My "Wisconsin is NOT a Cinderella" rant

I have a good friend who was born and raised in Wisconsin.  He is without a doubt the biggest Wisconsin sports fan that I've ever met.  He's a nut.  I went to sea with him last year and we had many Big Ten sports conversations.

When Wisconsin beat Kentucky, he was absolutely gushing.  He talked of it as if Kennedy's Super Valu brought down Costco.  I disagreed, as I mentioned in my earlier Calipari post.  For your amusement, here is the somewhat lengthy text of what I posted about the Badgers on FB in regards to that conversation.

MY FRIEND'S ORIGINAL POST:  38-1. Today the TEAM won over the arguably best collection of individual talent ever assembled. With it's 9 McDonald's All-Americans and a perfect season, Kentucky was everybody's trendy favorite pick. But if you saw anything about Badgers' accomplishments this season, you knew this is a toughest, most hard nosed team our state has ever produced, who BELIEVED in themselves from day one.  And this is why they play the game...  

MARC:  I'm surprised that Wisconsin has managed to take on this underdog persona. Everyone is so amazed that a #1 seed is in the final! They started out the season ranked #3, quickly moved to #2, and were never lower than #6 I think. They have been an absolute powerhouse all season. All due credit for beating Kentucky, but this is NOT the David and Goliath story people are making it out to be. It was a battle of the Giants, and Wisconsin came out on top. I was hoping for an all big ten final, but Duke was just too good for that.

MY FRIEND'S RESPONSE:  As always, when it comes to anything non-Iowa, you are completely WRONG  While it's absolutely true that this Badgers was a well respected team who should have been given more credit for what we have accomplished, Kentucky was making a HISTORIC run that was unparalleled to anything that was accomplished in college since UNLV'S dominance of early 90s. As a matter of fact it was only done 4 times ever. Therefore saying it was a battle of Giants, or equal teams is to diminish Wisconsin ' s accomplishment and magnitude of this victory. They changed history yesterday and took down a team that NUMEROUS people called "unbeatable" and arguably best ever.

MARC:  Mr. Lobanov, this is not NCAA women's basketball where there is a chasm between the number one team and everyone else. Wisconsin began the season ranked NUMBER TWO, RIGHT BEHIND KENTUCKY. Don't kid yourself. They are a NUMBER ONE SEED. If you need to call it "historic" as if Wisconsin is a David and Kentucky was a Goliath - well, hey, whatever helps you sleep at night. Wisconsin lost three frickin' games this year: one to the team they are playing in the national championship game, one by five points, and one by six points to a ranked team. Currently there is a two-game difference between Kentucky and Wisconsin. Whoa, how historic! A three-loss team makes it ALL the way to the national championship! Holy crap!  

Oh, I'm just getting warmed up... Wisconsin played four ranked teams this year. They lost to Duke, who is also a #1 seed and they are playing in the finals. They beat Iowa (ranked #25 at the time, made the round of 32), lost to Maryland (ranked #14 at the time, made the round of 32) and beat Ohio state (ranked #23 at the time, made the round of 32). By the way, both of the wins against Iowa and Ohio State were by 32 and 24 points respectively - we call that getting your ass kicked in Iowa. For Wisconsin you can include TWO regular season wins over MSU, who made the final four by beating the 2, 3, and 4 seeds in their quarter of the bracket, including Louisville, who is one of the ranked teams that Kentucky beat this year (more on that later). Wisconsin also had regular season wins against Georgetown (4 seed, round of 32) and Oklahoma (3 seed, round of 16), and beat UNC in the tournament, who is one of the ranked teams that Kentucky beat this year (yes, there is still more coming!)  

Now let's look at Kentucky... when you start out the season as the #1, unless you lose, it's unlikely you'll ever drop from that spot, right? So yeah, they were #1 all year. They started off the year with a big win over KU (ranked #5 at the time). But then let's look at their other wins over ranked opponents. Texas? They barely squeaked into the tournament with a #11 seed and didn't get out of the first round. UNC? Wisconsin beat them too. Louisville? They beat them in December and only by 8 points. And then two wins against Arkansas? The Razorbacks were a #5 seed and only won their first game of the tournament before bowing out to UNC. Arkansas only played two ranked teams all year (Iowa State and Kentucky) and lost them both. Wow, those were signature wins for Kentucky over those DANGEROUS Razorbacks... not!)

My point is that if you look at the numbers and look at the schedules, Wisconsin is as good a team as Kentucky if not better. You can say "but Kentucky has better players" all day long - it doesn't mean anything. As far as I know, the NBA doesn't give the O'Brien trophy to the team that happens to have the NBA scoring leader or the league MVP. Individual talent doesn't have anything to do with it. Individual talent on the roster doesn't mean that Kentucky was a better TEAM. I'm not trying to take anything away from Wisconsin. In fact, my whole point is that Wisconsin IS an incredible team! It's excellent PR work on behalf of the Badgers that they've somehow convinced the sporting world that David slew the giant again. I would like to know how many people picked Wisconsin and Duke in the final. I bet that it's more than you think. I believe that had Duke played Kentucky in the semifinals, Duke would have beat them. Okay, I have to rest my fingers now.

MY FRIEND'S RESPONSE:  Wow Marc Baldwin. I never thought I would get you to say so many GREAT THINGS about Wisconsin

MARC:  Go Big Ten! (Remember, I'm a true CONFERENCE fan, unlike you)