Really, though, aren’t you wondering more about how Wisconsin came to score 100 points?

The Badgers defeated North Dakota 103-85, marking the first time they’d ever reached the 100-point mark under coach Bo Ryan — indeed, the first since Dec. 28, 1995. They scored 55 points in the first half. There were 11 times last season when UW didn’t score 55 points for the entire game — and the Badgers won two of them.

Kaminsky’s 43 is somewhat easily explained by the fact he made all six of his 3-point shot attempts. A 7-foot junior who was a reserve his first two seasons, he always has been a dangerous outside shooter, most comfortable drawing big defenders away from the basket.

Wisconsin, though, hasn’t been known for playing this fast under Ryan. Last season’s team ranked 318th in tempo among Division I teams. It’s far too early to draw conclusions from such numbers, given the varying levels of opposition from all involved, but the current Badgers rank 27th in that category.

Ryan isn’t promising, though, to turn Wisconsin into the Runnin' Badgers.

“It depends on how easy of looks you’re getting and how fast you’re getting down the floor,” Ryan said after the game. “We got open looks. We got good scoring opportunities. And when they present themselves, you don’t tell the players ‘No, don’t take that shot’. Those are good shots. There might have been three bad shots out of those 59 shots total. There might have been three that I wouldn’t want us to take again.

“They were getting good looks too. They were hitting some tough shots, they
were driving and they were putting our guys at a disadvantage. I think our guys, with that new rule, were a little leery about foul trouble. That plays into it somewhat right now. I think it’s played into it with a lot of teams. Guys aren’t sure, so they’ve got to learn. But if those kinds of possessions present themselves, we’ll take the shots. We just can’t give up as much on the other end.”

Interestingly, Kaminsky got to take his shot at breaking the record of 42 points held jointly by Ken Barnes and Michael Finley because Bo’s father Butch, who recently passed away at age 89, “held a grudge” for years because Bo’s college coach kept him from taking a shot at a scoring record when playing at Wilkes University.

“I had no idea until the players on the bench pleaded with me to give him one more possession. I just thought back to 1969, when my dad held a grudge against my college coach because yours truly had 43 points and the record by a guy from Temple was like 50 points,” Ryan said. “With four minutes to go, I come out of the game, and I had to listen to my dad all those years when he got around Coach Rainey. He’d say, ‘Why didn’t you leave the boy in? Why didn’t you let him do it?’ I didn’t really care.

“So I thought about Frank’s folks. I’m serious. I thought about his folks, I thought about his friends. And it wasn’t like it was a 40-point game. So ‘one more possession’, was all I said. If the team didn’t get him the ball, that was it. And guess what? They got him the ball. But it does come back from being in that position once, and giving a guy a chance to do something that’s pretty special. He earned an opportunity.”


WINSLOW COMMITTING THURSDAY


Justise Winslow, the 6-6 small forward ranked No. 9 among Sporting News’ Top 25 prospects for 2014, announced in an AggieYell.com video that his college choice will come Thursday during a press conference at his Houston high school at 4:30 p.m. ET.

Winslow will be choosing among six schools, including Arizona, Duke, Florida, Stanford, UCLA and Texas A&M.

“It’s really figuring out where I feel most comfortable, who I really just trust and think I can depend on if basketball doesn’t work out,” Winslow told AggieYell.com.

Winslow has been getting public pressure from Jahlil Okafor and Tyus Jones to join them at Duke. Both players announced their decision to play for Coach K last Friday, and in the days since have used Twitter to try to goad him into playing basketball at Duke. Okafor’s father was the one starting that chorus. Winslow even took an official visit with Okafor and Jones to Duke in late October.

“They won’t persuade me, but they’ve been recruiting me,” Winslow said, alluding to outside pressure, to AggieYell. “It’s been a fun deal. I look forward to playing whoever I play with. If it’s someone that I already have a great connection with, that would be great. But I’m going to have great teammates. I’m just looking forward to it.”

Winslow is known for his defensive prowess, and Sporting News’ Mike DeCourcy writes that Winslow could become a Ron Artest-like defender. Once Winslow comes off the board, only Myles Turner will be left among SN’s top 10 prospects to commit.


GET SMART


The 2013-14 college basketball season is not simply about four fabulous freshmen in Arizona’s Aaron Gordon, Duke’s Jabari Parker, Kansas’ Andrew Wiggins and Kentucky’s Julius Randle.

There’s a sophomore who just happened to score 39 points against a ranked opponent in Memphis on Tuesday night — Oklahoma State’s Marcus Smart.

And he did it with NBA star Kevin Durant of the Oklahoma City Thunder in attendance.

“I knew he could do everything pretty well,” Durant told USA Today, saying Smart is also NBA-ready right now. “But I like his demeanor. I like how he handles his teammates. A player like him, he always can burst out and get 30 or 40 points."

The Cowboys completely dressed down a Tigers team with a veteran backcourt, beating Memphis 101-80. Smart’s monster game even led Tigers coach Josh Pastner to say, “When he scores like that, he could be the best player in college basketball."

Smart knew Durant was there too, and when Durant’s comments were relayed to Smart, he was awed by the moment.

"That's amazing," Smart told USA Today. "That's crazy. For someone of his talent, he's one of the NBA's greatest, for him to say that, it really means a lot. I am doing something right. What he told you, that is something that is going to stick with me."

Moments like these are why NBA teams are excited about the 2014 draft. With all the young talent expected to declare for the draft after this season, it’s not a given that Smart will be a top-five draft pick. But even if Smart somehow falls outside the top five, they will be getting a top-five talent — and one endorsed by Durant.

Contributors: Mike DeCourcy and Roger Kuznia