The Wisconsin Badgers’ best passer might not be who you think | Lori Nickel

CHICAGO − The No.

5-seededWisconsin men's basketball team probably has one of the best-scoring backcourts in the NCAA Tournament with battle-tested tandem guards John Blackwell and Nick Boyd.

But, let's go around the locker room and ask: Who is the best passer?

“A-Rohde is the best passer,” Blackwell said.

“Oh, definitely, Andrew Rohde,” Boyd said.

Rohde, the 6-foot-6 senior guard from Brookfield Central, smiled wide:
“I’ve got to say myself.”
Why does it matter?

Because it's more than an interesting little detail on this very entertaining Badgers squad.

The creative pass might not seem too important to Wisconsin, with its 3-point-heavy attack fueling its 83-points per game average.

The Badgers barely even post up in their half-court offense, instead electing to send four and sometimes all five to the arc to attack the basket face-first.

And the leading assist-getter − Nick Boyd − gets probably half of his dimes by running downhill and dumping off to a big man in the paint.

Worthy passes for sure, but not a challenge for someone of his caliber.

But there are times Wisconsin's offense demands more court vision and passing, and that's where Rohde shines.

“A-Rohde just sees the game,” Blackwell said.

“Obviously, Nick gets the credit because he has all the assists (4.2 per game) but, in my opinion, it goes Rohde, then Nick.

Nick sees the game at a high level.

When he gets downhill and drops it off, then he gets the assists.

But I like Rohde, too.”

Rohde leads the charge here.

“I just try to do my best,” Rohde said.

“Obviously, I’m playing with really talented people, so just finding them and putting them in positions to score is the biggest thing.

Obviously, we shoot a lot of 3s, too, so making sure those passes are on target, and on time for them to be able to shoot in rhythm.”
The Badgers work on this with basic drills in practice, but Rohde takes them a step further.

He also acknowledges the beauty of a bounce pass, the most-efficient way to beat a defense if the target is on point.

“Just getting those reps in and learning where my teammates want the ball.

Things like that definitely helps a lot,” Rohde said.

“We’ve grown a lot as a team of moving the ball together.

Everybody is making one more pass.”
The NCAA Tournament is often decided by talent but, when talent is pretty equal, guard play becomes even more important.

Everyone will look for Blackwell and Boyd to score tough buckets.

But don't forget to look for the pass, to help set up everyone in the first place.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Wisconsin Badgers’ best basketball passer might not be who you think