I interrupt today's WTSooner/CoolM pissing contest to bring you my thoughts on this particular topic.
I think our programs are very similar in a lot of ways, they just achieved consistency ten years later than we did. With the arrival of Wayman in the fall of 1982, we became a really good basketball program. The Badgers hired Stu Jackson before the 1993 season, and they've missed the dance only four times since then. I had no idea Stan Van coached there until glancing through their recent history.
They have a few feathers in their cap:
1. They followed up a solid hire (Jackson) with a good one (Dick Bennett) which begat a great one (Bo Ryan). A foundation like that allowed them to overcome off the court scandals at the end of Ryan's tenure and bridge the gap to Gard, who appears to be more than enough to keep the train going. It will be interesting to see how they do without Hayes, who is a stud deluxe.
2. They moved out of their old barn in 1998 and avoided the multi-purpose fad by building the gorgeous Kohl Center. My brother went to the game up there this year, and could not say enough about the facility, support and LOCATION of the arena.
3. They love their hoops up there, but they REALLY love their Badgers. The support they enjoy is really quite remarkable. Maybe more students stick around Wisconsin after graduation as opposed to the recent Sooners who nearly all come from, and head back to, Texas.
Our wins and losses and achievements may be similar, and in some ways ours may be better, but I think we should aspire to the overall success, support and brand of Wisconsin basketball. Their "down" years of late have been 9-7 tallies in the conference with a first-weekend exit in the dance. None of this 10-20 radioactive dumpster fire we sat through this season.
