With all the hype from television and sports pages around the country, March Madness has become one of the biggest sporting events of the year, and with all the hoopla, it can sometimes be hard to focus on the game at hand.
UW’s men’s basketball coach Bo Ryan tells his team to take a one-game-at-a-time approach. “Just staying ready to compete [is essential],” Ryan said. “No matter what precedes the word ‘tournament,’ ‘Big Ten’ or ‘NCAA,’ you’re still competing.”
There are still many people who will argue that if a team is perfect in the regular season but loses the first round of the NCAA tournament, the season will still be a failure. Coach Ryan very adamantly argues against that maxim.
“The only people that would say that a championship doesn’t mean something, or not enough, are the detractors — the people that never wanted you to succeed in the first place.” Ryan said. “I don’t have time for them, and neither do our players.”
With Wisconsin on the rise late in the season, Ryan’s motto has been tested. There have been hours of discussion by fans and analysts alike speculating what seed the Badgers could be in the NCAA tournament, although it depends on how the team does in the Big Ten Tournament.
Ryan again tries to look past all the talk.
“I could care less what people say, whoever they are,” Ryan said. “The seeds and all that, I didn’t care last year, I don’t care this year. They’re going to put you where they’re going to put you. I don’t think there’s much that can be done but compete on the floor.”
However, there was one facet of the team’s reputation that Ryan did note as beneficial for the team, it is the recruiting process. Although the effect may not be direct, Ryan knows that a hyped team is talked about more.
“Take advantage of all the good things that happen in the program and pass it on to the recruits,” Ryan said. “Hopefully they’ll like what they see”
Going in depth?
The UW starters (Penny, Harris, Tucker, Owens and Wilkinson) account for 80 percent of the team’s minutes, 87 percent of the team’s scoring and 76 percent of the team’s rebounds. With a possibly grueling stretch coming up for the Badgers, bench play might have to increase.
However, another option for Coach Ryan is to stick with the formula that has already proved itself this season.
“Wanting to do [more bench play], and doing it aren’t always a perfect fit, but I think we can get some guys out there on the floor,” Ryan said, although he didn’t want to give away whether he’d tap his bench or not.
“One theory is that a coach says that so that the other teams you might play will start thinking that you’re going to use more guys, so they’ll start getting better scouting reports on your seventh, eight, ninth guys. Just like coach Knight saying he was going to use a zone, just to get guys thinking,” Ryan said.
Freshman Pride
With freshmen Alando Tucker and Boo Wade logging major minutes for the Badgers, the freshmen have undoubtedly had a huge impact on UW’s season.
“I don’t think we’d be here today without the freshmen,” Ryan said. “Not just Tucker, which is obvious to most people, but Boo Wade, what he has given to us defensively and taking care of the ball; Andreas [Helmigk] what he’s given, and Ray Nixon in some non-conference, where maybe the bodies weren’t quite as big. There are not a lot of people who thought the freshmen could do what they have done. We are not champions without the freshmen.”
