College Basketball

Wisconsin Badgers bash Bears to reach Elite Eight

ANAHEIM, Calif. — They’re deep, they’re seasoned, they’re old-school disciplined, they’re sneaky-talented, they’re well-coached …

… and the Wisconsin Badgers are in the Elite Eight because of all of those elements, 69-52 blowout winners over Baylor in Thursday night’s West Regional semifinal at the Honda Center.

Wisconsin will play No. 1 seed Arizona on Saturday for a chance to get to its first Final Four since 2000.

This marks the second time under Bo Ryan, who has coached Wisconsin since 2001, the Badgers have advanced to the Elite Eight (2004-05 was the other). This is the fifth Sweet 16 Ryan has brought Wisconsin to and third in the last four years (only Florida has more with four).

The one thing Ryan has not done in his illustrious 30-year coaching career, during which he has won 703 games, is take a team to the Final Four.

“That would be very special thing to do,” Wisconsin senior guard Ben Brust (14 points) said. “I’d definitely like to do that for him.’’

“I’d be honored to do that for him,’’ said Wisconsin 7-foot junior center Frank Kaminsky, who was the dominating force in the game with a game-high 19 points and six blocks.

“It would be a great honor to do that; coach Ryan is a great coach,’’ Wisconsin freshman forward Nigel Hayes (10 points, six rebounds) said. “But we have to stay focused on A before we move on to B.’’

The No. 2 seeded Badgers took control of the game early — surging to a 29-16 halftime lead — and never let No. 6 seed Baylor (26-12) into it.

Wisconsin (29-7) shot 48 percent from the field (13-of-27) in the first half while Baylor, bidding to get to a “home’’ Final Four in North Texas, shot a dismal 20.8 percent (5-of-24) in the first 20 minutes. It never got better for Baylor, which finished the game shooting 18-for-57, 2-of-15 from 3-point range.

Wisconsin, which prides itself on being an efficient machine, shot 52 percent (26-of-50) and was 6-of-16 from long distance.

Kaminsky, who was 8-of-11 from the field, was unstoppable early, scoring eight of the Badgers’ first 10 points as they took a 10-4 lead in the first six minutes. All of Kaminsky’s points came from inside the paint, three of the baskets from right underneath the hoop. He was critical in breaking down the Baylor zone that had been creating havoc against so many opponents.

“We knew Frank was definitely going to be critical against that zone,’’ Ryan said. “Frank knew, from watching film and the scouting report, that he would be a key against that zone. Frank set the tone and the other guys followed. Frank deserves a lot of credit for being the zone buster.’’

Baylor coach Scott Drew called “Kaminsky’s ability to finish inside’’ the key to the game.

“He was able to score inside and once that happened then it caved in the defense a little bit,’’ Drew said. “His effectiveness inside was something that really hurt us.’’

Baylor’s Cory Jefferson called Kaminski “just a great player.”

“Offensively, he has a good skill-set, a 7-footer that can shoot it and move around the rim, and on the defensive end he affected shots,’’ he said.

Wisconsin’s domination of Baylor was eye-opening, considering how strong the Bears had looked in the tournament, having outscored their two opponents (Nebraska and Creighton) by a total of 44 points.

“I’m proud of their performance,’’ Ryan said of his players. “I thanked them the other day for giving the staff and I an opportunity to make this trip and give us 40 more minutes of basketball. I thanked them again after the game. We get 40 more minutes.’’

Forty more minutes like his team gave him Thursday and Bo will be in the bonus: His first career Final Four.