Apr 6, 2015; Indianapolis, IN, USA; Wisconsin Badgers head coach Bo Ryan reacts in the 2015 NCAA Men
Bo Ryan
Record: 740–228
If any program were to challenge Arizona for college basketball’s best over the past two years, Wisconsin would be the one to do so. Bo Ryan’s been massively successful while never fielding a team of particularly talented individuals. While both Frank Kaminsky and Sam Dekker were drafted in the this year’s first round, Dekker’s the only top-75 RSCI recruit Wisconsin’s had over the past four years. The only other top-100 recruit was Bronson Koenig.
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In the past, Wisconsin’s built a tough-nosed, grind-it-out identity. The team worked like hell on defense and patiently ran it’s “swing” offense to exhaustion. Last season they scraped that, building an elite offense with a more isolation-heavy, drive-and-kick style. Wisconsin’s 2013 team finished No. 108 on offense and No. 1 on defense by kenpom’s metrics. By comparison, their 2015 team finished No. 1 on offense and No. 54 on defense. Ryan’s proven adaptability.
He’s never done much to seek out top-tier recruits. If anything, he’s avoided them. Ryan’s consistently sought out four-year players, never giving significant minutes to freshman. He wants his players to spend time in his program to learn his principles before giving them court time. A concerning attribute for a prospective NBA coach, given the high turnover of NBA rosters.
He also has consistently opted to play slow, grinding-out the entire 35-second shot clock. Over the past five seasons, Wisconsin has finished 329th in the country on average according to kenpom’s pace metric. Given all that, I’d have a hard time seeing Ryan meshing well with the egos of NBA stars. He seems like an old man set in his ways.
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