Bo Ryan- awesome coach, class act

[badgerman27]

Yep, this team is lacking a real go to guy, and it's hurt at crunch time.

I don't see next year's team being much better. They will still be relying on young guys. Two years from now is when they'll be battling for a conference title again. The last 3 recruiting classes have been quite good.

 

[Handsome Pete]

You dissapoint me, Pete.

I disappoint myself. I'll try to try to do better in the future.

 

[cncmin]

Yep, this team is lacking a real go to guy, and it's hurt at crunch time.

I don't see next year's team being much better. They will still be relying on young guys. Two years from now is when they'll be battling for a conference title again. The last 3 recruiting classes have been quite good.

The Badgers should be bottom half of the conference in the future. They are coached well, but their lack of athletes is now catching up to them now that they stopped consistently getting a crop of Minnesota's best players. They will continue to be well-coached, but their days of a top program are over, especially with another two top players gone after this year. They have solid, but not great players now, which means a consistent top-75 team, but not consistent top-35, and the Badgers will be seriously challenged to see the tourney in near-future seasons considering the increasing strength of the Big Ten.

Congrats to Wisconsin on their first-round win, that was a great accomplishment for Becky, and I'm serious about the congrats. That said, FSU as a 5-seed was very possibly a significantly worse team than 7-seed Texas - FSU was over-seeded, Texas way under-seeded, and I'd have rather the Gophers been a 12 seed if they were to play FSU than Texas (yuck). All that said, I'm satisfied with the Gophers' appearance in the tourney, and if there is a silver lining on the Wisconsin 2nd-round appearance, it was that UW made the Big Ten +.500 for the first round, and anything less could have garnered ridicule for the Big Ten - Wisconsin saved them (thanks a lot Illinois!).

 

[sec105]

That said, this was a great win for the Badgers

Any win for the Badgers is Bad for America!

This is the begining of the end for Bucky. The Kohl center will be a mausoleum within 4 years.

 

[Lloyd Braun]

So just like that the Badger program is done? If I recall correctly the gophers finished below the Badgers in the Big Ten this year. Why is everyone so confident that the Gophers will be Big Ten champs immediately and the Badgers are simply finished?

A lot of envy and jealousy flying around Tubbys Barn, me thinks.

 

[Section201]

sec105 - tip of the hat to u

Any win for the Badgers is Bad for America!

This is the begining of the end for Bucky. The Kohl center will be a mausoleum within 4 years.

It cant be said better than this!

 

[MRJ]

So just like that the Badger program is done? If I recall correctly the gophers finished below the Badgers in the Big Ten this year. Why is everyone so confident that the Gophers will be Big Ten champs immediately and the Badgers are simply finished?

A lot of envy and jealousy flying around Tubbys Barn, me thinks.

Sorry, but no. Just looking forward, things are going to get a lot tougher in the league for the Badgers. If you don't think so, that's fine. Just don't be surprised if it happens.

I'm not jealous or envious of Wisconsin in anyway, shape or form. They have a well-coached team that has some decent athletes. But they aren't nearly the powerhouse that many Badgers fans make them out to be. The fact of the matter is that the coaching has improved by a country mile in the conference since the Badgers started competing for Big Ten titles and recruiting has also improved conference wide.

teams are getting better and better throughout the league and the Badgers, at least this year, did not. Competition is going to be really tough over the next few years. That's not envy, its just reality.

If Bo can somehow keep the Badgers competing for the top three every year over the next three or four, it will be a good accomplishment.

 

[grunkiejr]

So just like that the Badger program is done? If I recall correctly the gophers finished below the Badgers in the Big Ten this year. Why is everyone so confident that the Gophers will be Big Ten champs immediately and the Badgers are simply finished?

A lot of envy and jealousy flying around Tubbys Barn, me thinks.

Nobody is saying Big Ten champs but everybody in Minnesapolis is confident Minnesota will continue to win the comparison against Wisconsin because we beat you twice this year with a team that will return 95% of it's minutes, and 95% of it's point production. Next year we add a top ten recruiting class featuring 2 of the top 30 players in the country. Meanwhile Wisconsin loses Landry and Krabbenhoft and replaces them with a good recruiting class, but not a top 10 class. In other words, we were better this year, our underclassmen are better and the disparity is getting wider.

As far as finishing one game ahead of us in the standings...believe me, if we could have dropped our second game against MSU for a home game against Iowa we would have. The teams you played once were 1st and 5th in the league and the teams we played once were 3rd and 10th. I'm not making excuses for the finish--after sweeping Wisconsin no excuses are needed--I'm just clarifying to you that our conference schedules were not equal and it may (or may not) have been worth the one game you're holding your hat on.

 

[grunkiejr]

Sorry, but no. Just looking forward, things are going to get a lot tougher in the league for the Badgers. If you don't think so, that's fine. Just don't be surprised if it happens.

I'm not jealous or envious of Wisconsin in anyway, shape or form. They have a well-coached team that has some decent athletes. But they aren't nearly the powerhouse that many Badgers fans make them out to be. The fact of the matter is that the coaching has improved by a country mile in the conference since the Badgers started competing for Big Ten titles and recruiting has also improved conference wide.

teams are getting better and better throughout the league and the Badgers, at least this year, did not. Competition is going to be really tough over the next few years. That's not envy, its just reality.

If Bo can somehow keep the Badgers competing for the top three every year over the next three or four, it will be a good accomplishment.

This is a very true statement. Things are going to be tougher for everyone in the conference and for Michigan State and Wisconsin, the two teams that have probably been the most consistent in the conference this past decade, they shouldn't expect to have the same level of success. In the past they could have a rebuilding year and still finish in the top 3 in the conference because Minnesota and Michigan were down every year, and other teams were up and down. The coaching changes in the conference are already showing changes with Minnesota and Michigan making it back to 20 wins and receiving NCAA tourney berths. Now that coaches seem to have things going the right way they are bringing more talent to the league with 3 teams with top 10 recruiting classes next year (Illinois, Indiana and Minnesota) and Illinois and Ohio State already have their classes for the following year set and they could be #1 & #2 in the country. With all of that talent in the leaguethere are going to be more teams capable of winning the conference and in the process teams the teams that have been successful may continue to be successful but not to the same degree they were when there was only 2-3 legitimate contenders.