Buzzketball Central: NCAA Tournament: Virginia Tech Hokies (22-10,10-8) at Wisconsin Badgers (25-9,12-6) 940PM CBS

IT'S GAMEDAY! #BeatWisconsin | #MarchMadness KeyBank Center 9:40 PM CBS pic.twitter.com/90o0vEea2B— VT Men's Basketball (@VT_MBBall) March 16, 2017

GAME INFORMATION
Date/Time: March 16, 2017 / 9:40 p.m.
Opponent: Wisconsin
Site: Buffalo, N.Y. (KeyBank Center)
Radio: Virginia Tech IMG Sports Network
Talent: Jon Laaser & Mike Burnop
TV/Internet: CBS
Talent: Verne Lundquist, Jim Spanarkel & Allie LaForce
Live Stats: HokieSports.com
Game Notes: Virginia Tech
XM Radio: XM 201 (Internet 961)

What exactly is a Hokie? Just ask the @VT_MBBall team...and the answer might surprise you. pic.twitter.com/kWB7HcpLaU— March Madness TV (@MarchMadnessTV) March 16, 2017

I AM A HOKIE

A ten year hiatus comes to an end...

Buzzketball has made it to the tournament in just year 3. Buzz Williams is 8-5 in the NCAA tournament as a head coach over 6 appearances. This shows he has a knack for getting his team past the first round. Wisconsin has the athleticism and size that have proven extremely difficult for the Hokies to overcome this season. The Hokies must be prepared to play all forty minutes or more if necessary if they want to come out a winner tonight.

To give you an idea of Wisconsin, they have been a bit of a roller coaster ride for their fans. They went 11-2 in their OOC schedule, with the only losses to Creighton and UNC. They continued that run of success into the beginning of Big 10 play by going 10-1 to start the conference slate. They finished 2-5 though down the stretch, which is why most people speculate they fell to an 8 seed in the tournament.

This will be the second meeting between the Hokies and Badgers. Wisconsin leads the all-time series 1-0, with a victory over the Hokies in the 2008 Big Ten/ACC Challenge.

The Badgers are coached by Greg Gard, who has coached at Wisconsin since 2001 as an assistant and took over the program in 2015 when Bo Ryan stepped aside. He led Wisconsin to 22 wins last season along with a trip to the Sweet Sixteen.

The heart of this lineup is four seniors that have been to two Final Fours, one Sweet Sixteen, and have accounted for 113 wins so far as a group. That said, this year's team doesn't seem to have the killer instinct that other Wisconsin teams have had the past few years.

Defensively, the Badgers employ a high pressure man to man defense. One thing Gard and his staff do better than most is assigning defensive matchups. You may see some unusual pairings but they aim to best utilize their players strengths on the defensive end to cause the most problems for their opponents. Some assignments might be based on strengths to turn the ball over, others might be based on ability to rebound effectively and once in a while they even identify the best chance to score in transition with matchups. One thing that Gard uses in developing a game plan for each opponent is to evaluate what their worst shot is as a team (corner 3 would not be the Hokies worst shot) and then make that the shot they have available most often, essentially lulling their opponents into a weakness by design. The Badgers are also very active in terms of avoiding fouls.

One of Gard's goals for every game is that the Badgers will hit more free throws than their opponent attempts. The highest fouls per game for Wisconsin is Ethan Happ and Zak Showalter at 2.6 per contest. Three of the primary seven players for the Badgers average more than 2 fouls per contest. One thing to note is that as a team though, Wisconsin is whistled for very few fouls at about 16 per contest. On the season in terms of Gard's goal, Wisconsin has made 407 free throws while opponents have attempted 484 in return. One thing of note here, Wisconsin is a terrible free throw shooting team this season, hitting only 64% on 407 of 632 chances.

Offensively, Wisconsin has historically run a swing offense that relies on passing and off ball movement to find high percentage inside shots or get to the foul line. No one player has a set position on the court in this offense. Constant movement and pin point passing is used to try to create a slow reaction by the defense, allowing an opening underneath. Do not expect to see dribble drive penetration very often from this offense.
The Badgers heavily rely on their starting five, with four that play twenty nine or more minutes per contest. Gard regularly uses 7 or 8 players barring foul troubles.

What does that mean for the Hokies?

The Hokies are going to need to hit their shots because this is a team that can easily dominate the paint, especially with the noted size differential between the two rosters. Drain it from three consistently and stay out in front of the Badgers. One thing that fans need to realize is that percentage wise Wisconsin might allow a high number of threes at 37.7% but temper that with the fact that they have only allowed opponents to shoot the three 18 times per contest. The Hokies likely need to be able to take 22-25 quality outside shots today to win.

Wisconsin wants to go slow and methodical, the Hokies want to blaze. The Hokies will have to find ways to keep the momentum of this game up or risk slipping into their worst self. Finding transition opportunities and staying a step ahead of Wisconsin's suffocating man defense is critical to getting a victory.

The Hokies still need to be prepared to defend the perimeter. Wisconsin isn't flashy about it but they still attempt over 21 three pointers per game. They make about 7 per contest. This is a two edged sword for the Hokies. They can ill afford for Wisconsin to get hot outside but they don't want to completely discourage them from taking those shots because that will likely drive them to their primary tendency of taking the ball inside even more.

The Hokies must hit the free throws they get. This game is likely to come down to a one or two possession final score and every trip to the line is critical in keeping the Hokies in the positive.

Badgers Backcourt

Bronson Koenig (#24) 6'3, 190 Lbs Senior Guard has averaged 14.1 PPG, 2.1 RPG, and 2 APG. He is shooting 39% from behind the arc and 42% overall. He is also shooting 90% from the free throw line. Koenig is their version of Chris Clarke. High energy, ball to the rim, stout defender. Another big thing to keep in mind is that Koenig attempts 7 threes per contest. Almost double any of his teammates.

Zak Showalter, (#3) 6'3, 185 Lbs Senior Guard comes in averaging 8.3 PPG, 2.9 RPG, 1.7 APG and 1.5 SPG. Showalter shoots 40% from outside, 50% from inside and 83% from the line. Showalter is the one shooter the Hokies cannot afford to let get hot, especially from outside. He is also their top perimeter defender, so expect to see him switch off to whichever Hokies seem to be hitting their shots from outside.

D'Mitrik Trice, (#0), 6', 178 Lbs Freshman Guard is averaging 5.9 PPG, 1.9 RPG, and 1.7 APG. Trice shoots 44% from outside and 39% from inside, while hitting at the line at a 79% clip. Another Outside over Inside shooter for the Hokies to deal with. Trice is averaging about 18 minutes on the floor and almost all of it will be moving around the perimeter as he doesn't have the size and strength to work the ball inside.

Khalil Iverson (#21), 6'5, 212 Lbs Sophomore Guard provides 3.7 PPG and 3 RPG in about 14 minutes of floor time. He shoots 31% from outside, 54% from inside and 55% from the free throw line. Iverson plays mainly a wing type roll, primarily inside the perimeter, working rebounds from the back side of the rim.

Badgers Frontcourt

Ethan Happ, (#22), 6'10, 232 Lbs Sophomore Center has been the key that makes everything go for the Badgers this season. So far he is averaging 13.9 PPG, 9.1 RPG, 2.8 APG, 1.9 SPG, and 1.1 BPG. Happ does not take perimeter shots, but shoots 58% from inside and just 50% from the free throw line. He has been a handful down low on both ends of the court so Leday and Sy will have to avoid foul trouble while keeping him to a normal performance.

Senior Forward Nigel Hayes, (#10) 6'8, 240 Lbs is averaging 13.5 PPG, 6.5 RPG, and 2.8 APG. Hayes shoots 31% from outside, 45% from inside and 59% from the line.

Vitto Brown (#30) 6'8, 235 Lbs Senior Forward gives the Badgers about 20 MPG during which he puts up 6.7 PPG, 4 RPG, and .9 APG. Brown is shooting 30% from outside, 39% from inside and 76% from the line.

After these three bigs, the contributions among other bigs on the roster is minimal. This could play a major factor in a game like this.

Names the Announcers will Butcher

Alex Illkainen, Brevin Pritzl, Andy Van Vliet are the contestants. As it is, I have to give the nod to Brevin Pritzl.

What to expect from Wisconsin?

The Badgers are all about making free throws, keeping opponents off the line, valuing the basketball, getting more and better shots than the opponents. These are the things they focus on and should be the areas that Tech looks to attack.

The Badgers will have several options in this game. I believe they will come out playing their normal game, working the ball into the lane either to their bigs or by way of interior passes to their guards. Look for Wisconsin to quietly get open perimeter shots once they have forced Tech to collapse to the middle .

One scary number to keep in mind is that Wisconsin is shooting 45% from the field as a team this year. Most people don't consider their offense strong but it has enough pop to see them through if the Hokies fail to play strong defense especially on the interior.

Look for the Badgers to play very disciplined basketball, always in position in front of the shooter, rarely having to reach. Seth Allen and Justin Robinson will need to test this by driving to the basket.

The biggest way to counteract this is turning Wisconsin over. The Badgers average 13 turnovers per game, 7.7 of those with the starters, so if the Hokies can up that total a bit it may balance out some of the offensive rebounding second possessions. That becomes even more important because this is an opponent that just doesn't foul that much which the Hokies have used time and time again this year to distance themselves.

The Hokies

Tech needs to be ready to keep a high paced tempo the entire game without letting up if they want to win this matchup. They have to be able to get a high number of transition baskets by forcing Wisconsin into turnovers or catching them slow on defense. The Hokies cant afford for this game to bog down into a half court slugmatch.

Tech will have a tough time winning the lane, so it has to be able to hit its jumpers, especially critical is hitting its perimeter shots. Tech likely needs to shoot better than 50% from outside to be a factor in this game. I would look for the Hokies to go something along the lines of 11 of 22 or 12 of 24.

Tech has to still make an attempt at getting to the basket with Leday, Robinson, and Allen. If they forego working the ball inside than the Badgers will be able to ignore the inside and focus solely on the perimeter. The Hokies dearly need clean looks today to stay in this game.

Last and probably most critical, the Hokies must avoid foul trouble. They can ill afford to have Outlaw or Leday on the bench for long stretches especially in the second half.

Highlight of the ACC Tournament

53 POINTS24 REBOUNDS64 MINUTESAll-ACC Tournament Second Team: @ZachLeDay32 pic.twitter.com/WWoon6jsr3— VT Men's Basketball (@VT_MBBall) March 12, 2017

Leday had about the best stretch of games as a Hokie yet, so hopefully that continues.

In Closing

Ideally the Hokies would just keep running like they did to Duke back at the beginning of ACC play but I think with how well Wisconsin plays their own style of game and how limited Tech's bench is, it will require them to strategically find times to speed up the game. Expect to see a fast paced game on both sides in the first half and then watch Tech use its athleticism to get out in spurts in the second.

Tech has to find open looks and they have to be able to hit those shots. Defensively they have to be able to limit the number of attempts Wisconsin gets either by forcing turnovers or bad shots. Do these things and it's a close game.

I expect to see Buzz stretch the floor, especially on defense. Not many teams have tried to force Wisconsin into mistakes in the frontcourt. The ones that did had pretty decent success doing it. Buzz will likely have to use some full court pressure in this game as well as some zone defense to counter the Badgers offense. Force them to eat up a third of the shot clock before they cross the midline.

I think that Tech finds a way to score in this game and if they are able to get above 70 points tonight, there is a strong chance of beating Wisconsin. Up paced tempo and gritty determination down low wins this game for the Hokies, 77-73.

Ability is what you're capable of doingMotivation determines what you doAttitude determines how well you do itIt takes all 3 everyday!— Buzz Williams (@TeamCoachBuzz) March 16, 2017