There’s no denying that age is creeping up on Wisconsin Badgers men’s basketball head coach Bo Ryan. He is 67 years old and just went through one of the biggest roller coaster rides of his career.
A year after losing in the national semi-final to Kentucky, his Badgers basketball squad reached the next step only to achieve heartbreak in the form of a nine-point loss to Duke in the national championship game.
For most coaches that kind of close call after close call would take a massive toll. Some in Badgers circles have even speculated that a national championship game victory could’ve provided an easy ride off in to the sunset of retirement for Ryan.
Don’t worry though, he doesn’t have any personal plans to go anywhere anytime soon. At least that’s what he told ESPN.com’s Andy Katz.
“I’m here at Wisconsin until I’m done coaching. We’re going to be young next season and we will have a lot of work to do,” Ryan said late Saturday night after his Coaches vs. Cancer gala at the Kohl Center grossed $1.2 million for cancer research.
Ryan also indicated that the sting of losing just one month ago hasn’t gone away, but it will motivate him and the Badgers even more.
“Of course it stings,” Ryan said. “The only people who don’t understand what we went through are people who have never been in that position. To get to a national championship game and be on the left-hand side at the end, that’s tough. It’s disappointing. But there will be a lot more adversity in life, so we’ll be OK.”
According to the article, Ryan hasn’t watched the national championship game in it’s entirety just yet. Instead Ryan has looked at the edited tape of the key moments in the game in order to understand what needs to be worked on.
Ryan sees a need to emphasize how calls are continuing to be made by officials, including being more active in creating contact against the defenders while driving to the basket.
There wasn’t much of that from the Badgers outside of forward Sam Dekker, and with Dekker declaring for the NBA Draft you can bet someone will need to fill the role of slasher. One name to look at could be point guard Bronson Koenig, who has upped his game in each of his first two years in Madison.
With a deadly three-point game to his name already, using that to his advantage and slashing to the hoop could be up next.
No matter the player or what happens, you can bet Ryan already has a gameplan in mind.
“If there is going to be more emphasis on offensive players going into defensive players and putting their head down, then we have to start doing it,” Ryan said. “I’ve learned over the years in Division III or at UW Milwaukee or here to make sure whatever knocks you out of the tournament, you are teaching that the next year.”
Considering all that has happened to him and his team in the last few years, the words spoken to Katz don’t sound like a man defeated and run down Instead, it appears the adversity and triumph together are fuel to the fire for the ageless Bo Ryan.
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
