Wisconsin hopes to tame wild West
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) -- Arizona, Stanford, St. John's, Temple and Cincinnati.
LSU would rather not join those top-seeded teams -- now spectators in the NCAA tournament.
But as the highest seed remaining in the West, the No. 4 Tigers (28-5) have inherited the role of favorites tonight against No. 8 Wisconsin and are the logical choice to make it to Indianapolis.
Logic, however, took a beating the first week of the tournament.
Wisconsin beat Arizona, the West's No. 1 seed, in Salt Lake City. No. 1 Stanford fell to North Carolina in the South and No. 2 seeds St. John's, Temple and Cincinnati also exited early.
''Based on the seeding, obviously, we would be the favorite just based on the numbers,'' LSU coach John Brady said. ''But based on what has happened in the tournament to this point ... with the unpredictability ... in a sense everybody is an underdog because you don't know what's going to happen.''
At least Brady and the Tigers know what to expect from Wisconsin (20-13).
The Badgers, who until last week hadn't won two games in the NCAA tournament since 1941, used their bruising, disruptive, defense and half-court offense to eliminate Fresno State and Arizona.
''They have a commitment to a very well-coached, solid half-court man-to-man defense and a very patient half-court offense,'' Brady said.
Wisconsin plays basketball with the same mindset that Vince Lombardi's Green Bay Packers played football. And Badgers coach Dick Bennett, who formerly coached at Wisconsin Green-Bay, says his coaching philosophy was influenced by Lombardi's.
''We call our screeners blockers,'' Bennett said. ''I value the possession of the ball and eliminating mistakes. I was influenced by Vince Lombardi having worked in the Green Bay area for so long. His method of practice was repetition, a simplicity of doing all the little things well.''
If Wisconsin is to keep its tournament run going, it'll have to play big against LSU's imposing frontline of 6-foot-11 Jabari Smith and 6-9 Stromile Swift.