The Wisconsin Badgers have struggled badly this season. Could their star big man be to blame?
Ethan Happ is one of the most polarizing players in the Big Ten. Happ is talked about as being one of the best players in the league. He also could be a little bit over hyped, within the NCAA landscape. Head coach Greg Gard and the rest of his Wisconsin Badger teammates rely on Happ to score most of the points if not all of the points.
Happ is a talented scorer in the post and has an onslaught of moves to score in a variety of ways. Happ in the post is a thing of beauty, and he is exciting to watch when he gets going. The Badgers feed Happ nearly every possession and most of time he comes away with points. Happ is also a good enough rebounder to put up numerous double double’s.
Flaws in Happ’s game
The Badger big man is good at many things but not great at any one thing. Happ does have many flaws in his game as well. Those flaws are becoming more glaring than ever this year, due to the fact that Happ has virtually no help around him, and because of that teams are no longer letting Happ do whatever he wants in the post. In the previous years when he has had more weapons around him he really made it tough on the opposing defenses.
This year teams are forcing Happ out of the paint. While he is forced out of the paint, defenses have started to trap Happ, and he shows that he has a penchant for turning the ball over and looks downright uncomfortable out of the paint. With his penchant for turning the ball over and him being forced out of the paint, it usually leads to easy points in transition for the opponent.
Related Story: Latest Bracketology
When the Badgers are able to get the ball of Happ’s hands, they have a hard time scoring points this year and are really struggling trying to keep other teams honest on the defensive end of the floor. Opponents have no problem forcing the other 4 players on the floor to shoot jump shots. As long as Ethan Happ is not doing the damage for Wisconsin most coaches they play against are going to be content.
In a game against Nebraska last week, Wisconsin had an 11 point lead in the second half. What Nebraska did next will force Wisconsin and Ethan Happ to play different. Outside of Nebraska switching to a zone defense, they forced Happ to catch the ball on the wing, and then if they could not get him to turn the ball over they would foul him. This is usually a bold strategy because it could just extend the lead with no time coming off the clock if the Free Throws are made.
Free throw woes
Did Wisconsin know how bad of a free throw shooter Ethan Happ was? He does not usually look confident in his abilities on the floor. At the free throw line, it looks like Ethan Happ is in a different country. He does not have a good shot, and is a dreadful free throw shooter. In that game Happ single-handedly helped Nebraska get back into the game because of his free throw shooting.
If he can not improve upon his free throw shooting numbers, numerous other teams the Badgers play are going to utilize the same philosophy that Nebraska did to get themselves back in the game. If the free throw shooting does not improve, he could force Greg Gard’s hand at the end of games, as when it is closing time, you need your best free throw shooters on the floor.
Gard pulling his best player would be extreme circumstances, and it has been known that Happ is a tireless worker who loves basketball. Even by working on your shot and free throw shooting, is that still going to be enough to change his fortunes from the line this late in the year. Shooting free throws and the game of basketball as a whole is 50% mental. If Happ can get the mental side of the free throw line down he could turn it around.
Next: Evaluating the Big Ten midway
The Badgers are going through some growing pains, as they have one of the youngest teams in all of college basketball. Happ is also experiencing those same growing pains along with the rest of the Badgers. As you peel back the layers of Ethan Happ’s game it shows that he still has some pieces of his game to improve, especially if he wants to succeed at the next level. The Badger forward will have the rest of this year and most likely all of next year to prove to everyone that this was just a bad year for everyone in Madison.