BY MIKE LUCAS
UWBadgers.com Senior Writer
MADISON, Wis. — March bromides are part of the March Madness. The No. 1 seed in this category might be how some teams are "built for March" and some aren't. What does that mean? And how does that apply to Wisconsin, a program that has squatting rights on March with 19 straight trips to the NCAA tournament?
Zak Showalter, Vitto Brown, Bronson Koenig and Nigel Hayes have been a part of two Final Fours and a Sweet 16 the past three seasons. Who better to field the questions? And what better time to ask them for answers than after a frustrating loss to Michigan in the Big Ten championship game?
It was frustrating because it came on the heels of a three-game winning streak during which the Badgers appeared to be back on track with what they must do to be successful. That surfaced in their play against Minnesota in the regular season finale and Indiana and Northwestern in Washington, D.C.
"For sure, we can learn even in a loss like this," Koenig said Sunday. "We kind of got away from what was working the previous three games. We know now that we have to get back to playing more as a team and taking defense more seriously and that will lead to good offense."
"There's a lot to learn from this," Showalter echoed. "We made a lot of mistakes and they capitalized on all of them. Give credit to Michigan. They didn't let us get any confidence going. They basically didn't let us move the ball at all. They were hounding it everywhere."
Did the February struggles — four losses in seven games — harden them to better deal with that second-half collapse against the Wolverines? "I would say so," Koenig said. "Just going through all of that adversity, we're not going to get too down on ourselves about this loss and we'll move forward."
But they will keep an eye on their rearview mirror and what they did in those three wins.
"Those three games were big for us," Brown said of the convincing victories over the Gophers, the Hoosiers and the Wildcats, a 28-point beat-down. "Even though we let this game (against Michigan) slip away, we can do some comparing and contrasting to what worked in the games that we won."
It may all start with stops — defensive stops — which influences the other end of the floor, too. "We're tough to stop when we're in rhythm and playing confidently like we know how to play," Showalter said. "When we share the ball, and get open looks, we're a very good offensive team."
Wisconsin's No. 8 seed is not as troubling as the decision to send the Badgers back east for a Thursday-Saturday series after playing the late game on Sunday. The Big Ten tournament runs counter to competitive basketball when a team is better off losing (like Purdue) than winning and advancing.
The Big Dance is more about matchups than seeds, though.
"I don't think anyone really wants to get matched up against us," Showalter said. "We're not a fun team to play against." Added Koenig, "Most teams don't usually play a team like us, who prides itself on controlling the pace and the tempo. They know what we want to do, but they're not used to it."
The opposite exists against a Big Ten opponent.
"Big Ten teams do a great job of knowing each other really well," Brown said. "Now, teams are not really going to know what to expect from us. Obviously, there's some ambiguity for us as well. But our style of play can work given that we play the way we did against Indiana and Northwestern.
"I just feel like most teams that we will play against (in the NCAAs) will have more of an up-tempo game and they might not be used to slowing it down and really playing in the half-court. That could work to our advantage if we stick to our rules and do what we know we can do."
How can these four seniors impact the outcome starting Thursday against Virginia Tech?
"By taking care of the ball, getting good looks, converting around the rim and then getting stops at the other end," said Showalter, who was underscoring the game plan for any game. "That's why we've had success (in the post-season) because we have our system and we keep going with it."
Koenig alluded to the experience factor of his senior-laden team. "If we're down, which is probably going to happen in the tournament," he said, "it's being resilient and keeping our poise and not getting down on ourselves. We just have to keep playing."
Koenig, Showalter, Brown and Hayes know the stakes. "And," Hayes said, "it doesn't matter if we play a team that has never heard of Wisconsin, if we don't play like we're supposed to. It starts with us, the seniors. We've been there before. We've done a lot of things. It's up to us to set the tone."
