March 4, 2008

By Phil Kasiecki

Special to CSTV.com

PHIL KASIECKI
Phil is the Sr. Editor of Hoopville.com, and contributes regular content to CSTV.com.
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        ---   Column Archive   --- 4/1: Putting Parity Aside 3/25: Don't Count Out These Dark Horses Yet 3/18: X-Factors: Five Players You Should Know For Friday 3/17: X-Factors: Five Players You Should Know For Thursday 3/11: George Mason Still Having Fun 3/4: Badger Balance 2/26: Longhorns Roping A No. 1 2/19: Outside Looking In? 2/12: Growing Up Fast 1/29: Hawks Spreading Their Wings 1/15: Don't Write In The Hoyas Just Yet 1/8: The Sun Is Starting To Shine On These Devils 1/1: Three Teams Ahead Of The Pack 12/28: Terps Taking Much-Needed Break 12/18: Transparent Cornhuskers 12/11: Biggest Of The Big Five 12/4: Hardwood Series Draws Rave Reviews 11/27: Beware of the Pirates 11/20: Not Necessarily Rebuilding In Miami 11/13: Atlantic Sun Already Out-Doing Itself 11/5: Speedier Spartans 10/24: Jayhawks Looking Much The Same 10/20: George Mason Returns To Top Of CAA 10/13: Graves Gives It One More Shot 6/27: Blossomed Green Ready For Next Level 6/5: Senior Standing 3/28: Points of Emphasis 3/21: A Season of Unpredictability 3/14: X-Factors: Friday's Games 3/13: X-Factors: Who to Watch on Thursday 2/28: Orange Closing In On NCAA Tournament 2/21: Familiarity Creates Parity Within Conferences 2/7: Big East Having A Down Year 1/31: Tale Of Two Divisions 1/23: Not A Sure Bet 1/17: In CAA, It's VCU 1/8: Providence Success No Surprise 12/18: Turning The Corner? 12/5: ACC and Pac-10 Back on Top 11/29: Questions Abound in Early Polls 11/20: Nothing Small About These Wins 10/30: MVC Has Cracked the Code 10/25: Neal Ready To Move Towson On Up 6/25: NBA Draft - P. O'Bryant 6/24: NBA Draft - C. Simmons 4/04: Final Four Reflection 3/29: A Colonial Invasion 3/22: The Value of Experience 3/15: X-Factors, Part II 3/14: X-Factors, Part I 3/11: Xavier's Home Court Advantage 2/21: Can The Colonial Step Up? 2/15: A Tiger Changes His Stripes 2/11: Patriot League Powers 2/08: The Lone Rangers 2/01: Rock, Chalk, Jayhawk 1/23: Rough Rides on Welcome Wagon 1/17: Not a Normal Start 1/16: Blue Devils Poised For Final Four 1/11: Eagles' Difficult ACC Childhood 1/09: As Good As The Hype 1/03: Contenders and pretenders

It's time to recognize the job Bo Ryan has done this year at Wisconsin. No one expected his team to be where they are as we enter the final week of the regular season.

The top of the Big Ten isn't quite what many projected it to be before the season. Most prognosticators had Michigan State and Indiana as the clear top two teams, with perhaps an occasional sight of Ohio State in one of those spots. After the top teams, it was anyone's guess.

Buried further down the projected standings were the young Purdue Boilermakers and Wisconsin. The "Baby Boilers" have been the talk of the Big Ten of late with the way Purdue has won with their young players, but it's Wisconsin that appears to have the inside track on the regular season title. And considering where they have come from, they're worth being talked about, too, especially the coaching job Ryan has done with this team.

The Badgers lost their all-time leading scorer in Alando Tucker and a solid complementary player in Kammron Taylor from last season's team. That team reached the top of the polls and went to the Big Ten championship game en route to a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament. This season, they returned a cast with primarily complementary players, guys who had to play support roles to Tucker. They had to become more than support players, and that's always a big question for a team like this - can their support players from one season become go-to guys the following season?

In fairness, the Badgers did return a pretty good player to start with in senior center Brian Butch, who led the team in rebounding last season and showed signs he could be a go-to guy if needed. Additionally, he's always had the talent. But he didn't provide much scoring in his support role, nor did anyone else since they didn't need to on that team. Michael Flowers was a defensive stopper, but could he become a big offensive threat? They faced the same question as everyone else: could they handle the expanded role well enough for this team to win?

The answer has clearly been a resounding "yes."

The Badgers have come together as a more balanced team and are continuing to play the kind of defense Ryan's teams are known for. Butch, Trevon Hughes and Marcus Landry all average in double figures, and Flowers is right behind at 9.8 points per game. Flowers has also become the best shooter on the team as he makes nearly 41 percent of his shots from long range. In many ways, Flowers might epitomize what this team is about.

"He's just doing so many things to help this team win because I still have yet to see the day that Mike comes to practice, the hill, weightlifting, any, where he doesn't just go all out," Ryan said. "I've never seen him not do that."

And as great as Tucker and Taylor were, it's the current group of seniors that might leave Madison as the winningest class in the school's history. They have 98 wins entering the final week of the regular season, one shy of what last year's class accomplished, and should be able to hit the century mark with two regular season games and at least two more (Big Ten Tournament and NCAA Tournament) remaining.

"I just think this class has done an unbelievable job of coming together collectively," Ryan said. "We said, early in the year, for this team to win, it's got to be done by numbers, by the group. They've done that to this point."

The Badgers were still an unknown before they knocked off Texas in Austin in late December in a game with a terrific finish. At the end of the game, Flowers came up big in a way symbolic of what this senior class has done, hitting a three-pointer and then making the great defensive play to end it. This is a Texas team that had knocked off UCLA and Tennessee by that point, so it was a win that served notice that this Badgers team was perhaps a little better than advertised.

Since 2008 began, the Badgers have lost only to Purdue, losing both meetings between the teams. They have otherwise been on a roll, knocking off Indiana twice and beating Michigan State last Thursday along the way.  Opponents are shooting below 39 percent against them and turning it over 14 times per game. And like the Boilermakers, the Badgers have done it with balance to such a degree that they might not have a single first team All-Big Ten player.

How far Wisconsin goes in the NCAA Tournament will certainly depend on matchups, like with any other team. But based on what they've done to this point, it shouldn't be a surprise if they make a deep run with this team.