Bo And Beilein Are Up To Their Usual Tricks

I alluded to it briefly in my blog about the Big 10 last week, but as a college basketball fan one has to marvel at the work both John Beilein has done at Michigan and Bo Ryan has done at Wisconsin this year.  While their teams' records seem to shock some people, (the Badgers are currently ranked #9 and the Wolverines #12 in the most recent rankings) as college basketball fans we should at this point not be surprised by how well either of their teams perform.  Both these coaches over the last decade have proven to be two of the most consistent coaches in all of college basketball.

When Beilein grew West Virginia into a force in college basketball in the early 2000's, it definitely caught me by surprise. For starters, Beilein has always looked more like a professor, with his rolled up sleeves, than a basketball coach.  Secondly, none of the WVU players individually were that special. As a team however they seemed to work perfectly together.  The Mountaineers grew into a power in what I perceived was a perfect mixture of talent and system. WVU was a team that was deadly from 3 point land, as all of us BC fans know from the second round of the Big East Tournament in 2005, and as a result few teams were able to keep up with them from behind the arc.  While Beilein had great success at WVU, taking the Mountaineers all the way to the Elite 8 in 2005, I was skeptical when Michigan hired him in 2007.

At West Virginia he could get a way with playing his system with marginally recruited players, but at Michigan the bar is set higher, and there is even bigger pressure in Ann Arbor given the basketball success of their instate rivals from East Lansing.  While Beilein has been able to continue to recruit players that fit his system i.e. Nick Stauskas, who should be this year's Big 10 player of the year, he has also been able to lure high profile recruits, like Trey Burke and Glenn Robinson III.  Having a mixture of players that fit his system, as well as great all around players, has allowed Michigan to not only become a Big 10 power, but a national power as well.  Losing Trey Burke and Tim Hardaway Jr. to the NBA from last year's National Title game team, along with center Mitch McGary due to injury, this would have been an acceptable year for Beilein to be given a pass for a poor record.  Instead Beilein has his team playing great basketball going into March, having recently won the Big 10 Regular Season Title, and will be sure to have the Wolverines be tough out in both the Big 10 and NCAA tournaments. Also,  having swept Michigan State this year, the Wolverines have shown that there are now two legitimate basketball powers within the state.

If there is one team who should be penciled into the Sweet 16 every year, regardless of who they lost and who they recruited, it is Wisconsin.  While the Badgers haven't been able to make the leap to the Final Four under Bo Ryan, they have proven to be one of the most consistent programs over the past decade and this year is no different as Wisconsin is 25-5 overall and #2 in the Big 10 standings. Bo Ryan, like Beilein, has developed a system that has proven it can work.  While the Badgers are known to be one of the most boring teams in college basketball, given their clock draining offensive possessions, they have also become to be known as the thorn in the sides of the rest of the Big 10.  Like Beilein's West Virginia teams, Wisconsin has never had a player, with the exception of Devin Harris, who has been or will ever be a star in the NBA.  This however maybe one of the reasons why Wisconsin has been so good. Wisconsin's players stay all four years, and most of the players tend to red shirt their freshman year so that they can learn Bo Ryan's system.  Unlike most teams who garner high profile recruits, only to have them leave after a year or two for the pros, Ryan believes in player development and because of that he has never had to truly endure a rebuilding year.

As a BC fan I was hoping Steve Donahue would be the next Bo Ryan or John Beilein.  He developed a system at Cornell, similar to Beilein's, and I was hoping that would translate into success at both BC and in the ACC.  Unfortunately this hasn't been the case.  As a result of BC's lack of success and more importantly both Michigan's and Wisconsin's recent successes, it has made me appreciate and respect both Bo Ryan and John Beilein that much more.  Just when I think either of their teams is going to have a down year, they usually always prove me wrong and I am sure this year, like nearly every other year, they will have their teams playing deep into March.