SPORTS
1st opponent irrelevant to Ryan
Looking for a print version?
Simply choose ‘Print’ on your computer and a printer-friendly document will be generated.
Also by Michael Stehle:
Related Stories:
- Badgers end up in East (March 11, 2002)
- Duerst's Badgers to host 2003 Big Ten tournament (November 5, 2003)
- Tournament berth on the line (March 10, 2003)
- UW men's soccer won't let Marquette loss stop momentum (November 12, 2002)
- Four games kick off exciting playoff weekend for women's soccer (November 8, 2002)
by Michael Stehle
Tuesday, March 8, 2005
After icing the home stretch of its regular season with three-straight wins, no. 23 Wisconsin will open the Big Ten tournament Friday night at the United Center in Chicago. Its opponent, however, has yet to be decided as Wisconsin will play the winner of the sixth-seeded Ohio State versus the 11th-seeded Penn State, two squads set to face off in the initial round of conference action Thursday night.
While Ohio State remains the heavy favorite in the preliminary contest, head coach Bo Ryan realizes that his team must prepare for both squads.
“It happens every year,” Ryan said, referring to being unsure of his team’s next opponent, “so we will split it up, but you also go with your gut.”
Right now, Ryan’s gut seems to be going with Ohio State, especially after their upset win over top-ranked and previously undefeated Illinois last Saturday in Columbus.
“Ohio State is that good,” Ryan said in regard to their most recent win, “that game was not a fluke to me.”
Ryan also pointed out that he is more concerned with how his own team plays than with whomever Wisconsin’s opponent will be.
“Most importantly, we need our own team to understand what they need to do,” he said.
Ryan not high on Big Ten Conference Tournament: At the beginning of every season, Ryan has two goals for his team. The first is to win the Big Ten, and the second is to win a national championship. He is very clear, however, that he wants to win the Big Ten regular season, not simply the Big Ten Conference tournament that takes place this weekend in Chicago. For the latter, in fact, the Badger coach holds little regard.
“To me the regular season is the meat and potatoes — that is what should determine a conference winner,” he said.
In a Monday press conference, Ryan made it apparent that the Big Ten tournament is not something he has been in favor of.
“The conference tournament is an afterthought,” he said, “and it should never be the final goal of a team to win it.”
Ryan views the conference tournament as something that simply leads into the big picture, which is the NCAA tournament. Just as, he said, teams don’t go into the tournament only hoping to make the Sweet 16, “You don’t go into a season only hoping to win your conference tournament,” Ryan asserted.
In no way is Ryan a proponent of the Big Ten tournament, however, his team will not take these next couple of games lightly.
“As long as we are in it, we are going to go out and play,” Ryan said.
Wilkinson and Tucker headline Badger attack: In recent weeks, Wisconsin has continued to follow the lead of their two star forwards Mike Wilkinson and Alando Tucker. Tucker has scored in double figures each of the last nine games, and over the last five games, Wilkinson is averaging 18.8 points. Going into tournament time, head coach Bo Ryan seems to think that nothing will change.
“As a team we first want to limit our opponent’s strengths, and then we want to utilize ours,” Ryan said, “and we feel that Tucker and Wilkinson are our strengths.”
When asked about the lack of a consistent third scorer, Ryan responded by saying, “There are plenty of teams out there who are dying to have a Wilkinson and Tucker.”
He later added, “We want the other teams to have to guess who our third scorer will be on any given night.”
