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No lesson learned as Wisconsin Badgers trash talk Kentucky

By Alex Butler

INDIANAPOLIS, March 31 (UPI) -- One former Wisconsin Badgers basketball player is probably hoping his words don't resonate quite as well as the last man who tried to ruffle the Kentucky Wildcats (38-0).

Just a week after West Virginia's Daxter Miles Jr. predicted the Mountaineers would make the Wildcats 36-1, Ben Brust, a senior on last year's Badgers squad that lost to Kentucky in the Final Four, claims the Badgers (35-3) will make the Wildcats 38-1.

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"I give them their props," Miles Jr. told ESPN last Wednesday. "Salute them to getting to 36-0. But tomorrow they're gonna be 36-1."

In a tweet sent Monday, Brust referenced Miles' bold prediction before making his own, with confidence.

After Miles' quote, the Wildcats' Willie Cauley-Stein told USA Today that trash talk "adds fuel to the fire."

One can only think that Brust's brash boast could be more ignition.

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Miles Jr. didn't fare so well after his words resulted in a 78-39 loss last Thursday in the Sweet 16. Miles Jr. managed just one rebound and a foul in 19 minutes of action.

After the game, Miles Jr. only offered the words "Kentucky played great," according to CBS Sports.

Kentucky's Devin Booker followed the game with a tweet aimed at Miles Jr. saying: "36 and won."

Brust averaged 9.3 points and 3.5 rebounds in 26.9 minutes per game in his four-year career with the Badgers. Brust and Sam Dekker led the Badgers with 15 points apiece in last year's 74-73 loss to the Wildcats.

The Badgers have three losses this season at the hands of Duke, Rutgers, and Maryland, but are currently on a 10-game winning streak. The Wildcats' last loss was April 7 in the National Championship against UConn. Kentucky has been in four of the last five Final Fours.

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"We come out there flat sometimes, but when guys are trash talking and stuff like that, we come out and destroy them," Kentucky guard Tyler Ullis said after beating West Virginia.

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