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.