Badgers surprise as top seed

At Big Ten Media Day in October, Wisconsin men's coach Bo Ryan feared he would begin the season with more track and field athletes than basketball players. \nIn his first season in Madison, Ryan had to fend off the departure of five seniors, the return of one starter, a career-ending injury to one player, a season-ending injury to another and two transfers. \nAll before the Badgers played their first game. \nWhen they tipped off at UNLV Nov. 17, the Badgers began the game with eight scholarship players, five of whom had never played more than 13 minutes in a college game.\nSo, Ryan went to work. \nLess than four months later, Wisconsin has its first Big Ten championship since 1947 and Ryan received the Big Ten Coach of the Year award Tuesday. \n"I was hoping we could do pretty well in the league, get up in the top four or five, but little did I know that 11-5 would win the conference championship," Ryan said. "That's a surprise. I like the way our players kept buying into the system and kept their egos in check."\nNot hard when only two of your players have averaged more than five minutes a game. \nWisconsin became the best blue-collar team in the blue-collar Big Ten, earning the No. 1 seed for the Big Ten Tournament, which begins Thursday in Indianapolis, and rattling off wins at Michigan State, IU and Minnesota. The Badgers finished the regular season on a six-game winning streak. \n"Wisconsin is the story," Northwestern coach Bill Carmody said. "They managed to blend those guys together."\nWisconsin was the only Big Ten team to defeat every other conference team this season. Six Badgers averaged at least eight points per game, but Ryan had the depth to use only seven players consistently. \nBut from Day No. 1 at UNLV, Ryan penciled in the exact same starting lineup every time out. That helped ignite confidence, a routine and victories. And surprises.\n"Bo's done a great job," Penn State coach Jerry Dunn said. "Wisconsin, it's mildly surprising, but not overly surprising."\nThat's because wherever Ryan has coached, wins have followed. The all-time winningest coach in NCAA Division III history, Ryan racked up a 353-76 record and four national titles in 15 seasons at UW-Platteville. \nHe won 30 games in two seasons at UW-Milwaukee before moving to Madison. His 401-114 career record is fourth-best among active Division I coaches, and his 266-26 record in the 1990s was the best among all college coaches, no matter what level. \nHe made a smooth adjustment to the Big Ten, guiding the Badgers to their best conference record since 1962; it is just the second time since 1941 Wisconsin has won at least 11 Big Ten games, and Ryan's 18 victories are the most by any first-year Badger coach. \nRyan said he's worked his magic by starting over, not comparing current Badgers to past heroes who led Wisconsin to the Final Four in 1998 or to the NCAA Tournament four of the past five seasons. \n"Anybody that drops a bead of sweat, they have to buy into our family," Ryan said. "That's all I ever ask. I've never criticized players in the media or publicly. You'll get players to play hard for you when you do that."\nPlayers like fifth-year senior Charlie Wills and junior Kirk Penney, who are playing for their third coach in three years after watching Dick Bennett retire and Ryan replace Bennett's replacement, Brad Soderberg. \nWills scores 9.7 points per game and anchors the Badger frontcourt. Penney does the same in the backcourt, averaging a team-high 15 points per game. They've had help from freshman Devin Harris, who scores 12.4 points per game and has drained 54 three pointers. \nThat trio will bring its show to Indianapolis in a meeting with either No. 8-seed Purdue or No. 9-seed Iowa Friday. The Badgers are 4-4 in the Big Ten Tournament since it began in 1998 but were bounced by IU in their first game last season. \nA run at the Big Ten Tournament title is something that likely seems unlikely to most, but so did the Badgers' dash to a Big Ten crown. Already this season, Wisconsin has snapped Michigan State's 53-game home-winning streak and snapped a 22-game losing streak at IU. Sunday should reveal an NCAA Tournament berth. Monday, Ryan congratulated the three teams that shared the Big Ten title with his Badgers, then began outlining the plans for another unlikely run. \n"I never mentioned where we'd finish," Ryan said. \nFirst place, that's where.