Wisconsin Basketball: Badgers' Keys to a Strong Regular Season Finish

Standing with a 20-2 record and an 8-1 mark in the Big Ten, the fifth-ranked Wisconsin basketball team is poised to bring home its first conference title since 2008 as the regular season winds down.

Apart from a lone loss to Rutgers on the road—a game they played without Frank Kaminsky and lost Traevon Jackson for the second half—the Badgers have answered all comers in conference play thus far. And with a two-game lead on the rest of the teams in the Big Ten, the conference crown is Wisconsin’s to lose.

Can Frank Kaminsky continue his dominance throughout the season? And will the Badgers' slow-but-steady offense be enough to compete? Let’s take a look at some of the keys to a strong regular-season finish for the Badgers.

Senior guard Traevon Jackson, who was averaging 9.4 points per game, fractured his right foot in the loss to Rutgers on Jan. 11. And while he has already undergone surgery and is expecting to begin rehab any day now, his return is still highly questionable.

Sophomore Bronson Koenig has done a great job filling in for Jackson, but Jackson’s experience and leadership are things that cannot be replaced.

Apart from Jackson’s injury, Wisconsin has had a couple of close calls with its two most important players in Frank Kaminsky and Sam Dekker, as well.

Kaminsky sat out the Rutgers game due to a concussion and Dekker dealt with an ankle injury early in the season before suffering a laceration on his hand against Michigan on Jan. 24.

Wisconsin’s bench is not particularly deep, so it is vital that all of the players stay healthy in order for Bo Ryan’s squad to continue running the spread offense.

As mentioned earlier, Bronson Koenig has surpassed expectations since he filled in for the injured Traevon Jackson. But just how good has he been?

Well, since he took over the starting role on Jan. 15 against Nebraska, Koenig has averaged 12 PPG and shot 54.5 percent (12-for-22) from three-point range, both of which surpassed the numbers Jackson put up.

Whether or not Jackson will return before the season ends, no one knows for sure, but regardless, Bo Ryan needs to trust—not saying he doesn’t—Koenig in being able to help Wisconsin get to where they aspire to go should Jackson remain out.

If Koenig can keep pace with his playing as of late, then maybe Jackson’s injury will even turn out to be a blessing in disguise.

I can hear it already before I even begin, all the groans and complaints about the tempo of college basketball. But who cares, though? Wisconsin certainly doesn’t.

Sure, Bo Ryan’s brand of basketball often makes you want to reach for a 5-hour Energy at every media timeout, but have you seen this Badgers’ offense lately?

Since Ryan arrived in Madison in 2001, no Badgers team has put up more points per game than this year’s version at 74.4. And Wisconsin’s adjusted offensive efficiency, according to KenPom.com, is actually the best in the country at 125.2, despite the fact that its adjusted tempo ranks at just 337th.

The Badgers like to wear defenses down and grind out victories, but if they are doing so at such a methodical rate, it doesn’t really matter how fast the points come.

Just look at their latest victory over Indiana, for example, as Wisconsin needed just 48 shots from the field (31 free throw attempts) to put up 92 points. 

Slow and steady wins the race for this team, which should probably look into changing its nickname to the Tortoises.

Wisconsin’s defense, which gives up just 56.5 PPG and ranks 10th in the country, has been fantastic at times this season. However, when going up against talented individuals, the Badgers have sometimes struggled.

First it was Penn State’s D.J. Newbill, who tallied 29 points on 11-of-18 shooting, followed by Terran Petteway, who recorded 27 points for Nebraska in the Jan. 15 meeting.

In the loss against Rutgers, Wisconsin also allowed two individuals—Kadeem Jack and Myles Mack—to put up 20-plus point performances.

Wisconsin has to play Penn State and Nebraska one more time each, as well as having to deal with No. 17 Maryland’s Melo Trimble and No. 20 Ohio State’s D’Angelo Russell.

If the Badgers want to secure the Big Ten title, they have to do a better job at shutting down these individuals to prevent any upsets.

If there was one thing we all learned from Super Bowl XLIX, it’s that when you have an unstoppable force, like a Marshawn Lynch, you make sure you use it to its fullest extent.

Frank Kaminsky is one of those unstoppable forces in college basketball.

Arguably the most talented center in the country, Kaminsky is having the best year of his career so far, posting 17.8 PPG, 8.1 RPG, shooting 54.7 percent from the field and 41.1 percent from three-point range.

The only thing that has slowed Kaminsky down this season was the concussion he suffered, as no other big men has been able to outperform him in head-to-head matchups, not even Duke’s Jahlil Okafor in their Dec. 3 meeting.

Kaminsky is as sure as it gets in college basketball this season, and as long as he gets his touches every game, Wisconsin should be in good shape to win each time out.