It would be easy to label Friday’s clash between No. 9 BYU and No. 23 Wisconsin in Salt Lake City represents an opportunity for the Badgers to gain revenge for their NCAA Tournament second-round loss eight months ago.
But that would ignore the obvious. The Cougars (3-1) and the Badgers (4-0) are significantly different than they were on March 22 – when BYU never trailed but had to survive John Tonje’s missed 10-foot fadeaway on the game’s final possession to claim the 91-89 win in Denver.
The Cougars retain four players from that game who combined for 46 points in 77 minutes, though it might be only three available returnees if big man Keba Keita cannot shake the apparent concussion he suffered Saturday against UConn.
The Badgers, meanwhile, retain three players who teamed up for 27 points in 65 minutes in that upset loss to BYU.
While both squads have been folding important new players into their rotations, the Badgers and Cougars have reached this early-season summit in different fashions.
Wisconsin, with three new starters and four reserves joining the fray, opted for four buy games at home and drilled Campbell, Northern Illinois, Ball State and SIUE by an average of 28.3 points.
Third-year Badger John Blackwell and San Diego State grad transfer Nick Boyd have proven to be a complementary backcourt combo. Boyd averages 20 points per game while Blackwell, one of 50 players named to the Wooden Award watch list, averages 19.5 points.
Third-year Badger Nolan Winter (14.3 ppg, 9.3 rpg) and Portland transfer Austin Rapp (11.8 ppg) are similarly complementary up front as both can score and pass from all over the floor.
“We need this type of test that’s coming,” said Wisconsin coach Greg Gard. “Not only Friday, but next week in San Diego, too. I think we’ve gotten to a point where we need to see what’s coming. We know the challenge it’s going to be. I think this group is ready for it. They’re hungry for it.”
On the flip side, BYU dove into the deep end immediately with a season-opening win over Villanova in Las Vegas. Then, after two buy games, the Cougars clashed with UConn before a partisan Huskies crowd on Saturday in Boston and took an 86-84 loss to the nation’s No. 3 team.
Ballyhooed freshman AJ Dybantsa has lived up to the hype by averaging a team-high 20.3 points and 6.8 rebounds while shooting 57.4% from the field, which includes 4 of 10 from 3-point range.
But Dybantsa’s 29.3% usage rate confirms that, to date, he’s no more involved in the offense than senior returnee Richie Saunders (19.5 ppg) and Baylor transfer Robert Wright (17.8 ppg, 4.3 apg). Dybantsa and Saunders both made the Wooden Award preseason watch list.
“I think our chemistry is starting to grow,” said BYU coach Kevin Young. “I think that’s one of the biggest things we have to continue to get better at. But I think we’re understanding each other a little bit more. I think our understanding of the schemes, particularly defensively… I think is growing.”
In addition to potentially playing without Keita in the post – Young said “he got his bell rung pretty good in that UConn game” – starting guard Kennard Davis Jr. could miss another game due to a recent car crash in Provo, Utah, that led to DUI and marijuana possession charges.
