Blushing Badgers look to avoid another red-faced NCAA

They just sat there.

They didn't pack their gym bags or talk about their girlfriends or boost their iPods to obnoxious volumes.

Jordan Taylor and Jon Leuer, whose Wisconsin Badgers lost 36-33 to Penn State in the quarterfinals of the Big Ten basketball tournament Friday in Indianapolis, plopped down in front of their cubicles and reluctantly answered questions until the last reporter left.

A losing locker room, especially one filled with college kids, feels like a burial. Only the quiet queries of sportswriters snapped the silence surrounding the Badgers that night.

The loss was an embarrassment for a Wisconsin squad that blocked Ohio State's dreams of an undefeated season and looked like a Final Four contender a month ago.

The Badgers, a No. 4 seed, will enter their NCAA tournament first-round matchup against 13th-seeded Belmont on Thursday on a two-game losing streak. A 28-point whipping in their second matchup against Ohio State preceded the defeat in the conference tournament.

Both Leuer, a former standout at Orono, and Taylor, who won Mr. Basketball honors at Benilde-St. Margaret's in 2008, said they'll have to do more to take their teams on an NCAA run.

"You just get back in the gym and start working hard again," Taylor said. "There's not much else to do. It's frustrating obviously, but you've just got to go back to work."

Leuer added: "We're obviously disappointed with this performance. ... We're going to do everything we can to not let it happen again."

The duo won't get any sympathy from their border rivals.

Taylor and Leuer are prominent members of the Gophers' "The Players Who Got Away Club," in-state products who've helped programs outside of Minnesota achieve success.

This year's Badgers have four Minnesota players on their roster: sophomores Mike Bruesewitz and Jared Berggren, junior Taylor and senior Leuer.

All four players -- but especially Leuer and Taylor -- could've helped the Gophers avoid a year that ended with 10 losses in their last 11 games and a résumé that the NIT wouldn't even accept.

The Badgers possess the country's fifth-ranked scoring defense (58.3 points per game), and they have committed fewer turnovers (7.4 per outing) than any team in America. The highlight of their season was a 71-67 victory over the previously unbeaten Buckeyes in Madison on Feb. 12.

Both Taylor and Leuer earned all-Big Ten first-team honors. They're also candidates for All-America honors. Taylor is a finalist for the Bob Cousy award, given to the nation's top point guard.

The Gophers, who were then coached by Dan Monson, initially asked Leuer to walk on because they didn't have a scholarship available for him. He said he knew Wisconsin, however, was the school for him after he took his official visit.

"I visited Wisconsin and just loved it, loved the coaches. I just knew it was right place for me. I'm happy with my decision," Leuer said. "I had already committed before Tubby [Smith] was there. [Monson recruited me] a little bit."

Taylor committed to the Badgers as a sophomore. He also said the Gophers, with Monson coaching, didn't pursue him the way the Badgers did.

"I was always kind of open, I guess. It just seemed like the best fit for me. Still is, I'm 100 percent happy with my decision," Taylor said. "The Gophers didn't really recruit me all that much. And Wisconsin wanted me."

Perhaps an earlier arrival by Smith, who was hired in 2007, might have swayed them.

Before Smith's tenure, however, Wisconsin coach Bo Ryan poached Minnesota talent like game in a fenced yard.

"They're guys that wanted to be at Wisconsin, and they're playing at Wisconsin," Ryan said.

But can his squad, a school that hasn't been to the Final Four since 2000, go on a serious rally in March Madness? That's up to their Minnesotans.

"[I have to] just lead by example and say what I need to say, knowing this is my last go-around and the last go-around for the seniors," Leuer said. "It's just a matter of pushing it as hard as we can."

Taylor, the floor leader, admitted that the Badgers will stumble if he's as timid as he's been in recent weeks.

"If I play that bad, we are not going to get very far," Taylor said.