Wisconsin Sets Forth a Different Strategy

It’s the Big Two now, Michigan State versus Wisconsin today at the RCA Dome in the NCAA semifinals, conference foes who have already played three times this season.

Michigan State won all three, by 17, five and nine points, the last after having led by 19. The difference now is that the final of the four will be played on the most national of stages, a setting Wisconsin Coach Dick Bennett was not about to clutter with poor perception.

“No, this team does not lack confidence,” he said Friday. “That seldom has been a problem for us. But if you’re asking is there a seed of doubt, I would be lying for them if I said there wasn’t or if I spoke for myself. When a team beats you three times, then you perhaps say that’s a superior team.”

Which is why Michigan State is a heavily favored team, not just the Big Ten champion and the only top-seeded team to survive any of the regional booby-traps, but also one that has already stepped on these Badgers several times.

Wisconsin, meanwhile, is hearing the it’s-tough-to-beat-someone-four-times mantra, meaning a lot of people have more faith in the law of averages than the Badgers.

Not that that’s such a stretch. Beyond being anonymous on the national level before the run through Salt Lake City and Albuquerque as the eighth-seeded team in the West with victories over Fresno State, Arizona, Louisiana State and Purdue--Wisconsin wasn’t all that highly regarded even on the regional level. This is, after all, the same team that was 8-8 in the Big Ten and thought it did well against Michigan State just by getting close:

* Michigan State 61, Wisconsin 44, Feb. 12 at Madison, Wis.--The Spartans made only 38.8% of their shots but won easily because of an overwhelming 50-23 rebounding advantage. Wisconsin scored two points in the final 6 minutes 26 seconds of the first half, and never got closer than 14 after halftime.

* Michigan State 59, Wisconsin 54, Feb. 19 at East Lansing, Mich.--There was at least some revenge for the Badgers. They won the battle of the boards, the first time anyone had out-rebounded the Spartans since the Spartans’ loss to Duke in the 1999 national semifinals. Michigan State put this one away with a 14-5 run, then maintained a safe distance by making all six of its free throws in the last 47 seconds.

* Michigan State 55, Wisconsin 46, March 11 at Chicago--Michigan State had a 44-25 lead with 15:46 left in the semifinals of the Big Ten tournament, before the Badgers used a 15-2 run to get close again. But that only got them disappointment again. Wisconsin committed only four turnovers but lost because of 30.9% shooting.

By Friday, because of the circumstances and the site, reporters were asking Bennett if he had seen “Hoosiers” and if he could draw any comparisons between the movie and the current situation. “And, by the way,” came a question, “do you look anything like Gene Hackman?”

It’s a different situation, came the response. High school versus college. A small-town team versus a team from a major conference that has already beaten Temple and Texas and lost to Ohio State by two and three points. Having to play with the players attending the school versus the chance to put a team together through recruiting.

“But I like Gene Hackman as an actor,” Bennett said. “Always have.”

Meanwhile, back in reality, the Badgers were contemplating options, with the obvious problem. There weren’t many left that they hadn’t already tried in three games.

Instead of going for radical, they went for alterations. Roy Boone will replace Maurice Linton in the opening lineup and get the defensive assignment on Michigan State point guard Mateen Cleaves. That’s not a major shake-up, since Boone had started as recently as the first-round victory over Fresno State. And, Mike Kelley will be on Morris Peterson.

That was the most-watched decision by Bennett. Kelley, a 6-foot-3 junior, held Fresno State’s Courtney Alexander, the nation’s leading scorer, to 11 points--about 14 below his average. Three games later, Kelley held Purdue’s Jaraan Cornell without a basket when they were in together.

But Alexander and Cornell are guards. Peterson is 6-6 and Michigan State’s most gifted offensive player at that, a small forward who can work inside or make shots from the perimeter, the Big Ten player of the year in a vote by coaches and a second-team All-American. Coming off an 18-point, seven-rebound performance against a small team, Iowa State, he now gets a three-inch height advantage.

This is not a major move by Bennett, either. Kelley sometimes played on Peterson during the three previous meetings, and lived to tell it. Peterson, who averaged 16.6 points and made 46.4% of his shots overall, was at 17 and 40.5% against Wisconsin.

“He’s kind of like a pest,” Peterson said. “He’s always around and never backs down.”

Sounds a lot like Wisconsin as a whole. The Badgers are in the Final Four for the second time in school history, following only the 1940-41 team that won the championship. They are here after losing consecutive games to South Florida and Northern Illinois in December, finishing sixth in the Big Ten, and being seeded eighth in the West Regional.

So that they are playing a team that has beaten them three times, once about three weeks ago, doesn’t seem quite so daunting. That seed of doubt may be shrinking.