Keys to victory for Phoenix, Badgers this weekend

With tomorrow being Flashback Friday and Saturday being the Best of the Week, I thought I would give my keys to the games this weekend involving the Green Bay Phoenix and Wisconsin Badgers. Green Bay plays Saturday afternoon on ESPNU against league-leading Valparaiso, while Wisconsin hosts Purdue in an attempt to stay in the race for a Big Ten championship.

Green Bay will try to lock up the No. 3 seed in the Horizon League Tournament when it plays Valparaiso Saturday. The Crusaders have already locked up the regular season conference crown and thus, will host the conference tournament until they lose or win the tournament. Back in January, the Phoenix faltered down the stretch, as Valparaiso closed the game on a 12-3 run to seal a 73-62 win. Here are the keys to a Green Bay win Saturday:

1) Keep Valpo off the free throw line

In the first meeting, Valparaiso shot 33 free throws, making 27. Specifically, the Phoenix needs to keep reigning Horizon League Player of the Year Ryan Broekhoff off the foul line. In the first matchup, Broekhoff went just 2-of-7 from the field, but more than made up for it at the free throw line, going 14-of-15. He leads the conference in free throw percentage and is 23rd nationally in that category. If the Phoenix can limit the free throws Valparaiso gets, Green Bay has a good chance of coming out on top.

2) Win the rebounding battle

The teams are tied for first in the conference with identical plus-4.7 rebounding margins. Last game, Green Bay won the battle of the boards 31-28, including nine offensive. Another battle in rebounds will be between Broekhoff and Jordan Fouse, who are tied for the conference lead in rebounding. The team that wins the rebounding battle and the second chance points has a very good chance of winning.

3) Defend the 3-pointer

Valparaiso leads the conference in 3-point shooting at 37 percent. That percentage ranks it 47th in the country. Broekhoff is its top weapon from deep, shooting it at a 43.6 percent clip from long range. Will Bogan also shoots it from deep at more than 40 percent. Valparaiso takes a lot of 3-pointers and makes a lot of them. In the first meeting, the Phoenix allowed Valpo to shot just 28.6 percent from behind the 3-point line. If it does that again, we will be looking at a different outcome.

Prediction: Green Bay 64, Valparaiso 60

Now Wisconsin enters Senior Day on Sunday in need of another win. Purdue is coming off a 58-48 loss at Iowa last night and unless it makes a remarkable run in the Big Ten Tournament, its season will be coming to an end shortly. However, the Boilermakers want to make their presence felt before their season is over. Wisconsin has gotten help over the past two nights with Minnesota's win against No. 1 Indiana Tuesday and previously 0-14 Penn State stunning No. 4 Michigan last night. Wisconsin now sits tied for second in the conference with Michigan State, one game behind Indiana and one game ahead of Michigan and Ohio State. With all that being said, Wisconsin cannot be looking ahead to its monumental game against Michigan State next week, so here are the keys to Sunday's game:

1) Contain A.J. Hammons

In a conference that is loaded with young, promising freshmen from Gary Harris to Glenn Robinson III to Wisconsin's Sam Dekker, one of the more overlooked freshmen is 7-foot center A.J. Hammons. The freshman is averaging 10.9 points, 6.5 rebounds and two blocks per game. He is also shooting it at 50.6 percent. Jared Berggren will have his work cut out for him, but as long as he and the Johnson brothers don't go off, Wisconsin should be fine.

2) Give the ball to Dekker and Brust

Ben Brust has scored in double figures the past six games and Dekker has scored in double figures in the last five. In those six games Brust has scored at 10 least in, Wisconsin is 5-1. In the past five games, Dekker is averaging 13.6 points per game and shooting at an impressive 61 percent clip from the field and 55 percent from 3-point territory. These are the two best scorers on the team and need to put up between 20 and 25 shots between them.

3) Do not look ahead

Even though it is Senior Day, Bo Ryan will have to convince his players to not look ahead to the big game in East Lansing a week from today. Wisconsin has dominated its past three opponents by an average of 27 points per game and on paper, this should be another blowout. Purdue is 6-9 in conference and below .500 overall. It has only won two road games in conference and has no wins over teams currently in the top 25. But Terone Johnson has the ability to go off. He will be hungry to get back on the court after going scoreless in yesterday's game at Iowa. It will be a tough test for whoever Ryan decides to put on him.

Prediction: Wisconsin 70, Purdue 53

An almost perfect day

I am sure the Wisconsin Badgers fans were keeping track of what was happening in Minneapolis. A win against lowly Nebraska coupled with a Minnesota win over No. 1 and Big Ten leading Indiana would put the Badgers just a game back of the Hoosiers with three games to play. Minnesota held on and knocked off No. 1 77-73 to help the Badgers' chances.

Wisconsin then needed to go and dominate the Cornhuskers. And dominate it did. Nebraska kept the game close and actually led 12-11 with seven minutes gone in the game. But then the Badgers took command, going on a 24-2 run to run away with the game. Sam Dekker made three 3-pointers in that run and finished with 19 points, tying a career high. After a run by Nebraska, Wisconsin answered back with a 9-0 run to take a 44-23 lead into halftime.

The second half started as well as the first half ended, as Wisconsin rolled on with a 20-3 run to start the half, starting and ending with dunks. The first one was off a steal and 6-1 guard Ben Brust threw it down with the right hand on the fast break.

Wisconsin was never challenged and moved to within a game of first place with an impressive 77-46 beat down of Nebraska.

Even before that, the Green Bay Phoenix was in need of a win to try to win a first round bye as a No. 3 seed. With the help of 7-1 center Alec Brown, Green Bay put away Milwaukee. Brown scored a career-high 28 points and grabbed eight rebounds as the Phoenix rolled on with a 78-61 victory. That win by Green Bay coupled with a UIC 60-55 victory over Wright State sets up a big showdown Saturday afternoon at the Resch Center against league-leading Valparaiso. If the Phoenix wins or Youngstown State beats Wright State, Green Bay earns the No. 3 seed, but if Green Bay loses and Wright State wins, Green Bay will get No. 4.

After a double digit first half lead for Green Bay was cut to just six at halftime, the Panthers carried the momentum into the second half, cutting it down to just three. But Sultan Muhammad scored the next five points to put the Phoenix back up eight and it never looked back. Green Bay's lead eventually ballooned to 20 before winning by 17. In addition to Brown's 28, Greg Mays added 15 on 7-of-10 shooting. His 15 were the second most in his career, only to his 18 he put up in Detroit in January.

On to hockey, as the Wild desperately needed a victory over Calgary to keep pace in the Western Conference. It looked as though Calgary would escape with a win as it led 1-0 late in the contest. But Jason Zucker scored an equalizing goal with just more than four minutes remaining to tie the game up and send it into overtime. That set the stage for Zach Parise to score the game-winner in overtime. Parise scored his eighth career overtime goal just 27 seconds into the extra session to lift the Wild to a 2-1 much-needed overtime victory. The win put the Wild to a 10th place tie in the Western Conference standings.

The only loss from the night happened in Phoenix where the Wolves dropped another heartbreaker and for the second consecutive game, Minnesota fell by one point. It was also the second straight game Minnesota had a chance to win it at the end of regulation, but like Luke Ridnour against Golden State, Ricky Rubio was unable to knock down the buzzer beater at the end of regulation. The Wolves still had a chance to win this one in overtime, but Alexey Shved had a clean layup attempt roll off the rim with only a few seconds left and Minnesota dropped its third consecutive game. It does not get any easier tomorrow when Minnesota travels to Los Angeles to take on the Lakers, and the Timberwolves have lost 20 consecutive games to them.

Big day for Badgers, Phoenix

For the first time this season, all four of my teams play on the same day. The Green Bay Phoenix and the Minnesota Wild start things off at 7 CST with the Timberwolves and Badgers joining the action at 8. It will be a big night for the Phoenix and Badgers as both teams try to position themselves for a bye in the first round of their conference tournaments.

Green Bay needs to win its last two, both at home, for a chance at earning a No. 3 seed and a first round bye in the Horizon League Tournament. In addition to winning the last two games, it needs Wright State to lose one of its last two to earn the bye due to Wright State's sweep of Green Bay this season.

The Phoenix welcomes conference bottom feeder Milwaukee tonight to the Resch Center. Green Bay won at Milwaukee Jan. 25 74-54 behind 23 points and eight rebounds from Alec Brown. In the game, Brown reached the 1,000-point mark on a feed in transition from Keifer Sykes.

Milwaukee comes into the game 8-22 and 3-12 in conference, but is coming off back-to-back wins against UIC and on the road against IUPUI. The latter was the first road victory for Milwaukee all season. Green Bay is coming off a disappointing 71-54 loss on the road to Drake, where the Phoenix scored just 19 second half points after trailing by two at halftime.

Green Bay is also pulling for UIC tonight. UIC is playing at home against Wright State, having won already in Wright State. UIC is 4-2 at home in the Horizon League, but is coming of a 63-62 home defeat to Bradley.

Wisconsin, on the other hand, controls its own destiny for a first round bye. The Badgers have two consecutive home games against the 9th and 10th place teams in the Big Ten before ending with two road games against Michigan State and Penn State.

The Badgers are currently the No. 3 seed in the Big Ten, as it is tied with Michigan but won the head-to-head meeting. Wisconsin is one game against No. 5 Ohio State and split the season series with the Buckeyes. Ohio State has two straight road games including at top-ranked Indiana, while Michigan still has games at home against Indiana and Michigan State.

Wisconsin should have no trouble at home against the next two teams, but the trip to Michigan State could decide if it is a No. 2 or No. 4 seed.

The Wild needs a victory after losing to Calgary over the weekend. This time the Wild hosts Calgary. This is the first time Minnesota plays the Flames at home after splitting the first two games in the Saddledome. The Wild has been a disappointment this year, going just 8-7-2 for 18 points, which is 11th in the Western Conference.

The Timberwolves have had heartbreaker after heartbreaker. Minnesota leads the NBA in games lost in which it led after three quarters. That is exactly what happened Sunday afternoon as Minnesota saw a five-point lead at the end of the third quarter evaporate and Golden State prevailed 100-99.

Minnesota travels to Phoenix to take on the Suns and former Wolf Michael Beasley. The Suns are 18-39 and have lost 24 of their last 31. Phoenix has lost four straight home games, all by double digits. Minnesota should have an advantage, but you never know with that team.

Predictions:

Green Bay 71, Milwaukee 48
Wisconsin 64, Nebraska 44
Wild 3, Calgary 1
Timberwolves 95, Phoenix 90

Best of the best from this past week

This will become a weekly occurrence here on the blog as every Saturday, I will give my best of the week from my teams (Timberwolves, Badgers basketball, Phoenix, Wild) in five categories. So without further ado, here is my list:

Best performance: Nikola Pekovic, Timberwolves vs. Philadelphia

The big man for the Wolves did not take long to get going and dominated the visiting 76ers Wednesday with 27 points and a career-high 18 rebounds in the 94-87 victory, which stopped a four game home losing streak. Of his 18 rebounds, seven of them came via the offensive rebound. He scored his 27 points on just 16 shots, including making 9-of-15 free throws. He also blocked two shots.

Honorable mention:  Matt Cullen, Wild at Edmonton,with two goals and an assist in the Wild's 3-1 victory at Edmonton; Ben Brust, Wisconsin vs, Ohio State, scored 15 points and grabbed 11 rebounds in 71-49 rout of the Buckeyes; Keifer Sykes, 24 points at Youngstown State, Sykes scored 19 of his 24 points in the second half, leading Green Bay to a 71-49 victory at Youngstown State...


Best unexpected performance: Matt Cullen, Wild at Edmonton

With all of the star power on the Wild like Zach Parise, Dany Heatley and Mikko Koivu, it was 36-year-old Matt Cullen who stole the show. Cullen scored two goals and added an assist in the Wild's 3-1 victory over Edmonton Thursday night. Edmonton had momentum late in the second period after a goal put it up 1-0, but Cullen quieted the crowd with a goal less than three minutes later. He then iced the game late in the game with a goal to give the Wild the 3-1 win.

Honorable mention: Greg Stiemsma, Timberwolves at Oklahoma City, scored 13 points on just five shots in Minnesota's 127-111 loss.


Best game: Minnesota Wild, 3-2 win vs. Detroit

It looked bleak for the Wild, especially after allowing a goal just 20 seconds into the second period to fall behind 2-0. But a goal by Dany Heatley opened the gates, as it led to a 3-goal second period to take the lead. That flurry of goals included goals by the Wild included goals by Jason Zucker and Torrey Mitchell just 32 seconds apart to put the Wild on top for good. Zucker's goal was the first of his career. Darcy Kuemper shut the door on the Red Wings the last 39 minutes and the Wild came out on top.

Honorable mention: Minnesota Wild, 3-2 win at Edmonton


Best play: Ryan Evans' one-handed put back slam vs. Ohio State

Although Wisconsin hadn't been threatened at all by visiting Ohio State, the game was missing that one signature moment. Ryan Evans changed all that. Sam Dekker shot a 3-pointer from the right wing, but missed. Never fear, though, as Ryan Evans raced in from the free throw line to grab it with his right hand and throw it down. The play was simply the best of the week by a long shot. Wisconsin went onto crush Ohio State and move ahead of them in the Big Ten standings.

Honorable mention: Andrei Kirilenko's over the shoulder feed to Nikola Pekovic vs. Philadelphia


Best moment: Jason Zucker scores first NHL goal vs. Detroit

The Wild was trailing 2-1 and in need of a spark, Zucker took the puck from his own zone and raced up the boards and blew past everyone and shot it past Red Wings goaltender Petr Mrazek to tie the score at 2-2. Minnesota scored again 32 seconds later to give the Wild the eventual 3-2 win. But Zucker's goal is the moment of the week due to it being his first goal as a pro.

Honorable mention: Evans' dunk vs. Ohio State

Flashback Friday: Miracle on Ice

On this day, 33 years ago, perhaps the greatest sporting moment in U.S. history happened as the U.S. defeated the Soviet Union 4-3 in Lake Placid to earn a trip to the Gold Medal game against Finland. The U.S. then went onto defeat Finland in the game to win the gold medal. From this game, the greatest call in American sports history was made when Al Michaels most famously said "Do you believe in miracles? Yes!"

The U.S. was as big of an underdog as any team could possibly be. The Soviets had crushed the Americans less than two weeks before 10-3 in Madison Square Garden in a warm-up contest prior to the Olympic games in Lake Placid. The Soviets also had won every gold medal since 1960, going 27-1-1 and outscoring its opponents 175-44 in the process.

The game was on run on tape delay, so it could be shown on prime time in the U.S. The arena was filled with a capacity of 8,500 to watch the game.

Now, I was not born yet to see the game, but that does not mean I do not know the significance of this game. The two countries were rivals due to the Cold War, and to a lot of people, the hockey game was much more than a game. The U.S. decided to boycott the Summer Olympics in 1980 in Moscow and the Soviets would return the favor four years later by boycotting the Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.

Eight years prior, in the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, the Soviets played against the U.S. in men's basketball. In an Olympics dominating by Mark Spitz's seven gold medals in swimming, the Soviets were heavy underdogs against a U.S. team that had won its seven games in pool play by an average of more than 30 per game.

After a convincing 30-point win over Italy in the semifinals, the U.S. met the Soviet Union for the gold medal. With the U.S. leading 50-49 with three seconds left, the Soviets were unsuccessful on two tries to score a game-winning hoop. But they were allowed a third try because of a timeout confusion and a clock error. On the third try, the Soviets caught the ball inside the paint and scored after two American defenders fell down, giving the Soviets the upset victory. The players on the U.S. team still to this day have refused their silver medals. It was the Soviet Union's 'Miracle on Ice.'

Fast forwarding it to 1980, the Soviets are coming into the Olympics having beaten the NHL All-Stars 6-0 the previous year to win the Challenge Cup. It also cruised through the pool round, outscoring opponents 51-11 in the five games leading up to the matchup against the U.S.

It did not take long for the Soviets to get on the board, as Vladimir Krutov lit the lamp on a deflected shot by  Alexei Kasatonov to give the Soviets a 1-0 lead. Buzz Schneider responded for the U.S. before Sergei Makarov got a shot past Jim Craig. But with time running down in the first period, Dave Christian shot the puck from 100 feet out on Russian goaltender Vladislav Tretiak, who made the save, but the rebound went directly to Mark Johnson, who put the puck past Tretiak just before the first period buzzer sounded to tie the game at 2-2 at the end of the first period.

Vladimir Myshkin replaced Tretiak after Johnson's last second goal. Myshkin held the U.S. scoreless, but only had to face two American shot attempts. The lone goal of the period was on the power play by Aleksandr Maltsev, who gave the Soviets a 3-2 lead after two periods.

After a penalty on the Soviets, the Americans had two shots on the power play before Dave Silk had the puck in the Russian zone, but was knocked to the ice by Valeri Vasiliev. The puck slid to Johnson, who fired  the puck past Mychkin to tie the game at 3-3. It was Johnson's second of the game.

Just more than a minute later, the U.S. was back at it again, with captain Mike Eruzione scoring the eventual game-winning goal exactly halfway through the third period. Despite numerous chances by the Soviet Union in the final 10 minutes to even up the game, the Soviets were not able to score against Craig, who finished with 36 saves.

The final call by Michaels went like this: "11 seconds, you've got 10 seconds, the countdown going on right now! Morrow, up to Silk. Five seconds left in the game. Do you believe in miracles?! YES!"

The U.S. made the miracle complete a few days later when it defeated Finland 4-2 to win the gold medal, coming from behind in the third period again.

In 1999, Sports Illustrated named this the Top Sports Moment of the 20th century, and in 2008, the International Ice Hockey Federation named it the No. 1 international ice hockey story.

No matter who you are, when you think about this game, the one thing people will remember is Michaels' call of the final seconds of the game. It is just one of those things that will live on and be remembered forever.

Thoughts on Wolves/Badgers games and Wolves staying pat at deadline

Last night, the Wolves and Badgers both won games convincingly, for the most part. Minnesota had to hold off a late Philadelphia rally, but the Wolves were in control throughout the game. I was pretty close on my 95-91 prediction for the Wolves game as Minnesota ended up winning 94-87. Wisconsin, however, did not have to hold off any kind of rally by Northwestern as it blew past the Wildcats 69-41 in Evanston, Ill. The Badgers win kept them in the third spot in the Big Ten standings, tied with Michigan and one game ahead of Ohio State.

Like I said yesterday, it was a must to get the ball to Nikola Pekovic and let him go to work. Go to work he did as he dropped 27 on the 76ers as well as grabbing 18 rebounds, which tied a career high. Alexey Shved was not a factor like I said he needed to be, but Pekovic more than made up for it. In his first game back after missing five games, Andrei Kirilenko once again filled the stat sheet, scoring 15 points, grabbing five rebounds, dishing out five assists and having two steals and three blocks as well.

Minnesota made a living on the free throw line, going 33-for-44 from the charity stripe and out-rebounded Philadelphia 51-39. The Timberwolves desperately needed this one of they want any chance of making the playoffs, especially with a road trip to Oklahoma City coming up tomorrow.

Wisconsin also needed to win against a depleted Northwestern squad. The team that Northwestern trotted out to play just is not very talented. That will happen when Jared Swopshire and Drew Crawford , two starters, are out for the season. Wisconsin did what it needed to and jumped out to an early 9-0 lead before coasting to the easy 28-point win. Wisconsin out-rebounded the Wildcats 43-19.

Traevon Jackson ended the first half with a pull-up jumper to put the Badgers ahead 28-12. The 12 points by the Wildcats was the lowest point total Wisconsin has allowed in the first half this season and the lowest amount of points Northwestern has had in the first half under Bill Carmody.

The Wildcats would cut the deficit to 12 at 31-19, but that's as close as it would get as Wisconsin would go on an 18-6 run immediately after to put the game away. The largest lead of the game was 28, which just happened to be at the end of the game.

Ten Badgers broke into the scoring column, led by Jared Berggren and Ben Brust, who each finished with 12. Only Reggie Hearn scored in double figures for Northwestern with 13, but needed 14 shots to get those 13. Only three Northwestern players scored more than three points in the game.

The trading deadline passed at 3 EST today with very little activity around the league and no activity by the Wolves. The major player who was traded today was J.J. Redick, who was traded to the Milwaukee Bucks from the Orlando Magic.

Minnesota was rumored to be in on Utah Jazz forward Paul Milsap and at the last minute, Boston Celtics shooting guard Courtney Lee. The Wolves were not able to come to an agreement on a trade, so Minnesota decided to stand pat. The Timberwolves really needed to make a deal if they want to make playoffs as Luke Ridnour just won't be able to cut it as the starting shooting guard.

Ridnour was rumored to be traded as he just has one more year on his deal after this year and since Rubio is back at full strength, Minnesota is not able to afford three highly paid point guards on its roster. He will most likely be moved during the offseason. Perhaps Derrick Williams will be traded this summer as well.

The Timberwolves are expected to get Chase Budinger and Kevin Love back next month, but at that time, it may be too little, too late in an effort to make the franchise's first playoff appearance since the 2003-04 season.

Keys to victory tonight for Badgers and Wolves

After a week long absence, the Minnesota Timberwolves are finally back in action tonight at the Target Center taking on the Philadelphia 76ers and their All-Star point guard Jrue Holiday. The teams met in December in Philadelphia. with the Wolves building an early 13-point lead at the end of the first and they never looked back, blasting the 76ers 105-88.

In the first meeting, seven players scored in double figures for the Wolves, led by Alexey Shved's 17 and Josh Howard's 16. For Philadelphia, Evan Turner scored 19 points, but took 20 shots to score those 19 points and Holiday had 13 points and nine assists.

The key matchup in tonight's game is the point guard battle between Holiday and Ricky Rubio. The Spanish sophomore did not play in the first game between the two teams. Kevin Love, however, did play for the Wolves, but was largely ineffective, scoring just six points on 2-of-10 shooting.

Rubio has heated up recently, averaging 16.5 points and 8.5 assists over the past four games while shooting 43 percent from the field. Last outing against Utah, he came one rebound shy of his first career triple-double.

Holiday, a 2013 All-Star selection, is averaging 19 points and 8.9 assists per game on the season. In his last outing, a 94-92 loss in Milwaukee, Holiday finished with 16 points and 12 assists. Neutralizing Holiday is a must. If Minnesota can hold Holiday in check like it did in the first meeting, Minnesota has a great chance of completing the season sweep.

Secondly, the Wolves must get production from Shved. In Minnesota's wins, Shved is averaging 11.7 points and 5.3 assists per game while shooting 45 percent from the field and 26 percent from behind the 3-point line. In the losses, he is scoring 9.7 points and dishing out just 3.9 assists per game while shooting just 34 percent from the field and 27 percent from behind the 3-point line. Getting Shved going is a must if Minnesota wants to make a run at the playoffs.

And finally, feed Nikola Pekovic the ball. This could be a key every night, but especially tonight. Spencer Hawes is not strong enough to handle Pekovic down low. Pound the ball inside, get Hawes into foul trouble. With Andrew Bynum still sidelined, the Wolves need to test the depth of Philadelphia's front court.

Minnesota needs to protect the home court. The Wolves have dropped their last four home games and eight of their last nine at the Target Center. For a team with aspirations of reaching the playoffs, losing home games at this rate is unacceptable.

PREDICTION: Timberwolves 95, 76ers 91

Wisconsin, on the other hand, dominated Ohio State in its last outing from the opening tip. The Badgers scored 18 consecutive points in the first half and kept the foot on the gas, routing the Buckeyes 71-49. When Wisconsin's 11-game stretch started, it played nine of 11 against ranked foes. Illinois and Minnesota did not stay in the top 25, but they are certainly no pushovers. Wisconsin finished that 11 game stretch 7-4, including two wins over top five teams. Tonight is a new task, facing the under-manned Northwestern Wildcats

Traveling to Evanston is never an easy task as Wisconsin has had its share of struggles at Welsh-Ryan Arena, but the Wildcats are coming into tonight's test under-manned. The Wildcats are 10th in the Big Ten at  4-9 in the Big Ten, but when they get hot from deep, anything can happen.

Northwestern is without senior forward Drew Crawford, who was third team All-Big Ten a year ago, as well as leading rebounder Jared Swopshire, who was lost for the season with a right knee injury in a Feb. 9 loss to Iowa. That does not even include junior JerShonn Cobb, who was suspended due to violations of team policy. Two others, freshmen Sanjay Lumpkin and Chier Ajou, are also out for the season.

But as the Badgers know, when Wisconsin does not shoot well, it is a grinder. Wisconsin just shoots 42 percent from the field as a team, which is 211th in the country. Wisconsin should win easily, but that is why they play the game.

First off, Wisconsin needs to let Ben Brust loose. He needs to look for his shot. He has done a nice job of that the past five games. In those games, Brust has scored an average of nearly 16 points per game on 47 percent shooting from the floor and 38 percent from 3-point land. In Brust we trust!

Secondly, defend the 3-pointer. Northwestern shoots more than 22 3-pointers a game. If Northwestern does not make its 3s, then this one will be ugly for the home team. But if the Wildcats are on, this game will go down to the wire. Luckily for Wisconsin, the Badgers are defending the 3-point shot as well as anyone in the country, allowing teams to shoot less than 30 percent from behind the 3-point line.

Finally, Ryan Evans needs to play within himself. I could write this every game. Evans had a great showing against Ohio State (along with the rest of the team), going 4-for-7 for nine points. Evans needs to realize that he is not one of the scorers on this team. He can shoot the mid-range, which is what he did last game. Six of Wisconsin's eight losses have come in games where Evans shot it at least 10 times. Evans can shoot mid-range, rebound and defend. If he does those three things, Wisconsin is in good shape. He can even throw in the occasional highlight reel slam like he did against Ohio State.

Wisconsin cannot overlook Northwestern. Wisconsin has two more home games after the Wildcats, but this is not one Wisconsin should lose. I predict Wisconsin will defend the 3-pointer and walk out of Evanston a relatively easy winner.

PREDICTION: Wisconsin 63, Northwestern 45

Wolves dilemma: To trade or not to trade

Coming into the season, there was reason for optimism in Minneapolis for the Minnesota Timberwolves. Last year, Minnesota was 21-19 and in the NBA playoff picture for the first time since the 2003-04 season. But then it all fell apart March 9 when Ricky Rubio tore his ACL against the Los Angeles Lakers trying to take a charge against Kobe Bryant. After the promising start, Minnesota ended the season 5-21 after the Rubio injury.

This season, Minnesota signed forward Andrei Kirilenko and fellow Russian Alexey Shved to try to help out the wings, which was a weakness for the team a year ago. The Timberwolves also traded its first round pick to Houston for sharp-shooter Chase Budinger.

With Rubio out until mid-December, the season nearly ended before it started when Kevin Love injured himself doing knuckle push-ups and would not make his debut until late November. Budinger then injured his knee just six games into the season and a promising 5-2 start to the season came crashing down.

Here the Wolves are at 19-31 with Love and Budinger still out until next month and Rubio is finally showing signs of being his old self again. They sit 7.5 games in back of the No. 8 seed and need to make a move to try to make a run at the playoffs. This may also be a last ditch effort for General Manager David Kahn to save his job.

Shved is still the only true shooting guard on the roster, so odds are Minnesota is trying to get one as it is currently starting point guard Luke Ridnour at shooting guard along with Rubio. Some names have been floated out there, such as Eric Gordon and J.J. Redick. Gordon signed a big contract with New Orleans in the offseason, but has only played 27 games the past two years combined.

With the addition of Rudy Gay, Demar DeRozan may be a target for Minnesota as well. But Minnesota struggles from 3-point land and DeRozan is shooting just 28 percent from 3-point range this year and only 23 percent for his career.

Minnesota is dangling Ridnour or J.J. Barea in an effort to be acquire a shooting guard and New York is one of the teams interested. Either Ridnour or Barea needs to be traded, as the Wolves cannot afford to keep three point guards making around $5 million per season.

Derrick Williams may be trade bait to try to acquire a shooting guard, but he probably will not be traded until the offseason, if he is traded at all.

Also, Yahoo's Adrian Wojnarowski tweeted yesterday that Minnesota "has been aggressive in offering multiple first-round picks for established talent." Who knows what that means? It is fun to speculate if the first rounders are involved with a player or if they are on their own.

Even though Kahn has made some questionable draft picks like Jonny Flynn and Wes Johnson, he has made quality trades during his tenure. He turned two second round picks into Michael Beasley and two role players, Randy Foye and Mike Miller, into Rubio. There are plenty of things people can rip Kahn for, but trades are not one of them.

And finally, this is an out of the box trade idea. But Los Angeles has issues and Dwight Howard would be a perfect fit for Minnesota. Now, this is unlikely because Howard will never want to re-sign with the Timberwolves, but if Minnesota wants a great fit next to Love and Los Angeles wants to get younger, this might not be a bad idea. Minnesota would have to trade Derrick Williams, Nikola Pekovic, Brandon Roy's contract and another player as well as a first round pick or two, but it would be worth the investment.

There will be a follow-up if a trade is indeed made.

A good day in my world

Going into the day, the Wisconsin Badgers were trying to earn a bye on the first day of the Big Ten Tournament, especially since only one team has ever won the tournament championship after playing four games in four days. That team was the 2001 Iowa Hawkeyes, beating the Indiana Hoosiers 63-61 behind current Brooklyn Nets forward Reggie Evans.

After the Big Ten expanded to 12 teams, only the top four teams had a Thursday bye instead of the five teams before Nebraska joined. Well, Ohio State and Wisconsin came into Sunday tied with identical 8-4 conference records with the Buckeyes already having beaten Wisconsin 58-49 last month in Columbus. The winner would have a leg up on that coveted first round bye.

Most people are critical of the style of play Wisconsin runs. When the Badgers are missing shots, the team looks awful, but when the team is making shots, it is a thing of beauty. Imagine that, when a team makes shots, it looks good. Luckily on this day, the Badgers played the best game they have played all season. Coming off a heartbreaker against Minnesota the previous game, Wisconsin needed this.

Junior guard Ben Brust, the hero from last Saturday's game against Michigan with his halfcourt buzzer beating 3-pointer to send the game into overtime, made three 3-pointers early in the Ohio State game to help put the game away early. With Ohio State and Wisconsin tied 6-6 early on, Brust drained two consecutive 3-pointers to start an 18-0 run for the Badgers en route to an easy 71-49 victory, thoroughly dominating the No. 13 team in the nation.

The good fortune did not end there, though. The Green Bay Phoenix also needed a victory to try to  stay in contention for a bye in the Horizon League Tournament. After Green Bay dropped its first eight road games of the season, the Phoenix had won three of four games away from home heading into a date with the Youngstown State. The Penguins were only one game behind Green Bay in the conference standings. A Green Bay win would almost assure it of a top four finish.

Junior big man Alec Brown helped the Phoenix to an eight point halftime lead. But a big run to start the half by Youngstown State had Green Bay trailing by one point with less than 16 minutes remaining in the game. The Phoenix responded with a 15-3 run to give it an 11-point lead and it never looked back. Sophomore guard Keifer Sykes scored 19 of his 24 points in the second half to lead the charge as Green Bay earned a big 71-54 victory over Youngstown State.

The day ended with wins by Wisconsin hockey over the rival Minnesota Gophers 3-2 and a Minnesota Wild win over Detroit by the identical 3-2 score. After a scoreless first period, Wisconsin took control of the game in the second, scoring three times to take a 3-0 lead to the third period. However, the Gophers dominated action in the third period and scored one early in the period and one late to cut the deficit to one. But the Badgers held off a last ditch effort by the Gophers to try to tie the game. Make it 3-0.

The perfect day day was about to be spoiled by Detroit as the Red Wings took a 2-0 lead early in the second period. But the Wild answered as, like the Badgers, it scored three second period goals to take a 3-2 lead. Goalie Darcy Kuemper held the Red Wings scoreless the last 39 minutes of the game to earn the victory. Make it 4-0. The perfect day. Now hopefully the teams keep it up going forward.