Perspective, please...

Eight days ago, I gazed out the window of a downtown Detroit hotel and pondered the possibilities of Wisconsin making it to both a Final Four and a Frozen Four.  Neither had seemed likely during much of the season, but on that sunny afternoon, it was easy to dream.  Each team had to win just two more games for it to become reality.

That evening, when Davidson's Stephen Curry hit a ridiculous reverse layup against the Badgers which  impressed even LeBron James (who was sitting several rows behind us--probably one of the few times in my life that I'll have better seats at an event than LeBron)...it hit me.  The Badgers were not Final Four material. They were a good team, one that certainly exceeded preseason expectations, but they lacked the NBA-quality talent of the teams that wound up advancing to this year's Final Four.

Is this a problem?  Should fans be badgering (sorry) Bo Ryan to recruit better talent to Madison?   Has the UW not set its sights high enough when it comes to the major, revenue-producing sports?

I don't have the answers...but now that my disappointment has faded, I'll ask any Badger fan who's still bitter to keep a sense of perspective.   During my years in Madison, Michael Finley was a true talent, but overall, the UW teams of 91-92 and 92-93 were barely NIT-caliber.   Things got better over time, but it wasn't until Dick Bennett took over that there was stability in the coaching staff--it's no coincidence that the program became a conference contender in his tenure.  Sure, Stu Jackson got Wisconsin into the NCAA tournament, but he was a short-term fix.   Say what you want about Dick's style of play, the guy won games.    Now, that pattern continues with Bo Ryan, albeit with a slightly more up-tempo style and more displays of athleticism.   You can complain about the Big Ten being down in recent years, but Bo gets it done, even in seasons like this past one, when teams like Indiana and Michigan State were supposed to be the conference powers.   

Detractors like to harp on Bo's NCAA record with the Badgers, but again, I don't have any major beef with what Wisconsin has done in the postseason.   Tournament success depends on a lot of random factors (your draw, injuries, etc.), but I can't say bad coaching has been a factor in the Badgers losses these past two seasons--simply put, Wisconsin was unfortunate to run into a couple of hot-shooting teams.    True, I would have liked to see the Badgers play a box-and-one or a triangle-and-two defense against Curry, but Bo is a man-to-man guy, so he goes with what got him there.   

Maybe Wisconsin's not at the level of North Carolina or Kansas, but then again, the UW has long since passed former Big Ten powers like Minnesota, Iowa, and Michigan.   Recently, you'd give the Badgers the edge over both Indiana and Michigan State.    I'm willing to let Bo coach out the rest of his tenure, and I'm pretty confident that the level of this program will at worst, stay where it is. I am, however, a little concerned about what John Belein and Tubby Smith might be able to do at Michigan and Minnesota, respectively.

Regarding hockey, it would have been easier to accept the season being over if Wisconsin hadn't completely outplayed North Dakota for two periods on the Badgers home ice in the NCAA Midwest Regional final.  Unfortunately for the UW, a 47-second stretch of the third allowed the Fighting Sioux to get back into the game.   Getting that close to a Frozen Four had to really sting, even for a team that had such a small window to just get into the NCAA tournament. 

What the future holds for the hockey program is a little less clear.  Mike Eaves has a very good understanding of how to prepare his players for pro hockey, but that may be an issue for his own program, with early defections of players like Kyle Turris for the NHL.   Still, only two years removed from a national championship, the hockey program continues to be one of the consistently strongest at the University of Wisconsin.

If you're still a bitter Badger fan, take a look back in time to the pre-Donna Shalala, Pat Richter, and Barry Alvarez era...overall, things look a whole lot better these days.

-BOB BRADOVICH