This is not the season for Frank Kaminsky and the Wisconsin Badgers to compare themselves against the Big Ten. This year, Frank Kaminsky and the Wisconsin Badgers will measure themselves nationally; which means against Kentucky.
Just like the college football bowl season every year is about the SEC versus the rest of the nation, this year’s NCAA Tournament is about who could actually be that SEC powerhouse- Kentucky.
Wisconsin is one of the few who have a chance. Bo Ryan has his best team yet in Madison.
The Wisconsin Badgers will roll through the Big Ten this year. They won’t be undefeated though, as Purdue exposed their weaknesses Wednesday night. The Badgers had a 31-7 advantage in foul shots over the Boilermakers for the game.
Pretty obvious home cooking by the referees. Purdue deserved to win, but the officials wouldn’t let them. So Wisconsin is vulnerable, but so is the rest of the Big Ten. On the very same evening, Illinois exposed the league’s second best team, Maryland, as being rather overrated.
Speaking of overrated, have you seen Ohio State? There is no team more undeserving of a ranking in the national polls right now than the Buckeyes.
So who’s left to challenge the Wisconsin Badgers? Michigan State? They seem to be getting it together, and they always get better in March, but they’ll have the same midseason issues that they always do. The B1G will be a one team race, plain and simple, so this Badgers season is essentially meaningless when it comes to the conference race, and conference tournament. WHO CARES?!
This year in Madison, only March Madness matters, specifically the final weekend. They took the Wildcats down to the wire last season; losing 74-73 to UK on a cold-blooded shot in the final seconds. Although this year’s Kentucky is much improved over last year’s, the Wisconsin Badgers have already proved that they can play with John Calipari’s bunch.
Very few teams can.
Kentucky is human after all. Ole Miss took them to overtime, at Rupp Arena no less. So UK can be beaten. UW has two traits going for them that other teams don’t. First they have a lot of experience. They are more seasoned than almost everybody in college hoops; even Kentucky.
Second, they have a true alpha dog in Frank Kaminsky, who has developed and progressed over time.
“Kaminsky was not Kaminsky when he was a freshmen,” said Northwestern Coach Chris Collins.
“He’s only been Kaminsky the past two years. He hardly played as a freshmen. They’re a developmental program, they develop guys, they work, they get better and then you see the finished products.”
“He’s truly a unique player, there’s no one really like him in the country– his ability to step out, and put it on the floor. He’s tremendous, very unique, very talented.”
“They are truly an elite team, I think they’re one of the few who could really be there at the end,” said Collins of this Wisconsin Badgers team.
Wisconsin gets talented guys who fit a certain mold prioritized by their coach. This identity is well-established at Wisconsin. Credit to UW Athletic Director Barry Alvarez, in both sports, they know exactly who they are. Bo Ryan “knows what he’s doing” as much or more so than any coach in the Big Ten.
Wisconsin Badgers football is big, fat white guys blocking for insanely athletic and extraordinarily fast tailbacks. Run the ball over and over.
Lather.
Rinse and repeat.
Wisconsin Badgers basketball is much more than just tall white guys who can shoot. (They are a dream team, if this was European basketball) Yes, there’s been plenty of Mike Wilkinson and Jon Leuer clones coming through Bo Ryan ‘s program over the years, but Kaminsky is a player with game that transcends this Sconnie stereotype. He’s better than the Badgers predecessors you might be comparing him to.
Kaminsky developed over the course of his college career too. He was only a three star recruit coming out of high school. Rivals didn’t even rank in their top positional rankings. 24/7 Sports didn’t rank him either.
Responding to a media member query about the growth of Frank Kaminsky, and the manner in which it was phrased, Bo Ryan said (half-jokingly, sort of jokingly)
“I don’t know if people in the Chicago area were saying Frank was that good when he was in high school, who were you hanging around with?”
“Frank said he was good.”
“No, he was developing. He was developing in a very nice way, maturing.Obviously had very tutoring along the way, high school, AAU, parents. He’s grown in a lot of ways.”
In 1998, when he was 5 years old, his aunt and uncle worked for the Chicago Bulls and he had access to the practice facility when Michael Jordan, Dennis Rodman and Randy Brown were there. Kaminsky attended Benet Academy in Lisle, a suburb of Chicago.
Kaminsky was a big beneficiary of Wisconsin Badgers basketball getting the former Chicago Bulls Strength and Conditioning Coach Erik Helland.
Paul M. Banks owns, operates and writes The Sports Bank.net ,which is partners with Fox Sports. Read his feature stories in the Chicago Tribune RedEye edition. Listen to him on KOZN 1620 The Zone. Follow him on Twitter (@paulmbanks). His work has been featured in hundreds of media outlets including The Washington Post and ESPN 2