Bo Knows, What Exactly?

I want to congratulate wisconsin's mvp, the refs.(especially anthony jordan).Vandy had no answer for you

— Jay Cutler (@JayCutler6) March 18, 2012

It's that time of the year again when I dedicate one post to Wisconsin men's basketball. Over the years I've come to enjoy their brand of basketball, much in the same way that others enjoy glaring at the mangled wreckage of a car accident or clicking on that YouTube video of a bear collapsing from a tree to a trampoline after taking a tranquilizer dart to the neck. I just can't look away. If every other year is any indication, this season is going to end badly, to the point where I'll feel embarrassed for even caring. Twenty percent shooting from the field, 48 total points, 15-point loss, nothing is off limits for the Badgers when it comes to losing an important game in spectacularly bad fashion. To use an NBA analogy, picture your team as a perennial 4 or 5 seed in the Eastern Conference. They finish every season with about 50 wins, either win in the first round of the playoffs (or put up a good fight losing), and then get smashed by a superior team in the second round. Every year. The consistency, lack of down years, consecutive playoff appearances is great, but your team is never a contender. This is the dilemma Badger fans, some of us anyway, struggle with every year; is it better to be a consistently good team or trade in some of those good years for down years if it means occasionally fielding a great team?

The tweet above, courtesy of former Vanderbilt quarterback Jay Cutler, was more entertaining than anything that happened in Wisconsin's 60-57 victory over Vanderbilt in the round of 32. 'Boring' is the most popular adjective used to describe the Badgers and only the most defensive of fans would disagree. Which is why Cutler's tweet struck so many people as funny. Why Cutler, who even called a ref out by name, or anybody else would even care about a Wisconsin-Vanderbilt game is beyond the neutral observer. So what, they're playing to lose to Syracuse? This matters why? It matters because Wisconsin and Vanderbilt are two schools who can never reasonably expect to advance further than the Sweet 16. This was the national championship for both schools, and Cutler reacted accordingly.

     

Every year around tournament time another writer wants to schoomze up to Bo Ryan. They write about how he doesn't get the national recognition he deserves, his team's sparkling home record, and how quietly, he's one of the winningest coaches in college basketball. Ryan isn't mentioned with the Izzos, the Krzyzewskis, the Williams, and the Boeheims because he has had nowhere near the tournament success they have. In Ryan's 11 years with Wisconsin he has taken his team to the NCAA tournament every year. Remarkable when considering the history, or lack thereof, of this program. Five Round of 32 appearances, four Sweet 16s, one first round loss, and only one Elite 8. No Final Fours. Back to the same old question: does at least one guaranteed tournament win every year outweigh the fact Wisconsin is never able to make a deep tournament run? Some concede Wisconsin will never be a basketball powerhouse and are happy this program is having any success at all. Others aren't satisfied with being a great regular season team and a mediocre tournament team. And really, both sides can present convincing arguments. It does seem like cruel a joke, however, that Dick Bennett, Ryan's predecessor, coached for five up-and-down years, culminating in a Final Four appearance in 2000, his last full season on the bench.

So Wisconsin and Syracuse play tonight. Fab Melo is out. I have never seen Fab Melo play, but I don't underestimate what a loss to a key player can do to a team psychologically, even if said team is littered with talented players, as is the case with Syracuse. Wisconsin lost Brian Butch to an elbow injury before the 2007 tournament and completely unraveled. That team had Final Four talent and probably should have lost to 15-seed Texas A&M - Corpus Christi before succumbing to UNLV. Syracuse plays a 2-3 Zone and Wisconsin has five players on the floor at any given time that can shoot the three respectably. All five shooters are either hot or cold at the same time. Intrigue. We all know how difficult it is to rebound out of a zone and Syracuse certainly had their troubles against Kansas State. Should Wisconsin track down some offensive rebounds, they'll be able to drain even more time off the clock and limit Syracuse's possessions. Those will be the two keys to the game: Syracuse's rebounding and Wisconsin's three point-shooting. On paper, this looks like the best possible matchup and timing Wisconsin could have asked for to face a No. 1 seed. Davidson in 2008 and Butler last year looked like pretty favorable Sweet 16 matchups too. *runs head first into a brick wall*    

I'm the Badger fan on the side of the fence that expects them to do more. Part of this, I admit, is because I was not around during the dark years. I'd probably feel different if I'd watched them miss the tournament for 45! straight years. I don't particularly like college basketball and especially don't like 34-second possessions, but familiarity did not breed contempt in my case. Winning basketball games if more fun than Wisconsin's style of play and that is something I think all Badger fans have come to accept. There is a certain beauty to watching Bo Ryan's teams though. Five players playing without a set position, all five getting the most out of their abilities, taking care of the ball, rotating on defense perfectly, frustrating the hell out of more talented opposition, etc. The 'fun' things about this team are the fundamental aspects of the game that most fans either aren't aware of or pay no attention to. You'd convince yourself of the previous sentence too if Wisconsin was your alma mater.

While the swing offense is ideally suited to a 30-game regular season, it tends to be a hindrance in tournament play. The swing offense is built around milking the clock for about 30 seconds before finding an open shot. Sometimes there will be an open shot and sometimes Jordan Taylor will be one-on-one jacking up a fadeaway three. In the swing offense the only bad possession is a missed shot that doesn't take time off the clock. It is a system predicated on making less mistakes than your opponent (not turning the ball over, shooting a high percentage from the free throw line). The problem is, in a win-or-go-home tournament, there is no room for an off shooting night. An off shooting night gets a team sent home and it is almost impossible to put together six straight good shooting nights while running the swing offense. Maybe three or four, but not six. When that off night comes in the third or fourth game, Wisconsin is up against an opponent they can not afford to waste possessions against -- and wasting possessions is a big key to their success.

I can't look away. My fault and nobody else's.

Musburger and Bilas: Sleepin' and Slurrin'

BRENT MUSBURGER and JAY BILAS are set to broadcast a battle between Top-10 schools, No. 7 Wisconsin at No. 5 North Carolina. MUSBURGER gears up by watching his favorite reruns of Wheel of Fortune. 'That Sajak is an absolute pro,' he mutters. 'The last of a dying breed.' BILAS slips some codeine in his cup of coffee to prepare for the abhorrently slow pace. He disgusts MUSBURGER by solving the puzzles with very few letters on the board. 


MUSBURGER: Here we go folks. Chapel Hill. North Carolina set to take on Wisconsin. ACC/Big Ten Challenge. The tradition, Jay. The atmosphere, the titles, Dean Smith, Roy Williams, dashing powder blue ties --it's gets no better than this!


BILAS: Look for Carolina to try and lower the bang early, Brent. They're the more talented of the two teams. They're longer, faster, and they have 22 thousand of the most brutish, singular-minded people on Earth screaming their heads off.

MUSBURGER: Here we go. Carolina wins the tip. Strickland knocks down the jumper. Whoa, BABY! They're on FIRE!

BILAS: Key question here coming up: Where will Wisconsin find their offense? Jon Leuer used to be that guy, but he's gone now. Much of the onus will fall on Jordan Taylor this year. Uhh, Brent?

[MUSBURGER dozes off watching Wisconsin swing the ball at the top of the key]


MUSBURGER: UH, oh yes. Bruesewitz with the THREE! Missed it. Thank God. Carolina has the ball back.

* * *

MUSBURGER: Carolina up 12-5 after the timeout. They're really starting to pound the ball inside.

BILAS: Wisconsin just can't contend with Carolina's size. Coach K used to say, 'Bilas, I can teach you to shuffle your feet. I can teach you how to get into a good rebounding position, but I cannot teach you size. I said, 'What can I do, Coach?' He says, 'We'll take a trip to the Medieval Torture Museum.' He wasn't kidding.

MUSBURGER: [Laughing heartily] Coach K, ladies and gentlemen. The Hall of Famer!

* * *

MUSBURGER: Wisconsin within two after the under-4 timeout. How have they done it, Jay?

BILAS: They really have Carolina playing their game. Carolina wants to get out and run with the mercurial Kendall Marshall but Wisconsin hasn't allowed them to. Wisconsin is dropping guys back and conceding offensive rebound opportunities. They're forcing Carolina into a half-court game and Carolina is obliging. They're jacking up outside shots and that is NOT their strength. 

MUSBURGER: What must Carolina do to get out of their funk?

BILAS: Well, I'm not so sure it's a funk, Brent. At some point we have to acknowledge Wisconsin's ability to win this game against a superior opponent.

MUSBURGER: We do?

BILAS: Play along, Brent.

* * *

MUSBURGER: 25-24 North Carolina with the lead to start the second half. How would you describe the pace of the first half, Jay?

BILAS: This was a Screw Tape come to life on basketball court, Brent. Imagine yourself in a dingy H-Town basement. Smoke swirling everywhere, drank in your cup, and a gaggle of fine tricks gathered around. Try to envision 2Pac lyrics to 'Keep Ya Head Up' blended with Nate Dogg's chorus from 'I Don't Wanna Hurt No More,' all over an obscure souped-up 5th Ward Boyz instrumental. The world will slow down for you. Trivialities pass. Enemies become friends.

MUSBURGER: I have no idea what you're talking about, but I'm sure the younger members of our audiences do! Who was that you said?

BILAS: DJ Screw. Rest in Peace. I'll play some for you in the trailer.

MUSBURGER: I'm more of a Frankie Ford fan myself.

BILAS: Stay in your lane, Musburger. I can respect that.

     * * *

MUSBURGER: Miraculously, improbably, amazingly, STAGGERINGLY, Wisconsin is up five here at the under-12 timeout. Jay, what in the world is going on?

BILAS: I'm telling you, Brent, someone must have forgotten to tell Bo Ryan and his team how good North Carolina is supposed to be. Ryan Evans wouldn't look out of place as an extra in Wild Style and he's giving the pre-season All-American Harrison Barnes fits on defense. And I can't say enough about this kid Jared Berggren. How many 6'11 guys do you know who can give a pump fake at the top of the key and blow past his defender like Berggren has done tonight? 

MUSBURGER: There's not many, that's for sure.

BILAS: And you have to respect Berggren's shot, that's what makes him so deadly. North Carolina needs and answer, AND FAST. 

MUSBURGER: You know who would have loved this Wisconsin team, Jay? A man by the name of Adolph Rupp at the University of KENTUCKY.

BILAS: No doubt about it.

MUSBURGER: You look at a team like Wisconsin and the first thing you notice is they have a great color about them. Never flushed, always in control. Above all else, they're fundamental. They're not going to turn the ball over. And they do it, Jay....you look at them and they shouldn't even hold a candle to Carolina.

BILAS: No Brent, they really shouldn't. You almost have to wonder what Bo Ryan puts in the drinking water up in there in Madison.

[BILAS and MUSBURGER share a laugh].

MUSBURGER: Back to Adolph Rupp for a second. Now that was a man who recruited a specific type of player. They didn't have to be the flashiest or most athletic. They needed to get the job done and look responsible while doing it. Clean haircuts. Shorts at the right length.

BILAS: Rupp wasn't going to change his system for any one player. You see the same thing with Bo. He recruits players to FIT HIS SYSTEM. Not the other way around.

MUSBURGER: These guys on Wisconsin may be unheralded but they're not backing down. You can tell they're comfortable in their own skin. No tattoos, no baggy hip-hop shorts. They just play the game the right way. AGAINST ALL ODDS. Bo coaches 'em up, but they're going for it. They don't need the extra motivation.

BILAS: That reminds me of a fun Jimmy V story, Brent.

MUSBURGER: OH GOODIE.

BILAS: Jimmy used to get after the late great Lorenzo Charles. He wanted him to be more aggressive on the offensive glass. He'd tell him, 'Go up for that board like it's a hubcap!'

[MUSBURGER bursts out laughing]

MUSBURGER: That's Jimmy V for ya! Breathtakingly funny and an absolute class act!

[A timeout is called on the floor. The show's producer taps into their headsets]


PRODUCER: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH. What the fuck was THAT!!


MUSBURGER and BILAS: What?


PRODUCER: Like a hubcap? Like a FUCKIN' HUBCAP?


BILAS: Oh shit.


MUSBURGER: I'm failing to see the problem.


BILAS: All my fault. It was the codei--the uh, Code Red. Mountain. Dew. Code. Red.


PRODUCER: When we get back on the air, you need to apologize.

MUSBURGER: How do we know Lorenzo didn't steal hubcaps? We have a responsibility as journalists to investigate the matter further before we issue an apology.

PRODUCER: Do it you fucking MORON. AND JUST RETIRE ALREADY.


[MUSBURGER and BILAS are back on the air]


MUSBURGER: Hey folks, it's come to my attention that we made some rather insensitive comments in our broadcast a few moments ago. We seemed to insinuate that the late great Lorenzo Charles was involved with petty theft in his youth. We didn't mean to suggest blacks are more likely to commit these crimes. Hubcaps are just as often stolen by Mexicans and Filipinos, I'm sure.

[PRODUCER stabs himself in the jugular with his pen. His last words: 'Et tu, Bilas? I expected better of you'].  

* * *

MUSBURGER: North Carolina has taken control of this game behind the sweet shooting of Harrison Barnes.

BILAS: Big-time players make big-time plays. Barnes suffered an ankle injury in the loss to UNLV. Roy Williams wasn't even sure if Barnes would play tonight.

MUSBURGER: You know Mr. Barnes wasn't about to miss this one!

BILAS: Well, he appeared a bit hesitant in the early going, but he's been instrumental in Carolina's comeback. We have to credit North Carolina's defense. They've held Wisconsin scoreless for the last five minutes.

MUSBURGER: The dangers of passing the ball at the top of the key for 30 seconds.

BILAS: Absolutely. The Badgers have no low-post presence. John Henson has staked his claim down low. Valiant effort, but it looks just about over for Wisconsin.

[Jared Berggren hits a three to cut the North Carolina lead back to five. Both teams trade points before a Jordan Taylor three cuts the lead to four with 26 seconds left]

MUSBURGER: They just won't give up! What a scrappy bunch!

BILAS: They have talent, Brent. Deceptive, snail-paced talent.

[North Carolina has put the game away. Kendall Marshall sinks his first free throw to put North Carolina ahead 60-54. Marshall misses his second and Ben Brust grabs the rebound]. 

MUSBURGER: Brust with the half-court heave.....IT'S GOOD!! IT'S GOOD! THEY'VE DONE IT. WISCONSIN HAS PULLED OFF THE UNTHINKABLE. THEY'VE BEATEN CAROLINA IN CHAPEL HILL!!

BILAS: They actually just lost the game, Brent. They were down by six at the time of the shot.

MUSBURGER: Indeed they were. North Carolina 60 and Wisconsin 57. That's all from us, folks. Enjoy the Big East season.

We Will Be Back, We Have To Be

"Let's Go Red. Let's Go Red. Let's Go Red."

The whispered chants of the Badger faithful scattered faintly across New Orleans Arena. Down 20 with just over 10 minutes left, Wisconsin had scored just three points in the second half. I felt sorry for those chanting. Were they looking for something to do? Did they feel obligated to cheer, knowing they had spent all of their parent's Spring Break money on a trip to Louisiana? Or did they actually believe the Badgers would come back and win?

Fandom is funny like that. Rooting for the same team, through thick and thin, by nature is extremely irrational. We wouldn't continue to support an artist who has consistently put out shitty albums the past decade. We wouldn't clamor to see a director's next movie if his first one was a dud. Hell, we might even divorce our spouse or disown our child if having them around continued to depress us year after year.

Any rational, die-hard Badger fan, not content with mediocrity has surely been tested the last decade. On one hand, it's easy to be pleased with Wisconsin's new found success. The Badgers have notched ten straight NCAA tournament appearances, four Sweet 16s, one Elite 8, and advanced to the round of 32 nine of ten times since Bo Ryan took over. Ryan's predecessors, on average, took Wisconsin to the tournament about once every ten years. Progress, yes. But progression is a relative term. Wisconsin basketball is in fact progressing, but doing so at a snail's pace.

Speaking of snail's pace, Wisconsin's offense has been known to stall to almost unbearable levels. Their historic 33-point effort, historic for all the wrong reasons, against Penn State in the second round of this year's Big Ten tournament provided a collective chuckle for college basketball fans across the nation. That game also showcased how dependent the Badgers are on their outside shooting. They have a very difficult time winning, particularly when they're not hitting threes.

First-team All-Big Ten center Jon Leuer is the Badgers' only consistent low-post threat. He posted up early in both the first and second half but couldn't get anything going. He seemed to abandon the block all together after missing some shots he would normally make. Leuer finished the game 1-12, hitting a lone three-pointer at the 16:32 mark in the first half. Those would be his only three points in the game. Wisconsin can't win with only three points from Jon Leuer.

It's easy to single out Leuer, Wisconsin's leading scorer during the regular season, but the entire team struggled offensively. Beginning in the end of the first and half and extending into the second half, the Badgers had a 9-minute stretch where they didn't score a single point. Think about that. Nine minutes! Leuer missed three shots during that stretch, and his teammates missed ten.

Then the chants came. The Badgers had scored three points in the last 12 minutes. It's hard to say how much a crowd inspires a team. I'm sure those cheering would like to think they could make a difference. Otherwise, what's the point? Whatever their thought process was, a small Wisconsin contingent, existing within a Butler scattering and the abandoned seats of Florida and BYU fans may have inspired a run.

Jordan Taylor promptly dropped five points, cutting the seemingly insurmountable lead to fifteen. The Badgers would dwindle the lead to four after a Taylor three-pointer with 37 seconds remaining. That is as close as they would come. Wisconsin scored 30 points in the second half, 14 of them came in the final 3:23. The Badgers didn't deserve to win. They are the better team, but weren't on Thursday.    

Their nine-minute scoreless stretch is probably the most memorable portion of the game, that is, if you're a bitter individual. The more optimistic fans will look towards the final three minutes and point towards the resilience of this Wisconsin team. The proper recollection, I would say, is somewhere in between.

I honestly didn't believe this team would beat Belmont. Now I feel like they should be in the Final Four. Irrational thought processes at their finest. Such is the life of a fan rooting for a team drenched in mediocrity. Woulda, coulda, shoulda....But I, those watching on TV, and the brave, hopeful throng in attendance on Thursday will keep coming back. We have to, there's no other way.

LET'S GO RED. LET'S GO RED. LET'S GO RED.

Wisconsin In Need Of A Statement Tournament Win

Below are the overall records and number of Top 3 conference finishes in the last ten years of some of the high-profile coaches in college basketball. Their overall record is listed first, and number of Top 3 conference finishes in parentheses. Again, these numbers encompass the last ten years of each coach's career.

1) 294-64 (8)
2) 287-61 (10)
3) 287-73 (8)
4) 256-93 (6)
5) 242-90 (7)
6) 235-108 (5)

Now think about which coach matches which number. Surely, you guessed Coach K and Roy Williams at some point. Probably Bill Self, Tom Izzo, and maybe Jim Boeheim as well. Congratulations, you'd be correct. Chances are though, unless you're a college basketball savant, or follow the Big Ten closely, you didn't correctly guess number 5 on the list. That would be Wisconsin coach Bo Ryan, one of the most successful coaches of the last decade, but rarely mentioned in the same breathe as the other five.
It's easy to see why. Here's the same list, replaced by number of Sweet 16, Elite 8, Final Four, and Championship game appearances in the last ten years (2011 Sweet 16 appearances for Krzyzewski, Self, Williams, and Ryan were included).

1) Mike Krzyzewski - 6 Sweet 16s, 1 Final Four, 1 National Championship
2) Bill Self - 3 Sweet 16s, 2 Elite 8s, 1 National Championship
3) Roy Williams - 1 Sweet 16, 1 Elite 8, 2 Final Fours, 1 Runner-Up, 1 National Championship
4) Jim Boeheim - 3 Sweet 16s, 1 National Championship
5) Bo Ryan - 4 Sweet 16s, 1 Elite 8
6) Tom Izzo - 1 Sweet 16, 1 Elite 8, 2 Final Fours, 1 Runner-Up

Bo Ryan is as good of a regular season coach as there is in college basketball but his tournament resume pales in comparison to the above list of heavy hitters, which doesn't even include Thad Matta or Billy Donovan. My point is not to disparage Ryan, but to beg for a statement win.
Bo Ryan is the best thing to ever happen to Wisconsin hoops. Sure, Wisconsin won a National Championship (1941), and added a Final Four appearance (2000) before him, but those are two diamonds in a 78-year rough.
Ryan has been the model of consistency at Wisconsin, honing his system that won four Division III Championships at UW-Platteville. The Badgers qualified for the NCAA Tournament seven times in a 62-year period before Ryan's inaugural 2001-02 season. He has taken his team to the tournament in all ten years as Wisconsin head coach. The Badgers were never seeded higher than fifth before Ryan took over. They've been a four-seed or higher four times under him. Ryan's teams have also advanced to the Round of 32 in nine of their ten appearances.
Basically, pencil the Wisconsin Badgers into the second round of the tournament every year. 2011 is the year they have to take the next step.
I'm as realistic of a fan as any. Wisconsin never will be a Duke or North Carolina. They've successfully recruited one McDonald's All-American in school history and probably won't earn a commitment from another for the next ten years. Their roster is routinely composed of the best players from Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, and three-star recruits from Illinois. They don't have the name recognition, facilities, history, or market to compete with the schools that hang banners every year.
With that in mind, Bo Ryan has done a wonderful job of developing and recruiting players for his swing offense. Every player needs to be able to pass, handle the ball, and hit outside shots -- including big men. Ryan has shown a knack for finding skilled bigs and hard-nosed defenders, most of which were passed over or neglected all together by bigger name programs.
Realistically, Wisconsin's ceiling is the Elite 8 with an experienced and talented Bo Ryan team. It's time to escape from reality. Ryan needs desperately to validate his program. The best coaches and teams carry over their regular season success to the NCAA tournament. Wisconsin has yet to do that.
Their 2005 Elite 8 run was a bit of a fluke. They earned a 6-seed and defeated 11th seeded Northern Iowa in the first round. Then due to a couple of upsets, drew 14-seed Bucknell in the 2nd round, and 10-seed North Carolina State in the Sweet 16. The two teams they avoided? The 23-8 UConn Huskies and the 23-7 Kansas Jayhawks.
A 2011 advancement to the Elite 8 will be much more impressive. Belmont finished the regular season with 30 wins and was probably one of the three or four best mid-majors in the tournament. Kansas St. was a Top 5 preseason pick that dismissed some key players early in the year but still finished the season with the core of their team together. Butler is a veteran team with five contributing players from last year's runner-up team.
There is no clear-cut favorite between Wisconsin, Butler, Florida, or BYU. If there was ever a chance for Bo Ryan to lead his team to a Final Four this is it. Wisconsin basketball needs this. But more importantly, Ryan's legacy needs this.
Deep tournament runs are the only thing that separates him from the other great coaches of this era. Well that, and I don't see Coach K cranking dat Soulja Boy anytime soon.