JARED BERGGREN
"Jared Berggren is playing at a high level right now,'' said Indiana's Tom Crean. "He's a big key to what we're going to do this year,'' said Wisconsin's Bo Ryan. Given this backdrop, is this the Berggren that Gard envisioned years ago? "He's starting to get there,'' Gard said. "I think he'll start becoming even more effective on the block (low post) because he has some real potential to do a lot of good things there.''
W
Berggren has exceeded Gard's expectations in one notable area. "Perimeter shooting is something that he didn't do a lot of in high school; he
didn't come in here as a 3-point shooter,'' Gard said. "Even in AAU ball, he was down in the lane most of the time.
"That perimeter shot is something that he has worked on and developed.''
isconsin associate head coach Greg Gard had a picture in mind while evaluating Jared Berggren at the high school level. Like all good recruiters, he pictured Berggren's game as a college player. Four years into his Badger career, Berggren has begun to blos-
som.
Going into the Badgers' game at Illinois last Sunday, Berggren had made only six of 22 at- tempts (.273) from beyond the 3-point arc against Big Ten opponents. That included a 1-for-11 stretch against Iowa and Michigan State. "Jared can pick-and-pop a little, he can shoot
the 3, he shoots the heck out of it in practice,'' Ryan said. "In certain games he has shown that ability. He's just trying to get a little more con- sistency.''
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The irony is that Berggren has shot a higher percentage outside of the Kohl Center. In six true road games, he's now 11-of-22 (.500) from beyond the arc. That includes going 3-of-6 at Il- linois. "I had a few open looks,'' Berggren said, "and
they happened to go down and sometimes that can help a guy get going a little bit — it helped my confidence — and I got rolling from there.'' Berggren finished with 18 points against the Il-
DAVID STLUKA
