Ryan: UW basketball 'had a great year'
Bo Ryan remembers this past season's University of Wisconsin men's basketball team as one of the best groups he's been around in 24 years as a college head coach.
The way the Badgers' season ended, with a 73-56 loss to upstart Davidson in an NCAA regional semifinal, didn't diminish that feeling — and Ryan swore Tuesday he couldn't recall much about it.
Asked during the Badger Days event at Lambeau Field whether the final game has stuck with him, Ryan bristled.
"As a professional, I deal in things a lot, lot more important than the last 40 minutes,"
he said.
"I coach for five, six months, and you're going to ask me about Davidson? That just doesn't make any sense to me."
"There's so much that happens in a year, that only if you coach, do you know. So, if you don't get that, then you'd ask that question. Obviously, you haven't coached, and I haven't done what you do. I'm just telling you that was a great bunch of guys, we had a great year, and that's all I remember. I just remember the positive experiences."
Those experiences included a school-record 31 wins — the second straight season in which the Badgers won at least 30 games — Big Ten regular season and postseason championships and a seventh trip to the NCAA Tournament in Ryan's seven seasons.
With the success have come expectations. Fulfilling them next season would require younger players, perhaps including some of the five-man freshman class, to replace the 67.7 minutes and 25.5 points per game lost with the departures of seniors Brian Butch, Michael Flowers and Greg Stiemsma.
"Our guys this past offseason knew there were a lot of minutes that graduated,"
Ryan said of a team that had to replace stars Alando Tucker and Kammron Taylor.
"This year, there's a lot of minutes out there, too. I'm not Santa Claus. I don't throw the minutes out of a bag that I have over my shoulder for free. They've got to earn them."
Ryan rattled off several challenges on the 2008-09 schedule, including road games at Marquette and Virginia Tech and a matchup with Texas.
Another NCAA run would surprise few, given Ryan's proven ability to sustain success. In his mind, though, teaching another group to come together and challenge for the conference title is the first goal.
"In basketball, it's not a one-game thing,"
Ryan said. "It's not a bowl game. You don't play one game. You've got to win six (to win the national championship)."
"At (Division III UW-Platteville, where he coached from 1984 to 1999), we did it four times, and let me tell you how tough that is. That's pretty hard. Boy, every year I see so many high school teams that have great seasons and get a bump. NCAA Tournament teams, NAIA teams, men's and women's — man, it's tough to string together six."
"This group was unbelievable. Great group to be around."
