January 24th

Joel’s Monday Mailbag

Each Monday, Joel Welser will be bringing you his Monday Mailbag.  If you have a question which you'd like Joel to answer, email jwelser_chn@ameritech.net.  He’ll post and answer as many questions as possible.  Please include your first name and home state when contacting Joel. 

One question each week is chosen as the "Question of the Week", and is answered by a few CHN staffers.  At the end of each Monday Mailbag, Joel presents his "Team of the Week" and his "Thoughts of the Week."  Visit the Mailbag Archive for past installments.

Question of the Week

 - The question of the week is answered by multiple CHN staffers -

Joel,

It seems to me that Bo Ryan's success early on at Wisconsin is flying along under the radar a bit.  Is anyone there (at CHN) noticing that Bo is a giant killer in the making (just ask Tom Izzo), and do you think he can take the winning percentage and national Division III success into Division I?

From Dan,

Madison, WI

Kristi Chartrand

I don’t think Bo Ryan’s success is flying under the radar at all. The Big Ten conference knows what this man can do all too well. The people who know and follow the game closely are well-aware of what he’s done with the program at Wisconsin. I happen to think Bo Ryan is an excellent coach. His formula for success is rather simple. Take good, solid, fundamental players and put them in a system where they can succeed and the wins will come. What I mean by that is that Ryan recruits players who fit his style of play. Not necessarily the flashy NBA-caliber or McDonald’s All-Americans but just sound, skilled players.  The Badgers continue to be the type of team that gives opponents fits. I don’t think any coach looks forward to having to scout a Bo Ryan-coached team. It’s tough to come up with a game plan to stop Wisconsin when your focus is on stopping the system and not just one single player. I think he’s very similar to Bob Knight in that respect -- you have to teach principles to beat them.

In my mind he’s already proven he can be a phenomenal Division I coach.

Jon Teitel

I suppose Ryan has been “flying along under the radar” in that he is not thought of as one of the best coaches in the nation, but he was arguably a coaching legend before ever setting foot on campus in Madison in 2001.  Ryan spent the first 15 years of his college coaching career at Division III UW-Platteville, where he guided the Pioneers to a record of 353-76 (.822).  In his final 12 seasons with the Pioneers, he won 4 national titles, 8 conference titles, and 157 of 164 home games (.957).  He followed that with 2 average seasons at UW-Milwaukee (30-27 overall) before coming to the Badgers.  Ryan began this season with the highest winning percentage among all active Division I coaches with at least 20 years of coaching experience.  Ryan’s record of 451-131 (.775) over the past 2 decades is better than some Hall-of-Fame coaches (Mike Krzyzewski and Bobby Knight) and some national championship coaches (Jim Boeheim and Jim Calhoun). 

In his first 3 years at Wisconsin, Ryan has led the Badgers to a 68-28 record, the most wins ever in a 3-year span for any Wisconsin basketball coach.  In his first year, he led the Badgers to their first Big Ten title since 1947.  By doing so with only 8 scholarship players, Ryan was named Big Ten Coach of the Year.  The following year, the Badgers won back-to-back Big Ten titles for the first time since 1923-24, and Ryan became the first coach ever to be named Big Ten Coach of the Year in his first 2 seasons.  Last year, Ryan guided the Badgers to a school-record 25 wins and their first-ever Big Ten tournament title, and the Badgers are picking up where they left off with a 13-3 record so far this season.

Wisconsin has not been content with simply getting to the NCAA tournament.  Ryan is the only coach in Wisconsin history to reach the NCAA tournament in each of his first 3 seasons, and the first to win games in consecutive NCAA tournaments.  Two big reasons for Ryan’s success have been Kirk Penney (the first Badger in 50 years to earn first-team All-Big Ten honors in consecutive seasons) and Devin Harris (2004 Big Ten Player of the Year and the fifth overall pick in the 2004 NBA draft).

As good as the Badgers are in general, they are absolutely phenomenal at home.  Wisconsin is 53-2 in Madison under Ryan, including a current streak of 38 wins (including a 77-44 spanking of my Penn Quakers on November 20).  The Badgers have never lost a Big Ten game at the Kohl Center under Ryan (a perfect 34-0 record), but face their biggest challenge yet as a “giant killer” when they host top-ranked Illinois on Tuesday.

Joel Welser

I think Coach Ryan has already taken his DIII success and turned it into success in Madison.  I’m not sure what it is about Wisconsin that makes them seem under the radar.  They constantly overachieve from their preseason expectations from the coaches and media.  At some point in time you’d think the play on the floor would catch up to those who vote on such conference preseason polls.  How many times must they beat Michigan State in a row before somebody votes Wisconsin #2 and Michigan State #3 in the conference?  The style isn’t flashy, the players aren’t flashy, but Bo Ryan and the Badgers seem to always get the job done.  That style of play won’t help the national exposure, but nobody in Big Ten country can ignore it.  Thirty-eight in a row at the Kohl Center ain’t too shabby either. 

Have a question?  Email Joel at jwelser_chn@ameritech.net, and please include your first name and home state. We’ll post and answer as many as possible.  All questions may be published or edited unless requested otherwise.

Joel’s Team of the Week

Ball State Cardinals

It’s a good week to be Tim Buckley.  Bowling Green and Western Michigan may be the best two teams in the Mid-American Conference heading into this week and that is who Ball State saw on their schedule.  Four Cardinals scored in double-digits, led by Denis Trammell’s 22, as BSU sent Bowling Green home with an 86-62 shellacking.  Up next was a trip to University Arena, where the Broncos of Western Michigan had won 25 games in a row.  Even with Terrance Chapman, the best offensive rebounder in the MAC, out of the game with a shoulder injury, the small lineup held on to beat WMU 66-65.  Peyton Stovall led Ball State with 18 points, eight rebounds and three assists in front of a hostile 5,055 fans.  

Joel’s Thoughts of the Week

I offer some advice to the student sections, because without the student section, college basketball would be like the NBA, but with defense.

Let us use any directional Michigan school (Western, Eastern, Central) for this example, but it works for any mid major.  When Detroit is in town and Chuck Bailey, a transfer from the University of Michigan, is at the free throw line, don’t chant “U of M reject,” because there is a very good chance that the person sitting next to you in the student section is also a U of M reject.

After somebody on the opposing team fouls out, be careful of when you yell “sit down.”  While you are waving and watching the poor fella that just fouled out mill around the bench, your hometown hero is getting ready to shoot a free throw.  Players are smart, well except those who can’t make it through six credit hours, but that’s what we have coaches and Tanner Bronson for.  They won’t sit down until your player is about to shoot the free throw.  It isn’t wise to yell “sit down” while your guy is shooting the front end of an important one and one. 

Never chant “overrated,” because if you just barely beat an overrated team at home, what’s that say about you.  I think the team you just beat is grossly underrated.  That’s much better for the RPI.

Take some advice from the Izzone.  When you always count down the shot clock five seconds early, the opposing team will catch on.  Try counting down five seconds late at least once a game.  The Izzone busted that gem out against Purdue and if there was a stat for forced turnovers, the Izzone would have one. 

Have a question?  Email Joel at jwelser_chn@ameritech.net, and please include your first name and home state. We’ll post and answer as many as possible.  All questions may be published or edited unless requested otherwise.