Team #107 - Stanford

Well for my 107th different Division One College Basketball team, this might have been on the most unique game ever. On Friday November 11th, 2022, I saw the Stanford Cardinal take on the Wisconsin Badgers. This game was part of a doubleheader at American Family Field, home of the Milwaukee Brewers. The event was coined as the Brew City Battle. Stanford is the 2nd team that I have seen out of the PAC 12.  Stanford comes in off an 88-78 win over Pacific. The Cardinal were led by Davidson transfer Michael Jones who had a game high 31 points. Wisconsin comes in off a 85-59 win over South Dakota. Leading scorer for Wisconsin was Tyler Wahl with 19 points. According to KenPom, Wisconsin is ranked 44th and Stanford is 59th. 

I first want to talk about the venue before the actual game. Everyone hears about how tough it is to shoot at the Final Four when it is at a football stadium. I expected some very poor shooting at this game and that is what we saw in the first half. My seats were on the 1st base side. You could tell as the game went on this was the more challenging hoop to shoot on. If you shot the ball in front of the bench, you were shooting into the emptiness of the home plate area. The basket facing the 3rd base side was much closer to the court. This should be more made baskets on that end. Nonetheless, it was still a very unique basketball game. The game certainly felt like a Wisconsin home game. They did a lot of things to hype up the Wisconsin faithful. The classic Camp Randall jump around was notable. The best part of the event was the use of the Milwaukee Brewers racing sausages. They did a Sausage race at each game. Although I have never been to a Syracuse game, I kind of picture this game as a smaller version of this. There was certain areas they didn't sell tickets at. I am still of the belief that they should of had a second game going on in the outfield and make it AAU style. The court looked so small on a baseball field. I truly hope this game comes back. 

Wisconsin controlled the first half of the game. Stanford seemed to still be looking for an identity early on in this game. The best player for the Cardinal, Spencer Jones did not play against Pacific and came off the bench in this contest. Stanford only held the lead twice in this first half. Their offense looked to just stall and just stay around the 3 point line. Stanford was 0-8 from the 3 point line in the first half. Not a good strategy when playing in a makeshift basketball arena. Spencer Jones was the leading scorer for Stanford in the first half with 8 points. Wisconsin used a strong first half from Tyler Wahl to build a 12 point lead in the first half. Wahl started the game with a steal and monster jam to get the Badger faithful going crazy. He was the leading scorer for Wisconsin in the first half with 9 points. Another surprise bright spot for Wisconsin was Jordan Davis. Now Wisconsin fans are very familiar with the last name Davis. Jordan's twin brother Johnny was a star for Wisconsin last year. Jordan Davis had a lot of hustle plays in the first half, not always stuff that shows up in the box score but he was impressive. He could be a good piece for the Badgers this year. 

The second half was all Wisconsin. Stanford never got the game within five points. Every time the game would be a two possession game, Wisconsin would hit a shot to take any Stanford momentum out of the game. The poor three point shooting continued for the Cardinal. They finished the game shooting 1-16 from three point land. Won't win many games like that. Stanford was led by Brandon Angel who had 14 points. Wisconsin had three players in double figures for this game. Jordan Davis had 13 points, Chucky Hepburn had 11 points and Tyler Wahl had 17 points. Wahl was by far the best player on the court. Connor Essegian was also a bright spot for the Badgers he hit 2 3's off the bench and finished with 8 points. He seemed to have a swagger that many Freshman. I think eventually this year he replaces Max Klesmit in the starting lineup. Klesmit is a Wofford transfer and the moment kind of seemed to be over his head. Wisconsin was go on to win the game by a score of 60-50. I think Wisconsin is probably the 5-8th best team in the Big 10 this year. I don't know that Wahl and Hepburn have enough fire power to lead this team to the top. Stanford was a projected top five team in the PAC 12. I am not sure after this game how much faith I have in them. Harrison Ingram was underwhelming as was Spencer Jones. I have a feeling by the end of the year both teams can potentially be bubble teams. 

My next game is part of my North Carolina roadtrip as I will see the North Carolina State Wolfpack take on the Elon Phoenix