If I had gone around campus saying that the 2010-2011 UW Men’s Basketball team would finish 25-9, beat No.1 Ohio State, and reach the Sweet 16 (and I did), I would have been laughed at. Losing guards Trevon Hughes and Jason Bohannon, who combined for 40% of last year’s scoring, had many thinking that a “rebuilding year” was upcoming.
Of course if you bothered to read between the lines, UW came into 2010-2011 with the 2nd most experienced roster in the Big Ten, returning 12 letterwinners, including the entire front line.
But none of this seemed to matter with the campus engrossed in a Rose Bowl run and uninterested in a team that was unranked in the preseason AP poll and picked to finish 7th in the Big Ten.
For the most part, the non-conference slate did nothing to change those perceptions of mediocrity. Wins over fairly weak ACC foes NC State and Boston College were balanced by disappointing defeats at UNLV and against Notre Dame in the Old Spice Classic final. The only truly quality win came at Marquette and with that game coming on the eve of finals week, not many seemed to care.
When the Badgers proceeded to start Big Ten play just 2-2, vaulting them outside the rankings yet again, it seemed to many that spring football couldn’t come soon enough.
With the season seemingly going nowhere, the calls for a “rebuilding” were back in force.
Still, that was and never has been an option for Bo Ryan.
“Talking about getting better has never been part of our philosophy,” the 27-year coaching veteran said. “It’s all about doing it.”
In a single Biddy Martin tweet, they started doing just that.
After losing a halftime lead against then-No. 10 Purdue, the Badgers used the momentum of the snow day announcement to finish the game on a 23-10 run over the final 10 minutes to get the victory.
Five days later, it was Michigan State’s turn to feel the brunt of the newly found Badger momentum as UW started off Super Bowl Sunday by handing the Spartans a 26-point defeat.
Jordan Taylor got the Badgers through a trap game at Iowa, scoring or assisting on 17 of the game’s final 19 points as UW eeked out a 3 point overtime win.
Now having won 6 of 7, it was time to face undefeated Ohio State.
After an adrenaline filled first half resulted in a lead of 6 turning into a 2 point deficit at the break, UW came out of the half cold as the Buckeyes built a 15 point lead and seemed well on their way to victory number 25.
With 13:21 left, it was time for the legend of Jordan Taylor to be born.
Trailing 47-32, Taylor lead the Badgers on a 15-0 run over the next 3:35, scoring 10 of those 15 points and kicking out to freshman Josh Gasser for a tying 3 pointer that ignited arguably the loudest roar in the history of the Kohl Center. Taylor finished with 21 points in the 2nd half alone, a performance that had his name trending worldwide on twitter and proved good enough to force the Cousy Award committee to put his name back on the finalist list.
In less than two weeks, UW vaulted itself from 15-5 tournament hopeful to 19-5 national title contender.
With a Senior Day victory over Northwestern a few weeks later, UW capped off just the third undefeated home schedule in the last 80 years.
But just as quickly as they shot into the national title talk, the Badgers went through a final period of adversity, losing by 28 in Columbus and then famously losing 36-33 to Penn State in the Big Ten quarterfinals.
Heading into the NCAA Tournament off of the 2 worst games of the season, the fourth-seeded Badgers were everybody’s favorite upset pick in an opening round match-up against Belmont.
Seemingly tired of the talk about their inability to shoot away from the Kohl Center and the potential for Belmont’s pressure defense to put the Badgers on the defensive, UW hit 12 of 22 threes and held the Bruins under 37% shooting, cruising to a 14 point victory that had analysts everywhere quickly covering their tracks.
Just two days later, UW proved that it wasn’t just about Jon Leuer and Jordan Taylor. While Kansas State senior guard Jacob Pullen outscored Taylor by 26 in a game that was universally billed “Pullen vs. Taylor”, it was the Badgers who earned a spot in New Orleans, fighting their way out of another 2nd half drought en route to a 70-65 victory capped off in style by a gutsy Taylor block of Pullen’s attempt at a game-tying 3 pointer in the waning moments.
“Everybody stepped up. You can go right down the line,” Leuer said after the win. “Mike {Bruesewitz}’s big three, Tim Jarmusz hit some big shots. Even though Jordan was off offensively he made some huge plays down the stretch. He found Mike on that three. Right before that he got the steal. Josh made some big plays. Just go right down the line of guys stepping up and making key contributions.
That's what you need in March if you want to keep playing, just guys stepping up and, you know, giving you good production.”
All in a weekend’s work, UW vaulted from upset special to championship contender once again.
While the 20-point deficit that the Badgers dug against Butler proved too much to overcome, the Sweet 16 loss was a let down, but far from a disappointment. UW showed the resiliency that got them to that point, working back from that large hole to cut the Butler lead to just 4 before Bulldog guard Shelvin Mack knocked down a contested jumper with a minute to go that erased hopes of another epic Badger comeback.
Despite the loss, a season destined for mediocrity resulted in:
The Badgers’ 13th straight trip to the NCAA Tournament
The program’s 2nd victory over a No. 1 team (their first since 1962)
UW’s 5th Sweet 16 appearance
25 wins (3rd most in program history)
2 First-team All Big-Ten selections (Taylor and Leuer) for the 1st time in UW history
“It's always tough when it ends, when you've got to put the balls away and the uniforms and practice gear. But I'm really proud of these guys...” Ryan said. “When you look at the entire season, just there are things accomplished this year that people never dreamed of with this group.”
Losing in the NCAA Tournament is a heartbreaking finality that 67 teams each year have to deal with. It should not take away from what was an otherwise memorable season for the UW program.
With just 201 days until the first official practice, the road back to New Orleans for the 2012 Final Four is just around the corner.
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