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The things you forgot (or maybe not) from Wisconsin's run to the Final Four 10 years ago
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- The things you forgot (or maybe not) from Wisconsin's run to the Final Four 10 years ago
The 2015 season will always be one Wisconsin Badgers men's basketball fans will remember, capped by a win over undefeated Kentucky and the narrow loss to Duke in the national championship game.
It overshadows the 2014 run to the Final Four, a breakthrough moment for Badgers coach Bo Ryan and what turned into a precursor to the subsequent year. But it was a thrill ride in its own right.
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Ten years later, here's what you may have forgotten (or maybe not) from the wild journey to Dallas.
Chris Howell | Herald-Times Wisconsin Badgers guard Josh Gasser (21) shoots around Indiana forward Noah Vonleh (1) during the Indiana Wisconsin men's basketball game at Assembly Hall in Bloomington, Ind., Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2014.
It's easy to lump the 2014 and 2015 teams together, but they started in a very different place
The back-to-back Final Four runs had a lot in common, including four of the starters. But while the 2015 team came into the season confident that they could get to that point, the 2014 team was filled with questions at the outset.
"The personnel was pretty much the same … but we were drastically different," starting guard Josh Gasser told Zach Heilprin on The Swing podcast earlier this month. "We were small. I was playing the three, Ben (Brust) was at the 2, Sam (Dekker) was only 6-7 at the time. Going into the year, we had no idea who our best player was or our best players were. I think coming into that year, I was our leading scorer career-wise and minutes wise, and I didn't play the year before because of injury.
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"Sam and Frank (Kaminsky) hadn't started a single game in their career. Traevon (Jackson) and Ben had played a lot the year before, but Frank wasn't Frank going into that season ... Can Sam be the guy? He should be. We think he is. Traveon's the point guard. We've got Josh coming back, Ben who's a senior. We were five guys and then Duje (Dukan), Nigel (Hayes) and Bronson (Koenig) off the bench, who had never played a single college game to that point. We were figuring things out."
Wisconsin still opened the season 20th in the preseason Associated Press poll and started the year 16-0, surging to No. 3 by Jan. 13. They were out of the rankings three weeks later after dropping five of six but ended up back in ninth by March 3 after winning the next eight in a row.
Wisconsin-Milwaukee head coach Rob Jeter watches during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game against Wisconsin, Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2014, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)
UW-Milwaukee went on a wild journey that March, led by former Badgers assistant Rob Jeter
UW-Milwaukee had been picked to finish last place in the Horizon League in the first year of new head coach Rob Jeter, who had been a Wisconsin assistant the year before.
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But the fifth-seeded Panthers shocked UW-Green Bay in the Horizon League semifinal at the Resch Center in Green Bay, 73-66 in overtime. Green Bay (24-6) had been so strong that year that it was still hopeful for an at-large berth after the loss, but it would go on to a first-round loss against Belmont in the NIT instead, 80-65. UWGB, led by Keifer Sykes , became the first No. 1 seed in the Horizon to lose its opening game in 12 years, and since the league had gone to a double-bye 11 years prior, no team lower than a No. 3 had won the league.
But UWM staged a 69-63 win over Wright State in the final. After winning just eight games the year before, UWM was a No. 15 seed in the NCAA Tournament.
Remember UWM's video to the tune of Pharrell Williams' contemporary hit "Happy"?
But once UWM fell to Villanova in the first round of the tournament, the Panthers were banned from the 2015 postseason because they didn't hit the necessary academic performance standards.
NDSU head men's coach Saul Phillips instructs his players against Fort Wayne during the Summit League Championship game at the Sioux Falls Arena on Tuesday, March 11, 2014. (Jay Pickthorn/Argus Leader)
Rob Jeter's team clinched an NCAA berth the same day as another Wisconsin assistant
Jeter's Panthers won the Horizon the same night North Dakota State won the Summit League. That team was coached by Saul Phillips, who played for Bo Ryan at UW-Platteville and was an assistant under Ryan for two seasons at UWM, then as director of basketball operations for three seasons at UW.
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NDSU would get the 12th seed and then upset Oklahoma in the first round, 80-75. Lawrence Alexander , a player who had spent a year in the post-graduate program at St. John's Northwestern Military Academy in Delafield, hit a three-pointer with 11 seconds left to force overtime, and he finished with 28 points, eight rebounds and four assists. Freshman Carlin Dupree, who played at Bay View High School, scored four points in the first 75 seconds of overtime to help his team win.
After eight straight wins, Wisconsin closed with two losses in three games
Still hopeful for a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament, Wisconsin found itself stung by a Nebraska team still battling for a tourney spot in a 77-68 road loss to the host Huskers (Nebraska would get in as an 11th seed).
Ben Brust had the best scoring game of his career in the Big Ten tournament opener, with 29 points against Minnesota, but the Badgers got smoked by Michigan State in the second battle.
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All the same, Wisconsin got what it wanted, a No. 2 seed and a chance to play the opening weekend at the BMO Harris Bradley Center in Milwaukee.
Wichita State guard Fred VanVleet takes a three-point shot while defended by Kentucky forward Willie Cauley-Stein (15) and Aaron Harrison (2) during their second-round game in the 2014 NCAA men's basketball tournament at Scottrade Center.
Wichita State was a No. 1 seed in that 2014 tournament, but guess who knocked them out?
Many eyes were on Wichita State, which went into the tournament undefeated and secured a No. 1 seed depsite playing outside the traditional power conferences. The Shockers were 34-0, the first school to reach the tournament with a perfect record since 1991.
But the Midwest regional was seen as brutal, and the unbeaten streak lasted until the second round, when eighth-seeded Kentucky (yes, Kentucky) edged Wichita State, 78-76. Andrew Harrison had 20 points as Kentucky spun the upset, with a win over the Badgers still a couple weeks away.
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There's some synergy there; Kentucky became the next undefeated team to reach the NCAA Tournament when it headed into the following year's tournament with a perfect record … but Wisconsin snapped that streak.
Steve Wojciechowski talks at a news conference at the Al McGuire Center on the Marquette University campus after being named head coach of the Marquette Men's Basketball team replacing former coach Buzz Williams. April 1, 2014.
Marquette even missed the NIT, and then Buzz Williams left
Marquette's men's basketball team headed into March with tenuous NCAA Tournament hopes but struggled late, then didn't even get an NIT berth. It marked the first time in 13 years that Marquette wasn't offered an opportunity to play postseason basketball after making the Elite Eight the year before.
Abruptly, coach Buzz Williams announced he was leaving the program to coach Virginia Tech. The news broke a day between Wisconsin's first- and second-round games, with Green Bay's Brian Wardle and Ben Howland, formerly of UCLA, among those immediately suggested as replacements. Tennessee coach Cuonzo Martin was in the mix before pulling out of the process shortly before the Final Four. MU would eventually go with Steve Wojciechowski, hired just before Wisconsin faced Kentucky in the Final Four.
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On March 24, five days after Williams announced his departure, rumors began circulating that Shaka Smart would take the job, giving rise to the "#donedeal" phenomenon that proved to be wrong … but maybe merely early.
Texas Longhorns center Cameron Ridley (55) scores against Arizona State Sun Devils center Jordan Bachynski (13) during the second round of the NCAA Men's Basketball Championship between Texas and Arizona State at the BMO Harris Bradley Center in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Thursday, March 20, 2014. Milwaukee Journal Sentinel photo by Rick Wood/rwood@journalsentinel.com
Another game at the Bradley Center ended in a buzzer beater
Cameron Ridley rebounded the ball for Texas and laid it in as the buzzer sounded to give Texas an 87-85 victory over Arizona State in another game at the Bradley Center.
Wisconsin guard Ben Brust (1) drives against American center Tony Wroblicky (34) during the second half of a second-round game in the NCAA college basketball tournament Thursday, March 20, 2014, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Phelps)
Wisconsin held American to just 35 points in the opener
Wisconsin opened against American, a team whose athletics director, Billy Walker, hailed from Hartland, Wisconsin. It could not have gone any better for the Badgers.
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UW won before its pro-Badgers crowd, 75-35. The 40-point margin of victory was a program record for an NCAA Tournament game, obliterating the previous mark of 24 points against Montana two years earlier.
That put the Badgers into a second-round game against Oregon.
Wisconsin Badgers guard Josh Gasser (21) celebrates in the final minute during Wisconsin's 85-77 win over Oregon during he third round of the NCAA Men's Basketball Championship between Wisconsin and Oregon at the BMO Harris Bradley Center in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Saturday, March 22, 2014.
The Oregon game, which became an unforgettable moment in Badgers history, included a Milwaukee native with the enemy
Elgin Cook , who had played high-school basketball at Milwaukee Hamilton, was a member of the Oregon team also playing in front of home fans. Not only that, but Cook had scored 23 points in the opener to help the seventh-seeded Ducks handle 10th-seeded BYU.
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As great as the team's win over Arizona in the Elite Eight was, it's hard not to think of the second-round thriller against Oregon as the highlight of the tournament. Here's how the 85-77 win went down.
Do you remember the big plays by Duje Dukan ? He rebounded a Frank Kaminsky missed free throw and scored with 7 seconds left in the first half, making a deficit slightly better at the break, 49-35. He also drew a charge on Cook with UW holding a 67-63 lead in the second half, just the second charge taken in his 55-game career.
Do you also remember the technical foul Bo Ryan drew at the end of the first half, though the Ducks made only one of two free throws and didn't score on the ensuing possession?
Ben Brust lines up a shot against Oregon in the 2014 NCAA Tournament.
Ben Brust set a Badgers record against Oregon
Ben Brust, playing in what could have been his final game in a Badgers uniform, hit a huge go-ahead three-pointer (his foruth of the game) with 1:07 left, one that set the career UW record with 228 three-pointers. That broke the mark of 227 set by Tim Locum from 1988 to 1991. UW took a 77-75 lead and never trailed again. It was a record, however, that wouldn't last long; Bronson Koenig (a freshman on the 2014 team) would eventually bypass Brust.
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Brust's brothers, Stephen and Jonathan, had become mini celebrities cheering in the stands during the tournament run.
Wisconsin forward Frank Kaminsky (44) shoots over Baylor center Isaiah Austin (21) during an NCAA men's college basketball tournament regional semifinal, Thursday, March 27, 2014, in Anaheim, Calif. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
Baylor came into the Sweet 16 battle on a high, but UW won easily
The team's Sweet 16 foe, Baylor, defeated third-seeded Creighton in the second round, 85-55, and the No. 6 seed looked very dangerous coming into their meeting in Anaheim. The teams had never before played each other. That didn't matter much when UW handled Baylor at the Honda Center, 69-52. The Badgers shot 52% from the field and forced Baylor out of its zone into man-to-man.
Players lift Wisconsin head coach Bo Ryan after a regional NCAA college basketball tournament game against Arizona on March 29, 2014, in Anaheim, Calif. Wisconsin won 64-63 in overtime.
The win over Arizona was dedicated to Bo Ryan's father
This part you might remember.
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With the 64-63 overtime win over Arizona in the Elite Eight, Bo Ryan was about to coach in his first NCAA Division I Final Four. It was also the first Final Four without his father, Butch, who had died eight months earlier. Butch and Bo had been going to Final Fours together for three decades, and the victory came on what would have been Butch's 90th birthday.
UW had it clinched when Arizona's Nick Johnson couldn't get a jumper off before the buzzer after a UW turnover with 2.3 seconds left.
Frank Kaminsky finished with 28 points and 11 rebounds, including a putback with 1:11 left to give UW a 64-61 lead.
Before 'Justise Touched It,' there was another review
It's easy to remember the 2015 NCAA final for a play in which Duke's Justise Winslow appeared to graze a ball that went out of bounds, though the ball was awarded to Duke after a review. In 2014, UW was also on the wrong side of a review.
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The final seconds of the Arizona Elite Eight game were frenzied. Traveon Jackson missed a contested drive that Arizona rebounded. T.J. McConnell missed a three-pointer but recovered the rebound, but Johnson was whistled for an offensive foul driving to the basket with 3.2 seconds left. Gasser sold the contact well.
Sam Dekker tried to get the inbounds bounced to Jackson, but Rondae Hollis-Jefferson broke it up and Jackson was apparently the last to touch it before it went out of bounds with 2.3 seconds left. The officials ruled UW ball but then reversed the call on review after several minutes, with video evidence appearing unclear in either direction.
Gabe York inbounded for Arizona to Johnson, who dribbled toward the left wing but couldn't get a shot up before the buzzer, and his attempt caromed off the rim, anyway.
Jackson also missed a jumper at the buzzer that could have won the game before overtime. Jackson also later missed a jumper at the end of the Final Four loss.
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Aaron Rodgers visited the Badgers in Anaheim
Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers did attend the two games in Anaheim and visited with the team afterward, but apparently his magic inside AT&T Stadium, where the Final Four was played that year, didn't rub off.
Players felt the Dallas location was almost too big for basketball when they practiced heading into the Final Four clash with Kentucky.
Wisconsin 's Frank Kaminsky celebrates after a regional final NCAA college basketball tournament game against Arizona, Saturday, March 29, 2014, in Anaheim, Calif. Wisconsin won 64-63 in overtime.
Frank Kaminsky became a star during the tournament
Kaminsky had been a breakout during the regular season, but there didn't seem to truly be questions about his NBA future until the tournament, when it suddenly seemed apparent that he could leave after his junior season for the NBA. He had averaged 3.2 points and 1.8 rebounds as a sophomore and had just two points in 10 minutes in the 2013 NCAA Tournament, a first-round loss to Ole Miss.
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But the 7-footer was the driving force for the Badgers in the 2014 Big Dance. He had 74 points and 24 rebounds through the first four games of this tournament.
Kentucky found a way to hold Kaminsky to eight points on seven shots, however.
In this April 5, 2014, file photo, Kentucky guard Aaron Harrison (2) makes a 3-pointer in the final seconds over Wisconsin guard Josh Gasser (21).
There was plenty of time left after the Aaron Harrison three-pointer, and Traveon Jackson was nearly the hero
Kentucky took a 74-73 lead when freshman Aaron Harrison hit a three-pointer late, but there were still 5.7 seconds on the clock. After a timeout, Traevon Jackson was able to get a good look on the other end; the midrange jumper bounded out, though. Jackson thought he had been hit on the arm on the shot. The play was similar to a game-winner Jackson hit against Michigan State in the regular season.
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Jackson also missed a big free-throw attempt with 16.4 seconds left.
Wisconsin Badgers guard Traevon Jackson (12) attempts a shot that would win the game for Wisconsin at the NCAA Final Four Semifinals, Saturday, April 5, 2014, at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
Jackson had been hitting 89.5% at the line in the tournament but missed the first of three free throws with the game tied at 71 with 16.4 left. He made the next two, though, setting up Harrison's big make over a contesting Josh Gasser. It was Harrison's first trhee-point attempt of the night.
UW finished 30-8, two victories shy of a program record. Kentucky, starting five freshmen, reached the title game as a No. 8 seed, where it lost to UConn.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Look back at Wisconsin's 2014 Final Four run a decade later
