By Patrick DorseyThe Daily Northwestern

Apparently, Northwestern did something really impressive Saturday.

The Wildcats, stuck in an ugly three-game losing streak to start the Big Ten season, almost beat Wisconsin – the No. 3 team in the country.

Problem is, when reporters emphasized this point – over and over again – to coach Bill Carmody and senior Tim Doyle, neither seemed all that exhilarated about the “moral victory” they just scored in their 56-50 loss to the Badgers at Welsh-Ryan Arena.

Carmody’s thoughts:

“We haven’t played very well lately, and so going into the game that was just really the focus – not so much about Wisconsin, but more about us.”

Meanwhile, Doyle called his team’s effort a “good thing,” then deflected the credit to NU’s raucous (and sometimes very clever) fans, not the team.

Even freshman Jeff Ryan – fresh off a career-best 18 points in the biggest game of his life – didn’t seem overly enthusiastic about NU being a misjudged rebound away from having a shot to beat the supposedly unbeatable Badgers.

Now, I believe in moral victories, and a school that’s never been to an NCAA Tournament should, too. They exist.

But this wasn’t one of them.

First, NU had a ton of chances to win. They missed layup after layup. Much-hyped forward Alando Tucker scored just two points in the game’s 26 minutes.

And those offensive rebounds – especially the one pulled down by Wisconsin guard Kammron Taylor (“I keep calling him Chris Rock,” Carmody said) with the score 52-50 and 20 seconds left – absolutely killed the Cats.

“We had a few things that we missed that might have changed things around,” Carmody said.

But even so, isn’t it impressive that they were that close?

A bit. They fought hard after getting blown out twice in their first three Big Ten games, and Ryan certainly wasn’t intimidated by the half-red crowd or Wisconsin’s top-three ranking.

Maybe that’s because 1) Welsh-Ryan always is a cozy place for the Cats to play, and 2) Wisconsin just isn’t that good.

Yes, the Badgers are sure to jump to No. 2 in at least one of the polls after No. 1 North Carolina fell this weekend. And yes, they knocked off fifth-ranked (and freshman-laden) Ohio State less than a week ago.

So Wisconsin surely is one of the best in this year’s watered-down version of college basketball.

But the Badgers clearly are beatable – far from the level of the elite teams in recent college basketball years.

Tucker has greatness in him – shown less by his big second-half dunk than by the notoriously bad free-throw shooter’s 6-for-6 showing at the line.

Taylor, despite gagging at the line, also has his flashes, but he failed to make field goals (3 for 12) Saturday and averages fewer assists than NU center Vince Scott.

But Wisconsin doesn’t have much else in terms of elite players – and that includes the perpetually overrated Brian Butch, who’s big and beefy but showed off little discernable skill against the vastly undersized Cats.

Truth is, if the Horace-Grant-glasses-wearing Marcus Landry didn’t dazzle off the bench like he did Saturday, the story would have been very different.

So what does this all mean? It means NU coulda, shoulda, woulda – and can.

Probably not Wednesday at No. 5 Ohio State. The Cats aren’t much on the road, and haven’t been for a long time.

But don’t put away those NIT hopes just yet. Because if this is the best the Big Ten has to offer, NU still has a chance.

It’s just up to them not to let that chance – like that late rebound – slip away.

Assistant sports editor Patrick Dorsey is a Medill senior. He can be reached at [email protected].