Cougars, Badgers keep NCAA 2nd round mood light with recovery, family and whirlpools?

Denver – After the survival and progress of the first round of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament, both BYU and Wisconsin had similar routines: hydrate, relax and “relax the rest of the day,” said Badgers Guard John Blackwell.

In the case of the Cougars, this may have involved a whirlpool.

The sixth BYU (25-9) will compete in the second round on Saturday in the Ball Arena (5.45 p.m. MdT, CBS) with the third seed (27-9), and the two teams have a closed exercise in the Haus der NBA-Nuggets and NHLS Avalanch before they talked to the media in the media.

A victory for BYU would send the Cougars to their first sweet 16 since Jimmer Fredette had led one of the best runs in the program history to similar heights in 2011, one of only two regional semi -finals since the tournament, which was expanded to 32 teams in 1975.

BYU spent some time ago to relax in the hotel pool, to organize a team meal and to have some of the boys spent time with family and friends who made the trip to Denver.

Then it went on to Wisconsin, said Point Guard Dallin Hall.

“Coach is so great,” he said. “He appreciates the family and the meaning. But then we all just said that this is great. But we have more work here. So we quickly turned the site over, and we understood that we have more to do in the tournament.

“Everyone has concentrated on Wisconsin since that night.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c2u-bljakta

Concentrated on the Badgers, who advance to the Big Ten title on Sunday evening -and the experience of Dawson Baker with the school’s pep band in the hot tub.

“I spent part of the night in the whirlpool with some band,” he said with a laugh. “Somehow interesting.”

“Fun,” added teammate Trey Stewart.

“The conversation was great,” added Baker. “They wanted to go to the zoo today.”

Again, Stewart threw in: “Is there a zoo?”

“There is a zoo somewhere,” joked Baker. “I talked about the zoo when we were here for the first time and shouted how long it was.

The Cougars won their first NCAA tournament since 2012 and have been in the 32nd round for the first time since Jimmer Fredette since Jimmer Fredette 16 run a year before the run. But the moment did not come to a group when they went through the training, spoke to the media and made a lot of jokes with each other under the arena in Denver.

This is also not a bad thing for head coaches in the first year.

“I think our group does a good job when it comes to being serious, being serious, but not to the point where they become too tight,” he said. “I think it speaks for their experience. Many of these boys have been here before. It is certainly a balancing act. I think it is important not to take things too seriously.”

That means, except for the piece. Young called his first NCAA tournament experience “Like a Game 7” in the NBA playoffs during his exit interview with TNT -and two days later in the same city with another game 7.

He also has a lot of experience in this, during his time with the Phoenix Suns and Philadelphia 76ers in the past decades before he arrived at BYU last April.

“Seven years in a row we made it into the playoffs, most of them were at least second round or passed,” said Young. “I rely on my experiences to only put together game plans to stop the best players in the world. There are countless reference points. I always think we tried this against Jayson Tatum, we tried this against Luka, whatever the case may be.

The Cougars and Badgers are similar teams on paper. BYU occupies 23rd place in Kenpom and 25th place on the net, while Wisconsin – the national team of number 13 in the latest AP survey – rates in Kenpom and 15th online.

The Badgers belong to a handful of teams that were adapted by Kenpom in both the adapted offensive efficiency and adapted.

Both teams are almost 80 points per game on average, allow 70 and shoot a shadow of 45% from the field, with 3-point shooting in the range of 35%.

Combine the two together and what do you get?

“Probably 50 to 48 years old, one of them,” Wisconsin trainer Greg Gard was dead with a smile. “Basketball, the game, it is not over -comprised. Don’t let us over -comprise the game. It is still about making high -quality pictures. If you can get the good early.

“They change some defense a little, carry out a small three-quarters of court pressure. But it is still not to overcome the game at the end of the day. I think the game is sometimes overwhelmed and interrupted. For us it is always a matter of simply keeping it and being fundamental at both ends.”