I’m sure most of you are probably with me when I say that the weekend Wisconsin beat Ohio State back in October was one of the best weekends of our college lives. Not just the game itself, knocking off #1 is always fun, but the atmosphere, the timing, the weather (70 and sunny in October?), Gameday in the morning; that weekend had it all.
Now that we’ve topped a #1 Buckeye team yet again, it feels a little bit different. October was destiny, but this time victory came as a result of nothing short of pure will power.
From the minute David Gilreath took the opening kickoff back for a touchdown, you knew it was the Badgers’ night. Ohio State made it a game in the 2nd half, but Wisconsin never trailed and was in control for all 60 minutes.
Looking back on the repeat performance put together by the basketball team, you quickly realize that the similarity end with the opponent and ranking. Beating this #1 was anything beat easy. Though the Badgers held the lead for the majority of the first half, OSU closed on a 9-2 run to take their first lead of the game heading into the half up 28-26.
The run continued into the 2nd half as the Buckeyes looked every bit like the top team in the country during a 19-6 run that seemed to put this one out of reach.
With 13 minutes left back in October, Wisconsin led 21-10. This time they trailed 47-32 and the Buckeyes showed no sign of slowing down.
But once the clock struck lucky number 13, Jordan Taylor decided that he wanted to become a part of the history books. Over the next 3:16 of game time, Taylor led the Badgers on a 15-0 run in which he had 10 points, 1 assist, and another fast break pass that led directly to a foul and 2 Mike Bruesewitz free throws.
In just over 3 minutes, the junior point guard permanently placed himself in Wisconsin basketball lore.
But even after completing arguably the greatest run in UW history, the Badgers found themselves still locked in a brawl with a physical Ohio State team that had plenty of talent to boot.
The Buckeyes responded with a mini-run of their own as freshman Aaron Craft hit 2 long jumpers before David Lighty’s free throws gave OSU a 4 point lead once again heading into the penultimate media timeout.
Even then, I would venture to say that I wasn’t alone in believing that the 15-0 run had simply taken too much out of Taylor and his Badger teammates.
Before I could finish that thought, Taylor hit another three: game on!
Craft responded by drawing a foul but that only set the stage for a 2nd legend to be born on this warm Saturday afternoon in February.
Sophomore forward Mike Bruesewitz, known for his scrappy play matched only by an equally sloppy hairdo, was wide open in the corner and Taylor found him.
But Bruesewitz was only shooting 3/17 from downtown in conference play so an open 3 wasn’t exactly a high-percentage shot.
The rest is history. Bruesewitz drained that 3 to ignite perhaps the loudest roar in Kohl Center history and to erase what would be the Buckeyes’ final lead of the afternoon.
Craft finally missed a lay-up attempt at the other end and just like that Keaton Nankivil joined the act with a long 2 that looked like a 3 and yet somehow wasn’t reviewed.
But for a crowd seemingly put out of the equation with the Buckeyes up 15 just minutes earlier, it made no difference as Wisconsin had taken their first lead of the half at 57-55.
After assisting on the buckets by Nankivil and Bruesewitz, Taylor decided to re-join the act, following a Sullinger miss with an awe-inspiring 3 to push the Badger lead to 5 as Thad Matta called another timeout amidst a deafening roar.
As much as it seemed the OSU run had put Wisconsin out of the game, it seemed that the Buckeyes had no chance with the Badgers knocking down everything they saw.
Just as they did back in October, Ohio State made this one interesting. The Badgers pushed the lead to 7 only to see the Buckeyes whittle their way within 2 points with just 58 seconds left.
To take down #1, Wisconsin still needed another big play.
Looking to get Taylor the ball, Wisconsin eventually had to settle for an open Mike Bruesewitz at the top. After a pass fake toward Taylor to draw off the help, Bruesewitz stepped up and knocked down the biggest shot of his career, capping off a 12-point afternoon and putting Wisconsin just 28 seconds away from history.
Though Sullinger’s late offensive rebound and 3-pointer kept things interesting, free throws from Leuer and Taylor gave the Buckeyes no chance after Bruesewitz’s shot as the horn finally sounded and the student section unloaded onto the court to celebrate not only a victory over the top team in the land, but a victory that was arguably one of the most unlikely in program history.
As fun as it was to see the football team take down #1, this defeat of the Buckeyes was truly history unfolding in front of our eyes.
It was just the 6th time in the 100-plus years of Wisconsin basketball that the Badgers had successfully overcome a 15-point deficit and no doubt the most unlikely of the 6.
It was just the 8th time that a school had beaten #1 in both sports, just the 2nd time both had come over that same team, and the first time the same #1 team had fallen in the same city to the same school.
Beating OSU was about more than just basketball and football success, it was a validation of the Wisconsin way.
Both Badger programs have no interest in taking the best talent out there: They don’t recruit players, they recruit teams. In both instances, the paper match-up was very much in the Buckeyes favor.
But because the games aren’t played on paper, both of these Wisconsin teams had a chance to show the nation that will power can go a long way in college athletics. They showed a nation addicted to high school blue chips and big-name recruits that there’s more to building a successful college program than five-star signings and backroom dealings.
Jordan Taylor, now suddenly thrust into the spotlight after the rest of the nation came to realize what those of us in Madison have known for some time, is the epitome of the Wisconsin way.
Taylor had no interest in going anywhere but Wisconsin and as harsh as it sounds, no one but Wisconsin really had all that much interest in him.
Just another one of the many three-star, “mid-level” recruits that Bo Ryan had slotted into his program, Taylor has improved consistently over his three years in Madison and is now deserving of a place among the nation’s best point guards.
Senior forward Jon Leuer has undergone a similar development as has virtually every player on the team. Bo Ryan has proven that he can win not by bringing in the best players, but by building Wisconsin players into the best through hard work and top-notch coaching.
As fans, it is so much more rewarding to see the four-year process of developing talent than it would be to see that talent brought in for a year’s rent only to see an entire lineup leave for the draft after every season.
While the NCAA title might not yet be a part of it, Ryan’s resume speaks for itself and its nice to see that finally validated after this victory under the national spotlight.
150-11 at home, NCAA tournament appearances in each of his 9 seasons, 5 Big Ten championships, and most importantly, college degrees for each and every one of his players.
Ryan is one of the few coaches who never loses sight of the full meaning of student-athlete and that is something the entire Wisconsin community should be proud of, perhaps even more so than the conference titles or the NCAA appearances.
Between his time in Platteville, Milwaukee, and now in Madison, Bo Ryan has built a Hall of Fame resume by staying true to that philosophy, a philosophy that is dying across much of the college basketball landscape since the NBA changed its eligibility rules to limit draft eligibility to those 19 or older.
Saturday was a validation of that philosophy.
Proving the naysayers wrong the first time may have been fun, but this time around it was nothing short of history.
No comments:
Post a Comment