Historical Badger basketball futility

[Warrior of Law]

Based on the recent Badger basketball success, a lot of their faithful, and media counterparts, have conveniently forgotten how awful of a program it is overall.  For example, from 1976-1996, UW failed to have a .500 conference record, and finished 9 of the 20 years in either 9th or 10th place.  Keep in mind there were only 10 teams in the Big Ten .  Indeed, but for Northwestern, it would have been worse.

Wisconsin has had a nice run with Bennett and Ryan.  However, that run is over.  They'll revert to being a below-average team soon enough, perhaps as soon as next year.  Hang in there, folks, they'll crawl back in their hole in due time, and then start blabbing about their hockey team again.

[mu_hilltopper]

I don't think we'll be that lucky.

FFS, they were 15-18 last year and now they are #12 in the nation.    Their 2017-18 down season was the exception to their rule over the past ~decade.

[MUfan12]

Replacing Happ will be a big ask, just about everything runs through him.

We'll see if the recruiting/development will continue at the same pace.

[Oldgym]

If I had a dollar for every time I wrote off Bucky's MBB program because (it's a football school/it's a hockey school/they can't recruit/they play too slow/are changing coaches and the new one won't get it done), I could retire.  My heart wants to believe it but my head knows it's a fool's errand.

How long is "recent"?  18 years?  20?  It pisses me off, but 1) that's a hell of a long anomaly, and 2) aside from their performance last year (down Trice and King), I'll hold off until I see hard evidence that Gard can't sustain the success.

[Its DJOver]

Everything comes back to recruiting and player development.  Bo was good at finding diamonds in the rough and developing them.  It remains to be seen if Gard can do that at the same level.  I think the level of development that he can get out of this Currie kid over the next couple of years will set the trend of whether or not he can replicate his predecessors success.

[GGGG]

The turn around started with Stu Jackson, taken to the next level with Dick Bennett and then really amped under Bo.  It has been a 25 year process.

I know that people some here are desperate for them to revert back to their Bill Cofield and Steve Yoder days, but this program has fantastic facilities and a ton of resources.  It may not be where it was under Bo, but I really doubt it will revert back to the bottom of the Big Ten. 

[skianth16]

I know that people some here are desperate for them to revert back to their Bill Cofield and Steve Yoder days, but this program has fantastic facilities and a ton of resources.  It may not be where it was under Bo, but I really doubt it will revert back to the bottom of the Big Ten.

Yep, can't argue with this at all. Personally, I'd rather knock off a good Becky team with high expectations than roll over a cupcake. It makes the games more important, and the wins mean more. Don't get me wrong, I love watching them lose, but a quality win over a ranked team means more, both for us as fans and for our team's resume.

[muguru]

The turn around started with Stu Jackson, taken to the next level with Dick Bennett and then really amped under Bo.  It has been a 25 year process.

I know that people some here are desperate for them to revert back to their Bill Cofield and Steve Yoder days, but this program has fantastic facilities and a ton of resources.  It may not be where it was under Bo, but I really doubt it will revert back to the bottom of the Big Ten.

I just wish the biggest badger blowhards like Ericthered, ButchBadger, Swenson etc, wouldn't "conveniently" forget those years and quit acting like they just got a basketball program in 2000. That's what irritates me so much about their fans...where were they then?? People forget they weren't just bad...they were one of the worst programs in the NATION on a year to year basis. You can't just become a Badger basketball fan when they start becoming good(which so many of their fans have done), were any of them in attendance at the Fieldhouse regularly back then??

I'd have to say no, since it was nothing to walk up to the ticket window half hour before a game and get great seats. That's a true story. Those same "fans" of the program then, suddenly care about the program now. That's not the way it works..

[skianth16]

Those same "fans" of the program then, suddenly care about the program now. That's not the way it works..

Eh, it kind of is how it works nowadays. Diehard, lifelong fans are great, but most people just don't put that kind of stock into sports. Plus, the days where you can only see the hometown team on TV (or listen on the radio) are long gone. You don't need to be tied to the Packers to be an NFL fan in Milwaukee anymore. Similarly, if you like college hoops, you can see Duke and Kentucky on TV for the majority of their games. Times are a little different.

Plus, on the flipside, living in the past isn't something we would want Marquette fans to be known for. You've also got to consider that a lot of the louder, more raucous fans are probably younger. They have no idea what happened more than 10-15 years ago.

[Aircraftcarrier]

We will see what happens after Happ leaves.Contrary to what some people believe they have had some really good players.Kaminsky,Dekker,Hayes and Koenig.There 2018 and 2019 recruiting classes are marginal.We will see how they fair in the 2020 class.Verbal from Bowman.Have 3 left.Gard needs to hit on some in 2020 but from what I have heard it is not looking to good with the top players from Wisconsin and Minnesota.2020 class in Wisconsin(if you include Polk and Beekman)is loaded.Minnesota is also with Suggs,Dainja,Carlson and Garcia.

[GrimmReaper33]

Everything comes back to recruiting and player development.  Bo was good at finding diamonds in the rough and developing them.  It remains to be seen if Gard can do that at the same level.  I think the level of development that he can get out of this Currie kid over the next couple of years will set the trend of whether or not he can replicate his predecessors success.

To be fair, it seems Gard has already proven to have found at least one diamond in the rough in Trice.  They lose Happ after this year, but they still have a pretty decent core with some talent who will return- Trice, Davison, King, Reuvers, Ford.. There will still be pieces to work with. 

I'm not saying I expect them to make FF runs again in the near future, but I don't think they are on the path to demise like many here want to believe.

[Its DJOver]

To be fair, it seems Gard has already proven to have found at least one diamond in the rough in Trice.  They lose Happ after this year, but they still have a pretty decent core with some talent who will return- Trice, Davison, King, Reuvers, Ford.. There will still be pieces to work with. 

I'm not saying I expect them to make FF runs again in the near future, but I don't think they are on the path to demise like many here want to believe.

True that Trice had been better than I thought he would be, but I was referring more so to bigs.  Bo's bread and butter was taking an overlooked 6-10 200lb guy, redshirting him, and making him far better than anyone thought possible.  I believe that Currie is redshirting this year so he would be the first candidate to fit that "traditional" UW mold.

[brewcity77]

I don't think we'll be that lucky.

FFS, they were 15-18 last year and now they are #12 in the nation.    Their 2017-18 down season was the exception to their rule over the past ~decade.

They are, and we'll get a better sense tomorrow, but I'm not sure how reliable that ranking is, even at the advanced metric sites. They beat Xavier, but are they any good? The Musketeers don't have a single top-100 win per Pomeroy. They beat Stanford, but the Cardinal are 4-4 with zero top-175 wins. Oklahoma looks like a decent win, but the best team they've beaten is Florida, who hasn't looked very good at all. NC State? UW narrowly beat them and almost all their wins are over sub-300 teams.

I think Wisconsin is pretty good, but I also think they've benefited from playing a ton of paper tigers. They could easily beat us and shut me up, but the one team they played that has really proven they are good is Virginia, and that was never really in doubt from the end of the first half. They look like a tourney team, but I think they are more a 7-9 seed than the 3-4 they have looked like so far.

[MomofMUltiples]

To be fair, it seems Gard has already proven to have found at least one diamond in the rough in Trice.

*Trice was a Bo Ryan recruit.

This is one of the reasons I have a hard time with how smug badger fans are - because I can remember a long time when they were simply dismal at basketball.  One of my outside attorneys played on the team in the '90s and he even laughs about how bad the badger were.  We will see how the program does without Happ next year - they do have a couple of big men redshrting this year.  Being a Golden Gopher/Golden Eagle fan in a Badger family, I don't wish them ill.  In fact, I don't even think about them unless they are playing Minnesota or MU.  Then I just want to annihilate them.  Looking forward to a happy Saturday!

[GrimmReaper33]

*Trice was a Bo Ryan recruit.

Yea, that's not true.  Trice committed to Gard and UW at the end of April 2016.  Bo "retired" Dec 2015.  Bo never recruited Trice at all.