You’re challenge, should you choose to accept it — take this 7-5 team and turn it in to an NCAA tournament team.
The man taking on that challenge isn’t Bo Ryan anymore, as he turned the keys to the program over to long time assistant coach Greg Gard following Tuesday night’s disjointed win over Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.
Gard wasn’t named the immediate successor to Ryan, as Alvarez slapped the interim head coach title on him with two-thirds of the season left to play.
So, how does Gard go from interim to permanent head coach? He needs to take that challenge we spoke of head on and beat it.
Simply put — get to the NCAA tournament or be gone.
That may seem harsh, but the reality of the Wisconsin Badgers men’s basketball program today is that it has elevated expectations. Simply getting to the NCAA tournament is an expected feat of even the most disappointing of seasons these days.
Becoming the first team in almost two decades not to make it is more than disappointing, it would be, well, failure.
It seems like a crazy statement to make…if only because the NCAA tournament has been a foregone conclusion for the last 16 years (14 straight under Bo Ryan). However, the reality of the 2015-16 season is that a non-conference slate filled with bad losses leaves the Badgers in a big hole to make the NCAA tournament.
With only an interesting style clash with in-state rival, Green Bay, left on the non-conference docket, Gard’s challenge is a big one.
At least to the outside world…
Just don’t expect Gard to have it as his focus on a daily basis.
“My main focus will be as it has been,” Gard said Wednesday. “I’m not going to consume myself with what the what-ifs are, just how can we help this group continue to get better and take it step by step, one day at a time.”
To that end, Gard sounds like his mentor for the past 23 years.
Focusing on the daily grind and the little steps to get this team where it needs to be could be the exact foundation that turns things around. But, the reality is, UW needs a major win or three in Big Ten play if it is going to lock down its position in the NCAA tournament.
The Badgers at 7-5 have only a win a Syracuse to hang their hats on come NCAA tournament selection Sunday. Clearly there’s a lot of work to be done to make this team in to an NCAA tournament team.
It doesn’t get easier that his task will almost completely come from Big Ten play.
He’ll have to navigate a Big Ten that could be top heavy, and it won’t start off easy as the undefeated Purdue Boilermakers will likely stare Gard and Co. in the face to open league play.
After a revenge game against Rutgers, the Badgers’ schedule is loaded the rest of the month of January, with games against Indiana (twice), Maryland, Northwestern, Michigan State, Penn State and Illinois.
Those aren’t exactly easy contests for a team that has been woefully inconsistent on the season, and if UW isn’t .500 or better in the Big Ten by the end of the month Gard may be a dead man walking heading in to the final month of the regular season.
How does Gard gain that job then? He has to figure out a way to make this offense work, because what is happening today simply isn’t going to cut it in Big Ten play.
It sounds like the coaching staff, Gard included, have a few ideas up their sleeves to help turn this thing around.
Chief amongst those ideas better be finding a way to turn Nigel Hayes in to the dominant force he was over the last two years. He’s turned himself in to a jump shooting, pass first player. While the ability to be a great facilitator is nice, he’s becoming a jump shooting nightmare.
Hayes is shooting just 35.9 percent from the field, which is worst among anyone shooting the ball on the entire season. That’s a major problem when he’s also the player with the most field goal attempts on the year (156).
Alongside Hayes’ struggles, there needs to be someone else at point guard. Bronson Koenig is feeling the pressure of playing nearly every minute of every game, and getting him fresher would certainly help him become a bigger sharp-shooter.
Rotating Zak Showalter over to the point isn’t working very well either, so perhaps Gard has a few ideas or rotational thoughts that will change things up.
It all needs to simply come together, and the Badgers need to be firmly in the NCAA tournament for Gard to keep his job permanently.
No doubt, Alvarez and Co. understand the youth on this team, but it can’t be an excuse for not making the tournament. It also won’t be a crutch for Gard.
Getting this team to come together and play quality basketball would be all the statement needed for Gard to keep this gig permanently.
Good luck smoothing this highly inconsistent team out — we’re all curious to see how this one plays out.
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