Seth Davis' Saturday Reactions: Wisconsin is in a free fall, Gonzaga gets a big win, and Zach Edey calls bank

Why was "Fire Calipari" trending on Twitter? What are Duke's vulnerabilities? Lots to react to from a busy Saturday in college hoops.

Wisconsin was one of the biggest stories in college basketball over the first half of the season, not just because the Badgers were winning, but because of the way they were winning. Gone was the grinding, plodding Wisconsin of old. This edition to could score points efficiently and in a hurry. They were good and fun to watch.

Alas, this program could use a heavy dose of the old formula, because the Badgers are officially in freefall. They followed up their 72-68 loss at Michigan by being dominated, 78-56, at Rutgers on Saturday to lose their fourth straight game, three of which came to unranked teams. The Scarlet Knights are a woeful offensive team (285^th in adjusted deficiency and 338^th in three-point percentage, per KenPom), yet the Badgers made them look like the Warriors. Rutgers sank 10 of 17 from three-point range and never trailed. There’s no shame in losing at the RAC, but for the Badgers to be embarrassed like this when they so badly needed a win is a sign of major trouble.

While this has been the best offensive team in Greg Gard’s nine seasons in Madison, the only team of his that was ranked lower than this one in adjusted defensive

efficiency was the 2018 squad, which went 7-11 in the Big Ten and didn’t play in the postseason. All teams go through bad offensive stretches during conference play (especially on the road), but in the past, Wisconsin’s rugged defense and deliberate tempo was a sufficient tonic. But when this team’s offensive spigot went try (174^th nationally in adjusted efficiency during the losing streak, per BartTorvik), the defense hasn’t been good enough (94^th) to keep the well from running dry.

Now Gard has some figuring out to figure out. Does he try to alter this team’s personality to activate the program’s traditional DNA? Maybe don’t give St. John’s transfer A.J. Storr (1 for 13 from three over his last three games) so much freedom? Is there an issue inside the locker room we don’t know about? Something happened to this team’s confidence since it blew an 18-point second half lead at Nebraska on Feb. 1. This is the time of the season when teams should be polishing their identities, not overhauling them, but the way things are trending in Madison, Gard may have no other choice.

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