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During the second half of today's Wisconsin-Kansas State game, Wildcats forward Bill Walker made a short jumper in the paint right over Badgers center Brian Butch.

The two got tangled up after the shot, and as Walker backed off, Butch then pushed him to the ground. The referees were right on top of it and immediately called a technical foul. A good call, as Butch clearly deserved to get T'd up -- except that when they went over to the scorer's table, they called a double technical: One on Butch and one on Walker.

CBS showed a replay several times, and I've yet to see Walker do anything that would even remotely constitute a technical. One of the CBS announcers said, "Walker got in there and elbowed him in the nose," but that's not what I saw when they showed the replay.

Maybe I just missed what Walker did, but unfortunately I think the reality is that this was a case of the referees trying so hard to be fair that they ended up being unfair: They thought they needed to treat the players equally, even though what the players had done wasn't equal. Butch deserved a technical and Walker didn't.

As for the game, Wisconsin leads 60-49 with less than nine minutes to go in the second half.

Conference: Big Ten
Record: 28-4, 18-2 in conference
RPI: 12
How They Got In: Won Big Ten Tournament
Seed/Bracket: 3/Midwest

Mascot: Badgers. In the 1940s Wisconsin used a live badger and later a live raccoon as the official mascot, but in 1949 they replaced the live animals with a student wearing a Bucky head. Bucky's full name is Buckingham U. Badger.

Big Wins: A big win at Texas, a conference win at Indiana and two wins over Michigan State.

Losses: Blown out at Duke, lost a tough one to Marquette, swept by Purdue.

Player You Should Know: Senior center Brian Butch leads the Badgers in scoring, rebounding and drawing technical fouls from coach Bo Ryan. The 6-foot-11 Butch isn't the most graceful player you'll ever see, but he's a strong presence in the middle.

Outlook: No Big Ten team looks likely to make it to the Final Four, but if there's one that can do it, it's Wisconsin. The only time all year they've really looked like a bad team was against Duke at Cameron, and if they can avoid that kind of meltdown, they won't be an easy out.

Wisconsin is having a fairly easy time of it in today's Big Ten Tournament game against Michigan, but there was one little glitch during the first half, when Badgers coach Bo Ryan got a technical foul for yelling at his own player, Brian Butch:

After Butch was out-played in the paint, Ryan got up off his chair and yelled at Butch. But referee Steve Skiles though Ryan was yelling at him, and gave him a technical foul. Here's how ESPN sideline reporter Erin Andrews explained it:

"Bo Ryan was screaming to Brian Butch, 'Be strong. Stay strong inside.' Skiles thought he was talking to him, and when he came over and explained it to Bo Ryan, he said, 'It wasn't what you said, it was the fact that you stomped your foot.'"

ESPN announcer Steve Lavin said, "That must be a new amendment to the rulebook, no stomping of the feet. We're never going to get through a game if that becomes a rule."

If Ryan actually stepped foot onto the floor while play was in progress, I could understand giving him a technical for that. But if the technical was just for stomping his foot while yelling something to one of his players, well, that's pretty dumb.

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The Big Ten Diaries recaps the previous night's action in Big Ten Basketball, but of course, you're probably smart enough to figure that out on your own.


Wisconsin Badgers 70 Illinois Fighting Illini 60

Since Bo Ryan took over in Madison, only one Big Ten team has ever come into the Kohl Center and beaten the Badgers. That team is Illinois, but I don't think many people thought the Illini would pull it off this time around, and they didn't.

Trevon Hughes led the way for Wisconsin with 22 points, and senior Brian Butch also scored 16 points and dominated the glass for Wisconsin with 7 rebounds. Jason Bohannon scored only 8 points for Wisconsin, but six of those points came via the three-point shot after Illinois had closed the gap and started to build up some momentum.

For Illinois it's their fourth straight loss, a first under Bruce Weber, and they're now 0-3 in conference play. Still, if there's anything positive to be taken from this game it's that they shot better on Thursday than they have been lately. Though that's not saying much, as Illinois only hit 41% of it's shots, but they did hit 6-of-10 from beyond the arc.

Unfortunately for the Illini, on the night their outside shots started falling, they couldn't get any help on the inside as Shaun Pruitt and Brian Randle battled foul trouble all night.

The Big Ten Diaries recaps the previous night's action in Big Ten Basketball, but of course, you're probably smart enough to figure that out on your own.

Michigan State Spartans 65 Minnesota Golden Gophers 59

Minnesota's 10-2 start to this season is a nice story for the program and new head coach Tubby Smith, but we've reached the conference schedule, and it's goodbye creampuffs, hello Spartans. Minnesota just doesn't have the overall talent right now to compete with the Spartans, though much to their credit, they didn't just let the Spartans walk out of the Breslin Center with an easy victory.

Unfortunately the Gophers just had no answer for Raymar Morgan who led the Spartans with a career high 31 points and also decided to chip in with 10 boards as well. Morgan's performance even earned him some high praise from his head coach, Tom Izzo.

"I told some people that Raymar had a chance to be one of the best forwards ever to play here," Michigan State coach Izzo said of the versatile 6-foot-8 sophomore. "I know I've been tough on Raymar. We expect an awful lot from him. He reminds me of Morris (Peterson, the 2000 conference MVP)."

The Spartans also got a strong effort from freshman Kalin Lucas, who came off the bench to score 17 points. The biggest play Lucas made though was a steal that led to two free throws after Minnesota fought back from a 13-point deficit to make the score 58-57 Spartans.