With the Wisconsin Badgers Men's Basketball team playing for a National Championship tonight against Duke, the hardware wouldn't just mean a lot to Bo Ryan and his crew along with Badgers Athletics. It would also prove that some of the best basketball players come out of the state of Wisconsin. With the Badgers playing for the title, it has made me think about a few things. One specific thought came to me, and it is this if basketball development is underrated a bit in this state, we are proven people wrong right now at the collegiate level. You look at the last decade and how much success has happened with UW-Schools in Men's Basketball. UW-Stevens Point and UW-Whitewater have won multiple National Championships in last decade (the Warhawks in 2012 and 2014, while the Pointers have won in 2004, 2005, 2010 and 2015). Both have done so with a majority of their rosters coming from the state of Wisconsin. You look at the Warhawks last two National Championship teams and they have had players from cities like Poynette (Cody Odegaard) to Kenosha (Quardell Young) to Beloit (K.J. Evans). You look at the recent National Championship for Stevens Point, the same goes for them spanning from Winneconne (Austin Ryf) to Wisconsin Rapids (Joe Ritchay). The same goes for what the Badgers are putting out tonight. Of the major players that Bo Ryan uses in his rotation game in and game out, four of them are from Wisconsin: Sam Dekker (Sheboygan), Josh Gasser (Port Washington), Zak Showalter (Germantown), and Bronson Koenig (La Crosse). In fact, they have six players from the state of Wisconsin on their roster with the other two being Matt Ferris (Appleton) and T.J. Schlundt (Oconomowoc). So the recent success of big NCAA Tournament runs both at the Division 3 and Division 1 level has proven that Wisconsin isn't underrated in terms of development of basketball players, but one of the best.
What does it mean for the WIAC?
Now let's take a look at what Wisconsin winning a National Championship could mean for coaches in the WIAC. Bo Ryan started his coaching career in the WIAC and won not only a majority of his games at UW-Platteville, but also won four National Championships there as well. Bo Ryan having the success he had at Wisconsin proves that Division 3 coaches can make the jump and have success at the Division 1 level. The same came hopefully be said about former Warhawks football coach Lance Leipold at SUNY-Buffalo. What guys like Bo Ryan, Lance Leipold, and Dick Bennett are proving is that great coaches can come from the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference and that it will be only time before other successful coaches in the conference get the chance to move up to the Division 1 or Division 2 level such as a Pat Miller at UW-Whitewater or a Bob Semling at UW-Stevens Point.
The effect that the Badgers Men's Basketball will have on Athletics at the University of Wisconsin as a whole:
During my time as a student at UW-Whitewater, and how much they won at a National level not only during my time there and within the last decade. You see how one National Championship winning team can have an effect on the other teams at that school. Clearly, the success the UW-Whitewater Football team has had the last decade (6 National Championships in 10 years) has rubbed off on the other sports at Whitewater. Within the last five or so years, Whitewater has won at the National level in multiple sports besides Football (Men's Basketball, Baseball, Gymnastics, and Men's and Women's Wheelchair Basketball) as well as other top finishes in other sports during that time as well. What I'm saying here is that a National Championship for Bo Ryan and the Wisconsin Badgers Men's Basketball team will have an effect on the other sports at Wisconsin. Just like at Whitewater, the other sports will start looking at that and want to replicate that. They'll look at that team and see what that team goes through to get to their ultimate goal. From the Men's Basketball point of view there, expectations will change for them with a National Championship. You'll be expected to be in the title talk year in and year out. They'll know the road that it takes to reach that ultimate goal. They'll be the hunted rather than a hunter. So if they win, they'll need expect their opponent's best shot next year.
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