Former University of Wisconsin men’s basketball head coach Bo Ryan was named an inductee into the National Basketball Hall of Fame Wednesday morning.
Ryan is one of eight decorated basketball coaches and former players of the 2017 Hall of Fame Class who will be inducted later this fall on Nov. 19 at the Arvest Bank Theatre at the Midland.
The full class list includes Wake Forest’s Tim Duncan, Winston-Salem State’s Cleo Hill, Indiana’s Scott May, Purdue’s Rick Mount, Creighton’s Paul Silas, Gonzaga’s John Stockton and Duke’s Jay Williams.
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Ryan retired in December 2016 after coaching Wisconsin to a 364-130 overall record and 172-68 Big Ten record through his more than 14 seasons with the Badgers. Ryan’s Wisconsin teams experienced immense success in the postseason too.
He is responsible for seven NCAA Sweet Sixteen runs, three Elite 8 appearances and two of the three Final Four banners hanging from rafters at the Kohl Center (2014, 2015).
Placing NCAA Tournament milestones aside, Ryan’s most impressive mark on Badger basketball is perhaps the fact that Wisconsin never missed the NCAA Tournament during his 14 years in Madison.
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The 12th annual induction ceremony precedes the 2017 Hall of Fame Classic men’s basketball tournament, which tips the following day at the Sprint Center located in Kansas City’s Power and Light District.
“We are honored to welcome another esteemed class into the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame,” said Reggie Minton, deputy executive director of the National Association of Basketball Coaches and chair of the Hall of Fame selection panel, in a NABC statement.
“Collectively, this group broke barriers, won championships, set records, competed for their country and left a lasting mark on the coaching profession,” Minton said. “Each inductee is uniquely deserving of a permanent place in our game’s history.”
Coincidentally, Wisconsin men’s basketball also learned Wednesday the Badgers, now led by one of Ryan’s former assistant coaches Greg Gard, are due for a reunion with Ryan after being selected as one of the four teams to play in the 2017 Hall of Fame Classic on Nov. 20-21.
See you next season in Kansas City, @BaylorMBB, @BluejayMBB & @UCLAMBB.
🏀👉 https://t.co/3HobnaQaC7 pic.twitter.com/pYDs1wJ6cI
— Wisconsin Basketball (@BadgerMBB) March 7, 2017
The Badgers are scheduled to take on the University of California, Los Angeles in the championship rounds of the tournament for a shot at the tournament title against the winner of the University of Oregon and Creighton University game.
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