BKBucky posted this on April 4th. I thought it deserved its own thread:
. . .
I don't think anyone on this board is "satisfied" with Sweet 16's in the sense that we consider this the peak of the mountain.
We just understand the concept of "building a program".
A little history lesson:
1941 - Wisconsin wins the NCAA tournament
1946-47 - Lose to CCNY (edit: eventually went down in same scandal as NYU a separate instiution) in the NCAA tournament. Young fans griped about non-athletic players.
.
Wisconsin is spending this 47 years establishing a reputation as a laughingstock across the country. Think Duke football. Think NW basketball. Think Washington Generals. This drought lasts twice as long as badgeralum07's (and my) lifetime. Basketball people everywhere would never even consider UW as a destination.
.
1992-93 - Stu Jackson arrives in Madison. Wisconsin goes 14-14!!! Loses in Round One of NIT!!! Here we come!
1993-94 - Wisconsin returns to NCAA tournament for the first time in 47 years with Stu Jackson, Michael Finley, and Tracey Webster. Lose in the second round. Fans are joyous.
1994-99 - Stu Jackson leaves us with Stan Van Gundy. Dick Bennet arrives on the scene. we make NCAA tournaments under Bennett in 1997 and 1999 only to lose in the first round ('99 we put up 32 points against SWMSU)
So we are now up to the year 2000. You will notice that we've won exactly 1 NCAA tournament game in 53 years!
1999-2000 - Dick Bennett finally recruits come NBA level talent and we MAKE A FINAL FOUR! One tourney win in 53 years and we go on to win 4 in a row! Unfortunately, we run into one of the best Big Ten teams in recent history and go down in Indianapolis. Fans are elated, delirious, and, most importantly, drunk!
Unfortunately, this great run is what will establish the label that Wisconsin can't shake, even to this day.
2000-2001 - Bennett tires of the stress and leaves mid-season. Brad Soderberg steps in and leads us to another NCAA tournament. Team goes down to Georgia State in round 1. Somehow our returning talented Final Four guys got upset in round 1. New fans from 2000 grumble. Old fans rejoice that we just made our 4th tourney in 54 years!
So, now Wisconsin is known as a bunch of slow, fundamental white guys that can shoot the ball and play deathly tight defense. Unfortunately, they are also labelled as slow, unathletic, and non-NBA material.
2001-2002 - Enter Bo Ryan. Badgers picked to finish towards the bottom of the Big Ten. I mean, they haven't won a Big Ten title in 55 years! Badgers proceed to share the Big Ten title, win 19 games, and go to an NCAA tourney! We get to the tourney, win a game, and lose to eventual champ,Maryland, in round 2!
2002-2003 - Badgers win BACK to BACK Big Ten titles! Holy Crap! That's like hitting your number in Roulette on two straight spins (if there were 55 numbers on the Roulette Table). Not only that, but we have a great run to the Sweet 16 in the tourney and lose a tough game to national power Kentucky. Alando jumps really high and someone snaps a photo.
2003-2006 - Finished 2nd, 3rd, and 4th in the conference for 3 straight seasons. 4 NCAA tourney wins. Start to hear cries of "perennial power" in Madison for the first time since WWII.
2006-2007 - BADGERS earn #1 National Ranking! Play huge games against Pitt and tOSU in Madison! Earns a #2 seed in the tourney! Win 30 games! Lose Brian Butch late and fall to a hot shooting UNLV squad after winning another NCAA tourney game.
It's really not until this point that you can say that Wisconsin has any recognition as a national power.
2007-2008 - Lose one of the greatest Badgers ever and still come back with 30 wins (I don't have the list in front of me, but we all saw the short list of 4-5 programs to accomplish this back-to-back).
My question to those that want more, now: Doesn't that look like consistent progress to you? Does it look like the athletic department (and Bo) have a plan for UW basketball? Doesn't it look like we're just starting to establish a national reputation?
Prep ball players have many people in their ears. Most of these guys are much older than them. Do you think they have a very high view of UW athletics? Look at the history. Even our (very recent) success has been smeared because of the stigma attached to us. Don't you think opposing coaches use our rep and lack of tradition against us in recruiting battles?
We had an all-state kid from Arizona contact us this year to play basketball. We landed a big guy from Texas. We took more kids from Minnesota. I don't know if you noticed, but some of those unathletic recruits just got some pretty heavy honors (including a Mr. Basketball in there).
Sure, we can throw out feelers to top level recruits. And we've earned the right to get the foot in the door, but this isn't EA College Football 2007. We can't change a kid from uninterested to committed just by sending a lot of coaches to him. A lot of kids, and the people around them, do not want to come to Wisconsin. That's a fact. We can court Jamil Wilson (if you don't think Bo would love to have him then you're wrong), but isn't it smart ot back off if he expresses little interest in Wisconsin? Why waste our time?
The program is still climbing. NCAA Tourney results are a terrible way to measure progress. It's a crazy month. Some might call it Madness. Look at our trends on wins, national ranking, nationally televised games, and mentions on ESPN in non-Wisconsin games. That is progress and that's what all of us "satisfied with Sweet 16" fans see. Get off it and enjoy the ride.
[edits by Southfew at BKBucky's request]
. . .
I don't think anyone on this board is "satisfied" with Sweet 16's in the sense that we consider this the peak of the mountain.
We just understand the concept of "building a program".
A little history lesson:
1941 - Wisconsin wins the NCAA tournament
1946-47 - Lose to CCNY (edit: eventually went down in same scandal as NYU a separate instiution) in the NCAA tournament. Young fans griped about non-athletic players.
.
Wisconsin is spending this 47 years establishing a reputation as a laughingstock across the country. Think Duke football. Think NW basketball. Think Washington Generals. This drought lasts twice as long as badgeralum07's (and my) lifetime. Basketball people everywhere would never even consider UW as a destination.
.
1992-93 - Stu Jackson arrives in Madison. Wisconsin goes 14-14!!! Loses in Round One of NIT!!! Here we come!
1993-94 - Wisconsin returns to NCAA tournament for the first time in 47 years with Stu Jackson, Michael Finley, and Tracey Webster. Lose in the second round. Fans are joyous.
1994-99 - Stu Jackson leaves us with Stan Van Gundy. Dick Bennet arrives on the scene. we make NCAA tournaments under Bennett in 1997 and 1999 only to lose in the first round ('99 we put up 32 points against SWMSU)
So we are now up to the year 2000. You will notice that we've won exactly 1 NCAA tournament game in 53 years!
1999-2000 - Dick Bennett finally recruits come NBA level talent and we MAKE A FINAL FOUR! One tourney win in 53 years and we go on to win 4 in a row! Unfortunately, we run into one of the best Big Ten teams in recent history and go down in Indianapolis. Fans are elated, delirious, and, most importantly, drunk!
Unfortunately, this great run is what will establish the label that Wisconsin can't shake, even to this day.
2000-2001 - Bennett tires of the stress and leaves mid-season. Brad Soderberg steps in and leads us to another NCAA tournament. Team goes down to Georgia State in round 1. Somehow our returning talented Final Four guys got upset in round 1. New fans from 2000 grumble. Old fans rejoice that we just made our 4th tourney in 54 years!
So, now Wisconsin is known as a bunch of slow, fundamental white guys that can shoot the ball and play deathly tight defense. Unfortunately, they are also labelled as slow, unathletic, and non-NBA material.
2001-2002 - Enter Bo Ryan. Badgers picked to finish towards the bottom of the Big Ten. I mean, they haven't won a Big Ten title in 55 years! Badgers proceed to share the Big Ten title, win 19 games, and go to an NCAA tourney! We get to the tourney, win a game, and lose to eventual champ,Maryland, in round 2!
2002-2003 - Badgers win BACK to BACK Big Ten titles! Holy Crap! That's like hitting your number in Roulette on two straight spins (if there were 55 numbers on the Roulette Table). Not only that, but we have a great run to the Sweet 16 in the tourney and lose a tough game to national power Kentucky. Alando jumps really high and someone snaps a photo.
2003-2006 - Finished 2nd, 3rd, and 4th in the conference for 3 straight seasons. 4 NCAA tourney wins. Start to hear cries of "perennial power" in Madison for the first time since WWII.
2006-2007 - BADGERS earn #1 National Ranking! Play huge games against Pitt and tOSU in Madison! Earns a #2 seed in the tourney! Win 30 games! Lose Brian Butch late and fall to a hot shooting UNLV squad after winning another NCAA tourney game.
It's really not until this point that you can say that Wisconsin has any recognition as a national power.
2007-2008 - Lose one of the greatest Badgers ever and still come back with 30 wins (I don't have the list in front of me, but we all saw the short list of 4-5 programs to accomplish this back-to-back).
My question to those that want more, now: Doesn't that look like consistent progress to you? Does it look like the athletic department (and Bo) have a plan for UW basketball? Doesn't it look like we're just starting to establish a national reputation?
Prep ball players have many people in their ears. Most of these guys are much older than them. Do you think they have a very high view of UW athletics? Look at the history. Even our (very recent) success has been smeared because of the stigma attached to us. Don't you think opposing coaches use our rep and lack of tradition against us in recruiting battles?
We had an all-state kid from Arizona contact us this year to play basketball. We landed a big guy from Texas. We took more kids from Minnesota. I don't know if you noticed, but some of those unathletic recruits just got some pretty heavy honors (including a Mr. Basketball in there).
Sure, we can throw out feelers to top level recruits. And we've earned the right to get the foot in the door, but this isn't EA College Football 2007. We can't change a kid from uninterested to committed just by sending a lot of coaches to him. A lot of kids, and the people around them, do not want to come to Wisconsin. That's a fact. We can court Jamil Wilson (if you don't think Bo would love to have him then you're wrong), but isn't it smart ot back off if he expresses little interest in Wisconsin? Why waste our time?
The program is still climbing. NCAA Tourney results are a terrible way to measure progress. It's a crazy month. Some might call it Madness. Look at our trends on wins, national ranking, nationally televised games, and mentions on ESPN in non-Wisconsin games. That is progress and that's what all of us "satisfied with Sweet 16" fans see. Get off it and enjoy the ride.
[edits by Southfew at BKBucky's request]
