Bo Ryan

The JS has a really good article about Bo Ryan and his ability to take teams that seem down and out and make them into champions.

Here's the first few paragraphs:

Madison - If people didn't know before, they should know now to never count out one of Bo Ryan's teams.

The University of Wisconsin men's basketball coach has done some impressive work during his seven seasons as Badgers coach, but it's hard to top him when the chips are supposedly down.

His first season, he took an inexperienced team picked to finish at or near the bottom of the Big Ten and led them to a share of the conference title and the second round of the NCAA tournament. Three years later, the team lost an NBA lottery pick in Devin Harris but managed to get within one victory of a trip to the Final Four.

Why should we have thought it would be any different this season?

No Alando Tucker, the Big Ten player of the year. No Kammron Taylor, a second-team all-league pick. No Jason Chappell, the team's best post defender.

Those three accounted for more than 3,500 points as Badgers, but ultimately, Ryan had no problem moving forward. Once again, they made another seemingly seamless transition.