No, I didn’t foresee a Final Four consisting of Butler, Virginia Commonwealth, Connecticut and Kentucky. Mainly because I’m not a time traveler.
But at least I’ve got plenty of company. About enough to populate Nicaragua, actually.
Because ESPN.com reports that 5.9 million people took part in its Bracket Challenge, and from those masses, exactly two properly predicted this Final Four. Which is roughly the same odds of finding a parking spot on the East Side.
Still, we congratulate these two Naismith Nostradami. Maybe they’re just VCU graduates with pet Huskies who love Kentucky bourbon and have fathers named Jeeves. Or maybe they went all Biff Tannen and stole Doc Brown’s DeLorean from Marty McFly. Either way, their NCAA Tournament will end quite well.
If only Marquette and the Wisconsin Badgers could say as much.
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| Badgers coach Bo Ryan already has a good system. But surely it can get better. Photo by Jeff Miller/UW-Madison. |
How you’ll remember their college hoops seasons depends on whether you see the basket as half-full or half-empty. And the half-full crew needs point to only one reason for their optimism.
More than 340 teams play NCAA Division 1 men’s basketball. Marquette and Wisconsin were among the last 16 with a shot at the title. That’s not too shabby.
Moreover, Marquette fans even get a little bonus, because after a couple weeks of nervous Oklahoma speculation, it looks like the next job for Buzz Williams will be his current one. Marquette fans should be thrilled, because landing a good coach is one thing, but keeping him is altogether different.
So for the most part, you’ve got a pair of feel-good stories. But they come with a pair of feel-numb endings.
Yes, the Badgers and Eagles delivered two of the Sweet 16’s sourest losses, and it will take some time to wash down the taste. Marquette trailed by as many as 31 points in its 81-63 loss to North Carolina. And though Wisconsin’s 61-54 loss to Butler appears more respectable, the Badgers’ performance might be more disappointing. Because from them, more was expected.
Marquette’s loss looked like a simple case of an underdog being overmatched. North Carolina had more size and quickness, and Marquette, for all its heart and spirit, had no answers. Williams tried stopping the slide, burning three first-half timeouts and another just one minute after halftime. But he could’ve called 50 and it wouldn’t have mattered. Marquette was simply beaten by a better team.
I’m not sure you can say the same about Wisconsin.
Oh, Butler certainly played better, and these Bulldogs are no fluke. They’ve earned every bit of their second Final Four trip, and coach Brad Stevens may have already earned a campus statue.
But on a different night, Wisconsin could’ve won. And on this night, with a different approach, Wisconsin might have won.
I seriously doubt Bo Ryan’s game plan included 16 straight missed shots. And short of developing telekinesis, he couldn’t affect the uncharacteristically poor free-throw shooting. And you don’t expect your best player, Jon Leuer, to have his worst night.
What I couldn’t understand was why Ryan waited so long to try something different. We all know how committed he is to The System, but The System was failing. And when he finally changed it – slapping a full-court press on a surprised Butler team with mere minutes left – it almost worked. Wisconsin cut the lead to 4 points.
But by then, time was so short that the Badgers needed a perfect ending. They didn’t get one.
Had Ryan switched things up earlier, surely the Badgers would’ve had a better chance. They were energized by that press, just as Butler was flummoxed by it. Changed the whole flow of the game. And this where you can blame something other than poor shooting for the loss – namely, Ryan’s aversion to change. Because what if the flow had changed earlier? Could we be looking forward to a Final Four that included Wisconsin?
Every year about this time, Ryan’s offensive system seems to come under fire as people wonder whether it can lead Wisconsin to the Final Four promised land. Tom Oates of the Wisconsin State Journal doesn’t blame the swing offense, but the players running it. Michael Hunt of the Journal Sentinel goes the other route, pointing the finger at Ryan’s offensive system for the “boring, recurring tale” of NCAA tourney shortcomings.
Personally, I have no problem with Ryan’s system, no matter how boring or predictable it may be. Because when it works and you win, nothing else matters, and Wisconsin has won plenty with Ryan’s system. My question is why he remains so devoted to it when situations may call for something else.
Because the system clearly doesn’t always work. Jump shots don’t always fall. This is why every good system has another good one backing it up. Shouldn’t the Badgers have one too?
Look, I’m not expecting Ryan to pair his swing offense with Nolan Richardson’s 40 minutes of hell. But surely there’s a compromise out there. Surely the Badgers can rely on the system until it doesn’t work, then have something else to rely on. And surely, Ryan can be a little quicker to go to that backup system.
Ryan’s commitment to his system doesn’t make him a bad coach; he’s actually a rather good one who’s done well by the Badgers. But even good coaches have room to grow into better ones. Or in Ryan’s case, more flexible ones. Maybe this year’s lost opportunity will be his impetus.
NUTSHELLS
-Ladies, here’s the moment you’ve been waiting for. Because Milwaukee Wave coach Keith Tozer gets his shirt ripped off.
Hey, when you win your fifth indoor soccer league championship, things can get a little crazy.
Yes, the Wave’s postgame celebration is preserved for posterity, and frankly, I could watch such things all day. Well, without the shirt-ripping, anyway (sorry, Keith). But if they ever invent a TV channel with nothing but locker-room celebrations, I may never leave my couch.
Meanwhile, Jim Lindenberg is happy that the Wave never left Milwaukee. He’s the man who bought the club two years ago and saved it from extinction. He’s also the guy getting champagne poured on him at the end of the video. Which might be worth the money alone.
Both Tozer and Lindenberg had dried off when I ran into them and their MISL trophy at the SportsRadio 1250 studios Tuesday morning. But they’re not done celebrating yet.
If you’d like to get in on the action, the Wave is hosting a championship rally 7 p.m. Tuesday at U.S. Cellular Arena. But no word on whether Tozer will keep his shirt on.
-You’re well aware of the injuries that plagued the Milwaukee Brewers throughout spring training, the latest of which sounds like a bad movie plot twist: Zack Braddock was stung by a scorpion.
Suggested motto as the Brewers break camp: The yuck stops here.
Feel free to follow me on Twitter, where I tweet as howiemag. And tune in every Tuesday morning at 6:30 when I join Doug Russell and Mike Wickett on SportsRadio 1250 AM for Tuesdays with Howie.
