Wisconsin has the talent, and top-flight recruits, to match its success
These Badgers aren’t the Badgers of old.
INDIANAPOLIS -- Even after its win over Kentucky, Wisconsin has been cast as the Final Four’s group of upstarts — a great team that wasn’t supposed to be great. That narrative provided an excellent foil to Kentucky, which boasted an entire starting five and half a team full of McDonald’s All-Americans.
The conversation surrounding the Duke game is similar. Duke has a trio of future NBA stars in Jahlil Okafor, Tyus Jones and Justise Winslow. Wisconsin — or at least, the perception of Wisconsin — isn't *supposed* to be able to match up.
This is a narrative cultivated by years of watching less talented Bo Ryan teams make the NCAA Tournament and cruise through the Big Ten with a slow, methodical system built to wear down opponents. Sometimes it was painful to watch, but it worked, despite those teams having a lack of NBA talent.
But this year's team is different. Yes, there is Frank Kaminsky, a former middling three-star recruit who came out of nowhere as a junior to become one of the best players in the country. However, most of this starting lineup was expected to be good.
The star of this year's NCAA Tournament, Sam Dekker, might have just introduced himself to the nation, but Dekker was a five-star recruit coming out of high school, and he was ranked as the 12th-best recruit in the country in the class of 2012. Small forward Nigel Hayes was a top 150 recruit in the class of 2013, holding offers from Ohio State, Minnesota, Xavier, Butler and others. Point guard Bronson Koenig was a four-star recruit in the class of 2013, who held offers from Duke, Kansas, North Carolina and Virginia. Even Josh Gasser and Traevon Jackson were solid recruits, ranked in the top 215 in the country. Both had offers from Arizona State and Gasser had one from Maryland.
SB Nation presents: Why Wisconsin can win it all
This is not a group of castoffs who are overachieving in Ryan's system — they're potential NBA players, some of whom have been considered pro prospects since high school. Before this year, the only Wisconsin players from the Bo Ryan era to ever really "stick" in the NBA were Devin Harris and Jon Leuer.
However, this Wisconsin team has two potential first round draft picks in Kaminsky and Dekker. Hayes might have the most pro potential of the three now that he has improved his outside game, though he isn’t expected to leave this year.
The increased talent has been particularly evident this year. Wisconsin still plays incredibly slow — 345th out of 351 teams in possessions per game — but the Badgers have used their future pro talent to turn that methodical tempo into the most efficient offense in the country, and possibly the best offense of all-time.
The Badgers aren’t just limited to three-point shooters or methodical big men, either. Perhaps the greatest attribute of their stars is that they’re versatile and can shoot from outside while still getting to the basket and even, in the case of Kaminsky, posting up.
Of course, Wisconsin is not Kentucky or Duke. The Badgers are older and they don’t have the high school talent that either of those programs do. But to place all of this team’s success on player development, or to label them plucky upstarts, would be misguided.
Give Wisconsin its due — these Badgers are talented, and they’ve been talented for a long time. And now, by some combination of talent, development, experience and a little bit of luck, they’ve proven they’re one of the best teams in the country.
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