I was out at Stanford by then and we flew him out as a gesture to help him get off to whatever start he could at Platteville.
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Over the course of his Badgers coaching career, Ryan reached the National Championship game once and the Final Four twice. This year’s squad is less experienced and more reliant on freshmen. “There’s so many more relationships and the history involved obviously with what he’s done not only at the University of Wisconsin but how he’s impacted basketball in this state”.
So when the soon-to-be 68-year-old announced his retirement after a ho-hum 64-49 win over Texas A&M Corpus Christi on Tuesday night, it was both shocking and a pretty big deal. And then, he retired.
Ryan applauded the support he’s received in his time with Wisconsin, “Our fans, our students, our boosters, I’ve said it thousands of times, we’ve got the best”.
Gard is serving as the head coach in on an interim basis. It’s just not done at Madison overnight, not when you’re not going for the one-and-done players, who probably wouldn’t have gone to Wisconsin anyway. In either case, Gard is about to undergo a true trial-by-fire that is every bit the “tryout” that Alvarez said during the press conference.
It was an early sign of what those who follow the Big Ten forecasted for Ohio State this season.
Defense has been a problem at times, as it was in the shocking 69-67 loss to lowly Western Illinois in the season opener at home. “He had a system, he had players that he recruited towards his system, taking care of the ball, playing sound team defense, getting good shots”.
At Wisconsin, that means playing tough defense without fouling and using hands. He also took longer than normal to come down to the media center after telling his players.
Gard said it was hard for his mentor to break the news to the team.
That knack for coaching took Ryan all the way to Wisconsin, where he took the Badgers to back-to-back Final Fours in the past two seasons. The Badgers (7-5) have been anything but consistent this season, but Ryan said that could be attributed to the absence of freshman Brevin Pritzl (foot injury) and Belgian forward Andy Van Vliet, who was ruled ineligible for the season due to an global amateurism rule.
“I shared with them the same thing I’ve shared with two football teams in the last three years: Don’t be afraid of change”. “Defensively, more attention to details, keep guys in front”.
Bo Ryan ends his coaching career how we started it and worked with it for his 17 seasons with major colleges … with his heart.
Redshirt junior Zak Showalter and juniors Vitto Brown and Nigel Hayes met with reporters after Ryan’s final game.
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Devin Harris’ free throw with four-tenths of a second left took Ryan and the Badgers another step further, clinching their first outright league championship since 1947.
