When Bo Ryan was hired as head basketball coach at the University of Wisconsin in the spring of 2001, not only the upcoming season, but the entire future of the program was in doubt.
The dynamic senior class that had led the Badgers to the Final Four just two years earlier had departed, and all that was left were a few senior journeymen and the promising talent of junior Kirk Penney.
After a 1-4 start to the season, Ryan’s job was in jeopardy, and fans’ patience wore thin as they prepared to endure what was appearing to be a long and miserable season.
No one on campus really took much interest in the team, and not much was expected from it by those that did.
The student body went on to take their finals and wrapped up the fall semester without much care for how their local hoops team was faring.
The Badgers were 4-6 at the time, failing to beat a quality opponent in their first 10 games and appearing to be destined for a year in the Big Ten’s basement.
When the spring semester commenced just four weeks later, and the students drudged back onto campus amidst the blistery cold January weather, the status of the men’s basketball team was nearly unrecognizable.
They had gone 9-3 over the month’s vacation, having defeated the likes of Marquette, Illinois and Michigan State. Their win at Michigan State snapped the Spartans’ nation-best 53-game home winning streak, and the Badgers had catapulted themselves towards the top of the Big Ten, posting a 4-2 conference mark.
People began believing again, even expressing some enthusiasm. Just who was this Bo Ryan guy anyway, and how were all these young players developing so quickly?
For a team with only three experienced players and an entirely new system, the Badgers were starting to look pretty competitive. Ryan’s system was beginning to unfold in the right direction, and the young team’s learning curve shot off the charts.
Kirk Penney had established himself as one of the Big Ten’s premier players, and the young Devin Harris was making a strong bid for conference freshman of the year. Sophomore Freddie Owens provided a spark off the bench, and redshirt freshman Mike Wilkinson gave them some size down low.
People began speculating over not only the rest of the season but the years to come as the Badgers’ young nucleus provided the base for a promising future.
Wisconsin ended up winning the last six conference games of the season, crushing Michigan at home in the season finale and capturing the most unlikely of a Big Ten title.
Their No. 8 seed yielded them Maryland in the second round of the NCAA tournament, and their Cinderella season came to a convincing end at the hands of the would-be national champions.
But the seeds had been planted, and the bar had been raised once again. A plethora of top recruits accompanied the offseason as the Madison campus grew anxious for the 2002-03 campaign of the defending Big Ten champions.
The entire core of their team was returning — more improved and more experienced. Student season tickets sold out in record time, and kids waited for as long as a week outside the Kohl Center just for a chance to taste the action in the first few rows of the student section.
The experts’ picks were in and the consensus was that Wisconsin was not only legit, but a Big Ten contender.
In the wake of another disappointing football season, an entire campus turned its hopes and attention towards the local hoops team to replenish their dwindling pride in Wisconsin sports.
Confidence at the Kohl Center had never been so high, and fans and players alike were keenly aware of just how good this team could be.
After stringing together four straight wins to open the season, an underrated Wake Forest team came to town Wednesday night and brought the Badgers and the rest of the campus back down to earth.
The unranked Demon Deacons simply stuck it to the Badgers. They out-muscled them on the boards, out-hustled them on both sides of the ball and just straight up outplayed Wisconsin for the full 40 minutes.
Penney was held relatively in check, and the dazzling efforts of Harris and Owens in the backcourt weren’t enough to keep up with the scoring entourage that characterized the second half of play.
They gave up too many offensive rebounds, allowed way too many second-chance points in the final five minutes and failed to take advantage of their opportunities at the line.
They walked off the court on the losing side of a 90-80 contest, a game that will hopefully have the Badgers taking a long look at themselves in the mirror.
Which is something that might just be the best thing to happen to them a mere five games into the young season.
The Badgers are going to finish in the upper tier of the Big Ten and will undoubtedly be around when the NCAA selection committee sends out their invitations in March.
But not if they play like they did Wednesday night. They can’t play lazy defense, they can’t take any game for granted, and, although they’re in a new system, they can’t get in the habit of trying to outrun the opposing team in a scoring marathon.
Fundamental defense and timely execution is still going to be the Badgers’ formula for success. It’s how they’ve won in the past, and it’s how they’re going to have to win in the future.
And like it or not, it’s the only option they’ve got. They have too much talent this year to waste trying to be a type of team that they’re not.
The Badgers’ starting five rival any other five in the conference, both in talent and experience. When their freshman crop of Alando Tucker, Boo Wade and Ray Nixon gain some maturity heading into the Big Ten season, who knows where this team could end up?
But they have to stick to their system and learn from this loss. Nothing in this league is a given, and hopefully, for the Badgers’ sake, Wednesday night’s game was a wake-up call.
Because the confidence and expectations are high in Madison right now. Much higher than they were a year ago.
