Wisconsin Beats #2 Maryland 70-57

The 2015-16 college basketball season figured to be a rebuilding year for Wisconsin’s basketball team. After two straight Final Four appearances, the Badgers lost some key players, including forward Sam Dekker and last season’s College Player of the Year center Frank Kaminsky. It was reasonable to assume this could be a down year.

It did not start off well. Wisconsin lost at home to Western Illinois in the season opener. The Badgers did get a quality win at then #14 Syracuse in overtime on December 2nd, but the non conference season was uneven at best. Then coach Bo Ryan retired immediately following Wisconsin’s December 15th win over Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. Long time assistant coach Greg Gard was named interim head coach, essentially trying out for the job on a permanent basis.

Wisconsin lost four of its first five Big Ten games, and had an overall record of 9-9 after losing at Northwestern on January 12th. But then, things started to turn around. The Badgers shocked then #4 Michigan State 77-76 on January 17th, and began a winning streak that stretched to seven games culminating with a commanding 70-57 win at #2 Maryland on February 13th. The Badgers were led by junior center Vitto Brown, Kaminski’s understudy last season, with a career high 21 points.

Gard switched the offense back to a more motion oriented affair called the Swing Offense and things started happening. Wisconsin had played the Swing until the last couple of seasons, and Gard estimated that the current personnel would have more success going back to the former scheme. With the victory, Wisconsin moved to 16-9 overall, 8-4 in the Big Ten. Wisconsin’s chances of returning to the NCAA Tournament which were all but dead a month ago, are suddenly very much alive. And Greg Gard is making a strong case to toss the interim tag and be named the permanent head coach.