You didn't hear a whole lot of hooting and hollering around these parts after the fourth-ranked Badgers knocked off No. 5 Ohio State last week in Madison.
Maybe some of it has to do with the fact that this is Marquette country (although Golden Eagles' loyalists will never admit that the local media gives their school anything close to fair coverage), but still, when is the last time you heard so little about a top-five team?
It hasn't really been that long since the isthmus was a barren wasteland for college basketball. Until Stu Jackson (remember him?) came along and found Michael Finley and Rashard Griffith, the Badgers hadn't smelled the NCAA Tournament since 1947.
Now, they've qualified in eight straight seasons, including a trip to the Sweet 16 (2003), Elite Eight (2004) and the 2000 Final Four. Even the most hardcore Badger fan has to be pinching himself these days.
Yet, there isn't a lot of hoopla. There's a workman-like attitude surrounding this bunch. It's almost a professional demeanor reminiscent in some ways of the New York Yankees of old: The Badgers, well ... they just show up prepared to beat you.
In many ways, that attitude is an extension of the coach.
Bo Ryan is a working man's coach. He's X's and O's all the way, and even then, he's a master manipulator. He's used his swing offense to win three NCAA Division III Championships, three Big Ten Conference Championships (two regular-season, one tournament), as well as laying the foundation for UW-Milwaukee to escape from the doldrums.
Every year, coaches get fired and speculation heats up over which successful coach will leave. Marquette's Tom Crean has been linked to any number of jobs, most notably the gigs at Illinois and Indiana in recent years. Rick Majerus isn't even coaching anymore and he's still at the top of just about every athletic director's short list.
Yet, for all his success, Ryan's name is surprisingly absent from those lists. A coach that's lost just twice in 42 home conference games (and just five home games, overall) and has been to the dance each of his six seasons (failing only once to get past the first round), usually has a short shelf life at a school.
Not so for Ryan. While he may frustrate the living daylights out of reporters with his - let's be honest, admirable - ability to speak for 20 minutes without saying anything at all, he doesn't waste everybody's time with heresy, rumor, and speculation.
What's even more impressive is the type of players he recruits to put together such a winning resume.
Aside from national Player of the Year candidate Alando Tucker, who really didn't generate that much publicity, Ryan builds his teams with what are basically glorified role players. Guys who fit into the system like Michael Flowers and Kammron Taylor are more valuable than the flashy guys other schools find, and often last no more than a year or two.
Brian Butch was considered unstoppable as a prepster at Appleton West. A McDonald's All-American, he agreed to redshirt his freshman year to bulk up for the rigors of Big Ten Play. Whatever the reason, it takes a coach to make a player believe.
It's that kind of unselfishness that makes it plausible to think that these Badgers could actually live up to the national rumblings that have Wisconsin as a top seed in the NCAA Tournament, and even a National Championship contender.
A one-day-at-a-time coach with players who believe in a system to achieve a common goal, there's something about the recipe that just seems right.
