Wisconsin Basketball: 5 early 2018-19 season observations

1. It all starts with tempo.

Wisconsin basketball has been known as a defense-centric program for a long time. Under former head coach Bo Ryan, the Badgers excelled on that end of the floor, controlling the pace of games with a hard-nosed defense that rarely committed fouls. And while this, coupled with the slow-moving swing offense, made the Badgers one of the most boring teams to watch in the nation, no one will dispute that the team was very successful during this era.

In fact, throughout Wisconsin’s incredible run of consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances that was snapped last season, the program was one of the most consistent defensive units in the land. From 2002-2018 (17 recorded seasons on KenPom), Wisconsin ranked in the top-25 in adjusted defensive efficiency on 10 different occasions (six seasons in the top-10). And while the heyday of modern Badgers basketball occurred when Frank Kaminsky and Sam Dekker led one of the most efficient offenses in the nation, this defense-first model has been very kind to the faithful in Madison.

In regards to this current season, it certainly seems as though head coach Greg Gard has his team prioritizing the defensive end of the floor. Through seven games, Wisconsin ranks ninth in the nation in adjusted defensive efficiency as they holding teams to just 60.3 points per game on shooting slashes (FG/3P/FT) of .398/.291/.628. That is flat-out elite.

Additionally, the Badgers are controlling the pace of games tremendously well. So far this season, Wisconsin’s tempo rating is 348th (out of 353) in the nation and their average possession length of 19.3 seconds is 335th. This is a very deliberate team that rarely makes mistakes when in their sets (13.8% turnover rate – 10th nationally).