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 [...]

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 [...]

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.  [...]

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 [...]

We are now on the other side of the All-Star break, a good second half and the Bucks have a shot for the playoffs.  If given this option at the beginning of the season, all Buck fans would have jumped at it.
One main reason for the Bucks success is they have five guys with a very respectable PER.  A PER of 15 is considered the baseline for an average PER. 
Ersan Ilyasova 15.88
Hakim Warrick 15.75
Andrew Bogut 20.78
Luke Ridnour 18.22
Brandon Jennings 15.26
Interestingly, Ersan and Warrick surround Charlie V in the PF PER ratings, proving that he was expendable.
Richard Jefferson’s PER is a very pedestrian 12.17.
To go along [...]

ESPN has a nice article about Brandon Jennings up on their main page.
The article details Jenning’s experience oversees, his hot start to his rookie season, and his current struggles as defenses adjust to his style.  It is worth the read and nice to see a Buck get some good print from one of sports big boys.
I have had a lot of complaints about ESPN in the past couple of years but a good job has to be credited here.

There has been some rumblings for the past week about the Badgers being a final four contender, and I love that talk.  For the Badgers to get any positive press is great since they are so often lauded for their ball control style.  A couple of weeks ago I wrote about how the offensive and defensive efficiency of teams can give you a real good idea regarding what that teams chances really are for the national title and the final four.
The Badgers have good efficiency ratings, but not as good as we need to get into the final four.  The [...]

Brandon Jennings is coming off the worst game of his rookie year with the loss against the Magic.  Jennings scored only two points, and had his defense questioned by Scott Skiles.  What an opportunity for a big game tonight to rebound. 
Players love putting on a show in New York at Madison Square Garden.  Last year Lebron and Kobe took turns lighting it up at MSG, when Jordan came back from baseball he officially arrived back with a 50+ game at MSG, now Jennings can get a chance for redemption.
Jennings has the normal incentive to play well at MSG that all [...]

Tuesday night was a fun night to be a Badger fan with the big win over Michigan State.  As the game approached halftime the Badgers were continuing to stretch the lead and in the second half the Spartans never really put a scare into Wisconsin after the 12 minute mark.
The Badgers have now lost three conference games, at Ohio State, at Purdue and at Michigan State.  I would say the only game the Badgers were handled in was the Ohio State game.  The Badgers handily beat those three teams in Madison which could setup an interesting Big10 tournament.  Will the Badgers [...]