Wisconsin makes believers out of everyone
By Andy Katz
ESPN.com
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. -- Mike Kelley had faith in Wisconsin, but he was
realistic.
His bracket had the Badgers losing in the Elite Eight.
But Wisconsin's Final Four berth Saturday, earned with a 64-60 win over rival Purdue, the Badgers' third victory against the Boilermakers in four games this season, was just as improbable as its Elite Eight appearance. Not since Villanova in 1985 -- another No. 8 seed -- has a team been less likely to reach the Final Four.
|  | | Travon Davis and Wisconsin ended a 59-year Final Four drought. |
"This is ridiculous," said Kelley, the Big Ten's steals leader and last year's conference defensive player of the year who held Purdue's Jaraan Cornell to 1-of-9 shooting.
"I don't know anybody who had us going to the Final Four," Kelley
said. "All my buddies laughed at me for picking us in the regional finals. I
picked Purdue because I wanted to be humble. But I still had confidence."
Wisconsin had to win four of its final six games just to make the
NCAA tournament. The Badgers were billed as boring, slow and predictable on offense. They had a base defense that kept them in every game, but their offense let them down too often early in the season.
Head coach Dick Bennett was criticized for his system and given up on by fans, who were too impatient to wait for this team to mature.
"I'm so proud of Dick, the system and the team," said wife Anne Bennett,
who added it was sweet vindication after a rocky season.
"It's 50-50, where people either love us as the underdog or they don't because of the way we play," said Wisconsin senior Jon Bryant, named Most Valuable Player of the regional after scoring a game-high 18 points Saturday.
"But plenty of others love us because we play so hard," Bryant
said.
Wisconsin played one of the top five non-conference schedules in the
nation. The Badgers beat Temple, Texas and Missouri, but had a very poor showing in a loss at Wake
Forest in the ACC-Big Ten Challenge.
Following that game, Bennett issued a challenge to the team -- stay with the basics on rebounding, defense and effort. But he also made a change, altering his offense to push center Mark Vershaw out of the post, where he was struggling.
Vershaw roamed freely, hit some 3s and allowed the
Badgers more room to operate. Bryant started to get hot. Andy Kowske got
open for dunks and putbacks, Maurice Linton became more of a slasher, Roy
Boone was a perimeter option and Duany Duany escaped from Bennett's doghouse to become a legitimate contributor.
But the Badgers still struggled to win the games they needed to earn
a tournament berth. Losing to Iowa at home seemed to push Wisconsin closer
to the NIT. The Badgers next went to Ohio State and lost, but then won 10 of
their next 13, with the only losses coming to Michigan State (their Final Four opponent).
"The Iowa game was our crossroads," Wisconsin assistant Shawn Hood
said. "That's when we started to play better offensively and move the ball
more."
In the NCAA Tournament, the Badgers played three teams -- Fresno State, Arizona and LSU -- that
didn't understand how physical and tough their defense is to beat. All three
shot too quickly and turned the ball over too often. But beating Purdue
showed that Wisconsin has crossed the line from becoming a freaky team with fluke victories to one that can actually adjust.
Purdue knew what Wisconsin could do, and it didn't matter. The Badgers still held off the Boilermakers late in the game, forced them to
take poor shots, converted at the free-throw line and got the critical late rebounds.
Kowske, who said he thought the Badgers could get to the Final Four after
beating top-seeded Arizona in Salt Lake City, said he couldn't find
the words to describe his emotions. Bennett had trouble, too.
"I was perfectly content and happy to do what I was doing and not
really think that this day would ever come," Bennett said. "Now that it
has, I will enjoy it."
In 1985, Villanova beat Georgetown for the title, shocking the world. For
Wisconsin, which hasn't been to the Final Four since its 1941 title, getting
to the Final Four is just as improbable.
"We don't have an Ed Pinckney," said Vershaw. "But we also won't have to face a Patrick Ewing."
The Badgers have never experienced this kind of ride. Known for its hockey prowess and recent Rose Bowl success, Wisconsin is a virtual unknown in basketball.
"We've never gone through this," Badgers athletics director and former Wisconsin wide receiver Pat Richter said. "We weren't sure what it was like."
Now they know. The rest of the nation will find out in Indianapolis just how hard they play, how difficult they are to score on and how exciting they can be when they win.
"Boring?" Kelley said. "It can't be when you win."
Andy Katz is a senior writer at ESPN.com.
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