PLATTEVILLE, Wis. — As one approaches this town of 11,000 in the southwest corner of Wisconsin, the largest letter M in the world looms to the north. Made of 400 tons of whitewashed limestone, measuring more than 200 feet in each direction and symbolizing the University of Wisconsin-Platteville’s mining tradition, it is peaked on the kind of hill not ordinarily seen in the northern Midwest.
Yet on another nearby hill, numerous Wisconsin-Platteville men’s basketball teams have been molded. During 15 seasons as coach of the Division III Pioneers, Bo Ryan began his seasons by making his teams repeatedly sprint up it for several days. The hill is about 200 yards and bumpy, with an incline of about 30 degrees.
“We were the thing to do in the winter, and our players wore that as a badge,” Ryan said of the popularity of Wisconsin-Platteville basketball.
While college basketball’s brand-name coaches scour the country’s high schools and Amateur Athletic Union circuits in search of the most gifted players, Ryan, now in his fifth decade coaching in the state, takes cornfed Midwesterners (mainly from Wisconsin, Illinois and Ohio) and plugs them into his system. Most important, he wins.
Following an unusual career path, Ryan has made four stops at three programs in the same university system the past 39 seasons. After eight years as an assistant at the flagship in Madison, he took over Wisconsin-Platteville’s team and led it to four national titles. Signifying his importance there, the Pioneers now play on Bo Ryan Court.
Ryan then coached two seasons at Wisconsin-Milwaukee, a Division I midmajor, and has been the Badgers’ head coach since 2001.
“This is unusual, from what I’m told,” Ryan, 67, said, his modesty on full display.
Ryan’s career seemed to reach its pinnacle last season when the Badgers (30-8) mounted an N.C.A.A. tournament run that was halted only by a last-second 3-pointer by Kentucky’s Aaron Harrison in the national semifinals.
This season holds perhaps even more promise. Having returned most of its best players — including guards Josh Gasser and Traevon Jackson, forward Sam Dekker and the big man Frank Kaminsky, a national player of the year candidate — Wisconsin is 23-2 over all and, at 11-1, the class of the Big Ten conference.
Otto Puls, who has been the Badgers’ official scorekeeper for 51 years, said, “There’s never been the anticipation there’s been this year.”
