UW men's basketball notes: After ugly loss, Badgers find it tough to reflect on record-setting season
DETROIT — It was difficult for members of the University of Wisconsin men's basketball team to reflect on one of the best seasons in program history following Friday night's 73-56 loss to Davidson in the Sweet 16 round of the NCAA tournament Friday night at Ford Field.
This year's Badgers won both the Big Ten Conference regular-season and tournament titles, and earned a program-record 31 wins en route to advancing to the second weekend of the NCAA tournament.
Friday night, however, none of that seemed to matter to the players.
"I'll probably enjoy it more when I'm 40 years old than I will tomorrow," said junior Joe Krabbenhoft. "It's going to hurt for awhile. Big Ten titles, it was a great ride. What I can learn from this game is that it hurts to lose, just like every year."
Portsmouth bound: UW senior Brian Butch's basketball career will continue in a couple weeks when he takes part in an NBA camp for prospective draftees in Portsmouth, Va. He is also awaiting an invitation to another camp in Orlando, which he said is replacing the camp that used to be held in Chicago.
"I'll be out there in two weeks and see what happens. After those two weeks, we're going to calm down a little bit," said Butch, who will appreciate a break from basketball and take some time to relax.
But he's looking forward to showing his game in front of NBA scouts. "I get a chance to show everybody what kind of player I am," he said.
The best? Butch, who has played four seasons of college basketball and watched five since he redshirted his first season at Wisconsin, thinks Davidson's Stephen Curry might be the best player he saw in college.
"He's right up there, if not the best," said Butch. "He just took over the game and we didn't have a way to stop him. We were trying. It wasn't like we weren't trying."
UW senior Greg Stiemsma said he wondered if Curry would ever miss against the Badgers. He finished making 11-of-22 shots overall and 6-of-11 3-pointers. "It seemed like he didn't do that tonight. We knew what to expect but he was just better," he said.
UW coach Bo Ryan was more than impressed with Curry, too. "Whenever you have him, you always have a chance," he said.
Notable seniors: The four UW seniors — Butch, Stiemsma, Michael Flowers and Tanner Bronson — were a part of a school-record 105 victories over the last four seasons. They also were a part of a school-record 49 Big Ten victories over the last four seasons.
Quote, unquote: Kansas coach Bill Self, on Davidson's victory over Wisconsin: "Beating Wisconsin like that, I mean, I was in the Big Ten against Wisconsin (as the coach of Illinois) and you just don't do that. You don't beat Wisconsin by that many points. They just don't allow that to happen."
David Stluka
Marcus Landry and the Badgers had their 12-game winning streak come to an end at the hands of Davidson.
