Mike Lucas

No flurry of 3's to bail out a UW offense when it needed it the most... captimes.com/sports/badgers…

So many highs. Road wins at Mich., Ill., Purdue. Home win vs MSU. B10 Tourney win vs Ill. So many lows. Dec. loss to Nova in Milw. Road losses at Ind., OSU, Oregon. Now the ultimate gut punch, a loss to High Point and a first round KO in the Big Dance. Hurts the most and longest.

Go figure. Badgers outrebouded Illinois, tallest team in the nation. Yet they got outrebounded by High Point whose leading rebounder Terry Anderson is 6-6. The Panthers won the offensive glass 13-6. They were hungrier and more athletic. Had decided edge in fastbreak points, 16-5.

Shockingly High Point's Chase Johnston morphed into Oakland's Jack Gohlke (10's triples in upset of No.3 Kentucky) and knocked down huge 3-pointers, not to mention game-winning 2, his only two point make of the season in stunning the Badgers. No. 5 seed Kryptonite again for UW.

CBS analyst Clark Kellogg is buying into 5/12 history of upsets... captimes.com/sports/badgers…

Boyd and Blackwell have reached a new High Point in their season... captimes.com/sports/do-badg…

In each of the past two seasons, the Badgers have lost in B10 Tourney finals after playing 4 games in 4 days. It resulted in one NCAA tournament win. If going home earlier this year than they wanted on Saturday adds up to a longer stay in the Big Dance, it will be rewarding.

Live by the 3 (Aussie Rapp 6-pack). Die by the 3 (Yaxel Lendeborg game-winner). Once again the Badgers fell behind by double-digits, once again they were counted out, once again they mounted a gutty, gritty rally. The comeback fell just short. But the effort was memorable.

Kylan Boswell was guilty of biting off more than he could chew after barking at Nick Boyd and going forehead to forehead with him. Boyd wouldn't be intimidated. Clearly won battle. Overwhelmingly so. Never flinched. Never stopped smiling. Or scoring. Never stopped waving his arms

After UW's 1st OT win at Champaign, Illinois bellyached about not having Stojakovic &Boswell. Well, they were both back and Badgers were without Nolan Winter. Yet they outrebounded Illini, including 11-9 on offensive glass. Only 10-of-41 on 3's but 25-of-30 on FT's. Key stat.

Greg Gard reiterated March is for Guards after Nick Boyd (38) & John Blackwell (31) combined for 69 of UW's 91 points in OT win. Postgame grouping on BTN courtside set featured analyst Jordan Taylor interviewing Boyd with Blackwell looking over his shoulder. Badgers4ever.

Interesting rematch with Illinois now at full strength. Played without 2 starting guards (Boswell and Stojakovic) in OT loss to Badgers in Champaign. Rapp was scoring factor in that game with 18 points. Winter was not with 4. But he had 11 rebounds. Glass will be one of the keys.

John Blackwell was a little chippy. Played like he had a chip on his shoulder. Played like he wanted to prove to people that he was better than third team All-B10. Did so. Had UW's last made FG in midst of an epic Badger meltdown that turned a rout into a nailbiter and escape.

It's hard to believe the voters (Coaches and Media) could find a way to snub Nolan Winter, who has 12 double-doubles, the second most in the B10. But they most certainly did by not even affording Winter with honorable mention recognition. How could they overlook this 7-footer?

Take it from Rapheal Davis: 'Nick Boyd was snubbed at the highest level' by being left off All-B10 1st Team. Agree whole heartedly. Davis is Big Ten Network Analyst and former Defensive POY in Conference. My take: Boyd is more deserving than Sandfort (Coaches) or Stirtz (Media).

Could not have been handled with more class and dignity than how Badger basketball, Greg Gard and Jerell Moore honored Sharif Chambliss with his family at his side. Howard has to be proud of not only this special moment for Sharif but proud of his son, who's also pretty special.

Nobody does it better than the Big Ten Network in capturing the humanity of the people who play and coach the game.

How will some of these impressive road wins translate in postseason? captimes.com/sports/is-the-…

There is a Steve Nash quality to the way that Nick Boyd controls the dribble in traffic while weaving in and out of opponents using them like slalom gates on a path to the rim. Absolutely controled the final minutes of the game against the Boilermakers by going on a scoring run.

Badgers have always been about development. Consider how much Aleksas Bieliauskas and Aussie Rapp developed since 1st Purdue game when AB had 2pts and Rapp had 9. In the rematch AB had 16 and Rapp had 17. Both had 4 triples. Picked up scoring slack without injured Nolan Winter.