Busting Brackets
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Wisconsin Basketball: Where do the Badgers need to improve for 2018-19?

By Lukas Harkins

NEW YORK, NY - MARCH 24: The Wisconsin Badgers mascot performs against the Florida Gators during the 2017 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament East Regional at Madison Square Garden on March 24, 2017 in New York City. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NY - MARCH 24: The Wisconsin Badgers mascot performs against the Florida Gators during the 2017 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament East Regional at Madison Square Garden on March 24, 2017 in New York City. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images) /
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NEW YORK, NY – MARCH 24: A detailed view of a Wilson Basketball. (Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NY – MARCH 24: A detailed view of a Wilson Basketball. (Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images) /

2. Perimeter shooting

3-point shooting was arguably Wisconsin’s biggest weakness last season. Considering the team is centered around a big man that does not stretch the floor, surrounding him with shooters is absolutely vital. In addition, due to the amount of defensive attention Happ receives and his ability as a passer, those looks from the perimeter should be quite open as well. Regardless, though, Wisconsin was one of the worst 3-point shooting teams in the country during 2017-18.

While this definitely goes hand-in-hand with the lack of backcourt depth last year, it is important to note that the team seriously struggled to knock down trifectas both before and after the injuries to King and Trice. In fact, here is a look at some numbers (keep in mind, these are relatively small sample sizes) to stress the overall shooting and the importance of hitting threes.

  • 10 games with King/Trice: 69-for-209 (33.0%)
  • 23 games without King/Trice: 147-for-435 (33.8%)
  • Wins (15): 114-for-276 (41.3%)
  • Losses (18): 102-for-358 (28.5%)

Obviously, teams are always going to win more games when they shoot better from beyond the arc, but it is still worth mentioning that basically the Badgers only won when they shot well from three. And considering that did not happen all that often, the team struggled to win games.

On the whole, the Badgers shot 33.5% from beyond the arc, a mark that ranked 254th in the nation (out of 351 teams). In regards to how this applies to the rest of the country, only five major conference teams who shot worse than Wisconsin from three were awarded NCAAT bids last season: Syracuse, Texas, Alabama, Texas A&M, and Providence.

In order to counteract this poor shooting, four of those five teams ranked in the top-20 nationally in adjusted defensive efficiency, per KenPom (Providence was at No. 36). For reference, the Badgers held the No. 66 ranking in this statistic so something needs to change.

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