When College GameDay came to Madison last weekend, The Badger Herald was able to catch up with Reese Davis, Digger Phelps, Hubert Davis and Jay Bilas to discuss University of Wisconsin basketball, the Big Ten and the fans who packed the Kohl Center for the broadcast Saturday morning.
BH: What did you think about the Wisconsin crowd Saturday morning?
Hubert Davis (HD): They were the best crowd of the year. Up to this point, it was Notre Dame, but this was the best crowd of the year. Not only was it an awesome crowd, but it was also awesome having Coach (Bo) Ryan out there for a large part of the time, then having Joe Krabbenhoft and Marcus Landry out there. So, it was a big deal for me.
Reece Davis (RD): I thought they were great. They were very enthusiastic. I don’t know in terms of numbers if it was as large, but it could have been in the ball park of Michigan State, Marquette and Kansas in terms of the biggest crowds numerically we’ve had.
BH: What are the Badgers’ chances in the tournament?
Digger Phelps (DP): They have to get in the tournament first. They can’t look ahead. I think it’s an emotional game [Saturday night] with Ohio State coming in, but more importantly, I like the way Wisconsin is beginning to start believing in themselves.
BH: What do the Badgers need to do to get into the tournament?
DP: Win. You can’t go by how many. You just can’t start losing games. They can’t lose tonight against Ohio State and you have to win some road games. That’s consistency — and play well in the conference tournament. Don’t be a one-and-done team for sure because then you are on the bubble and someone could sneak in and take that spot away from the Big Ten.
BH: If Wisconsin gets into the tournament as a lower seed, do they have more of a chance to make an impact?
HD: You know, I’m not big on seeds. You get into the NCAA Tournament, you don’t get a bye, everyone is in the same boat. I can tell you this, when Wisconsin gets into the NCAA Tournament, the teams are not going to want to play them. So, it wouldn’t surprise me if they get to the final eight, to get to the Final Four. They have that type of talent; the way they play defense, it could happen.
BH: How have the Badgers been able to bounce back from losing six straight games?
Jay Bilas (JB): If you told somebody before the year Wisconsin is going to lose six in a row, nobody would have believed you. You would have said the same thing about Notre Dame or Georgetown or that Texas would slide a little bit. Wisconsin is a good team, and I think they are an NCAA Tournament team. They have figured some things out, especially defensively where they had some breakdowns throughout that six-game stretch. But, I think that’s a very good basketball team that is going to wind up being in the NCAA Tournament.
BH: How has Bo Ryan been able to get the team back on track?
JB: He is a no-nonsense, not panic guy. I wasn’t at his practices during that time [of the streak], but I can imagine they were pretty much the same, just maybe more emphasis here or there, but very much the same as he is normally. The things that Wisconsin does to win don’t change from December to January to February. So, it wasn’t like they were working on anything differently. They may have been emphasizing some things more and there might have been a little more intense focus on different things, but I don’t think you would see any drastic change, and I don’t think you would see any drastic now.
HD: The Big Ten is a very tough conference and losing six-straight games, you don’t want to do that. His teams are always consistent and fundamental. You knew they were going to turn it around. Now they have a great opportunity to beat an Ohio State team that’s playing extremely well. Wisconsin is going to be in the NCAA Tournament again. [Ryan] is an outstanding coach, and I love the way any kid that comes here becomes a better basketball player and they graduate. He is a great role model as well.
RD: He is just a terrific coach. I mean, he takes the guys he has, he makes them better; they are disciplined. You look at the offensive efficiency stats and they are 13th or 14th in the country. He teaches his style of basketball. He was telling us yesterday he has drills and practice plans and things he’s done for decades. He believes in it, and he makes his players believe in it. Therefore, when you hit stretches that don’t go the way you like for them to go, you don’t have a lot of guys — and you certainly don’t have the head coach — panicking.
BH: What is the cause of the improvement of play in the Big Ten this year?
HD: I think it’s interesting because you have some transition. You have new coaches at Minnesota or Indiana. Usually when a conference has a transition of coaches, things go down. Right now, if the tournament started today, five teams would get in and there is a chance seven, possibly eight if Michigan can get to .500.
RD: I think that what you see is that maybe, in some areas, you have some teams that have raised their level. Penn State is certainly a better program, and Minnesota since Tubby Smith got there, they are certainly a bigger threat than they were. Northwestern is dangerous on occasion. The Big Ten has always been tough. You could probably find years where the conference is better top to bottom, but it is still very competitive.
BH: What has surprised you about the Big Ten this year?
DP: What has surprised me in the Big Ten this year is the lack of scoring and a lot of low scoring games. It’s not defense. I think certain guys, when you look at (Marcus) Landry stepping up now and (Trevon) Hughes stepping up, they have to do it together, and that’s where you need to have consistency.
HD: How good the conference is would be the big surprise. As I said in the morning show, at the beginning of the year, I assumed Michigan State and Purdue are going to be right there, but everyone else is somewhat of a question mark. To have four teams in the NCAA Tournament last year and now there is a possibility to have seven or maybe eight. That is pretty impressive for this league.
