Of the four coaches who led their teams to the Final Four in Indianapolis, he’s the only one without a national championship at the Division I level. Come Saturday night, Bo Ryan will face perhaps his greatest challenge as he leads his Wisconsin Badgers against a team chasing history.
At 38-0, Kentucky is seeking to become the first team in nearly four decades to complete a perfect season. The Wildcats were tested over the weekend as they rallied to beat Notre Dame, 68-66.
Wisconsin is no stranger to heartbreaking losses to Kentucky as it was a last second shot by Aaron Harrison last season that ended Ryan’s first trip to the Final Four as head man of Wisconsin.
He may not be as nationally acclaimed as his counterpart John Calipari, Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski or Michigan State’s Tom Izzo, but there is no denying Ryan’s success. Ryan has led the Badgers to the NCAA tournament in each of his 14 years in Madison and has helped Wisconsin claim three Big Ten tournament titles.
Prior to leading the Badgers, Ryan won four Division III national championships at nearby Wisconsin-Platteville. As accomplished as Ryan is already, a win over Kentucky on Saturday night could have a lasting impact on his legacy.
For years, Ryan has done more with less. It’s not that Wisconsin hasn’t had great players as Devin Harris, Greg Stiemsma and Jon Leuer have all gone on to play in the NBA, but the Badgers have become one of the nation’s premier powers without the luxury of talent Calipari, Krzyzewski or Izzo regularly enjoy.
During Ryan’s tenure, the Badgers have won games with stifling defense, patient but efficient offense and a handful of players capable of stretching the floor. It’s not unusual to see Ryan’s teams win by margins that more closely resemble high-scoring football games than Division I basketball games. Some have labeled the Badgers’ style of play as boring, but very few would call it ineffective.
While Ryan has made a living of beating teams 47-42 or 51-38 at Wisconsin, there may be something different about the 2014-15 squad. This season, the Badgers have beat teams in a number of ways and the athletic and talent disparities that Ryan has had to work with for so long now may be a very small one.
It was evidenced in last Saturday’s Elite 8 victory over Arizona. The Badgers put up 85 points in a 7-point victory over a Wildcats squad that came in averaging better than 76 points per contest.
Wisconsin scored 55 points after halftime to erase what was a small deficit at the break. Frank Kaminsky, who has been called a collegiate version of Dirk Nowitzki, poured in 29 points. Sean Miller and the Wildcats could only watch down the stretch as sharpshooting forward Sam Dekker drained one big shot after another.
In four games in this year’s tournament, Wisconsin has averaged greater than 80 points. Against a different breed of Wildcats this weekend, the Badgers could expect more from leader and senior guard Traevon Jackson.
The team’s leading assist man, Jackson has played just a total of 11 minutes in this year’s tournament after coming back from a foot injury that sidelined him for the second half of the season. Jackson has a knack for making big shots and against Kentucky in last season’s Final Four, he narrowly missed sending the Badgers to the national title game.
As for Ryan, a win over Kentucky on Saturday followed by a victory on Monday would almost certainly put him in the conversation of greatest coaches of his era. Against a team chasing history, Ryan will be presented with his greatest opportunity, but not one all that different from a potential counterpart should the Badgers reach Monday’s NCAA final.
Though Ryan is far more advanced in age and has already been a national champion at a lower level, Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski didn’t become the living legend he is today until he started winning national championships. Krzyzewski had taken the Blue Devils to the Final Four three times before ultimately winning a title in 1991. Prior to topping Kansas for the national championship, Krzyzewski held off defending champion UNLV, who like Kentucky, was chasing perfection.
With last season’s heartbreaking 74-73 Final Four loss to Kentucky fresh in their minds, Ryan’s Badgers will take their shot at thwarting history in the second of two games on Saturday night. Win or lose, Kentucky’s run at perfection will be remembered for years to come, but for Bo Ryan, an upset may be the difference between his legacy being one of a great coach as opposed to a legendary one.
