ESPN Men's Basketball

CHICAGO -- Bo Ryan’s roster -- a Wisconsin squad that defeated Michigan 68-59 in the quarterfinals of the Big Ten tournament at the United Center on Friday -- lacks the star power some of its league and national peers employ.

His Badgers aren’t anchored by NBA prospects and five-star recruits. Their layup lines rarely feature the acrobatic dunks that draw gasps from the crowd.

One of his best players, Ryan Evans, sports a high-top fade and takes jump shots at the free throw line because he’s been so shaky from the charity stripe this season. Then there’s the guy with the impossible name and the funny carrot-top haircut (Mike Bruesewitz).

Per RecruitingNation, point guard Traevon Jackson was a two-star recruit from Westerville, Ohio, when Ryan signed him. Jared Berggren is … big. Wisconsin’s former starting point guard, Josh Gasser, tore an anterior cruciate ligament before the season.

And that didn’t stop Ryan from winning 20 games for the 10th time at Wisconsin and earning Big Ten Coach of the Year honors.

“When the guys come in, I take those little stars you lick, and I take them and I put four or five stars on each locker. ‘Hey, you're a five-star guy. You're a four-star guy,’” Ryan joked. “You know, it's what that star shines like when you're finished with your career. So I'm always looking for guys who are willing to come in, work hard, have talent, and it's about us, not individuals. But individuals can thrive. If you're good, you can get to do a lot of things. So I don't want to sell my players short. I've got good players who are much better as a result of playing together.”

The critics assess the Badgers within a college basketball culture that tends to value "SportsCenter" highlights over efficiency ratings. But they never worry Ryan.

He continues to defy every misperception, stereotype and false assumption about his program. That’s because Ryan focuses on winning. And his players follow his example.

“We’re not really concerned about what other people think. Clearly,” Bruesewitz said. “If I did, I wouldn’t have this ridiculous haircut. And I don’t think he would recruit some of the guys. We’ve got some ugly dudes on this team, so if he cared what other people thought I don’t think he’d recruit some of us.”

Ryan and the Badgers proved -- again -- that they’re among the country’s top programs when they secured their second victory over the Wolverines in 2012-13.

They shot 17 percent from the field in the first half. Then the offense unclogged its drain and flowed. Wisconsin went 17-for-28 and scored 51 points after halftime.

Evans (12 points, 6 rebounds, 6 assists and a steal) attacked the rim. Wisconsin’s shooters, including Bruesewitz (2-for-4 from the 3-point line, 8 points, 8 rebounds and 2 steals), found their range. Jackson (16 points and a steal) helped the Badgers frustrate Trey Burke (8-for-22, 19 points), a top candidate for national player of the year.

After the Badgers secured a 56-45 lead on a Ben Brust 3-pointer with 6:03 to play, Michigan scored nine unanswered points to cut Wisconsin’s lead to two on Burke’s layup with 3:37 to go.

But the Badgers never deviated from their system. They maintained their gritty man-to-man defense. They remained aggressive on offense.

And they won after the Wolverines finished 2-for-7 from the field after that Burke layup.

Michigan has a minimum of three NBA prospects. Burke could be a lottery pick this summer. Glenn Robinson III was a five-star forward in the 2012 recruiting class, per ESPN.com. Tim Hardaway Jr., son of a former NBA All-Star, could be a first-round pick, too. But Wisconsin’s cohesiveness often trumps talent gaps in matchups.

“The old cliché: ‘Defense wins championships,’” Evans said. “We understand that here, and anything we can do to slow those guys down and get our shots is what's going to move us forward.”

Don’t pity Wisconsin.

Its 2012-13 campaign has proved that the Badgers’ skill, athleticism and potential are largely underrated. Evans is a physical forward with a solid post game. Bruesewitz can beat teams inside or outside. Berggren has a better block percentage (7.02) than Trevor Mbakwe, Cody Zeller and Adreian Payne, according to Ken Pomeroy. Jackson is fearless, so he’s never afraid of big shots.

“I think we have as much talent as anybody,” Evans said. “I can go between the legs. Sam [Dekker] can go between the legs.”

In the postgame news conference, Ryan seemed more interested in the soda in his left hand than explaining his legacy of success.

He has utilized the same formula and offered the same responses to the same questions.

He rarely signs five-star recruits. He believes in molding players over time. They always defend or they don’t play.

His swing offense is based on smart shots, not individual maneuvering.

With that philosophy, Ryan has never finished below fourth in the Big Ten. He has never missed the NCAA tournament since his tenure began with the 2001-02 season. He has won at least 19 games each season, too.

Albeit without the nation’s sexiest style.

“It doesn’t really matter what they say,” Jackson said. “As long as we stay together, it’s OK.”

In Saturday's semifinals, the Badgers will face another team that NBA front offices love. The Hoosiers feature Zeller and Victor Oladipo, who could join Burke in the lottery in June.

If “talent” is the best barometer, then Indiana will win.

But the Badgers have won 11 in a row against the Hoosiers. So perhaps it’s not.

“We got to get these guys down and get them some rest for tomorrow,” Ryan said.

Indiana should probably get to bed early, too.

MINNEAPOLIS – On Thursday night, Rodney Williams grimaced as he held his left shoulder.

With his team facing a deficit in the second half of a 58-53 overtime victory against No. 20 Wisconsin at Williams Arena, the senior tried to ignore the pain of an injury that forced him to miss last Sunday's loss to Illinois.

Williams has nearly exhausted his tomorrows. And his team needs him now.

So when he aggravated the shoulder injury in the second half, he did not put on his warm-ups and tell his coaches he couldn’t go. He just went to the team’s trainer and asked for ibuprofen and a glass of water. A few minutes later, he checked back into the game.

“I just wanted to go out there and fight for my teammates,” said Williams, who sported a cantaloupe-sized ice pack on his left shoulder following the victory.

His teammates channeled the same attitude against the Badgers. Finally, the Gophers played with a hunger they’ve tapped during stretches throughout the season. It’s a resilience they lacked during a period that included six losses in eight games.

After a rough first half Thursday night, the Gophers pushed the pace against a Wisconsin team that’s accustomed to controlling the tempo.

Williams scored on a tip-in, drew a foul and hit the free throw with 14 minutes, 32 seconds remaining in regulation. That sequence tied the game at 33. A pair of Andre Hollins free throws gave Minnesota its first lead, 35-33, on its next possession. A Trevor Mbakwe dunk put the Gophers up after Wisconsin pulled back even.

But the Badgers, up 49-47 late, regained the edge and nearly sealed the game in the final seconds of regulation after Mike Bruesewitz drew an offensive foul on Austin Hollins with 22 seconds to go. On the next play, however, Bruesewitz committed a turnover on the inbounds.

Sophomore Joe Coleman was fouled, and he hit the free throws to tie the game at 49-49 with 17.4 seconds to go.

Yet, the teams' second game nearly ended like their first. In the Jan. 26 meeting in Madison, Traevon Jackson hit the game winner with 4 seconds to play in a 45-44 victory for the Badgers. Jackson had the ball again Thursday on his team’s final possession.

But it was a messy finish that concluded regulation as Jackson’s last-second shot clanked off the backboard.

By then, the Gophers had already recaptured the night. The Badgers failed to record a field goal after Ben Brust’s jumper with 6:18 to play in regulation until Jared Berggren’s layup with 10 seconds remaining in overtime.

“It started on defense,” said Mbakwe. “We got a lot of key stops at the end. We made Wisconsin play our tempo a little bit and that’s kind of hard, especially against a team like that.”

In overtime, Andre Hollins hit a 3-pointer from the top of the key with 3:40 to go and blew a kiss to the crowd. Mbawke, a 62 percent free throw shooter entering the game, hit a pair on Minnesota’s following possession to give the Gophers a 54-49 lead with 1:32 left. The teams traded free throws down the stretch but the Badgers (17-8, 8-4 Big Ten) couldn’t secure the shots necessary to overcome the Gophers’ late push.

“We just kept being aggressive, kept being aggressive on defense,” Coleman said. “We try to make the least amount of mistakes possible, and I think we really focused in on that at the end of the game … it helped going into overtime. We were playing so aggressive and it helped.”

Hollins led all scorers with 21 points. As a team, the Gophers (eight turnovers) held the Badgers (10-for-17 from the free throw line) to a 30.5 percent shooting clip in arguably their most significant Big Ten matchup of the year.

The pressure has become palpable in Minneapolis.

The Gophers (18-7, 6-6) have fallen in the Big Ten standings and lost their national ranking. Tubby Smith’s job status has been questioned by local media. Earlier this week, the Star Tribune’s Jim Souhan wrote a column titled “If Tubby can’t turn this around, it’s time to get [Shaka] Smart.”

“The sky was falling around here. Sometimes when the sky is falling and you’re lying under the ceiling, you think it’s going to cave in on you,” Smith said after the game. “They wanted it, but we had to have it. That was the key tonight.”

“Desperate” is a term that’s frequently used to describe the condition of any college basketball team that’s struggling in mid-February.

The bubble is big. And the subjective process of a selection committee that consults stats, standings, RPI figures and overall resumes to determine the teams that will earn 37 at-large slots on Selection Sunday, fuels paranoia.

Are we in or are we out?

The Gophers seemed desperate entering Thursday's game. But most of their recent losses came in matchups against ranked Big Ten teams. So they maintained a top-20 RPI.

They’re not Illinois or Villanova or Baylor.

But the expectation for 2012-13 is not an at-large bid. The expectation is an at-large bid and a few wins.

Smith has not won an NCAA tournament matchup in his six seasons with the Gophers.

“We don’t listen to too much on the outside,” Mbakwe said. “I know a lot of people were high on us. We [lost] down the stretch and people were like, ‘This is the same old Minnesota team.’”

Winning is the only elixir for that perception.

Thursday’s victory was a good start.

But it certainly won’t cure the pain of a program that’s feigned progress in the past.

The loss of All-American point guard Jordan Taylor affected early projections about Bo Ryan’s ability to lead Wisconsin to the top of the Big Ten in 2012-13, a perennial status for the program throughout his tenure.

Ryan’s offensive and defensive systems flow best when operated by dynamic point guards.

For the first time in years, however, the Badgers didn’t appear to have that in the months that preceded the start of this season.

And now that the program has announced that Josh Gasser -- the player Ryan called his starter at the position during Thursday’s Big Ten media day in Chicago -- will miss the 2012-13 season with a torn anterior cruciate ligament, there are even more questions about the Badgers.

According to a Saturday news release from the team, Gasser tore the ACL during practice Saturday morning at the Kohl Center and will undergo surgery after an upcoming re-evaluation by the team’s medical staff. He will redshirt this season and preserve his two remaining seasons of eligibility, the school said.

Ryan will have to go with an inexperienced orchestrator regardless of whom he chooses to run the show in Madison.

He could turn to George Marshall, a redshirt freshman from Chicago. Traevon Jackson, a sophomore who averaged 5.4 minutes per game last season, will be in the mix, too.

But Gasser (7.6 points and 1.9 assists per game, 45.2 percent from the 3-point line 2011-12) offered Ryan’s program the best option in its transition to life without Taylor.

“Based on the summer, based on what we’ve done so far, Josh Gasser is the point guard,” Ryan said Thursday.

Saturday’s news is another early challenge for the program. The Badgers will compete without forward Mike Bruesewitz for the first few weeks of the season as he recovers from a leg injury.

Now what?

Well, throughout the media session Thursday, Wisconsin players and coaches talked about playing faster and diversifying the offense with the addition of freshman Sam Dekker. The Badgers, ranked No. 23 in the Associated Press preseason poll released Friday, talked about Taylor’s absence as an opportunity for more guys to get involved.

It was clear that they trusted Gasser and thought they’d succeed with him at point guard.

“He’s fundamentally sound. He’s someone who’s tough. Great defender. [He] shoots a high percentage,” said Badgers forward Ryan Evans during media day. “[He’s] someone who’s fun to play with. … A guy like Josh, he’s going to give you his all.”

The Badgers were a mystery in the months that followed Taylor’s graduation based on his immense contributions during his tenure. Now, they’re even more difficult to assess.

Ryan’s legacy suggests that he’ll find a way to win, especially with the early talk about Dekker’s next-level talent and potential impact this season. But he has to identify a new point guard, a unique situation for a coach who’s grown accustomed to utilizing elite prospects at the position.

1. Wisconsin coach Bo Ryan said he can go a variety of ways to fill senior forward Mike Bruesewitz's absence. Bruesewitz is out for a month while recovering from a severe cut on his right leg that required surgery after he crashed into the basket standard last Tuesday. Ryan said he could go with a combination of sophomore forward Frank Kaminsky, sophomore guard Traevon Jackson and freshman forward Sam Dekker or go smaller along the frontline. He said that junior guard Josh Gasser has improved greatly over the summer. Gasser has to be the lead guard after the departure of Jordan Taylor. The injury occurred because of Bruesewitz was diving for a loose ball, like no other player. Ryan said he it could only happen to “three guys I know [former Badgers] Mike Heineman and Joe Krabbenhoft and Mike [Bruesewitz].’’

2. Cincinnati is a trendy pick in the Big East and for good reason. The Bearcats are fully capable of challenging anyone for second (with the assumption that Louisville is the champ). Bearcats coach Mick Cronin said Sunday night he has the best chemistry he’s had at UC. “The depth could be tremendous. I love our potential defensively. It’s the most athletic team we’ve ever had and we have veteran winners." Cronin said that after a few days of practice. If he keeps seeing this potential in January then the Bearcats will be a formidable force.

3. South Florida sophomore point guard Anthony Collins, who averaged 5.2 assists a game, should be ready for full practice and contact Tuesday after missing the first four days due to a concussion, according to coach Stan Heath. The Bulls, who reached the NCAA tournament last season, have depth with South Alabama transfer Martino Brock available. Heath said Brock is a combo guard who is extremely athletic and tough. Brock averaged 14.2 points a game as a sophomore at South Alabama.