It all was settled. Until it wasn't.
Marc VandeWettering made all the late arrangements for the University of Wisconsin men's basketball team to fly from Chicago's Midway Airport to Baltimore at 7:30 p.m. Monday after the Badgers played Northwestern in a rescheduled game.
It was Friday night and the 2:30 p.m. Monday tipoff had been agreed upon to the point where VandeWettering, UW's director of basketball operations, could get that charter flight scheduled before the weekend.
The game's start time then became less certain because Northwestern, which had to postpone the game that originally was scheduled for Saturday due to COVID-19 cases in the team, was facing staffing issues at Welsh-Ryan Arena for an afternoon tipoff.
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"By the time they said maybe not, it was after hours," VandeWettering said. "And that's when it was full-on scramble mode."
The end of the story is that the Northwestern game happened and the Badgers are in place for Wednesday's 6 p.m. contest against Maryland in College Park.
In between was a lot of working the phones by VandeWettering over the weekend to rearrange air and bus travel and hotel rooms while a time to play the Wildcats was up in the air.
UW and Northwestern checked their schedules after the game initially was called off last Thursday and decided that the only time to get it played and avoid a no contest was Monday.
"There was no good option to make this happen," UW coach Greg Gard said after Monday's 66-63 loss against the Wildcats. "This was the one that stunk the least of all of them."
VandeWettering, who's in his sixth season on the UW staff, has been through rescheduling games before, especially two seasons ago when COVID-19 made postponements more common.
The planned 5:30 p.m. start time that made the rounds Saturday wasn't going to work with a 7:30 p.m. flight, so VandeWettering got to work in changing things. But as difficult as it is to alter charter air travel at the last minute, VandeWettering said, it's even more complicated to do so on a weekend.
"This certainly felt like more unique of a challenge because of that," he said.
UW canceled its planned charter flight from Madison to Maryland on Tuesday when the Northwestern game went on Monday's calendar, so there was no turning back on the Chicago plan.
It was too late to cancel hotel rooms for Sunday night when the team decided to make Monday a long day and leave for Evanston around 9 a.m. UW took its shootaround at Welsh-Ryan Arena in the late morning then used its hotel block until it was time to leave for the game.
The changes in a chaotic stretch left the Badgers with an undesirable schedule — two games 650 miles apart in about 48 hours.
"You have to be flexible and pivot," Gard said. "None of us want to be in this situation, specifically when you have to stack the games like this, but it is what it is. I felt it was more important than to play the game than to go to a no contest."
UW's Jordan Davis said he was surprised that there still were postponements related to COVID, but VandeWettering said there was no complaining from the players.
"They're just so level-headed," VandeWettering said. "They've gone through COVID with learning and playing and all these different things. They've just always rolled with whatever's thrown their way, which has been awesome to see."
The charter plane carrying the Badgers east took off from Midway just before 10 p.m. Monday and landed in Baltimore just after midnight, beating the estimated arrival by seven minutes. Something finally happened earlier than scheduled.
Badgers fans find room for improvement after Wisconsin men's basketball's loss
An area to secure
Game was lost at the free throw line but this team doesn’t have a difference making guard who can get the ball into the paint and create his own shot/finish at the rim. The lack of a guard that can create their own shot off the dribble is a major recruiting miss on this roster
— Andrew Zimdars (@andrew_zimdars) January 24, 2023
Where's the teamwork?
Too much hero ball down the stretch
— Austin Punzel (@AustinPunzel) January 24, 2023
They just wouldn't go
Missed free throws and missed shots down the stretch. Many of the shots in the last five minutes were wide open looks.
— Dean Sonsalla (@dsonsalla30) January 24, 2023
Inside, out?
Poor execution out of the timeouts, outhustled again, the bench didn’t get to see much action. Let’s get the ball to the post more and work out of that.
— Brad Affeldt (@BA_14) January 24, 2023
Free throws are free!
Missed free throws continue to be an issue for us. Only 9-16 tonight while NW w/an impressive 16-18 at the line. Hard to win close games, especially on the road, when you can’t make free throws. Poor shooting from the field down the stretch didn’t help either. #OnWisconsin
— Will Kollmeyer (@will_kollmeyer) January 24, 2023
Who else didn't?
Didn’t realize it was tonight. Oops.
— David Hollander (@Hollander_David) January 24, 2023
Where's the bubble wrap?
4 losses missing one starter in each. That's the story the last 2 weeks.
— Steve Gantz (@greatlakesswim) January 24, 2023
More like ATNOs
The offense out of those last 2 timeouts is simply awful. Northwestern better coached team tonight.
— Salvador Allende (@1973salvador) January 24, 2023
Lost at the line
This team has only two modes: (1) pretty and (2) pretty painful.
— Craig Smith (@smithcp1) January 24, 2023
Spent way too much time in the 2nd mode tonight.
Also knew it wasn't going to be our night when their backup big man, who shoots FTs worse than Shaq, hit 2 in a row.
Yet we're still here
It’s just not much fun to watch this team play. They can’t hit free throws which means a lot more losses coming.
— Mary Korn Erickson (@sixtiesfan) January 24, 2023
A bad stretch
Free throw line was a problem. Shooting overall was a problem, especially late in the game. They looked frantic the last 2:30. Need to tighten things up, but thankful it wasn’t a blowout. Learn and get ready for the next game. #onwisconsin
— BethAnn Meier (@BAMeier) January 24, 2023
Real blame game?
Love how everyone blames Chucky, yet Gard drew up the play with 1:30 to go and nobody came to the ball. Everyone stands around and he has to do something. Wish Gard could do creative inbound plays like Izzo. Lack of guards that can drive and shoot over anyone is tough to overcome
— ChazB (@chazb33) January 24, 2023
Time to Jump Around yet?
Fickell would have won that game… 😜
— Mark Marriott (@MarkAMarriott) January 24, 2023
Depending on the book ...
The pushed. Chucky had chance for cover and couldn’t get it done
— BrockinSB (@HiuraFan) January 24, 2023
Prepare the offense
Offensively just not very good. Free Throw line continues to be an issue. I think hedging screens hard and doubling the post will be seen more after this game.
— Bill Knoche (@KNOCKS26) January 24, 2023
Oh, wait
Well just wait until Wahl comes back
— numbWIsportsfan (@RIPReggieK) January 24, 2023
Low on depth
Team is so shallow. Bench is bad. Battling Adversity isn’t this teams strength. They started strong with a ton of confidence, and that seems to have worn off. Shame as they have a great core. Just not much to back the core up
— Matt C (@mattyc1534) January 24, 2023
Wanted: On-court leader
This team has an awareness but there is no one that steps up to take over, when needed. That must improve. No post presence and FT challenge adds to defeat. Are these factors going 2 b permanent? Next game up in 2 days. Keep the chip Badgers and prove me wrong. Go get the W.
— Paul Yochum'63 (@PaulYochum63) January 24, 2023
Troubling trend
Please recruit shooters. An athletic player or 2 wouldn’t hurt. Seems exactly like the football program to me. You can only coach dudes up so much.
— Jeremy Rosen (@jnrosen) January 24, 2023
Simplicity
Yikes.
— Brett Schaal (@StillVertical84) January 24, 2023
Low blow, man
This sums it up pic.twitter.com/5kP93NiQiO
— Brian Bruhn (@bcbruhn) January 24, 2023
Script flipped
Very lethargic first half. Whatever Gard said at half got them on track; didn’t last. Team doesn’t take advantage of NW foul trouble and go to the post? Poor FT shooting persists. Poor sjots out of late TOs. WI played like it was just getting over Covid.
— Sheri Swokowski (@Sheri_Swokowski) January 24, 2023
A win's a win
Badger wrestling looked really good yesterday.
— TJ (@TJ79504005) January 24, 2023
Restful night?
shooting and free throws pic.twitter.com/mBWxWBIQIA
— Giuseppe Solare' (@polkatornado) January 24, 2023
Long fall in winter
Disgusting. They have regressed since the early season tournament when they nearly beat Kansas.
— WSRanter (@WSRanter) January 24, 2023
Cause for concern
Gut check week. Tough loss but no time to mope, need to bounce back and get a win at Maryland which will not be easy. Team looked lost down the stretch which is concerning this far into the season. NW played like they wanted it more. Flush it, rest up and get ready for a battle.
— Jake Glassburn (@J_Glass02) January 24, 2023
Not great, Josh
A team that's built to be in close games is terrible at the free throw line and has a coach who struggles in late game situations. Seems like a good combo!!
— Josh (@LaserShow03) January 24, 2023
Horrifying, but true
We’re the Vikings of college basketball
— Mbappés Creole Cousin (@Devinrogan1) January 24, 2023
Down the drain
Gut check week. Tough loss but no time to mope, need to bounce back and get a win at Maryland which will not be easy. Team looked lost down the stretch which is concerning this far into the season. NW played like they wanted it more. Flush it, rest up and get ready for a battle.
— Jake Glassburn (@J_Glass02) January 24, 2023
Look at the positive
This team can’t seem to find a way to build the offense around the post. That combined with horrific FT shooting makes this team so frustrating to watch.
— Jessica Garvey (@j_garvey1213) January 24, 2023
Hoping Klesmit is back Wednesday to help a bit on perimeter defense!
Positive-still top half of the B1G!
