badger team. For as much of a tough matchup it is for Wisconsin, I am not sure this is a team James Madison wanted to draw either.
Terrance Edwards Jr, the leading scorer for the Dukes, is going to be a tough matchup for the Badgers. At 6’6, he is very athletic and loves to attack the rim. I think we will see Max Klesmit draw that assignment, but he will have his hands full.
I think this will end up being a high scoring game. I think the Badgers have enough offense to keep up with James Madison, but they have to get stops on the defensive end. Despite the Dukes 31-3 record, they only played three games outside the top 100 NET rankings. On the other hand, Wisconsin has played 28 games against teams in the NET 100. The Dukes big win was at Michigan State, but the Spartans went 1-20 from three and 14 missed free throws. Credit the Dukes, but the Spartans played one of their worst games of the season that night.
If Wisconsin basketball was limping into this game, I think I would lean towards James Madison. However, this is a Badger team playing with a ton of confidence and looking like their old selves. I think this team scores enough and gets the stops in the last five minutes. It will be close, but I like Wisconsin basketball to move on to the Round of 32 Sunday.
Wisconsin 84 James Madison 78
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