Major College Basketball Coach Faces Unacceptable Disrespect As Team Surges
It's time for the national media to start showing Wisconsin Badgers basketball coach Greg Gard some respect.
Silently and under the radar, Gard has put together one of the most impressive coaching performances in recent college basketball memory, and nobody seems to be noticing.
That needs to change, and the evidence is clear.
Wisconsin coach Greg Gard needs to be in the conversation for coach of the year. (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images)
Greg Gard has earned the right to be in the conversation for coach of the year.
I spoke to my dad Monday night, and an interesting topic came up:
The insane season Gard is putting together in Madison.
The Badgers were viewed as a joke entering the season. It looked like Wisconsin fans would have to endure a brutal season after losing the team's two best players in AJ Storr (transferred to Kansas) and Chucky Hepburn (transferred to Louisville).
Teams don't get better when losing elite players. They always get worse. That's just reality, and that was the clear expectation.
The Badgers were tied with Nebraska at 12th in the preseason Big Ten rankings. It's not hard to understand why. Again, the Badgers roster had been decimated at the top. There was no reason for the Badgers to be good…..and nobody expected they would be.
Greg Gard had different plans.
Greg Gard has Wisconsin sitting at 19-5 heading into mid-February. (Photo by John Fisher/Getty Images)
As of publication, the Badgers are ranked 16th in America, have a 19-5 record and are top five team in the B1G with a 9-4 conference record.
Gard pulled this all off without a single NBA player on the roster. The addition of starting guard John Tonje has been big and reserve Xavier Amos has also been a solid contributor.
Yet, teams with no NBA talent rarely make noise down the stretch. With seven games left, the Badgers could easily get to 24 regular season wins.
Not only are the Badgers winning, but they're doing it in dominating fashion. Wisconsin is averaging 81 points per game and averages a double-digit margin of victory.
Bo Ryan's teams won by brutalizing other teams with physical play and being fundamentally sound. Something different is happening this season. Gard has embraced a high speed tempo, and it's paying off in a huge win.
Wisconsin is ranked 15th in the NET with seven quad one wins and a perfect 5-0 record in quad two games. Only Auburn and Tennessee have more quad wins in the entire country, and all five losses have been to quad one teams. While there's no such thing as a good loss, the Badgers haven't lost to a team that won't be in the tournament.
Not too bad for a team that wasn't even supposed to sniff the postseason. As of publication, ESPN has Wisconsin as a four seed. It's crazy watching the year unfold.
Greg Gard has the Wisconsin Badgers rolling after facing terrible expectations at the start of the season. (Photo by Keith Gillett/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
Yet, there's no chatter about Gard being considered for coach of the year. That's insane. No coach has done more with less this season after facing expectations of a terrible season.
It's not just about winning. It's about how you win and what you win with. While schools in the top five are loaded with future NBA players, Wisconsin - at best - has a couple guys who will maybe have careers in Europe. It's two totally different levels of talent, but Wisconsin just keeps winning.
How that hasn't earned Gard some respect is simply beyond me.
Give Gard the respect he clearly has earned this season. It shouldn't be hard at all to put him in the conversation. Let me know at David.Hookstead@outkick.com what you think.