UW Crushes No. 7 Michigan State, 82-63 MADISON, Wis. - Junior Kammron Taylor matched a career-high with 27 points to lead the University of Wisconsin men’s basketball team to an 82-63 upset of No. 7 Michigan State Sunday afternoon at the Kohl Center. Taylor shot 11-of-17 from the floor and matched a career-high with five 3-point baskets, as the Badgers (12-2, 2-0 Big Ten) defeated their highest ranked opponent since knocking off No. 7 Illinois in 2002. As a whole, UW made a season-high 10 3-point baskets (10-of-21 overall). “There were opportunities for (Kammron),” head coach Bo Ryan said. “There were times when we needed a bucket or times when we needed something to happen, and Kam is an opportunist, and he fed off of that.” Junior Alando Tucker contributed 17 points, and sophomore Brian Butch put up 12 points. MSU also had three players in double figures; Shannon Brown paced his team with 31 points. Despite scoring the game’s first eight points, the Spartans (12-4, 0-2) quickly cooled off, shooting a season-worst 22-of-63 for 34.9 percent (they were 4-of-15 for 26.7 percent midway through the first half). They also had trouble protecting the ball, tallying nine of its 15 turnovers in the opening frame. So while Michigan State began its slide, Taylor took advantage. He churned out five points and an assist as the Badgers cut their deficit to 8-7 early on. Taylor finished with 12 points in the first half as his team built up a 36-26 lead. UW then held MSU scoreless for the first three minutes of the second half and as a result, doubled its lead to 20. To protect their advantage, the Badgers continued to capitalize off the Spartans’ turnovers, converting them to 21 points, and dominating the scoring in the paint, 30-16. Tucker also added 10 points in the final period, and Taylor continued his hot shooting, making 6-of-7 attempts. “(Kammron) made some big plays and got us some easy points,” Ryan said, “and easy buckets are not the norm in the Big Ten.” The Badgers hit the road to take on Minnesota at 6 p.m. Tuesday in Minneapolis. Game Notes Wisconsin improved to 54-64 all-time against Michigan State and 9-0 at home this year … UW head coach Bo Ryan improved to 7-1 against MSU coach Tom Izzo … Wisconsin starts the Big Ten season 2-0 for just the second time under Ryan … former Badger great Louis Ely was recognized before the game and served as honorary captain … former UW quarterback and current New York Jet Brooks Bollinger was recognized during the third TV timeout … Michigan State’s 26 first-half points were tied for its lowest first-half score of the season. Its 10-point halftime deficit (36-26) also was its largest of the season … Wisconsin’s bench outscored MSU’s 21-2 … the Badgers led by as many as 23 points … UW scored at least 70 points for the 11th time out of 14 games this season. The team improved to 65-3 under Ryan when scoring at least 70 points … Kammron Taylor’s 11 field goals were a career high … Alando Tucker’s 17 free throw attempts were a season high by a UW player.

Bring this show to dvd.....please....??? Here I come...

MILWAUKEE -- Last year at this time, the Brewers had a barrelful of questions about the middle and back end of their starting rotation. This year, the biggest question mark is up top. Right-hander Ben Sheets, severely limited in 2005 by an inner-ear condition and then a torn back muscle, will try to stay healthy enough in 2006 to headline a Brewers rotation featuring arguably more talent and certainly more experience than any in recent seasons. "We have a little more certainty, that's for sure," general manager Doug Melvin said. "Last year we had Sheets and [Doug] Davis, and then a lot of questions beyond that." Despite Sheets' injury woes and 81 games at hitter-friendly Miller Park, pitching coach Mike Maddux got the most out of Brewers starting pitchers in 2005. Starters went 58-57 and ranked second of 16 National League teams with 796 strikeouts, fourth with a .253 batting average against and sixth with a 4.02 ERA. Getting Sheets back for a full season would be a big boost. He underwent surgery after the season to repair a torn upper-back muscle suffered in an August start against Atlanta, but was given the go-ahead last month to begin a throwing program. Sheets will earn an $11 million salary this season, including a portion of the signing bonus featured in the four-year contract he inked last April. The team expects him to be ready for a fifth consecutive Opening Day start, and will be looking for a season like the one Sheets enjoyed in 2004, when he set a franchise record with 264 strikeouts and posted a 2.70 ERA. If Sheets suffers an unexpected setback, Opening Day honors could go to Davis, who has pitched 200 innings in each of his two seasons in Milwaukee, and last season ranked fifth in the Majors with 208 strikeouts. In the Nos. 3 and 4 spots are left-hander Chris Capuano, an 18-game winner last season, and right-hander Tomo Ohka. Frontrunners for the final spot include newly-acquired Dave Bush, veteran holdover Rick Helling and young left-hander Dana Eveland. "I think we have more certainty there, but you're always looking for more depth," Melvin said. "You're always two [injuries] away from having some problems. You always want more pitching and, just like other clubs, if there is another starter out there who could make us better, we would consider it." Capuano avoided his earlier injury problems and had a breakout 2005, becoming the Brewers' first 18-game winner in 18 years and setting career highs in ERA, starts, wins, innings and strikeouts. It was a dramatic coming-out for a player who missed starts due to three separate injuries in 2004. "He got the run support -- Doug Davis didn't," Melvin said. "And [Capuano] helps himself out by the way he can handle the bat and drop the bunt, he fields his position and he limits the running game." Ohka is eligible for salary arbitration (he is expected to earn about $4 million) after going 11-9 last season with a 4.04 ERA between Washington and Milwaukee. The Brewers acquired Ohka in June from the Nationals for Junior Spivey, a move that solidified the rotation and opened second base for prospect Rickie Weeks. Assuming those four pitchers are healthy, the No. 5 spot could come down to Bush, Helling or Eveland. The long shot may be Eveland, who is just 22 years old and pitched out of the Brewers' bullpen for part of last season. But if the team is unable to re-sign right-hander Dan Kolb, there may be even more impetus to bring back Eveland as a reliever, or the organization may decide to give him more seasoning in the Minor Leagues. "He has the flexibility to go a lot of different ways," Melvin said. The Brewers are high on the 26-year-old Bush, one of three players acquired from Toronto last month for first baseman Lyle Overbay. Bush made 24 starts for the Blue Jays in 2005, going 5-11 with a 4.49 ERA. Helling started last season at Triple-A Nashville but eventually earned a promotion to Milwaukee, making eight relief appearances before switching to the rotation in Sheets' stead, going 2-1 with a 2.18 ERA in seven stellar starts, including a 1.69 ERA in six September outings. He re-signed with Milwaukee in November for $850,000 plus incentives. "I think they were happy with the way I pitched in the starting role last year, but I think I also showed I could pitch in relief," Helling said when he signed. "Maybe it will be a situation where I start the year in the rotation and then move to the bullpen. At this point you just don't know. "I felt some loyalty. [The Brewers] gave me a chance last year when they really didn't have to." Melvin and Co. will not limit their options to that group of six frontrunners. The team is hopeful that right-hander Ben Hendrickson can rebound from a poor 2005 and return to prospect status, and there has been some talk of looking at right-hander Dennis Sarfate, perhaps as a reliever to start the season. "You hope that someone could step up and be a sleeper," Melvin said.

MILWAUKEE -- It's been a steady climb for the Brewers since their 106-loss disaster in 2002. But the next step figures to be the most difficult of all. The team went 81-81 in 2005 for its first non-losing season in a dozen years, and finished better than last place in the National League Central for the first time since 2001. In fact, the Brewers jumped all the way to third place in the NL Central, 19 games behind the division champion Cardinals but only eight games back of the Astros, who won the Wild Card with 89 wins and advanced all the way to the World Series. "That's eight wins in there somewhere that if we could pick up, we're going to be right in the middle of it," manager Ned Yost said. "We've got things we need to address and things to get better at before that happens. It's going to be a lot of work. "My ultimate goal is for us to bring a world championship here and we're going to work hard at doing that until that time arrives." Can the Brewers jump to that next level in 2006? General manager Doug Melvin and assistant GM Gord Ash have tried to give Yost some tools to improve. Their key trade of the Winter Meetings was one that sent popular first baseman Lyle Overbay to Toronto for right-hander Dave Bush, outfielder Gabe Gross and left-hander Zach Jackson. Bush will compete for the starting rotation, a group that otherwise should remain intact (Ben Sheets, Doug Davis, Chris Capuano, Tomo Ohka and Rick Helling are also expected back). Gross could replace Chris Magruder as an extra outfielder. Jackson will probably go to Triple-A Nashville but could be ready to jump to the Majors soon. But the deal was also important in that it opened first base for Prince Fielder, who will anchor an extremely young infield expected to endure its ups and downs. Fielder and second baseman Rickie Weeks are both former first-round draft picks with enormous offensive upside. Assuming shortstop J.J. Hardy and third baseman Bill Hall man the left side, the infield's average age on Opening Day will be 23. "We feel he's ready," Melvin said of Fielder. "This is what we pay our scouts for -- to utilize the young players you have in your system. He has to look at the opportunity now and hope he can capitalize on it the way Lyle did with us when he got the opportunity." The outfield is more of a veteran group. Carlos Lee set career highs in home runs and RBIs in his first season in Milwaukee and is entering a contract year. The Brewers picked up his $8.5 million option earlier in the winter, and Lee's name is sure to come up as the team approaches the nonwaiver trade deadline. The Brewers would love to get the same production out of center fielder Brady Clark and right fielder Geoff Jenkins. Clark batted .306 in his first season of everyday play and Jenkins was arguably the team's best hitter in the second half of 2005. Melvin and Ash will continue to look to bolster the club in the New Year, particularly the bullpen. The club expects closer Derrick Turnbow to prove his 39-save season was no fluke, and Matt Wise and Dan Kolb could serve as solid setup men. But the rest of the group is in flux, and Melvin has said he would like to add a veteran arm to the mix if one could be had at a reasonable price. The Brewers' key offseason acquisitions extend to the coaching staff. Yost brought in former Brewer Dale Sveum to be third base coach, and Sveum in turn helped lure back Hall of Famer Robin Yount to be bench coach. Both will serve as infield instructors. Offseason report card: Grade on a scale of 1 to 10: 5 -- Too Early to Tell. So much will hinge on whether Fielder, Weeks, Hardy and outfielder Corey Hart can hit the ground running and become consistent offensive players, and whether Sheets can avoid injuries and become the team's ace again. We will not know much about this club until it plays together for several months. Arrivals: RHPs Dave Bush (trade), Dan Kolb (trade) and Wilfredo Rodriguez (free agent), LHPs Jason Kershner (free agent) and Jared Fernandez (free agent), INFs Brent Abernathy (free agent), Brian Dallimore (free agent) and Zach Sorensen (waivers), and OF Gabe Gross (trade) Departures: RHPs Gary Glover, Wes Obermueller, Julio Santana and Victor Santos, INFs Trent Durrington, Wes Helms and Lyle Overbay, and OF Chris Magruder. The Road Ahead: The bullpen remains an area of concern, but that was also the case last year. The team's success depends a lot on how the youngsters adjust to everyday Major League duty.

MADISON, Wis. - Junior Alando Tucker led all scorers with 27 points in leading the University of Wisconsin men’s basketball team to a 66-52 victory over Iowa in the Big Ten Conference opener for both teams Thursday night at the Kohl Center. The Badgers (11-2, 1-0 Big Ten) trailed 34-32 at the half but held the Hawkeyes (11-4, 0-1) to just 5-of-30 (.167) field goal shooting in the final frame. Tucker scored 17 points, including two key 3-point baskets, in that period. “I’d like to say at halftime we made an adjustment, but we didn’t,” head coach Bo Ryan said. “We just played it the same way we did in the first half, except we played it better.” Kammron Taylor put up 11 points for UW, which committed a season-low six turnovers. Wisconsin also dominated inside, outscoring its opponent 32-18 in the paint. Adam Haluska and Jeff Horner scored 11 points apiece to lead Iowa, which entered the game allowing just 55.1 ppg, second-best in the Big Ten, and not allowing an opponent to score more than 23 points. However, it was the Hawkeyes’ offense that ended up being their true undoing. After leading by as many as seven points, Iowa didn’t score for the last 4:10 of the first half. That field goal drought of 19 straight misses extended to the 11:46 mark of the second half. Horner finally halted the horrific shooting by sinking a 3-point basket to cut his team’s deficit to 45-38. But the damage was already done. Iowa went on to have another field goal drought, this time lasting 5:55, while Wisconsin built its advantage up to 18. The Badgers stay at home to play host to Michigan State at 12:30 p.m. Sunday at the Kohl Center. Game Notes Wisconsin won its sixth straight against Iowa and improved to 70-74 in the all-time series … the Badger defense allowed Iowa only 18 points in the second half—the lowest second period output by a UW opponent this season … tonight’s 27-point effort marks the sixth time this season that Alando Tucker has scored at least 20 points. It’s the second time this season he scored more than 20 in back-to-back games, the other coming against Eastern Kentucky and Old Dominion in the Paradise Jam tournament … Greg Stiemsma matched a career-best with five blocks … Stiemsma also posted career-highs of four assists and three steals … Michael Flowers grabbed a career-best eight rebounds … Iowa’s 30.4 field-goal percent was the worst of the season for a UW opponent. Post-game quotations Iowa Head Coach Steve Alford On Iowa’s offense: “We just weren’t making shots. That’s been our struggle so far this year—making shots. We’ve got to have guys who will step up and make shots. You’re not going to beat many Big Ten teams scoring 18 points in the half.” On Alando Tucker’s performance: He’s a terrific player. Other than the foul line, there aren’t a lot of problems with his game. He works hard defensively, he can step out and make the 3, he can take you off the bounce, he’s a great post player. He’s really a tough match-up and obviously difficult for us tonight.” On Wisconsin’s defense: “They played very hard, very tough for 40 minutes and contested everything and when we started missing shots, it snowballed. It was probably a combination of us missing shots and what they did defensively. I give them all the credit in the world. They were a better defensive team tonight over a 40-minute game and that’s why they won.” Wisconsin Head Coach Bo Ryan On improved second-half defense: “I’d like to say at halftime we made an adjustment, but we didn’t. We just played it the same way we did in the first half, except we played it better. There was better attention given to detail and we followed rules. Coach Close did such a good job with the scout in getting us ready. It was pretty much the same stuff, except we were just a little bit behind (in the first half) or not aware enough on the hedge or a rotation was off by about a step. There were things that were not major so we did not change anything, we just tried to draw attention to the things we do in practice everyday in our defensive schemes. Then, hopefully they’ll miss some shots. You can play good defense some nights and guys just hit good shots. (Jeff) Horner hit the one from 30 or 32 (feet) and it wasn’t bad defense. Nixon wasn’t that far off so they went a little cold and we got a little better so it was a combination.” On Alando Tucker’s second-half play: “The thing that you notice about a lot of good players is that a guy like Alando does get a feel for the game. He knows he’s not going to blow the doors off in the first three minutes, but that doesn’t mean he’s not going to try. That also means defenses are doing certain things and you just have to keep adjusting and reacting, The one-man has to keep looking at different specials that we run off the swing, a couple of counters. I just think Tucker does a real good job of getting a feel for the flow of the game over a 40-minute period. It’s not that he doesn’t play well in the first half; he has played well in the first half. I just think that overall for 40 minutes he’s pretty cerebral and his basketball I.Q. has really improved.” On Greg Stiemsma: “He could have scored minus three points and it wouldn’t have mattered when you have that many assists and blocks. It wasn’t like he was flying around trying to make blocks and putting himself out of position or putting us in a disadvantageous position, they were well timed, 90 percent of his defensive movement. I just thought he played real well on the hedges, he played real well on the glass and on the floor. WOW! He just did a lot of good things and he passed the ball well."

Have a good one we are almost half way done again the second half is easier.

Have a great week all...

Happy 2006!

They have broken their two game losing streak. MILWAUKEE, Dec. 30 (Ticker) -- Maurice Williams and Bobby Simmons kept the Milwaukee Bucks perfect against the Atlantic Division. Williams, who started in place of the injured T.J. Ford, scored 30 points and Simmons added 18 - including two big baskets down the stretch - in the Bucks' 113-108 victory over the New York Knicks. Familiar with replacing Ford, who is sidelined with a sprained left foot and missed the entire 2004-05 season, Williams made 11-of-17 shots to go along with six rebounds and five assists. "I don't know if I expected 30 (points), but Mo (Williams) played tonight the way he's been playing all year," Bucks coach Terry Stotts said. "He picked his shots. Scoring 30 points on 17 shots is pretty efficient. He does a nice job picking up his penetration. I thought he did a good job taking whatever the game was giving him. He did what he needed to do from the point guard position. He took the shots that were there and made the quick passes. It was a good all-around game." "When I'm out there with T.J. (Ford), it's different, but with T.J. gone I need to make sure I get everyone involved," Williams said. "We were shooting the ball well today, and I got into a good rhythm." The 6-1 Williams made a pull-up jumper with 3:58 remaining to give the Bucks a 97-92 lead. Simmons' baseline jumper gave Milwaukee three-point lead with 2:53 to go and his breakaway dunk after Jamal Crawford's quick shot on the Knicks' next possession gave the Bucks a 101-96 advantage with 2:34 left. "We took an ill-advised three," Knicks coach Larry Brown said. "We had a stretch where we took the bad shot, then had the turnover and some missed free throws. We just haven't learned how to win." "I was awful down the stretch," said Crawford, who made just 4-of-15 shots. "I missed free throws, a three pointer and threw the ball away. That's uncharacteristic for me, but I was terrible down the stretch." Sharpshooter Michael Redd finished with 22 points and seven assists and Jamaal Magloire added 15 points for the Bucks, who improved to 7-0 against the teams from the Atlantic Division. Two of the wins have come at the expense of the Knicks. "Everyone stepped up and made plays," Redd said. "Mo has more of a scorer's mentality, and T.J. is more of a creator. They both bring a little something different to the table." Despite having five players in double figures, New York lost for the 10th time in its last 11 games. Stephon Marbury had 23 points and 12 assists and rookie Nate Robinson finished with 19 points for the Knicks (7-21), who fell into last place. Maurice Taylor scored 18 points off the bench for New York, which lost its fifth straight road game.

fun fun fun and safe Happy new year!