Even though Wisconsin coach Dick Bennett has had several personnel defections and has introduced a deliberate system completely different from the run-and-gun schemes of his predecessors, Stu Jackson and Stan Van Gundy, his Badgers are in the hunt for an invitation to the NCAA tournament. Wisconsin has a 13-8 overall record and is fifth in the Big Ten after Saturday’s 57-56 victory at Illinois, which Bennett missed because he was attending the funeral of his brother Tom in Boston.
“I have not done a good job of structuring an offense,” said Bennett. “I tried to do the things I’d done before at Stevens Point (for nine seasons) and at Green Bay (for 10 seasons) and they were not right for these kids.
“I have to do more for the confidence level of this team. Our freshmen and sophomores are being called on to play 30 to 35 minutes. We’ve wiped out their apprenticeship and they aren’t getting time to use what they’ve learned from game to game.”
Top gun: Coach Ricky Byrdsong of Northwestern (6-12, 1-8) believes lack of scoring from the supporting cast is keeping sophomore guard Geno Carlisle, who is the Big Ten’s second-leading scorer with a 20.4 average, from accomplishing more.
“People haven’t yet seen how good he actually can be,” said Byrdsong. “Without question, he’s the best scorer I’ve had since I’ve been coaching.”
Byrdsong’s career as a head coach dates back to the 1988-89 season at Detroit.
Boarded up: Illinois’ rebounding woes continue to mount, especially in conference games. The Illini are allowing opponents the most rebounds among league teams, 40.1 per game.
By grabbing just 35.7 per game, Illinois has the Big Ten’s worst margin. And on the season, including a 47-33 gap in that category in Saturday’s loss to Wisconsin, Illinois now has fewer rebounds than its opponents–811-804.
Coach Lou Henson has coached just one Illini team that finished with fewer rebounds than its opponents. That was in his first season, 1975-76.
