There was a lot of discussion about Bo Ryan a few years back. No one disputed how good he was as a coach. But there was a lot of discussion about the other half of college success- recruiting. He wasn't getting enough talent, and it sure didn't seem like he was trying. What was particularly fruistrating was the inability to land in-state talent (an no, not just Vander Blue). Then came the summers of 2010/2011/2012.
That's when they started assembling what has become the core of this team:
2010: Ben Brust, Josh Gasser- both considered 3 star recruits, but with Brust he de-committed to Iowa to Join UW. They persisted and found the program's all-time 3 point shooter and the only Badger to ever register a triple double (which Gasser did as a Freshman).
2011: George Marshall, Jarod Uthoff, Frank Kaminsky, and Traevon Jackson- From this class, Marshall and Uthoff left the program (2012 and 2013 respectively), but Jackson and Kaminsky were huge. Jackson has developed into the team's primary ball-handler and Kaminsky's star obviously couldn't be brighter. Jackson has been prone to up and down play, but there's no denying what he has meant to the team in the NCAA Tournament this season.
2012: Sam Dekker and Zak Showalter- Dekker is the 2012 BT Freshman of the year, has had a fine sophomore campaign, and is on his way to stardom. Showalter red-shirted his sophomore season (after playing some as a freshman), and figures in the plans going forward as a very athletic and high-energy defensive stalwart.
2013: Nigel Hayes, Bronson Koenig, Riley Deering, Vitto Brown, and Jordan Hill- Hayes is the BT 6th man of the year as a freshman, Koenig is the obvious heir apparent at PG (was lured to UW from UNC, who had also offered), and while Brown and Hill decided not to redshirt (playing time was limited for both) and Deering did redshirt, Ryan actually went out of his way tonight in the post-game to talk about how all of them are right there, just waiting for their opportunity. This whole class looks very promising, even beyond the obvious of Hayes and Koenig.
And this is what we were talking about. The recruitment of no-name, under the radar guys was OK- Ryan was great at developing them and winning. But it was never going to be enough to propel the program to the heights they're achieving now. They needed better and more accomplished athletes, they needed real talent to go further. And with these three classes, it represented a contrast from the early part of Ryan's tenure, where he didn't seem to recruit nearly as hard. Now he's out watching these kids play (Dekker, Koenig) and landing 5 star talents. He's seeing kids in Ohio like Brown and Hayes, who in the past were more likely to go to Xavier or Cincinnati or even Ohio State. He continues to farm Illinois (Kaminsky went to school right down the road from me) for diamonds in the 3 star category (Ethan Happ, a 2014 recruit from NW Illinois, looks an awful lot like Dekker with his style of play, maybe a better shooter).
And this success should finally seal the deal with a few more. The Badgers are going to need to re-load, because they will lose Jackson, Kaminsky, and Gasser next year (Brust of course this year). On the list are Diamond Stone, a 6'10" kid from Dominican HS who is the #1 ranked C in the nation; and Jarvis Johnson, a 4 star PG from Minneapolis. If they continue to fill the pipeline with these kinds of kids, there is absolutely no reason this team cannot start a run of Final Fours (and more). We knew Bo could coach them- now he finally put it all together and got the players, too. And like we have seen from perennially successful programs like UNC, Duke, Kansas, etc., the success should breed more success.
This team has finally set the bar higher than just being competitive and winning in the Big Ten. The next few years should be a pretty good ride...
