Badger Bits: UW on Top Again

In yesterday's Badger Bits I wrote about how the Badgers could avoid getting embarrassed at Assembly Hall on Tuesday night. What I didn't cover, was how the Hoosiers could avoid being embarrassed on their home court -- the same one in which they held a 28-1 record over the past two seasons, entering last night's contest.

Wow, what a complete and exciting game from the Badgers. It seemed once the Rose Bowl ended, many of us resigned to the fact we had to move onto Wisconsin basketball. At that point the Badgers were just 9-4 and still two days away from their conference opener against Penn State. But look at them now. They're the hottest team in the Big Ten -- and the only one undefeated in conference play for that matter -- with sole possession of the Big Ten lead.

Before going on any further, I'll let the team do the talking (or celebration) on its massive win in Bloomington.

The win over second-ranked Indiana will go down in history, as the Badgers have never beaten a higher-ranked team on the road. The victory couldn't have been more complete, as it took contributions from every player in Bo's eight-man rotation to pull this one out.

Phil Mitten did a great job yesterday of highlighting a few key UW players who made the difference for Wisconsin last night.

For the most part, I loved Wisconsin's patience offensively and they way they spread the ball around fairly equally against Indiana. But for me, I'm most impressed with how it returned to good 'ole fundamental Wisconsin basketball after a rough non-conference run. The Badgers played stout defense (especially in the second half on Zeller), but most importantly, they limited their turnovers and played great transition defense to control the pace of the game. We never saw the Hoosiers reach the uptempo pace they love to play at.

Regardless of how the rest of conference play turns out, the fast start for the Badgers has surely rejuvenated the team and the fan base heading into the thick of conference play.

And before we move on, this bears one more playing:

Wednesday's Links:

Tom Crean with not the most friendly handshake last night to Bo Ryan. Maybe that's because he's 0-9 against Ryan since coming to Indiana.

Re-watch Jared Berggren absolutely posterizing Victor Oladipo last night.

More coverage coming from the Indiana victory: Jeff Potrykus on the Badgers taking first place in the conference.

And here's Jim Polzin's take on the game as well.

Eamonn Brennan on why you can never count the Badgers out.