Wisconsin hungry for more, ready for Final Four matchup with Kentucky
LOS ANGELES -- They snipped net strands and tied them to the adjustable plastic backing of their regional championship hats, participated in a team Twitter selfie, hugged, high-fived and reveled in the moment of advancing to a second consecutive Final Four. All the requisite elements for a celebration of Wisconsin's accomplishments were there at Staples Center for Badgers players on Saturday night.
And yet, after No. 1 seed Wisconsin had dispatched No. 2 seed Arizona 85-78 in a West Regional Elite Eight game, there was an overwhelming sense of hunger instead of contentment, yearning more than over-the-moon excitement. For an entire year, players had armed themselves with a plan, establishing goals as lofty as any in program history. And now, they were simply headed to a place they always believed they would go: back to the national semifinal with eyes on something greater.
"Last year, it was like the end of the world we made it there," Badgers guard Josh Gasser said on the court while teammates lined up behind him for their turn with a ladder, scissors and net. "Now it's like, all right, what's next?"
Many have tried to find the similarities in the past two Badgers teams, which have now combined for an astonishing 65-11 record and represent the first time in school history UW has advanced to consecutive Final Fours. And though there are certainly plenty of parallels -- chiefly that the vast majority of rotation players are identical -- there is one significant difference at this stage of the season.
"This year, we expected to be there," Badgers forward Duje Dukan said. "Now we've got to take care of business."
For further evidence of this modified mindset, consider the postgame scene in the locker room Saturday night. There was no dousing Badgers coach Bo Ryan with bottles of water to celebrate his first Final Four trip as there was following a one-point Elite Eight overtime victory against Arizona a year ago, no glassy-eyed looks of fulfillment and triumph, no awe at social media images of the party back in Madison on State Street to celebrate their achievements.
Yes, they were happy. But they also were far from satisfied.
"This is something we wanted so bad," said Badgers forward Sam Dekker, who scored 27 points against Arizona on Saturday and was named the West Region's Most Outstanding Player. "We visualized so much that now that it's here, we know what it's like. But we know how (quickly) it can end at the same time. We were stripped of our chance at a title last year. We don't want to let that happen again. We still have that mindset. We have a lot more basketball to play."
To understand how deep the Badgers' determination ran, consider the declaration center Frank Kaminsky made last April in the locker room after a crushing 74-73 loss against Kentucky at the Final Four in Arlington, Texas. No, he was not going to bypass his senior season for the NBA. Because Wisconsin, he said, would be back in the same spot. Wisconsin, in fact, would be better than ever.
"All the guys on this team worked, and we knew we had the talent to do this and now that we've done it, we're happy and we're going to enjoy it," Kaminsky said. "I think last year we got a little overexcited just going to the Final Four. And this year it's time to go to the game and win a national championship."
Other members of Wisconsin's team uttered the same sentiment. Badgers forward Nigel Hayes described the locker room atmosphere as "a mellow excitement." Point guard Traevon Jackson said the team wanted more, that there was no "Cinderella-type" feeling like last year. And given those viewpoints, Wisconsin's locker room was maybe one of the most subdued environments for a team that reached the Final Four in recent memory.
Didn't any players consider that to be weird?
"Not at all," Hayes said. "Well, I mean probably weird to outsiders. But to us it's kind of like we've been there last year. It's not like we're not excited to be going back. It's just we have more of a business mentality this time instead of, 'Oh, we're going to Disneyland' type of attitude about it."
Business-like is perhaps one of the best ways to describe Wisconsin's methodical and captivating run through this NCAA tournament. UW reached this point by demonstrating a supreme confidence, incredible talent and an intangible level of togetherness -- even while facing the most pressure-packed situations.
Wisconsin broke a tie game in the final six minutes to edge past Oregon in the round of 32, squeezed out of two seven-point holes to beat North Carolina in the Sweet 16 and overcame a three-point halftime deficit against Arizona in the Elite Eight by connecting on 15 of 19 second-half field goals, including 10 of 12 3-pointers.
"The peace that we have in these moments, we really expect to win and we expect to be victors," Jackson said. "We know what it takes to win, and we have no doubt, no fear, no worry at all. That's what helps us go down the stretch."
Now, the most Herculean task of all looms: beating the team that knocked Wisconsin out of the NCAA tournament at the Final Four a year ago, when the Badgers were just seconds from moving on to the championship game. And this year's Kentucky team is even stronger, only two games from finishing the first perfect Division I college basketball season since Indiana achieved the feat in 1976.
Though eight teams have come within single digits this season, including Notre Dame in the Elite Eight, no one has conquered a Wildcats bunch that features nine McDonald's All-Americans and one of the greatest collections of talent ever on any single college hoops team. Las Vegas oddsmakers, in turn, have listed Kentucky (38-0) as six-point favorites against Wisconsin (35-3) -- only the second game all season in which the Badgers have not been favored.
Of course, don't let the point spread fool anyone. The best team in Wisconsin history expected to be here. Now, the Badgers expect to win.
"We're not going to back down from anybody," Dekker said. "Obviously they're a great team. Best team in the nation right now. But I think we have a pretty good team, too. That's all I really have to say about that. I'm excited to play. People are going to talk about revenge, revenge. . . . But that's not going to be the case. We're just going to try to get a win and go to the national title."
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