Bronson led the way with 15 points on 4-6 shooting from 3, Nigel added 10 in a game-high 38 minutes, and the Badgers got 23 points off the bench en route to handing Iowa their first home loss of the season last night. The loss is the 3rd in 4 games for Fran McCaffrey’s team, and it capped off Jarrod Uthoff’s illustrious 0-5 career against the Badgers.

Khalil Iverson was the unexpected bright spot, scoring 9 points in a solid 20 minutes. He also had 3 boards, 3 assists, a steal, and a block, plus the best dunk I can remember in recent Badger basketball history (not that that’s saying all that much).

The win was Wisconsin’s 9th in 10 games, which brings us into a tie with Michigan State for 4th place in the Big Ten. More importantly, it should be the win that sends the Badgers dancing for the 18th straight season, and it should also be the win that removes Greg Gard’s interim tag. It was the 3rd win against a top 10 team since Gard took over, and it was the first time Wisconsin has notched multiple top 10 wins on the road since 1955. It also got just about every voice in college basketball sending a message to Barry Alvarez…

It is Badger Time / Tip of the Hat to Greg Gard / What is Barry Alvarez waiting for / Gard can flat out coach / has EARNED a new contract

— Dick Vitale (@DickieV) February 25, 2016

Hey Barry Alvarez: Hope you are paying attention. Greg. Gard.

— Jeff Goodman (@GoodmanESPN) February 25, 2016

Yes Wisconsin is in the tourney. Yes I think Greg Gard should get the job.

— Seth Davis (@SethDavisHoops) February 25, 2016

This team is hitting its stride at the right time, and there’s no better year to be a low seed with hopes of making a run in the Tournament. #inGardWItrust

A 17-0 run late in the second half proved to be the difference maker as the Badgers fought back from 12 points down to take a 69-60 win from Illinois at the Kohl Center last night. Ethan Happ led the way with 20 and 12 boards, Nigel had 17, 3 boards, and 2 assists, and Bronson pitched in 14 with 5 boards and 2 assists. This was a game where the usual suspects stepped up down the stretch when they needed to, but bench production once again showed to be the glaring hole, with 4 reserves combining for 2 points, 3 rebounds, and 2 assists while all 5 starters played over 30 minutes.

There was nothing pretty about it, but this was a much needed win for a team that can’t afford any more bad losses. Illinois only has 4 conference wins on the year, and letting them come into the Kohl Center and get a win would not have been a good look for a bubble team that’s already let Western Illinois, Milwaukee, and Marquette do that same thing. This isn’t by any means a marquee win like an Indiana or a Michigan State, but it’s still one Wisconsin had to have at this point in the season. Now they’ve won 8 of their last 9 going into Wednesday at #4 Iowa, the biggest game on the schedule to this point.

If the Badgers can go into Carver-Hawkeye and get a win it should all but guarantee a spot in the Tournament, but I don’t think a loss breaks them anymore. Even if we can’t get another big time win this week, we could still end up a 20-win team in the regular season, which seemed impossible not that long ago. From this point out if they take care of the games they’re supposed to and win a game in the Big Ten Tournament too, the Badgers should be dancing for the 18th year in a row. That being said, all 4 games left will most likely be gutter wars – Iowa is a top 5 team, Michigan is another bubble team that will need a big win, we never play well at Minnesota, and nothing will be easy about going to #17 Purdue. Buckle up.

It’s been over a decade since Wisconsin last went into the Breslin Center and won, and that trend didn’t end last night. The Badgers dug themselves an early 14-3 hole in the first 6 minutes, Nigel couldn’t hit a shot, and Denzel Valentine and Bryn Forbes were both unstoppable on their way to a 69-57 win that was never even as close as the final score looked. Other than that, there’s not a whole lot to say about it. Michigan State dominated from start to finish, as they probably should have. They’re a team that will have  shot to cut down the nets in April, and we’re just fighting to get in.

I think the general consensus going into this game was that it would be one the Badgers couldn’t get after knocking off MSU at home a month ago, and the good news is that it shouldn’t really cost us anything. At this point the goal is to make the Tournament, and losing to the #8 team in the country on the road won’t be a deal breaker. It probably would’ve made us a shoe-in had we pulled out a win, but last night they were just flat out the better team all around. We’ll still get one more shot at a big time team in #4 Iowa, and we still have more winnable games on the schedule. As long as we win 3 of the last 5 in the regular season and knock somebody off in the B1G Tournament, we should be dancing.

When I first saw that headline I really thought the 5’5″ dunker from Riverside named Melvin Lee would be a white guy.

I don’t know how to solve all the problems in this world, but I know that this is one of em – We’ve gotten to the point where everybody and every belief and every lifestyle has to be so universally accepted that people can whine their way into wearing spaghetti strainers on their head in driver’s license pictures. We’re so worried about being politically correct and not offending anyone that the government can’t even tell this guy that he’s an idiot, because then they’ll be facing a lawsuit. I agree that black lives matter and I think gay marriage should be recognized everywhere, but I draw the line at the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster.

On the flip side, if this is gonna be legal now, I might have to think about wearing a spaghetti strainer on my head too. My license expires within the next year so I’m gonna need to get a new one soon, and any regular ugly person knows that the DMV is always gonna take the worst possible picture. At least a dish on my head would be distracting.

ESPN: Maryland center Diamond Stone has been suspended for Thursday’s game against Minnesotaafter the freshman big man shoved Wisconsin forward Vitto Brown‘s head to the floor late in the first half of his team’s 70-57 loss on Saturday.

The school made the decision, and it was supported by the Big Ten.

Stone, who scored 10 points and grabbed one rebound in the loss, was issued a contact dead ball technical foul but was not tossed from the game.

What a classy move by Maryland. I mean I don’t know where they get such a bad rap, but it’s not fair. Sure, they may pay to get big time recruits and they may welcome in transfers who have been accused of rape, but if one of their players assaults somebody on national television, they won’t even be allowed to play against 0-13 Minnesota. That’ll show him.

In a jam packed show, Rich and Max analyze the impact of the departure of Daronte Jones and finally get to their backlog of listener mail. Those segments bookend their detailed projections for what the Badger defense will look like in 2016.

First thing’s first with this story… The kid on the left is a dude, right? That’s gotta be a guy. So what’s he doing “undergoing a beauty treatment” in his college dorm? If anything that’s what the internet should be criticizing him for, not for posting a picture where it looks like he’s trying to be a black guy for Halloween.

That being said, I still think this is just people freaking out about race for the sake of freaking out about race. Yeah, they probably should’ve known that a few eyebrows would raise at the sight of a couple college kids wearing anything that even resembles black face, but I just don’t think they were trying to make some anti-black statement by posting a picture on the UW SnapChat story. Although the chick throwing up the deuce didn’t do them any favors. If you’re gonna post that picture, everything else about the scene has to be as white as possible to make it very obvious that you’re not imitating black people. So actually now that I think about it, I just changed my mind mid-blog. Racist.