There are a few things in life that are guaranteed.

However, some things should simply never be doubted.

No, I’m not talking about UW-Madison’s nearly unprecedented reign on Playboy’s Top Ten Party School list.

I’m talking about Bo Ryan putting together a winning, competitive and fundamentally sound basketball team.

Ryan has had one losing season in his 26 years as a basketball head coach.

One losing season.

That losing season came in his first year as a head coach at UW-Platteville, where Ryan and the 1984-1985 Pioneers suffered through a 9-17 record.

Tragic.

Ryan would only go on to win four national championships in 15 years with the Division III school before accepting a job with UW-Milwaukee and, of course, later becoming the head coach of the Wisconsin Badgers.

UW-Platteville’s basketball court is now “Bo Ryan Court” honoring the only coach to ever lead the Pioneers to a national championship in any sport.

Picked to finish ninth in the Big Ten, many college basketball experts wondered if Ryan’s magic had somehow worn off and if the perceived lack of athleticism and talent would finally catch up with the Badgers.

Currently standing in ninth place in the Big Ten is the vaunted Indiana Hoosiers with a 3-4-conference record and a 9-10 record overall.

People with an expert tag attached to their name actually thought a Ryan-coached team would finish ninth in the Big Ten and miss the NCAA Tournament?

Remember Bo Ryan is the proud owner of one losing team since he became a head coach in 1984.

Yet in Chicago at Big Ten media day in late October, various media members throughout the Midwest voted Bo Ryan to do just that: coach a losing season.

If something happens once every 25 years, odds are probably pretty good that something will not repeat itself again.

That being said, I would also venture to say very few of those media members during Big Ten media day were expecting the Badgers to be ranked at any point this year, let alone competing for the Big Ten title.

I wasn’t expecting the Badgers to stun Duke like they did, and I definitely wasn’t expecting the Badgers to compete for the Big Ten title like they are, but I had enough faith in Ryan to know the team would finish better than ninth in the conference.

This might be the most masterful coaching performance ever by Ryan, a coach with nearly 600 wins in his career. That includes the national championship teams in Platteville and the No. 1 overall national ranking achieved with the Badgers in the 2006-2007 season.

No team has had to deal with more than this 2009-2010 Badger team.

A team so thoroughly doubted by the national media, the preseason odds for the Badgers to win the national championship stood at a daunting 100:1.

Don’t worry; the Badgers narrowly beat out the mighty Siena Saints, who were graced with 125:1 odds.

Bo Ryan is now enjoying flying under the radar again this season. Apologies to the Wisconsin poster makers who dubbed last year the “Under the Radar” team on their posters.

Not only was the team burdened with incredibly low expectations, the team also lost its second leading scorer and one of the emotional leaders of the team in the thick of conference play.

Junior forward Jon Leuer’s wrist injury against Purdue on Jan. 9 was supposed to signify the end of the Badgers’ overachieving season and return the team back down to earth.

The Badgers haven’t exactly dazzled in the three wins since Leuer went down, but the gritty team has shown a penchant for winning ugly and close games, scratching out home wins last week against Penn State and Michigan, and an underappreciated win at Northwestern.

Before your jaw drops as I actually commend close wins this past week at the Kohl Center against Michigan and Penn State, take a moment to remember how last year’s team completely unraveled as soon as there was a sign of anything negative.

This Badger team is too resilient, too balanced and too well-coached to fall into a similar six-game losing streak the team endured a year ago.

The team faces real tests this week at Purdue and at home against Michigan State, but if the team can compete well with either of the two teams, it will be sitting pretty for the NCAA Tournament selection committee come March.

Tough conference losses without one of your leading scorers should be forgiven as long as that team reacquires its swagger. This is exactly what has happened with Ohio State reentering the polls this week, and what should happen to the Badgers.

Ryan is currently garnering attention for National Coach of the Year, which would be his first such award.

Never would someone be so deserving of an honor as Ryan.

Despite the fame and attention he has accumulated throughout Madison and the entire state of Wisconsin, I still feel he is vastly underappreciated.

Frankly, the man doesn’t lose.

Not this year, not next year, not ever.

A statue outside Camp Randall Stadium commemorates Barry Alvarez’s tenure as a football coach in Madison, taking the team from a Big Ten doormat and establishing them into a perennial conference contender.

I suspect one day the honor may be duplicated outside the Kohl Center for Ryan.