Red vs. White Scrimmage Review

I'm got back from the Red/White Scrimmage about 2 hours ago. It was a tight game early, with a 22-22 tie at half, but Team White, led by the senior guards Trevon Hughes and Jason Bohannon and junior Keaton Nankivil pulled away to win 45-36.

Pace: The game was 49 possessions. Since there was only about 25 minutes of actual game time, the regular possessions would have been 78. Comparing to last season’s statistics, that’s good for second fastest pace… in the NATION. But in no way am I saying that will continue on into the season.


Efficiency: Red scored 0.75 PPP. White scored 0.90 PPP.


Shooting: Red shot a poor 32.6% from the field and 26.7% from 3. This shooting performance was highlighted by a 2/12 Jon Leuer (1 of 5 from 3) and a 2/9 Jordan Taylor (0 of 4 from 3).

White shot a mediocre 43.9% from the field and 45.5% from 3. Remove Wquinton Smith subpar shooting night, and White’s percentage jump to 47.2 and 62.5.

Red got up 46 FGA’s to White’s 41, or UW had 5 extra shots. White shot 6 FTA’s to Red’s 2. So, 2 possessions for White ended up at the line. That leaves 2 extra possessions for White. White had 5 more turnovers.


3 pt shooting: This is a highlight for me. Every one of the starters (projected) made a trey. Rob Wilson showed an improved outside shot, nailing 2 of 3 from behind the line. Players in the expected rotation combined to hit 40.9% (9/22) from 3… and 61.5% with Leuer and Taylor’s numbers taken out.



2pt shooting: Red hit 35.4% inside the line. White knocked down 43.3% inside. Red had 1 extra shots and made 2 less than White. Red was 11 of 31 while UW was 13 of 30.



1pt shooting: White had a clear advantage from the line. White was 4-6, 67%, while Red was only 2-2, 100%.


Rebounding: Both teams completely controlled their defensive glass.

Red Defensive end: There were 24 rebounding possibilities and White got 6, or 25%. Average is 33%.

White Defensive End: There were 30 rebounding opportunities on Red’s offensive end and Red got 6, or 20%. Nearly half the average.


Turnovers: This was rather disappointing, but I’ll chalk it up to swallowed whistles and knowing each other’s tendencies. Red had 7 TO’s, or 15% of their possessions ended with White taking the ball and no shots. White had 12, or 24% turnover rate. That means Red had a plus 5 TO margin, which was required to get up more shots.

Hughes had 3 and a plethora of players had 1 or 2 each.


Notable Performances: Ryan Evans had a monster second half, scoring all 7 of his points then. He was 1 of 2 from the line, earning a trip from driving hard to the basket and getting hacked. Then he had a nice drive and finish from the left free throw line extended. Lastly, on back-to-back possessions, Evans first scored on an alley-oop from Hughes (finally connecting on the 3rd try) and then throwing down a one-hander over Leuer on a fast break. He stuffed the stat book with a line of 7 points, 8 rebounds, 2 assists, and 2 blocks. He wasn’t afraid to push the ball up court if he got a long rebound either, which I like. Hopefully he can get some play this season.

Keaton Nankivil had a great, efficient game, scoring 13 points on 5 of 8 shooting, including 2 of 3 from 3, and grabbing 7 rebounds. He also had a block and a steal.

Trevon Hughes had a great game running the offense. He didn’t call his own number often (2 of 5, 1 of 1 from 3 for 5 points), but was driving and dishing all night, dropping 4 dimes. He also focused on the defensive end, grabbing 3 steals and 4 defensive rebounds.

Jason Bohannon scored in a variety of ways, including off the dribble. He ended up with 10 point on 4 of 10 with 2 made threes. He also dished out 2 assists and snagged 4 boards.

Rob Wilson showed that offensive swagger we saw in small spurts from last season. He scored 10 points to lead the Red team, hitting 2 threes and slashing to the basket and posting up often. He also grabbed 2 offensive boards, dished an assist, and got a steal. He’ll be that scoring punch off the bench that Bo says he always likes to have.

Tim Jarmusz had his efficient, unimpressive to some type of game. He was 2 of 5, 1 of 2 from trey for 7 points (2/2 FT), grabbed 4 boards, and passed out 3 assists to no turnovers. To steal a line from turumon… campfire, people, etc.

What Now?

With Blue's commitment to Marquette, what does Wisconsin do now with the extra scholarship? With the departure of Trevon Hughes and Jason Bohannon after this season, the Badgers will be left with only 3 scholarship guards on the roster... juniors Jordan Taylor and Rob Wilson and true freshman Josh Gasser. That isn't going to cut it. They need another guard in the class of 2010. From what I can find, these are the best candidates on the radar...

1. 6'6" G/F Harrison Barnes from Iowa... Surely, the best prospect of 2010 would pick a late arriving offer from Wisconsin over Duke, UNC, Kansas, Oklahoma, and UCLA right? Hey, a guy can dream, can't he?

2. 6'1" PG Lavonte Dority from Illinois... a strong, physical guard who likes to penetrate into the lane and finish. He overpowers other guards and likes to go left if he's laying it in or pull-up for a jumper going right. His three point shooting is a weakness. He has been compared to Sherron Collins. Supposedly he's visiting campus in a few weeks.

3. 6'1" SG DeAndre McCamey from Illinois... Demitri's little brother who, like Dority, likes to play physical and overpower other guards. His strength is in his mid-range jumper and playing shutdown defense. His conditioning and offensive skills are weaknesses and he's coming off a major knee injury, requiring him to wear knee sleeves on both legs.

4. 6'5" G/F Flavien Davis from Wisconsin... he's an inside/outside guy, but is very inconsistent from the perimeter. He has below average quickness for a small forward and hasn't really progressed as much as many hoped since his freshman year.

5. 6'4" SG Chim Kadima from Wisconsin... a decommit from Iowa State, he's a good scorer with good range and an ability to post up smaller defenders. He suffered a leg injury his junior season that set back his development. Strength and quickness are a weakness.


Maybe a new guy we haven't heard of before bursts on the scene or Bo finds a JUCO capable of being admitted to Wisconsin, but otherwise, the last scholarship will most likely be filled by one of those five (ok, four) guys.

Mega Post of Info I Haven't Gotten Around To

1. Nnana Egwu, a 2011 PF/C from Illinois has committed to Illinois. Wisconsin had previously offered him.

2. Wisconsin has offered 2011 SG Achraf Yacoubou (6'3") from New York. It's an odd offer since it's out of UW's usual recruiting area and Achraf has already stated his top 3 schools are UConn, Villanova, and Kentucky. I'm not liking our chances to say the least.

3. Wisconsin has also offered 2011 PG Trey Lewis (5'10") from Garfield Heights, OH. He attends the same high school as Rob Wilson and has other offers from Penn State, St. Joe's, Miami (OH), Cleveland State, Akron, and Kent State. As a sophomore, Trey scored 19.3 PPG and scored nearly two/thirds of his points from behind the arc.

4. Wisconsin has also offered 2011 G/F Markus Crider (6'6") of Huber Heights, OH. He has offers from Akron, Cincinnati, Dayton, Cleveland State, and Wright State also.

5. Wisconsin has basically decided not to pursue 6'4" 2012 SF Junior Lomomba of Madison Memorial. The most suspected reason is a difference in beliefs about the recruiting process between relative and mentor of Junior, former Badger Hennssy Auriental.

6. 6'7" 2011 SF Paul Jesperson of Merrill is starting to get some love from high major schools and Wisconsin may be pulling the trigger on an offer some time too with Coach Gard keeping tabs on him. He has recently received an offer from Arizona State and also has offers from Colorado St, Loyola (IL), North Dakota St, Northern Iowa, San Diego, South Dakota St, UW-Milwaukee, and UW-Green Bay.

7. Last but not least, practice has begun. Here are some articles about it...
Final Hill Climb
Getting to Know Jared Berggren
Day One Review
Steve Stricker and Andy North to Coach Teams in Red-White Scrimmage

Vander commits to that other school...

Ugh. Vander Blue has committed to Marquette. For some reason, I was holding out hope that he'd recommit to Wisconsin, but alas, it wasn't meant to be. His BFF Jeronne Maymon, Wes Matthews, and supposedly Hennssy Auriental were talking in his ear about going to Marquette, and I guess Howard Moore was unable to overpower that. I wouldn't be too disappointed if I didn't think UW's chances of landing J.P. Tokoto took a hit with Vander not going to UW. I don't really feel like writing more on this. With the exception of the Packers, this sports weekend has been really crappy. Vander committing to one of UW's biggest rivals just is like an unneccessarily cruel punch to the gut after getting the wind knocked out of you (due to the eggs the hockey and football teams laid on Friday and Saturday). I wish I could say I wish him well, but I'd be lying if did. I hope he goes 0-4 against UW, has no Big East or NCAA hardware to show for his time there, and utimately regrets his decision.