Jordan Taylor, Badgers Sink Homesick Buckeyes, 63-60

College Hoops Player of the Day for Sunday, January 26, 2012

Remember all the early-season hype about how good Ohio State was and how Jared Sullinger should be considered a candidate for player of the year?

Well, whether you do or not, forget about all that because the Buckeyes don't even look like much of a Top 25 team presently, especially after losing their third straight game to a ranked opponent, losing at home to #16 Wisconsin on Sunday, 63-60.

The main problem with Ohio State seems to be one of depth. They simply don't have any, as evidenced by the floor time put in by their starters and the lack of punch coming off the bench. In their loss to the Badgers, five Buckeye players - all starters - logged 30 minutes or more and accounted for all but one of Ohio State points. Of the five, Sullinger scored only eight and guard Lenzell Smith Jr. didn't score at all in his 30 minutes.

Worse yet is the fact that the Buckeyes - at home - could not even match a team doing essentially the same thing, as four Badgers logged 34 minutes or more and 47 of their 63 points came from just three players.

One of those Badgers doing most of the scoring was Jordan Taylor, whose 19 points were high for the team. Taylor, an all-conference guard averaging 14.3 points per game, was 6-for-8 from the field and 6-for-7 from the line, contributing five rebounds and four assists.

Another glaring issue for #8 (not for long) Ohio State is their foul shooting. If they had done just a little better than their 10 of 19 at the stripe against Wisconsin, they would have won the game. Poor foul shooting won't cut it in the Big Ten and it is a pretty reliable indicator for an early exit from the NCAA tournament.

The Buckeyes dropped into a tie with Michigan for second place in the conference, the two 11-5 teams chasing 13-3 Michigan State with Wisconsin a game further back at 10-6. With two games left in the regular season, the Buckeyes' chances of catching the Spartans are slim. They would have to win at Minnesota and Michigan State just to tie, and the #6 Spartans would also have to lose at #23 Indiana.

Jordan Taylor Pumps in 39 for Badgers in 77-67 Win Over Hoosiers

College Hoops Player of the Day for Thursday, March 3, 2011

Looking extremely strong and confident heading into the post-season, the Wisconsin Badgers won their 4th straight and 8th of their last nine, winning at Indiana, 77-67, behind a career high 39 points from their star point guard, Jordan Taylor.

Hitting seven of eight three-pointers on shooting of 11-for-19, Taylor took on the scoring load, accounting for just more than half of the Badgers' total. He also went 10-for-10 from the charity stripe and scored in double figures for the 28th time in 29 outings.

Wisconsin is all set for the Big Ten tournament which commences next week and could be the #1 seed in the Midwest should they manage to win the tourney or defeat Ohio State, or both. At 13-4, they've secured at lest third place in the conference, behind 15-2 Ohio State and 14-3 Purdue.

Taylor, a junior, will get strong consideration for Big Ten player of the year, along with Ohio State freshman Jared Sullinger and Purdue's JaJuan Johnson.

NOTABLE: Jeremy Hazell scored 31 points and the Seton Hall Pirates - the worst three-point shooting team in the Big East - nailed 12 of 18 from beyond the arc in an 84-70 upset of St. John's, snapping the Red Storm's 6-game win streak. It's not a huge deal for St. John's, though a win might have wrapped up a double bye in the upcoming Big East tournament, which begins Tuesday on St. John's home court at Madison Square Garden.

The PAC-10 is still evolving into what looks like four NCAA tournament bids. Washington stopped UVLA in its tracks with a 70-63 home win, but the major development of the evening was Washington State's 85-77 victory over USC. The Cougars have won two straight to get to 9-8 in conference play, host UCLA on Saturday in their final regular season game before heading into the conference tourney. A couple of wins in the PAC-10 tournament could land the Cougars the 4th bid for the PAC-10, along with Arizona, Washington and UCLA.

Some key games to watch on Saturday are #8 Notre Dame at #16 UConn; #19 Villanova at #4 Pittsburgh; #21 Vanderbilt at #14 Florida; and the late night spectacle (9:00 pm ET) of #4 Duke at #13 North Carolina. Ivy League fans will be thrilled with Princeton at Harvard, a game that could determine the conference champion.

And Then There Were None... Wisconsin Hands Ohio State First Loss

College Hoops Player of the Day for Saturday, February 12, 2011

Jordan Taylor scored 21 of his game-high 27 points in the second half, fueling a Wisconsin run that brought the Badgers all the way back from a 15-point deficit to defeat Ohio State, 71-67, ending the Buckeye's unbeaten streak at 24 straight.

Ohio State entered the Kohl Center seeking to remain the only undefeated team in college basketball, but, like so many times before, left the building shaken and defeated. The Buckeyes haven't won at Wisconsin in over a decade.

In an ironic twist, Wisconsin also knocked off #1 Ohio State back in October of this past football season, when the Buckeyes of the gridiron were also undefeated.

Taylor was 8-for-13 from the field, including five three-pointers. He also added four rebounds and seven assists, scoring in double figures for the 23rd time in 24 starts this season.

The Badgers are unbeaten in Big Ten action at home this season, and haven't lost there since being handled by Notre Dame, back in November in a 58-51 loss. Ranked #13 nationally, they're sure to move up in the standings come Monday afternoon. They are 9-3 in the conference, still trailing the 11-1 Buckeyes.

The last time a Division 1 team finished undefeated was in 1975-76 - well before the players on the floor today were even born - when Bobby Knight coached the Indiana Hoosiers to a national championship.

NOTABLE: Unnoticed by most fans of college hoops, Cleveland State's senior guard, Norris Cole is having a heck of a season, leading the Vikings to a 22-5 record and scoring a career high 41 points in Saturday's 71-67 win over Youngstown State. Not only did Cole put up big offensive numbers, he also crashed the boards with impunity, hauling in 20 rebounds and fell just short of a triple-double with 9 rebounds. Cole was 11-for-22 from the field with 5 threes and hit 14-of-17 free throws.

Cleveland State is 11-4 in the Horizon League, just a half game behind Valparaiso, at 11-3, but the conference is top-heavy, with Butler and Wisconsin-Green Bay both 10-5 and Wright State lurking at 10-6.

Big Least? #4 Pitt knocked off #9 Villanova, 57-54, keeping the Panthers clearly in the Big East lead, at 11-1. Notre Dame - who gave Pitt their only loss - trails the Panthers by two games at 9-3 and is followed by Georgetown and Louisville, both 8-4. With Pitt running away from the field, it poses an intriguing question, whether the Big East is really all that great and just how many teams should receive nCAA tourney bids?

The top four appear solid, but there's a gaggle of seven teams behind them all between 7-5 and 6-5, with Syracuse at 7-6. This bunch includes Villanova, West Virginia, St. John's, Marquette, Cincinnati and Connecticut, all looking very much like second or third round NCAA fodder.

Separation Days Top 25 upsets have pretty much ceased over the past two weeks. On Saturday, all twelve ranked teams which faced unranked opponents won their games, providing further separation of the Top 25 from the rest of college basketball.

Jordan Taylor Leads Badgers Over Skidding Spartans

College Hoops Player of the Day for Sunday, February 6, 2011

On the day that the Lombardi Trophy was returned to Green Bay, it was perfectly fitting that the Wisconsin Badgers would decimate Michigan State, sending the Spartans to their fifth loss in their last six games and the most lopsided defeat of the season.

Jordan Taylor scored a career-high 30 points as the Badgers dominated in an 82-56 win. The junior guard knocked down three of four three-pointers and was 9-for-13 from the field overall. Taylor also hit 9 of 10 free throws and handed out six assists in a game that was essentially over at the mid-point of the first half.

The Badgers led all the way and opened up a double digit lead early, expanding that advantage to a 43-25 score at the break. Wisconsin edged further ahead in the second half, eventually leading by as many as 33 points. Hitting 59% from the field and 11-of-17 (65%) from three-point range, Wisconsin's shots were as accurate as Aaron Rodgers' passes in the Super Bowl later in the day.

Ranked #19, Wisconsin moved into a tie for second place with Purdue at 7-3 in the Big Ten. Everyone in the conference is chasing runaway #1 Ohio State, the only unbeaten team in the nation at 24-0, and 12-0 in the Big Ten.

The Badgers will get two shots at the Buckeyes, the first on February 12, at home, and the second in the season finale, March 6, at Ohio State.

For now, though, all hail Wisconsin.

Badgers Take Down Hoosiers behind Taylor's 28

College Hoops Player of the Day for Thursday, January 20, 2011

One of just two Top 25 teams in action on Thursday - the other was #20 Washington, which dispatched Arizona, 85-68, and retained the PAC-10 lead - the Wisconsin Badgers got a bit of a test from Indiana, but in the end managed to prevail at home, 69-60.

Led by their signature defense, the Badgers turned around a 34-30 deficit at the half with ball pressure and timely scoring, getting a career high 28 points from junior guard Jordan Taylor, who hit 9-of-15 shots from the field, including three treys and went 7-for-7 from the charity stripe.

Taylor also handled eight rebounds and dished four assists.

The Badgers improved to 14-4 overall and 4-2 in the Big Ten. They are currently tied for third place with Michigan State and Illinois behind 6-0 Ohio State and 5-1 Purdue. They've won 14 straight games at the Kohl Center in Madison.