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UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN BASKETBALL MEDIA CONFERENCEMarch 17, 2015Bo RyanTHE MODERATOR: Men's Basketball Head Coach Bo Ryan is here. He will take questions. Q. Bo, how is Traevon Jackson doing, and do you expect him to play on Friday? COACH RYAN: I haven't seen him. We had yesterday off, and we were a little busy over the weekend, so I haven't seen him. Q. (No microphone.) COACH RYAN: I will know practice time today. Q. Coach, do you have fond memories of playing back in 2008? Obviously your team at that time went on to the Sweet 16? COACH RYAN: Yeah, we beat a pretty good Kansas State team, if I remember correctly, couple of pro's, maybe top two or three draft picks, maybe the top? Beasley, he was the leading scorer in the country, something like that. We played well. We used our bigs, Stiemsma and Butch and they were very effective in that game. Was it Fullerton in the other game? Q. Cal State Fullerton. COACH RYAN: Yeah, good guess. So I thought we played pretty well there. Unfortunately when Trevon Hughes started having problems with his‑‑ well, they call it "turf toe" but obviously he didn't get it running on the turf, but he couldn't play in the second half of the Davidson game. I remember that, too. Q. Bo, both you and Cliff Ellis from Coastal have been around for a long time. COACH RYAN: We're old! Q. I'm not sure how often your paths have crossed. What do you know about him and his teams, if anything? COACH RYAN: I just know he's a sound coach, fundamentally; his teams play that way. If you could watch them as I have here this morning and last night a little bit, that's a heck of a 16 seed. I can remember seeing a lot of 16 seeds over the years but what they did last year to prove how capable they are and to come back this year and for them to come in that spot, I think there is a lot of people surprised. I have not seen one show, have not had the television on, I haven't listened to the radio, I only have Soul Town driving in my car on SiriusFM or SiriusXM, whatever letters they use. So I don't know if anybody else has said anything, but after watching them‑‑ after watching those games if I'm Cliff Ellis, I'm pretty confident with the squad that he has. They're good. They're pretty good. And they're in the NCAA Tournament, so they are good. Q. Bo, has technology made scouting in situations like this easier in how quickly you are able to get information on a team like this, and maybe plan ahead knowing that there is only a limited number of teams you would face? Were you able to do any advance planning like that? COACH RYAN: Our managers tape all those games so in case Synergy goes down‑‑ we don't rely totally on one thing. You have to have back‑ups, so we had our managers DVD a lot of games over the past couple of weeks, especially all the tournaments. Q. How do you explain the fact that a 16 has never beaten a No. 1 in this tournament in 30 years? COACH RYAN: I have no idea. There's been a lot of good games, including last year's, wasn't Virginia 1 when they played Coastal Carolina, if I remember? And they're the kind of team that can play anybody. I watched their game with Gardner‑Webb, and they beat Purdue, maybe, I can see how. They got good 3‑point shooters, they're athletic, defensively. Of course I'm told now that sometimes the 16 seed really isn't a 16, because they have to play in games and‑‑ I'm like, what difference does it make? It's bracket. It's listed on a bracket so you play it out. Q. Coach, is there a different feeling for you at all going into the NCAA Tournament as the No. 1 seed? For you, your players, a difference in their attitude going into this tournament? COACH RYAN: I didn't realize we were a 2 until we went to the Sweet 16 last year. I didn't know what we were the first two games in Milwaukee. I really didn't. Because when somebody told me that Arizona was ranked higher than us, I thought, well, they won their difference championship, so, what are we, a 3? "No, Coach, you're a 2." Okay.  Really, I did not know until we went to Anaheim. We played Arizona, didn't we have to wear our red uniforms? That's the other key that a coach gets. It's like living out in Palm Springs with people I got to know, how do you keep track of the days? There are only two days. When you see other trash cans out and when the fat paper is out in your driveway. Wednesdays and Sundays; that's the only two days. So being a No. 1, you know, that doesn't mean anything to me; been in too many of these things. Q. Bo, questions related to fouling. First off, late game situation you're ahead or tied, how do you make the decision of whether to foul or play through on defense? What kinds of factors go into that decision? COACH RYAN: I can't give you all that, that's what‑‑ what I have learned is based on 40‑some years of experience. You just don't give that information out. But as far as fouling, it was obvious against Michigan State we only had three team fouls, so we're going to foul a couple times, but the rule is the player cannot have left his feet, so you're not fouling a shooter, and you have to be careful that a guy, if you go up to him, that he doesn't quickly jerk the ball up in the air looking like he's in the act of shooting. Our guys did a great job of committing those two fouls and on the skip pass across‑‑ they got for the shot, that was‑‑ you can't run at the shooter and foul 'em, so, fortunately it was‑‑ those mid‑range jumpers along the baseline are not the easiest shots in the world. That's why we had that strategy then. There are different things that go into it. Q. Generally, how do you teach guys to play effectively without fouling? COACH RYAN: Don't leave your feet, don't reach in with your hands, if you have to dig in, dig up. I'm tired of hearing other coaches yell from the sideline, "Hey, when are you going to call a foul on them?" And I want to yell down, "When we foul!" But I don't do that. We don't leave our feet a lot. I've prided ourselves at Platteville for 15 straight years we led the country in the fewest number of blocked shots, and here at Wisconsin we blocked some shots, we had guys who were capable of doing it without fouling. But that's a statistic that I don't mind losing, blocked shots. It still goes back to one game in particular against Stevens Point that they won a conference championship on. We went to the line, 28 for 32 from the free‑throw line, fouled two of their big guys out, two of their best players, and shot 29%. The way you shoot 29% is they blocked a bunch of our shots but they got their bigs in foul trouble and were off the court and we ended up getting free‑throws and that's another way you can try to be on the left‑hand side. Play defense with your feet, position. Heck, most of the fouls we had were us trying to take charges, they weren't reach‑in fouls. But if you look at our arms of our players after those three games in the Big Ten Tournament, Band Aid, buy the stock, who does Band Aids? Johnson and Johnson? Buy the stock. Mercurochrome, whatever you put on cuts, you should see our guys' arms after those three games! I was almost bleeding. Q. Coach, as the season winds down, awards are getting handed out. You were named one of four finalists for Coach of the Year. Can you comment on that? COACH RYAN: Not really. It's nice because they say Wisconsin after a person's name, and they say Frank Kaminsky, and then they say "Wisconsin" so that's always good. It's a staff award, it's an award for a team that's done well. The fact that they give‑‑ I'm one of the few coaches in the country that has coached this long without every having an awards banquet where I give out a most valuable player, most this player, that player, best this, best that. I don't get into that stuff, and I always‑‑ I learned back when I was in junior high, they had best personality, most studious, best athlete award. They had all these awards, and there was so much bickering and petty stuff going on with cliques, and I was thinking, boy, this is stupid. Why do they do this stuff? Then got to high school and they started eliminating that stuff. I don't know if high schools do it, most popular. How in the heck do you give a "most popular" in high school? I don't know. I'm not mad because I didn't get it, that had nothing‑‑ it's just, I don't go in for the individual stuff at all, never have, as a youngster and never have even thought about it as an adult. Q. Bo, have you ever filled out a NCAA Tournament bracket or been used as a resource for someone else's basket? COACH RYAN: No, I don't do that. What I did was at Platteville, I had a basketball class, and I let everybody in the class fill one out, for bragging rights. Then I would grade them. Tell them who won. But I've never done a bracket. Q. (No microphone.) COACH RYAN: Have I been asked? Yeah, I've had people ask, but I tell em, just talk to the secretary at the office that won it four of the last five years, ask her. She is better at it than all these experts. I think I mentioned that, some people‑‑ if it was a Catholic school they put a‑‑ oh, they're going to win it. If it was some type of animal, a cute animal, they're going to pick that team, and those people have won. Was that a turnover? (Laughter.) But, no, I haven't. I haven't given any, well, look, this team beat that team, no, I've never given any real information. Q. So an individual award for best bracket? COACH RYAN: For the person that had the most points, I don't know. Q. About Bronson, I think it's obvious the more games he has started since Jackson went down, the more comfortable he has gotten doing certain things. Have you been surprised by the way he's handled things throughout this process? COACH RYAN: No, not really. If you asked him what I say to him, I say, that's what we brought you here for. Seriously, ask him, what has Coach Ryan said to you recently? Well, this is what you're here for, so relax and keep your composure and let's do it again the next time. When he was 1 for 6 and couldn't find the basket, I didn't say anything to him. I said, "Get ready because we're going to need you in the next one." But he's a young man who‑‑ really, when he was playing up there in La Crosse and going to AAU stuff and going to Catholic League tournaments and stuff, his name was a buzz around the state. A lot of people knew about Bronson. I think people thought he was one of those guys that matured early, and that he wouldn't get better, that he wouldn't‑‑ I didn't think so. Neither did Coach Guard, who was on the recruiting trail for him for a long time. He's the real deal. Q. Bo, do you think this is a better team than you had a year ago at this exact time going to the Tournament? COACH RYAN: I don't know, I heard from Ben Brust, because I'm not one of those social media types but he did get a message to me, and then I sent a message to him and he sent a message back, and I actually for the first time sent another message. Usually they're short and that's because I'm challenged! It takes me a while to punch those things. I don't do this, I don't have‑‑ So I said, Ben, we really miss your defense and rebounding. He sent something back and I said, Ben, I'm surprised you weren't upset that I didn't say your scoring. He sent something back and I said, well, hopefully we can have some fun with this, and I know you will be cheering. So, anyhow‑‑ and Ben is really the guy‑‑ without Trae, there's your two guards, those are the two players that started, and their places have been taken by Nigel and Bronson. I think a year's experience playing in the Tournament, you hope that helps. I look at Duke last year they had all that experience back, they run into a buzz saw, a team that can't miss. And you can go on every year and you can point to things that happen, so the only way this team will prove that they're better is to do what last year's team did and then some, I would think, because that's how everybody else judges. It's not necessarily how I judge but as far as outside looking in, people are going to want to see, you know, what this crew can do, because of expectations or things that have happened before. Q. Do you like the way this team is playing? COACH RYAN: I do. We were behind in all three of those games in the second half, because I broke those down yesterday. I'm not going to do clips on those three games, but I have some notes of things, and if that isn't college basketball, the changes, the streaks, the cold spells, the runs, everything that happened in those games. Those are three NCAA Tournament games, I think. So the fact that we got down, not as a result of us having 15 turnovers, wasn't like we were throwing the ball all over the place, but we didn't hit some shots. The other team went on a terror, hit some threes, got some transition on us. But to play Michigan, Purdue and Michigan State and come out that way and get it, I think in '13 when we played Indiana, Michigan and Ohio State. We were dead walking out of there. We were tired Sunday, but hopefully with us playing Friday‑‑ did we play Friday/Sunday or Thursday/Saturday in '13? I don't remember. It was Kansas City. It was Friday and what time was the game? Q. Early. COACH RYAN: Now it comes back to me. We had finished three games against three really good teams, and you get back later than you want on Sunday because they have the postgame thing there and all that. So without us doing anything yesterday they're off their feet. We will do a little today, do more tomorrow and get some in, our normal day before the game stuff on Thursday in Omaha. So hopefully they will have their legs. We're going to try to make sure of that. We're doing some things a little differently with recovery that Eric is into with Henry. The two of them work well together. Q. Bo, I'm a hockey guy now but actually I remember Jack Givens for Kentucky in '78 and all this other stuff. With the NCAA Tournament are making money, a few people watch it. So I'm going to ask you a question about the Michigan State game late when Josh made that remarkable play to save the possession. He was out of bounds. COACH RYAN: Yep. Q. Do you think they should have replays for plays like that in the final minute or two? COACH RYAN: We do, either the official or coach should have asked them. Q. That's what I was wondering. COACH RYAN: Hey, it's worth a shot but you know what? The way he flew over the table and everything else, they weren't watching his foot on the floor. But in the last two minutes you can and all Michigan State had to do was ask if the officials didn't‑‑ and the officials, I know what they were looking at, the safety of the young man. So what really made me nervous is as I'm listening to the replay, either on the bus‑‑ no, it wasn't on the bus, it was after I got home. I put the game in just to remind myself of a few things, and Raftery or somebody said "Why aren't they looking at this?" I'm wondering if Grant or somebody hit him and said something like, hey, we can't say it from over here. Raftery said Michigan State should have‑‑ but it isn't just Michigan State, the officials, if they're not sure, they can go to the monster, it's human error, that's all. But that save that he made, maybe there is justice in that he sacrificed his well‑being to make a play. Q. Bo, can they look at anything in the final two minutes? COACH RYAN: Out of bounds‑‑ Q. Since there was no call made on that play there was nothing to review. There was not a call. There was no stoppage, no review. I guess my question is can they review anything in the final two minutes of the game? COACH RYAN: Out‑of‑bounds, fouls‑‑ not whether it was a foul or not but who the foul was on. Q. (No microphone.) COACH RYAN: And 3‑pointers, on the line. I don't know, Tom, I thought they could have had the opportunity to look at it, and if they didn't I haven't called anybody to ask. I didn't want to‑‑ I was like‑‑ did you call somebody? Q. (No microphone.) COACH RYAN: If I had my phone on me I would get John Adams or Rick Boyages on the phone and find out. Q. (No microphone.) COACH RYAN: Oh, no, I was just watching him making sure he landed safely. How about the guy that is at the computer‑‑ after Josh comes over and he did help him a little bit, but the guy looked to see what was going on on the floor. He said, oh, Josh is all right. Anybody know who that guy was? You gotta see it, his head goes like this, he's all right! Let's go to the next one. Q. (No microphone.) COACH RYAN: He was getting his money's worth. Of course if he was in press row he didn't pay for his ticket. That's one of the subjects that came up in our meetings because sometimes they maybe send excessive media people, that the media should be charged. Just kiddin'. It never came up in any National Association of Basketball Coaches meeting. Sometimes they thought about charging us. Q. To follow up on Raftery's comment, he said they checked after the break and said the only way they could have reviewed it was if two players contested it to see if it was off one or the other? COACH RYAN: No, there's things on whether or not a guy's foot was out of bounds. No, it doesn't have to be two bodies. That I know for sure. Q. So he was wrong twice, basically. COACH RYAN: Well, it is kind of a new rule. I can get an answer, but I need to get to my phone. That might take a while. Who remembers numbers anymore? My home number TR60106. From the time I was a kid. TR was for Tremont, so it's TR60106. No area code. No area code. Sure was fun listening to other people on the party line, though. My sister and I got a few laughs. You're too young to remember the party lines. Q. Were you more emotional after the game than usually? It looked like when you were cutting down the nets that there might have been a little bit of emotional there. COACH RYAN: Because it's hard to do. It's hard to win both of 'em! You come in, you're marked and everybody else is trying to get their niche, trying to improve their seed. I mean, it was‑‑ you know, Michigan State could have been playing for a 5 maybe. So you know those games in the tournaments aren't every easy. Q. You've been asked about Josh Gasser, and what he brings, but does that play that you were talking about, diving out of bounds, is that the perfect microcosm of what he represents for this team? COACH RYAN: Without a doubt. That interception of the pass, Michigan State tried to get a quick score. He intercepted the ball, and we came back‑‑ he just‑‑ he does all the things that‑‑ you know, I can't get tired of saying that he's never taken a possession off. In practice or a game. He always sets the tone. I keep trying to get that to rub off on everybody that's been in our program since he's arrived. But he's not the only one. The Jordan Taylor and other guys that have played here, Michael Flowers. He played every possession like it was the last. And after the first day of practice so did Devin Harris, I told you he asked me, "Coach, do you expect me to go hard on every drill, every time?" I get a kick out of it, I know I've told you that before. To see his face, "Oh, okay." Never had to worry about that. You guys all come to practice so you know what I'm talkin' about. THE MODERATOR: Thanks, Coach. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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