TIME TO LACE 'EM UP;ONCE AGAIN, BADGERS BEGIN SEASON WONDERING WHO WILL REPLACE KEY PLAYERS
Another college basketball season is upon us. And so is another Bo Ryan parable from his days growing up in Chester, Pa., to help describe the next University of Wisconsin men's basketball team.
Ryan's story begins with him driving through south Philadelphia with a buddy and spotting a homeless man walking with just one shoe. Ryan's buddy immediately pitied the man because he believed he had lost a shoe. Ryan saw it differently.
"I said, 'You're wrong, he found a shoe,'" Ryan said. "He was halfway there and he was looking for another one. I think the guy was lucky that he found one. That's how I approach coaching."
As the Badgers prepare for Friday's first practice of the 2010-11 season, Ryan has already fielded dozens of questions about how he's going to replace departed guards Trevon Hughes and Jason Bohannon from last year's team that finished 24-9 overall and 13-5 in the Big Ten Conference.
The UW coach, whose .713 winning percentage in Big Ten games is the best of any conference coach in history, answered them all by saying the Badgers might be down a shoe but they shouldn't be pitied.
"I look at it like, the way these guys have conditioned themselves, their optimism, the way they seem very focused, we've found a shoe," said Ryan, who will welcome six seniors, two juniors, five sophomores and four freshmen to the Badgers' first practice. "Now we have to find the other one."
Translation: No one will believe the Badgers will be good again this season, but they'll use their shoes to kick more than a few teams because of key returning players such as Jon Leuer and Jordan Taylor and Ryan's fundamentally sound system.
Veteran presence
Leuer, a 6-foot-10 senior forward who led the Badgers in points (15.4 per game) and rebounds (5.8) last season, turned heads this summer when he matched wits and talents against some of the NBA's best players while training with Team USA prior to the World Championships.
He has a chance this season to move to another lofty level occupied by a few former UW players such as Devin Harris, Alando Tucker and Kirk Penney. They elevated their games - and teams - after figuring out how to best use their skills to ensure victories for their team.
"Jon knows he has other guys he can count on, but he also knows that he's somebody who needs to have a presence in each and every game he plays because he can," said Ryan, who watched the Badgers scrap for a 6-3 record during a nine-game stretch late in the season that Leuer missed with a broken bone in his wrist.
Taylor, a 6-1 junior point guard who led UW in assists (3.6) and was fourth in scoring (10.0) last season, is the one true answer in a backcourt full of questions.
"(Taylor's) attention to detail has always been good, but now that he's been under the gun so to speak and in tough situations, he'll be even better," Ryan said. "His reactions to things will be out of experience now. He'll see things ahead of time a little bit better. I'm looking for him to have a real good season as far as involving his teammates, making everybody else better. That's the job of a good point guard. But he'll score."
Value of experience
Meanwhile, 6-4 junior Rob Wilson (3.1 ppg) will try to grab the shooting guard spot vacated by Bohannon by avoiding the inconsistency that plagued him as a sophomore. Tim Jarmusz, a 6-6 senior, also must shake the inconsistency bug and stay healthy. Wquinton Smith, a 5-10 walk-on, will vie for playing time along with 6-1 freshman Ben Brust and 6-3 freshman Josh Gasser.
At the forward spots, 6-8 senior Keaton Nankivil (8.1 ppg, 4.7 rpg), is a third returning starter and will report to practice leaner and stronger than at any point of his career. He broke his own record for forwards and centers in the squat (430 pounds) during preseason testing.
Other forwards include versatile 6-6 sophomores Ryan Evans (3.5 ppg) and Mike Bruesewitz (1.1). "The most important thing is they have to get better defensively after their first years on the court," Ryan said.
Ryan also is excited to see a healthy Jared Berggren return to the court. The 6-10 sophomore had surgery to repair an injured shoulder that bothered him throughout the season. Freshman bigs include 6-8 forward Duje Dukan and 6-10 center Evan Anderson.
"These guys understand how things work, that now we just have to get better at those things," Ryan said of his returning players. "It might not show in number of points. They might block out better."
Back to basics
Ryan has already shown his players clips of last season's 87-69 loss to Cornell in a second-round NCAA tournament game that was rife with fundamental breakdowns such as failing to block out and becoming loose with the ball.
"It only takes one bad 40 minutes to make or break a season, especially if you're fortunate enough to get to postseason play," Ryan said. "On the other hand, if you're not doing these things in the first five games of the year it can cost you."
So, once again, Ryan's first practices will involve passing drills and learning how to be smarter and stronger with the ball. It's all part of the search for the other shoe.
"Before you can run, you've got to walk, before you walk you have to crawl," Ryan said. "It's all part of the teaching process."
UW MEN'S BASKETBALL ROSTER
# Name Pos Ht Wt Yr Hometown
32 Evan Anderson C 6-10 250 Fr. Stanley
40 Jared Berggren F/C 6-10 235 So. Princeton, Minn.
31 Mike Bruesewitz F 6-6 220 So. St. Paul, Minn.
1 Ben Brust G 6-1 190 Fr. Hawthorn Woods, Ill.
13 Duje Dukan F 6-8 205 Fr. Deerfield, Ill.
5 Ryan Evans G/F 6-6 210 So. Phoenix
10 Dan Fahey G 6-3 195 So. Chicago
21 Josh Gasser G 6-3 185 Fr. Port Washington
44 J.P. Gavinski C 6-11 255 Sr. Wisconsin Dells
24 Tim Jarmusz F/G 6-6 205 Sr. Oshkosh
30 Jon Leuer F 6-10 228 Sr. Orono, Minn.
52 Keaton Nankivil F 6-8 240 Sr. Madison
2 Wquinton Smith G 5-10 205 Sr. Milwaukee
11 Jordan Taylor G 6-1 195 Jr. Bloomington, Minn.
15 Brett Valentyn G 6-4 195 Sr. Verona
33 Rob Wilson G/F 6-4 198 Jr. Cleveland
22 J.D. Wise G 6-0 185 So. Milwaukee
