The Bucks beat Washington last night at home 100-87.  Big deal, Washington stinks.  The Bucks will play at the Wizards on Friday night.

Quick Scheduling Rant:

The NBA has 82 games to work with for each team to schedule with, why do they schedule two teams in back-to-back games?  It makes no sense.  The entire league plays games on Friday nights, I see no reason why the Bucks and Wizards are playing in consecutive games.

Back to the Bucks.  The Bucks are coming off a good week in which they played five games.  Beating the Knicks, Pacers, Hornets, Heat and lost to Atlanta in overtime.  The Hornets were without Paul and the Heat were without Wade.  Add the Wizards game to that week and the Bucks best win still looks to be the loss at Atlanta.

I am very happy the Bucks have made a surge.  I love the additions of Stackhouse and Salmons, but we really need to see more of this team against the legit contenders before we have any idea of how good they are.

It looks like the Bucks are definitely better than the bottom third of the league.  Somewhat better than the bottom half of the league.  Where exactly they fit into that top half is what we will get to find out over the next few months.

At least they made it interesting to follow again.

Today is a great day for hoops junkies.  As I write this Kentucky is down double digits at Tennessee.  The Bucks play a rare Saturday afternoon game, and tonight two potential #1 seeds square off in Syracuse and Villanova.

Kentucky-Tennessee

Kentucky is not shooting well, and it could cost them this game.  The majority of the second half is still left to be played, but for has talented as Kentucky is they are not the most consistent team, evidenced by their #7 rating according to Kenpom efficiency stats.  I have said it all year, they are ultra-talented but something is missing. 

Bucks-Heat

A big game with playoff implications this afternoon down in Miami.  I would think this being an afternoon game should help the visiting Bucks.  The afternoon start allows more time for rest for Sunday’s game at Atlanta, and it is very possible many of the fans will be just waking up from the Miami club-scene.

More important than any of those factors, WADE IS OUT.  The best player in the league, after Lebron, will be out today.  It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to realize that is a huge benefit to the Bucks.

If the Bucks win today they will have swept the three games season series with the Heat.  A helpful benefit come playoff time for any tie-breaker purposes.

Syracuse-Villanova

I am really starting to love this Syracuse team.  They remind me of the Kansas team that won it all a couple years ago due to all the options they have in the post.  

• They have a great all-around player, similar to Kansas’s Rush, in Wesley Johnson.  Johnson is in the running for Big East POY.
• They are the best FG % shooting team in the country.
• They can play fast or half court.
• Many experts have labeled this the best defense Boeheim has had due to all the length.
• Five guys average double figures in points.

Nova is overrated in my mind.  They are fun to watch due to the guard play but they are lacking in efficiency, #14.  That is not an elite rating.  Their offense is #5 but the defense is #49.  That defense will be their fatal flaw and prevent them from a final four.

Syracuse gets the win.

The Bucks are two for two with the newly acquired John Salmons, this week the Bucks will get five more games to get a better idea of how competitive they can now be.

The Bucks get two back-to-back games this week.  They start with Monday at the Knicks, then Wednesday at home vs New Orleans, at  Indiana on Thursday, at Miami Saturday, ending at Atlanta on Sunday.  This is one of those tough stretches in the NBA schedule, five games in seven days, four of the five on the road.  The Bucks luck out a little by getting Indiana and New York mixed in.  The Atlanta game will be a tough one, but the rest are very winnable games.

If the Bucks can come away with three wins in these five games it could point to an exciting final month and a half of the season.  An exciting finish is not something we have had in a few years so it will be a very welcomed site.

A very good slate of basketball tonight for people residing in Wisconsin due to the Badgers and Golden Eagles in action and for the nation with Georgetown-Syracuse.

Wisconsin

The Badgers have one of their toughest of the remaining games tonight at the barn in Minnesota.  The only losses at home for Minnesota have been a buzzer beating three by Michigan State and an eight point loss to Michigan.  All teams are better at home, but Minnesota takes that to a different level.  The older gymnasiums are always a little tougher to play at and Minnesota has a very underrated home court.

Minnesota is a little underrated itself.  According to Kenpom stats the Gophers are the 44th rated team according to offensive and defensive effeciency which puts them ahead of Connecticut, Illinois, North Carolina, Florida, and  Memphis.  Some of those teams are down, but those are teams with a ton of final fours under their belt in the last decade.  Meaning, Minnesota is better than people realize.

The Badgers get back Jon Leuer tonight, which is huge.  Leuer will get at least 6 games in before the Madness starts which should allow him to get back into his groove.

Currenlty, Wisconsin stands as the #3 team in efficiency.  Meaning, they are very good.

Marquette 

Marquette is sneaky, they are much better than people realize.  They are the 20th rated team in efficiency, #9 in offense.  They are ranked ahead of teams like Michigan State, Clemson, Tennessee, and Pittsburgh.  Pittsburgh happens to be the team they play tonight and they are the ranked team.

Marquette has five losses where one basket, be it a two or three, could have won them the game.  They are scrappy, and will not go down easy.  And they have won five in a row.

Tonight they make it six.

Syracuse – Georgetown

In the best matchup of the night, on paper, two top ten teams square off with Syracuse at Georgetown.

Georgetown is an enigma, and I think their inconsistency will kill them in the tourney.  They have blown out Duke and Villanova, but lost to Rutgers and South Florida.  Their efficiency ranking is #19 which explains a lot.  Elite talent, but something is missing, and that something seems to be consistency.  Inconsistent teams do not fare well in the early stages of the tournament because they overlook the wrong team.  If this team can get past the second round they could be a nightmare.

Syracuse is rated #5 in efficiency.  They are good at offense and defense and have a shot at a one seed.

I think Syracuse will be better in the tourney, but tonight it will be Georgetown.

The Bucks did a rare thing for them at the NBA trading deadline, they actually improved!

Essentially trading Warrick for Salmons would seem like a push or even a loss for the Bucks on the surface, but when you consider how weak the Bucks are at the two and the fact they do have a serviceable PF in Ersan, I love this trade.

I was all in favor of bringing in Warrick, but that was before we found out the Ersan is a serviceable at worst, above average at best PF.  That changed things.  Add in the fact that Mbah ah Moute can play a decent amount of minutes at the PF spot and that position actually became a logjam.  Who would of thought.

When looking at from player for player, it may be a push at best, but when you consider how much of an upgrade Salmons is to Charlie Bell I am really in favor of the trade.  Hopefully it equates to wins and a playoff birth.

Alexander

The other part of this trade was the Bucks giving up on Alexander.  This is not shocking because in all reality they gave up on him when they declined his option back in November.  I hope that was one bad pick the Bucks had to get out of the way because a team that needs to build the majority of its talent from the draft cannot miss that badly at #8 overall.  Alexander seems like a nice person and due to his athletic ability may have a chance at a bright future, it just will not be very soon or with the Bucks.