I owe Bo Ryan an apology.

Three years ago, when he was named head coach of the men's basketball team at Wisconsin, I cringed. I told anyone who would listen that the team was about to slide back to the dark days when the Badgers went nearly 50 years between NCAA tournament appearances. I thought Wisconsin was going to return to the cellar of the Big Ten.

I was wrong.

The thing is, when Ryan was hired, the Badgers were a year removed from a Final Four appearance, but coming off of a season in which they lost five seniors; the team's architect was Dick Bennett and his interim replacement, Brad Soderberg, was released after the group was stunned by Georgia State in the first round of the NCAA tournament.

To say things were up in the air at Wisconsin would have been an understatement.

However, despite all of the turmoil, Wisconsin had the chance to make a splash by signing a big name coach to continue the program's ascent to the top of the college basketball ranks.

Badger fans heard that Rick Majerus would be leaving Utah to make a glorious return to his home state. We were teased by the idea that California's up-and-coming coach Ben Braun would take Wisconsin to new heights. We got Bo Ryan, a little known coach from UW-Milwaukee, whose biggest successes as a basketball coach were all at the Division-III level.

I was convinced that there was no way a guy who had coached at UW-Platteville and UW-Milwaukee could be prepared to coach a team in the Big Ten. All those D-III championships were nice, but how was he going to deal with basketball players who could actually touch the rim when they jumped?

Unable to, or perhaps unwilling to attract a "real" basketball coach, the Athletic Department seemed to be saying that basketball was and always would be third at the school behind football and hockey.

As it turned out, Pat Richter knew more about the situation than I did.

Taking over a team that was expected to battle valiantly against last place in the Big Ten, Ryan proved to be one heck of a coach, turning the Badgers into Big Ten champions seemingly overnight. While it was a shared championship, it was the first of any kind that Wisconsin had enjoyed since 1948.

That nobody-coach that Wisconsin hired was now the Big Ten Coach of the Year. I was left eating a whole lot of humble pie.

Ryan proved in that first season that teaching winning basketball at the D-III level isn't all that different from teaching winning basketball at the D-I level. Don't turn the ball over, play good defense, take care of business at home and success will follow. That holds true even if the best player on the team is a rail-thin freshman guard (Devin Harris) who wasn't all that highly rated coming out of high school.

To make my predictions of doom and gloom for the basketball program look even more foolish, Ryan orchestrated a second consecutive Big Ten title. This time the Badgers won the conference crown outright. It also marked the first time that UW had been back-to-back champions since Woodrow Wilson was president (that's way back in the 1912-13 and 13-14 seasons).

Apparently everyone in the conference took notice again as Ryan earned his second straight Big Ten Coach of the Year award.

Not too shabby for a guy that I thought would lead the Badgers back to the Big Ten's basement.

As if I needed any more convincing that Ryan was in deed the right choice for Wisconsin a thousand times over, the Badgers made up for their disappointing second place finish in the Big Ten last season (who in Wisconsin ever would have thought that second place in the Big Ten could come short of expectations) by winning the Big Ten tournament for the first time in school history.

What has really stood out about Ryan's coaching style is the way he has developed players. Just look at Devin Harris. Who would have thought at the start of his collegiate career that he was bound for a Big Ten Player of the Year award and a top five draft spot in the NBA?

Ryan was able to turn Harris into that kind of player.

With Harris gone, and the Badgers relying on a lot of unproven players and guys coming back from serious injuries, it would not be that big of a surprise if Wisconsin were to be picked in the middle of the pack. However, Ryan's success has prompted almost everyone who pays attention to college basketball to pick the Badgers as one of three teams that are expected to vie for the Big Ten crown this season. Still, with his track record, you would think that they should have been picked for first, not third.

What I've learned from these past three years is that you should never bet against a Bo Ryan-coached team. Despite Harris' jump to the NBA, Wisconsin's cupboard is far from bare, and if Ryan got that his first Badger team to win a Big Ten championship, it's hard to see this group not having a chance.

Hopefully when the upcoming season has been played out, the majority of the media members will be apologizing for doubting Ryan as Wisconsin raises its third Big Ten title trophy.

I know I won't be surprised when that happens.