Wisconsin Badgers Basketball Preview Final Essay

Travis Marcou

12/15/2010

Sheila Allard

Losing to Cornell in the second round of the NCAA Tournament was a huge disappointment for the Wisconsin Badgers, and for the people who had picked Wisconsin to make a deep run in their March Madness bracket. However, with head coach Bo Ryan still in at the reigns, the Badgers are poised to yet again make the tournament field and be a potential threat. However, this year the expectations are low—Wisconsin only returns three key contributors—as college basketball analysts are picking the Badgers to finish only as high as fifth in the Big Ten although Wisconsin has never finished worse than fourth under Coach Ryan.
            It's clear that the talents of Trevon Hughes and Jason Bohannon will be dearly missed—as Hughes almost seemed to carry the entire team at times and Bohannon went through periods of never missing a shot—which begs the question: Who will want the ball in the final seconds when the game’s on the line? Junior Jordan Taylor is the guy that will be thrown into that roll. Last year Taylor led the Big Ten with a three assist-to-turnover ratio, which was also good enough to be third best in the entire country. Taylor also averaged 11.1 points per game in Big Ten play, a time when points become vital because of how much defense is stressed in the Big Ten. Now an upperclassman, Taylor has the maturity to carry the team on his shoulders when the going gets tough.
            Another guy who is able to take over games is Senior Forward Jon Leuer.  Often over looked by many, Leuer only needs 245 points this season to join Wisconsin's 1,000-point club, a club that only a select few have been able to join. He averaged 15.4 points per game in 2009-2010, and this season he looks to keep his reign as the Badger's leader in points, rebounds and blocks per game despite missing nine conference games last season due to a fractured left wrist. The high production out of Leuer in 2009-2010 earned him a spot on the John Wooden Preseason Top-50 list, a very prestigious honor in which only the best collegiate basketball players in the country are even mentioned in along with numerous pre season all conference teams. A healthy John Leuer for the entire season and the Badgers may find themselves being crowned conference champions and Leuer could be among the candidates for the All American teams.   
            The final key contributor from last season is Senior Forward Keaton Nankivil. Nankivil averaged a solid 8.1 points per game, along with the team's most offensive rebounds.  Keaton is a streaky shooter, as shown in the Purdue game—hitting seven out of eight three pointers—and his teammates are able to get him the ball when he’s on.
            The Badgers will rely on players like Ryan Evans, Tim Jarmusz, and Mike Bruesewitz to step up and fill the shoes of Trevon Hughes and Jason Bohannon. If they can combine to produce what Hughes and Bohannon did for the Badgers last season, then success can easily be achieved under Bo Ryan.  Bruesewitz will be the guy inserted into the starting lineup solely on his size and defensive ability.  His game play is reminiscent of big man Jason Chappell from 2007 but you can easily distinguish them as Breusewitz rocks his signature red afro.  Meanwhile, Jarmusz and Evans will get solid minutes providing the bench spark that teams need in order to be successful.    

A freshman that not too many people knew about coming into this year was Josh Gasser.  Gasser received a scholarship from Wisconsin after Vander Blue, now with Marquette, abruptly decommitted from Wisconsin.  Badger fans everywhere can be thankful for this after seeing Gasser score 21 points off the bench in his first game ever at the collegiate level.  Gasser’s play has earned him a spot into the starting lineup and he only continues to improve.  He has already proved that he can handle the bright lights and big time play of college basketball for being only 18 years of age.
            Catch the Badgers opening up the Big Ten regular season against rival Minnesota on December 28^th and with no doubt the Kohl's Center will definitely be rocking.  A place where the Badgers went 16-1 last season with wins over Duke and Marquette.  However, Wisconsin has to travel to the confines of Columbus, Ohio in what could have the Big Ten regular season title on the lines.  The Big Ten is head and shoulders above the rest of the conferences and that can only help the Badgers as they prepare for the NCAA Tournament.  ON WISCONSIN!!!!

Nobel Prize Essay

            Ernest Miller Hemingway was born on July 21, 1899 in a Chicago suburb of Oak Park, Illinois.  Hemingway attended Oak Park High School where he served as editor of the high school newspaper and was involved with football and boxing.  When an eye injury would not allow Hemingway to enlist to fight in World War I, he moved to Kansas City where his writing career would soon take off.  Being only 17 at the time, Hemingway had to lie about his age in order to become a reporter for the Kansas City Star.  However, his job at the Kansas City Star would only last a few months as Hemingway, still wanting to serve his country. left to serve as a volunteer ambulance driver in Italy.  For is services in Italy, Hemingway was awarded the Italian medal al Valore Militate. 

            Upon Hemingway’s return to the United States, he made his way back to journalism finding a job with the Toronto Star along with the Chicago Tribune.  Hemingway would marry Hadley Richardson, and the couple moved to Paris with Hemingway working as a foreign correspondent.  In 1923, while in Paris, Hemingway published his first piece of work: Three Stories and Ten Poems.  However, it was not until 1926 when one of his publications were praised publicly being his second novel: The Sun Also Rises. 

            When Hemingway’s father, Clarence, committed Suicide in 1928, Ernest wrote A Farewell to Arms to collaborate on the disparity of death and life struggles.  To get away from it all, Hemingway traveled to Africa where he would turn his experiences there into three short stories later on in life from 1961 through 1963. 

            When the Spanish Civil War broke out, Hemingway took action in an effort to raise over $40,000 to buy ambulances.  World War II rolled around, and Hemingway wanted to be a part of it like in the first World War.  He became a correspondent for the United States First Army.  Using these wars as a writing block, Hemingway completed For Whom the Bell Tolls in 1940.  Although the novel experienced great success, Hemingway was fearful that he had burned out and had nothing else of importance to write.  While in his anxiety phase, Hemingway published Across the River and Into the Trees and it turned out to be his worst publication of his career.  Hemingway would not go out that way as he learned in boxing to “never stay down”.

            In 1952, Ernest Hemingway’s greatest piece of work was published.  The Old Man and The Sea chronicled the life of an aging Cuban fisherman caught up in a battle with a giant marlin.  The story opens on the eighty-fourth day since the old man Santiago, the main character, has caught anything.  Much time is spent with Santiago and Manolin, a young boy who assists Santiago, reminiscing about the happy times they have experienced.  In many ways the book reflects Hemingway’s consistent use of everyday language, yet also his creativity.  Hemingway was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1953 for the novel.  This was only the beginning in the accolades Hemingway would receive. 

            In 1954, Ernest Hemingway was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature.  He received the prize for his mastery of the art of narrative, most recently demonstrated in The Old Man and the Sea, and for the influence that he has exerted on contemporary style.  The fact that Hemingway was only nominated by four people and went on to win the award shows the impact his work had once given the chance.  One of the nominees, Per Hallstrom, wrote this of Hemingway in his nomination: “In general, from an artistic point of view, he is remarkable for his alert and quick view on earthly things and his ability to express them in words that make them immediate experiences for the reader. He has a kind of appetite and a sort of primitive wildness. It leads the thought to generations from the west who created the great country and who have been the nerve in peoples’ energy.”  Hemingway however, was unable to be attend the Nobel Banquet at the City Hall in Stockholm, December 10, 1954, and his speech was read by United States Ambassador, John C. Cabot.

            Ernest Hemingway eventually called it quits and retired to his home in the mountains of Ketchum, Idaho with his fourth wife Mary.  Retirement was not as fulfilling to Ernest as he was diagnosed with high blood pressure and depression.  On the night of July 2, 1961, Hemingway committed suicide ending the life of one of the greatest writers the world will ever know.

Irving Is the Real Deal

A game after Duke senior Kyle Singler put up 30 points against Oregon in Portland, freshman Kyrie Irving stole his thunder.  Irving scored 31 points, setting his career high in the first half with 18, in a 84-79 win over a very talented and six ranked Michigan State Spartans.  Irving has been the best player on the court against both of Duke's biggest opponents, Kansas State and Michigan State.  The freshman had 17 points and six assists along with a stellar defensive effort on Jacob Pullen in Duke's 14-point win over Kansas State last week.  In addition to his 31 points Wednesday, Irving also recorded six rebounds, four assists, two steals and two blocks, and converted 13 of 16 free throw attempts.  For only an 18 year old freshman, Irving is playing like a senior leading Duke and is the point guard they have been lacking to give them a complete team in recent years.  Irving, a two-time ACC freshman of the week, became just the third freshman in Duke history to score at least 30 points in one game.

Heading into the locker room and down 38-34, Michigan State coach Tom Izzo told ESPN's Doris Burke that he liked the way his team was playing but that they couldn't afford to be committing silly turnovers.  The Spartans had committed 12 turnovers by halftime and tallied 20 for the game. Duke is forcing opponents into an average of 19.1 turnovers per game and capitalizing on those turnovers scoring 30 points off turnovers in the Michigan State game.

Michigan State cut its deficit to two points five minutes into the second half. After that point, however, Duke went on a 12-2 run with the help of four turnovers and two missed shots by Michigan State and an intentional foul which led to two Kyle Singler three-pointers in three possessions.  Duke was 2-9 from behind the three-point line in the first half, but hit five of its first six threes in the second half.  Duke's lead was cut to five points twice in final minute of the game, but prevailed to improve to 7-0 on the season.

Nolan Smith scored 17 points, Kyle Singler added 15 and Mason Plumlee posted 10 points and 10 rebounds for his third double-double of the season.  

Michigan State out-shot Duke from the field and from behind the three-point arc. But the difference in the game was Duke's ability to get to the free throw line. The Spartans committed 25 fouls in the game, which led to 38 free attempts-making 38-for Duke compared to just 15 for Michigan State.

Duke plays Butler at 3:15 p.m. ET Saturday at the Izod Center in East Rutherford, N.J. The Blue Devils topped the Bulldogs in the 2010 National Championship Game when Gordon Hayward’s half court prayer clanked off the rim.  Michigan State falls to 5-2 on the season and hosts Bowling Green on Saturday at 1:30 p.m. ET