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[/media-credit]After all the Media Day hype, Wisconsin men's basketball head coach Bo Ryan has heard just about every question in the book. So, when asked about practice at his press conference Monday, Ryan couldn't resist the temptation to joke a little.
"Practice? We're talking about practice?" Ryan said, imitating Allen Iverson's infamous press conference.
Ryan continued to joke around when talking about the impact J.P. Gavinski has made in practice as a freshman.
"I asked the guys about hunting because I don't want guys going out in the woods," Ryan said. "I said, 'J.P., do you hunt?' He says, 'A little bit,' and I said 'Well, do you have a gun?' And he says, 'Coach, I got two guns right here (pointing to his biceps). I look at my guns every day.'
"Of course then you have to wait five minutes for the guys to pick themselves off the floor laughing … J.P.'s just a breath of fresh air."
Beyond his comic routine, Ryan said practice is going fine and that things are starting to pick up with the team's first game this Friday against UW-Stout in exhibition.
"Now with exhibition games and that you can play a little earlier, you have to get into some stuff," Ryan said. "We're getting ready this week to go over some things — out of bounds plays, full-court pressure, how to beat full-court pressure, press breaks, different zones.
"We don't know what we're going to see against Stout, Carroll, UWM, Marquette, Green Bay and the rest of the non-conference schedule, so we got to get ready for some of that and take a look."
Scheduling Exhibition Games
Gone are the days of playing semi-pro teams such as EA Sports and NBDL teams in exhibition games. Over the past three years, Wisconsin has scheduled non-Division I state schools for its preseason games, and it's a tradition of sorts Ryan would like to continue.
Previously, these Division II and Division III teams from around the state were forced to count playing Wisconsin in exhibition as one of its maximum of 25 scheduled games. As a result, most didn't even ponder scheduling a game against the Badgers.
Other schools wouldn't consider playing Wisconsin due to the large gap in talent, but most head coaches have now lightened up to the idea.
"I think some of the guys at first were like, 'Well why would we want to do this?'" Ryan said. "But now all of them think this is pretty good."
And Ryan thinks playing teams such as UW-Stout and Carroll College is pretty good as well because they offer something the semi-professional teams did not.
"From a coaching standpoint, what you get out of it is an organized offense, an organized defense and maybe you just don't get the size because that's why some guys get scholarships," Ryan said.
"What they do is they execute so well because they are teams," he continued. "They have an offense in play, they have a defensive scheme … the players have worked off of one another for a lot longer than those exhibition teams used to."
Bo's Take
After seeing the preseason awards released at Sunday's Big Ten Media Day, Ryan had his thoughts on each one.
First and foremost, he couldn't be happier for his very own player, Alando Tucker, receiving the honor of Big Ten preseason Player of the Year.
"It's quite an honor," Ryan said. "He's earned it. He's been through more over the years with the nagging little nicks that a guy can take and to be able to come back in his final year and have that kind of honor bestowed upon him — that's pretty exciting."
Also, while most were shocked to see Ohio State's Greg Oden make the All-Big Ten team as a freshman, Ryan didn't think much of it.
"People must think he's pretty good, and he is pretty good," he said.
However, Ryan wasn't too pleased with the news that Buckeyes head coach Thad Matta provided him with regarding Oden's wrist injury that will reportedly keep him out until January.
"Oden will be ready for Wisconsin, that's what Thad told me," Ryan said. "He said, 'I don't know when he's coming back, but he'll play against Wisconsin.' I said thanks."
