Badgers notebook: The key difference between Wisconsin and Kentucky
INDIANAPOLIS -- The question was directed at both coaches sitting on the podium Thursday afternoon, and it focused on whether one-year college basketball players could build and leave a legacy in the same way as four-year players. The humor, of course, was that only one coach could adequately provide a truly experienced response.
And so, Wisconsin's Bo Ryan immediately ceded to Kentucky's John Calipari.
"John knows more about this than I do," Ryan began. "I wouldn't know how to answer it."
It was a moment that represented the contrast in coaching approaches for two men who are Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame finalists -- winners will be announced Monday -- that have excelled with entirely different methods and will meet Saturday in the Final Four. Calipari has perfected the art of recruiting one-and-done players, though he has playfully lobbied for the phrase to be "succeed and proceed." From Derrick Rose to John Wall to DeMarcus Cousins to Anthony Davis to Nerlens Noel to Julius Randle, and many in between, Calipari has sent truckloads of players to the NBA after just one college season.
At Wisconsin, meanwhile, it's considered a big deal if a player leaves school early after his junior season (see Devin Harris in 2004). Ryan also does not generally recruit or land the types of players with visions on the NBA following only one season, but they certainly can develop into first-round picks over time (see Frank Kaminsky in 2015).
"It's just a different era," Calipari said. "We're dealing with things in a different way. You just have to. We all are. If Bo has a guy after a year, Bo is going to tell him to go for it if he's a lottery pick. We're all in the same thing. You don't know when you recruit a kid if he's going to leave after a year. You don't know. You just coach them, then they make a decision of what they want to do."
Calipari noted the reason players are more apt to leave after one season more so than 20 years ago is because of the money available to them.
"Twenty years ago, NBA contracts were $125,000," he said. "Now if you're a top-10 pick, it's $25 million. Your next contract may be $80 million. That's $100 million. You have to respect that."
For an idea as to how different the two philosophies are at Kentucky and Wisconsin, consider that Calipari landed 16 Scout.com five-star recruits in classes from 2011-14, ranked No. 1 nationally in three of those classes and No. 2 in the other. On average, Kentucky's recruits during that stretch averaged 4.7 stars. Now consider that Ryan landed one Scout.com five star recruit (Sam Dekker), one four-star recruit (Bronson Koenig) and nine three-star recruits in that span. On average, Wisconsin's recruits averaged 3.0 stars.
Ryan cited a story during the recruitment of forward Nigel Hayes, who asked Ryan if he could declare for the NBA Draft if he earned national player of the year honors his freshman season. That statement was meant as a joke, of course, because in Ryan's system, players progress over years. When they're done, however, they may form a unit that's every bit as good as Kentucky's team of young McDonald's All-Americans -- which makes Saturday's Final Four rematch all the more intriguing.
"He wasn't MVP his first year," Ryan said of Hayes. "But, you know, by the time he's finished, he might be pretty good."
Gamers for life: The Nintendo 64 video game Super Smash Brothers was a hot topic of conversation during the player press conference at Lucas Oil Stadium. And, perhaps not surprisingly, Badgers center Frank Kaminsky -- ever the goofball -- was leading the charge.
Kaminsky first referenced the game when he was asked if he knew anything about Kentucky center Willie Cauley-Stein's personality.
"Personality-wise, we're talking about Super Smash Bros on the way up here, so I feel like we would get along," Kaminsky said.
That led to a question about what character both Kaminsky and Cauley-Stein would prefer to play with.
"I've been trying Captain Falcon," Kaminsky said. "He's really slow, so I think I'm going to go back to Kirby"
Added Cauley-Stein: "I play with Kirby just because he can change. He can change into anybody he's playing against. And he flies around, so when you get knocked off the little stage, you can just fly back and you don't have to worry about jumping."
Wisconsin's team has long been known this season as a particularly loose bunch, and video games -- namely FIFA soccer and Super Smash Brothers -- have become a big part of team bonding sessions. That's an activity that has continued all the way to the Final Four.
"We played Super Smash Bros in our hospitality room for a while last night while the barber was in there, hanging out, chilling out, having fun," Kaminsky said. "When we got on the court today for practice, all seriousness. We know how to flip it when we need to."
Follow Jesse Temple on Twitter
