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Men’s basketball team searchig for replacements
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by Dave McGrath
Tuesday, October 25, 2005
Wisconsin men's basketball head coach Bo Ryan knows a lot. Bo knows winning (93-37 at Wisconsin; four Division III national titles). Bo knows recruiting (Wisconsin's recruiting class is rated the best in the Big Ten by Athlon Sports). Bo knows fundamentals (Wisconsin has annually ranked among the nation's leaders in defense and fewest turnovers). But does Bo know reloading?
That is the question surrounding the Badgers this season, the fifth in the Ryan era. Coming off of last season's run to the Elite Eight, Ryan will have to find a way to replace four senior starters from last year's squad before the team's first exhibition game, Nov. 5. Included among the graduation casualties are first-team all-conference forward Mike Wilkinson, who epitomized the team's blue-collar style and was its unquestioned leader. Along with Wilkinson, who averaged 14.3 points per game and 7.4 rebounds per game, UW will be without guard Sharif Chambliss (7.5 ppg, 2.8 assists), guard Clayton Hanson (6.5 ppg, 2.4 rpg) and forward Zach Morley (7.4 ppg, 4.7 rpg), all of whom started every NCAA tournament game last season. The team also lost forward Andreas Helmigk, who played in every contest last season, starting 12 times.
"It's challenging," Ryan said. "It makes it interesting from a standpoint of somebody's going to fill those spots. Somebody's going to play. There's 40 minutes at five spots. There's 200 minutes. They'll be filled, hopefully effectively."
The Badgers and Ryan have had to rebuild on the fly before and have done so successfully, such as last year when the team lost star point guard Devin Harris to the NBA and his projected replacement Boo Wade, who left the team for personal reasons. Ryan still managed to guide UW to within a game of the Final Four despite having zero experience at point guard.
Though losing the seniors' production on the floor is tough, replacing their leadership could be even more difficult.
"We do have six freshmen, but they are learning and learning quickly," junior point guard Kammron Taylor said. "I think leadership is pretty big. All of us being upperclassmen, the younger guys are looking up to us to see how hard we are working. I think the harder we work, the harder they work. We are a young team, so we want to push them so they are ready by the time the season starts."
Getting a team that is full of green players ready for the regular season will be a challenge in itself, as Ryan has not been thrilled with the early performances of the team.
"[My first impression is] just that we're not very good. And I say that in reverence. Because you see everything happening and everything that's a blemish stands out and you really go home thinking 'wow we've got so much to do,'" Ryan said.
The team will look to returning players such as Taylor, sophomore Brian Butch, junior Alando Tucker and senior Ray Nixon not only to make up for the loss of almost 40 points a game in scoring, but also to become the new leadership core of the team.
"I know some of the guys are looking for leadership from the older guys, so me, Tucker, Ray, the older guys returning, really have to step up our leadership," Taylor said.
Ryan anticipates the more experienced players to take up leadership responsibilities and is especially impressed thus far with the increased role Butch has assumed in taking the reins as a team leader.
"We're getting some leadership out there on the floor. We're seeing guys emerge. We're seeing Brian Butch for example," Ryan said. "Brian Butch is doing some good things from a leadership standpoint. More so than maybe what I anticipated. But I'm a guy that always likes those good surprises. But there's leadership out there."
How effective Ryan and the Badgers are at replacing that leadership and the on-court performance with the youth at hand will in the end determine exactly what kind of season the team has.
"I think our biggest challenge is that a lot of guys haven't played in a lot of games," sophomore forward Greg Stiemsma said. "I think that we can get through that. We aren't the kind of guys that are going to let it hold us back. We're just going to work and see where it takes us."
The 2005-06 season is an opportunity for the young players to introduce themselves to the college basketball world and for Ryan to once again show how much he knows.
