Badgers Made The Most of the Season Despite Loss

As soon as Josh Gasser’s desperation heave missed the mark Thursday night, ending Wisconsin’s season, I knew the Bo Ryan critics would be back out in full force. Yes, despite the fact that the Badgers have just made the Sweet 16 two years in a row for the first time in program history, there is a vocal minority out there calling for the UW head coach to be replaced.

The head coach who became the winningest coach in Wisconsin history with the Badgers’ Big Ten tournament win over Indiana.

The head coach who has never finished outside the top four in the Big Ten in eleven years at the helm in Madison.

It would be one thing if these numbers had taken a hit, but these critics aren’t coming out after a disappointing season. Though many Badger fans are unable to get beyond the four home losses and the “early” NCAA Tournament exit, the 2011-2012 season was one of the more remarkable campaigns in the 100-plus years that basketball has been played at UW.

In fact, I would argue that Bo Ryan had his best season as a coach, taking a team that lost two of its top three scorers and still managing to win 26 games, the third most the program has ever recorded in a single season.

The reason that the critics are out there is clear: Bo Ryan has never reached a Final Four. While a national title is the ultimate goal for every team every season, very few coaches are able to turn the dream into a reality.

Hall of Fame coaches like Gene Keady (Purdue) and John Cheney (Temple) never reached the promise land.

In 37 years at Syracuse, Jim Boeheim has only been to the Final Four three times, winning just one national title. And having a roster filled with future NBA stars certainly helps that cause.

Even John Wooden, considered the greatest coach in college basketball history, spent two years at Indiana State and another 13 at UCLA before making his first run to the Final Four.

Even fewer are able to do so at a school like Wisconsin.

Madison is a great place to go to school: we all know that. But when it comes to recruiting the big names in high school basketball, the tranquility of the Terrace on that infrequent sunny day cant compete with the glitz and glamor of Westwood, the hoops hysteria of Duke and UNC, or the tradition of Phog Allen Fieldhouse and Kansas.

After suddenly becoming one of the preeminent programs in the college basketball world, the Badgers certainly are worthy of the high expectations that fans have begun to levy upon them. But while it would be nice to think that Wisconsin could simply get top talent and start playing a style of basketball conducive to regular Final Four trips, that simply isn’t reflective of the reality in which Bo Ryan and his staff have built a top-notch program that gets just about everything it can out of the circumstances.

As someone who used to be a student at a “powerhouse” basketball school, I can tell you that the grass certainly isn’t greener.

At Wisconsin we have a basketball team that works hard, plays hard, and does things the right way. Oh, and they haven’t done too poorly on the court either.

On the other hand, the big name schools also have big name issues. Top talent comes with big time egos, egos that someone result in a bending of the rules and almost always result in a tenuous battle between national title contention and sudden mediocrity.

Personally, having seen both sides of the proverbial coin, I would choose Wisconsin every time. I would much rather have a team that I can count on being in the NCAA Tournament year in and year out, not to mention doing so within the rules (as far as I can tell).

Since Bo Ryan took over as head coach, no program has had as many years with an NCAA Tournament win (10) as Wisconsin. No one.

Yes, it would be nice to finally get over the hump and make a run to the Final Four. And yes, it hurts to see the Badgers come oh so close and fall short once again.

But don’t lose perspective. What coach Ryan has built at UW is something truly special, something that all of us should be proud to be even the slightest part of. Now is certainly not the time to throw all of that away.