Less than 24 hours after his team dismantled Big Ten rival Michigan State, even Wisconsin men’s basketball head coach Bo Ryan knew his team’s impressive victory was not the triumph most in attendance were focused on during his Monday press conference.
After fielding questions about his squad’s game against Iowa in Iowa City Wednesday and refraining from saying much about the team’s huge matchup against top-ranked and undefeated Ohio State this upcoming Saturday, Ryan made sure to note his allegiance was with the Packers and not his home-state Steelers.
“First of all, I’ve been in Wisconsin more years than I’ve been in Pennsylvania,” Ryan said. “And Pittsburgh’s on the western side of the state, so I’m not going that way. I was rooting for the Pack and I was rooting for Coach McCarthy.”
Before Ryan spoke of the Packers and his encounters with McCarthy and Aaron Rodgers – and the vast respect he has for both of them – he was fielding questions about his own team.
Most in attendance wanted to know Coach Ryan’s thoughts about the big matchup against Ohio State or the recent news that Jordan Taylor was snubbed from the 10-man finalist list for the Bob Cousy Award, the annual award given to the nation’s top point guard. But, in seemingly typical fashion, Ryan refused to get too caught up or emotional with either topic.
When asked about his feelings on the news that Taylor was not a Cousy Award finalist, Ryan noted even though Taylor is having a remarkable season – including a 30 point, 6 assist performance on Sunday that Michigan State coach Tom Izzo ranked amongst the best he’s seen – he is never one to get caught up in individual awards.
“I’m still one of those old coaches that never gives out individual awards at our functions,” Ryan said. “Because I always thought it had Wisconsin on the front of the jersey. So, Jordan will be okay. He’ll recover from that.”
Ryan’s team philosophy has certainly sunk in for his players as well, as their two impressive home performances from this past week garnered them rankings of 13th and 14th in the most recent polls. And while the Badgers are playing arguably their best basketball of the season, the same can also be said for their next opponent – the last-place Iowa Hawkeyes. A team, which despite their 3-8 conference record, has won their last two conference games.
For Ryan, the Hawkeyes’ recent results under first year coach Fran McCaffery makes them just the sort of team that no coach is eager to play.
“You ask a lot of coaches, they would tell you they would have much rather played Iowa a month ago,” Ryan said. “But that happens a lot in our league, probably in every league. As I said, it’s when you play a team and where you play them.”
Despite being focused on the Iowa game, Ryan was certainly aware of all the hype building up for Saturday’s game against Ohio State at the Kohl Center. Before the Badgers look to put the first blemish on the Buckeyes’ record, Ryan was adamant they must not overlook Iowa.
“It’s Iowa right now,” Ryan said. “We’ve got two practices to prepare for them and that’s a team that’s playing pretty well.