Bo Ryan Addresses Media at Monday News Conference
December 31, 2001 | Men's Basketball
University of Wisconsin head men's basketball coach Bo Ryan addressed questions from members of the media in the Badgers' weekly news conference at the Kohl Center today.
Ryan discussed his team's upcoming Big Ten opener at Iowa on Wednesday and how his team is preparing to take on the ninth-ranked Hawkeyes. Ryan also reflected on his 17-plus years as a collegiate head coach on the verge of 500th game.
About his coaching staff being new to the Big Ten:
I think we will be better after one year of coaching in the Big Ten, but hopefully we've prepared enough by looking at all the nuances of style and certain sets, certain defenses, things you do in preseason practices, getting ready not just for one particular team, but for playing anybody. We'll feel the same way as coaches going into each one of these places. I hope the players feel relaxed enough after 13 games to play older than their years. That's what we're counting on and hopefully they've gained enough experience here in tight situations, tough places, that we can go into these environments and still play our game and keep developing.
On coaching in his 500th game as a collegiate head coach this Wednesday:
I'm just happy to be a part of the game for that long. I hope there's another 500 here or that I can be a part of another 500. I 've been very fortunate to have the game affect me and my family, friends and teammates and players that have played for us. We've had it affect us in some very positive ways and I hope that it just continues to do that. The game has been very good for my family, my friends, acquaintances, players, and hopefully good for the schools where we 've coached. Hopefully we've had a positive influence and will continue to do so.
On whether he feels he will get fair calls from officials as a new coach in the Big Ten:
Once the game starts they are going to call them the way they see them. I think the officials have been very fair officiating our system, what we're trying to do. There are going to be nights where I'm going to disagree with some things, and there will be nights where officials are going to have to put me in my place because of the way I particularly vent on a call or two. But as long as they're honest with me and they look me in the eye and say, `all right, I got that. Sit down ' or `I don't want to hear that again.' There are certain guys you get to know where enough is enough. Hopefully I'm a lot smarter now than 20 years ago and a lot calmer. You can probably tell, I am. I don't get as excited as I used to. But I think they've been fair.
On the possibility of playing Dave Mader more during the Big Ten season:
I'd like to have Dave Mader out on the floor a little more and I know he would like to be. But he understands and he's handled everything pretty well. I just would like to see, with the matchups, I think there will be times that he'll be out there longer than two or three minutes and we can get him back in there. I think in the Big Ten through the 40 minutes we've got to have a little more depth. Neil [Plank] and possibly Clayton [Hanson], and also Dave of course, we 'd like to get them some minutes in there to give the other guys a chance to settle in a little more and get refreshed.
On preparing to play against Iowa's Reggie Evans:
He's strong, he's active, he's a competitor, he's tough. That makes him a problem. Not to say that other guys we 've played against are not all of those things combined, but he's a proven entity along every one of those lines. Every adjective I've used, he 's a picture of that. Evans is going to be difficult to prepare for because we don 't have somebody to prepare for him who can be exactly like him.
On how the Badgers' non-conference schedule has prepared them for the Big Ten season:
I know everybody has their interpretation of our non-conference schedule, but the only thing that we ever really said was difficult was that string of the Hawaii trip and Georgia Tech right away, and then taking a look at Saturday-Monday, Saturday-Monday. Sometimes you'd like a little more time to prepare. Now in the Big Ten, for the most part, there's equal time. I don't think there will be anything as tough in preparation days, but the caliber of competition night in, night out, in the Big Ten will be better overall. I thought it's prepared us as well as can be expected. I like the fact that our guys are sharing the ball, playing well together, reading some things better defensively, because if we hadn't made this advancement here in the last four to five games, we would be very concerned going into the Big Ten.
