Madison - With their regular season opener just days away, the last thing the University of Wisconsin women's basketball team needed was a 90-70 drubbing to finish the exhibition season.
Right?
Actually, wrong, if you follow the logic of Badgers coach Jane Albright. In her eyes, Wisconsin's massive and thorough loss to the Parana club team of Brazil was the best learning experience that money could buy.
"This was not a very good team, it was a great team," Albright said of Parana, which features the services of WNBA player Vicky Bullet and former Yugoslavian national team player Vedrana Grgin.
"With the exception of one player on our team, I thought we all played better than we did the other night," said Albright, referring to Wisconsin's 76-66 victory over Athletes in Action. "That's why paid them to come over here and give us a game.
"I think it was just what we needed and tomorrow we'll have some film to look at and work with."
With the Badgers facing a game against Southern Illinois on Friday night at the Nebraska Tournament in Lincoln, Neb., Albright said confidence wouldn't be a problem for her team.
"We have plenty of confidence," she said. "We want to play teams like this. I don't know how good this team is, but I would pay to watch them play anybody on our schedule. They've been beating everybody else by 30, so I guess it's good that they only beat us by 20."
Indeed, Parana is several notches better than the average AAU team that comes to town during the exhibition season. The team left Madison with an 8-0 record on its tour of American college campuses, including most recently a 73-46 victory over Illinois State on Sunday.
Bullet, an imposing figure at 6 feet 4 inches, tied the 6-2 Grgin for game honors with 25 points, and also blocked four Wisconsin shots. Point guard Helen Santos Luz added 23 points, making 5 of 9 three-pointers.
Perhaps the Badger who benefited most from the learning experience was freshman center Nina Smith, who went head-to-head with Bullet most of the way and was held to 10 points.
"She was really something," Smith said of the athletic Bullet. "I've never played anybody like her before."
Jessie Stomski, who also had to contend with Bullet inside, seemed to be the least intimidated Badger. She went about her business, scoring 21 points on 9-of-13 shooting and pulling down nine rebounds.
Wisconsin's biggest problem was taking care of the ball. The veteran Parana club forced the Badgers into 25 turnovers, many of which they converted into easy layups when Wisconsin was slow getting back on defense.
"Our most glaring shortcoming, obviously, was the turnovers, and while you never want to see that many turnovers, you have to understand that they put a lot of pressure on the ball," Albright reasoned.
The game was played at the UW Fieldhouse instead of the Kohl Center to fulfill an NCAA requirement that a team must play at the same venue it would use to play host to an NCAA tournament game at least once during the season. Should the Badgers be chosen as hosts for an NCAA tournament game, they would have to play at the Fieldhouse because of a scheduling conflict at the Kohl Center.