College basketball week 3: 5 biggest takeaways
By Chris Stone
3. Wisconsin’s slow pace and poor shooting are making things tough
With the Big Ten’s Preseason Player of the Year and three players on the preseason All-Big Ten team, Wisconsin entered 2016-17 as one of the favorites to win the Big Ten conference title. The Badgers returned 85.0 percent of their minutes played from last season, the highest mark in the country. It was that continuity, and the quality of the returnees, that made analysts optimistic.
After losing to North Carolina in the finals of the Maui Invitational, Wisconsin is now 5-2. It’s rare that losses to the Tar Heels and Creighton would sound alarm bells, but there are some concerning signs worth keeping an eye on, particularly on the offensive end.
One of the hallmarks of Badger basketball is a slow, methodical pace. Out of 351 Division I teams, Wisconsin currently ranks 349th in adjusted tempo, according to KenPom. Playing at such a glacial pace means that you can’t afford offensive mistakes. Unfortunately, that’s exactly what’s happening in Madison. The Badgers have committed a turnover on 21.0 percent of their possessions this year, up from a solid 17.1 percent last season. With fewer possessions, there are fewer chances to make shots and turning the ball over takes away even more of those opportunities.
The problem, though, is that Wisconsin is also missing a lot of its shots. The Badgers have taken 43.9 percent of their shots from behind the three-point arc, but have converted a mere 31.3 percent of those attempts. The stars aren’t helping either. Both Nigel Hayes and Bronson Koenig are shooting worse than 30 percent from deep this season.
In order for Wisconsin to be as good as expected, they’ll need to clean up their act on the offensive end by protecting the ball and knocking down some outside jumpers.