Bo Ryan's Badgers on rematch with Wildcats

By LARRY VAUGHT

Wisconsin lost a chance to win a national championship last year when Kentucky’s Aaron Harrison hit a deep 3-point shot to beat the Badges in the Final Four semifinals.

It was Wisconsin coach Bo Ryan’s first Final Four trip, but he’s back again — and will face the Wildcats again Saturday night in Indianapolis.

“Simply that was a great game for fans and for the experience of the players involved in it,” said Ryan about last year’s loss. “But so much has happened since then. It's like our game with Arizona last year. I guess the only way to answer it is we've already had two reoccurrences of games last year (in the NCAA Tournament) with Oregon and Arizona. Like I said, the difference is in the Kentucky game we were on the short end.

“It's not like if you're on the positive end you're going to practice or do anything different going into the next season. For our guys, hey, we get another 40 minutes. That's all they know.”

Ryan said it was just “next” for him the day after the UK loss.

“We've also been the ones that have given people gut‑wrenching defeats and stuff like that. You expect people to handle that because they're going to have to handle things like that in life a lot more than just after a basketball game, where things are a lot more important than a basketball game,” Ryan said.

“The example we try to set is, Okay, next, here we go. Let's get the guys that are back, wish the seniors good luck, try to help them out with where they're going I've been doing it so many years, it's not all the same, but you can't change what just happened, that score was that score. Like I said, we've done it to other people where they've got to deal with the score, then get ready for the next season.”

While Kentucky coach John Calipari says that his unbeaten Wildcats (38-0) are not perfect — I thought you were talking about John said he wasn't perfect, because I was agreeing with that,” Ryan joked — the Wisconsin coach says UK has a lot of advantages other teams do not have.

“Even if there's a guy that shoots a bad percentage or has a rough day, look how many other guys can pick them up. There are some teams who have two, three, maybe four scorers. If they all have a bad day the same day, they're definitely losing,” Ryan said. “Kentucky can have guys have bad days but still have enough guys to make up for that.

“They're strong from point to post. You don't go undefeated in college now without something pretty special.”

Rupp fan: Calipari says Kentucky has such a strong fan following because of former coach Adolph Rupp, who won four national titles.

“He came in and established a program out of nothing. Back in the day, he wrote a book in 1941 that I've read, it's pertinent today. There are things that he was doing back in the '40s that were so advanced,” Calipari said. “He started teaching trapping, but they didn't have a term for it. They called it two timing. What? Two timing. They didn't have trapping.

“There were things that he did back then that brought so much pride to this state. He wasn't afraid to play anybody. They got on trains and went and played in New York and Chicago. He played anyone, anywhere, anytime back then. He was a student of the game. It started right there.”

He said coaches Joe Hall, Rick Pitino and Tubby Smith — who all won one national title just as Calipari did in 2012 — continued the tradition.

“Everybody says, ‘Well, you got to win a national title.’ No, you got to be significant. They want you in the conversation (for a national title),” Calipari said about UK fans. “I've been here now six years. They'd like you to win it now, they'll be depressed if you don't for maybe a month. But they want in the conversation. They want in the conversation in recruiting. They want in the conversation when you're talking one of the best teams.

“If they thought you should win it every year, we'd have 125 national titles. Doesn't happen. And they know that.”

Calipari used two examples from UK home games to show the fanatical support.

“You walk into our arena at home, the upper deck in the corners are filled 40 minutes before the game. What, are you crazy? Why are you here right now? The (postgame) radio show has 8,000 or 9,000 people that stay after. Our radio show would rank in the top 30 in attendance of games,” Calipari said.

Then UK fans travel. Kentucky is expected to have more fans at the Final Four Saturday than Duke, Wisconsin or Michigan State.

“I don't know how they get tickets. They know not to wear blue when they're trying to get tickets,” Calipari said. “They have to wear red, orange, another color. People don't want to sell them their tickets. They figure out ways of getting in.

“They don't tell, because it's a secret. They don't tell anybody. No one knows. How in the world are they getting these tickets?”