ANAHEIM, Calif. — A question was posed to the Wisconsin players on Friday and their answers — unwittingly — painted a perfect portrait of their head coach.
Each player from Wisconsin’s starting five — Ben Brust, Sam Dekker, Josh Gasser, Traevon Jackson and Frank Kaminsky — was asked to use one or two words he thought Arizona players would use to describe the Badgers on the eve of Saturday’s NCAA Tournament West Regional final between the two schools at Honda Center.
Brust: “Resilient.’’
Dekker: “Disciplined.’’
Gasser: “Unselfish.’’
Jackson: “Tough.’’
When it was Kaminsky’s turn, he looked flummoxed, having listened to his four teammates use up all the good answers. Then he leaned into the microphone and said with a smirk: “White guys.’’
Sitting to the far right of his players on the interview podium, Wisconsin coach Bo Ryan took in their answers and came to this conclusion: “Not one of our guys said, ‘Athletic.’ Did you notice that?’’
Wisconsin opponents have noticed that for the 14 years Ryan has been coaching the Badgers. And those five characteristics his players rattled off — really, the first four — are the very traits that describe Ryan, an old-school soul who learned his life principles on the hardened and depressed streets of Chester, Pa., as a youngster.
“He could put a team on the floor that wins no matter what the names of the players are,’’ Arizona guard T.J. McConnell said Friday, paying perhaps the highest compliment to Ryan. “He doesn’t always have the most highly-touted players, but he always wins.’’
This is where the genius of Ryan lies, and it is what makes his second-seeded Badgers (29-7) the most formidable team No. 1 seed Arizona (33-4) has faced this year.
“He doesn’t get the top-ranked guys in the country; he gets the guys that are going to buy into his system, and I think we have all those people on our team,’’ Kaminsky said.
Ryan isn’t for everyone.
He can be stubborn in his old-school ways and he can be surly.
When I asked him about Michigan State coach Tom Izzo on Wednesday to help supplement a story a Post colleague was working on in New York, Ryan stiff-armed the question, saying it was not appropriate to ask about a coach who was not in the West Region.
When I approached him afterward to explain what we were working on, Ryan accused me of being “a plant from Sparty Nation.’’
Ryan’s rigid ways can be difficult for his players, but those, too, are the things that make his players stronger — such as when Brust grudgingly sat out his first year because Ryan did not think he was ready.
“Yeah, there were definitely times when I was frustrated, but that’s part of the process, and I think I grew because of that,’’ Brust said.
There are laughs that come with being around Ryan, too. His players ike to tease him about the how often he brings up stories of his rough-and-tumble childhood.
“He is pretty serious, but he’s got a comical side,’’ Kaminsky said. “He’s got a lot of jokes for you. Just ask him.’’
One topic that is no joke for these Wisconsin players is getting Ryan to the first Final Four of his career, which spans 30 years and 703 wins.
“I think it’s ridiculous that people say he needs a Final Four [to be considered an all-time great coach]’’ Glasser said. “His career speaks for itself — 700 wins, multiple Big Ten titles. Getting to a Final Four would definitely be icing on cake for him. He deserves it. We all want it, and we all want it for him.’’
Even Arizona coach Sean Miller, who used the word “admiration’’ when speaking about Ryan, sounded as if he would not be crushed to see Ryan get to a Final Four if it is not his Wildcats getting there.
“It’s always bitter when you lose,” Miller said, “but if it happens, it will be nice to see him take the next step, because he is one of the great coaches in our game.’’
Ryan is not prone to show much of a soft side in public. That could change Saturday night. There could be tears.
“I think it would touch him in a way that we probably haven’t seen,’’ Jackson said.
“I have seen him emotional, but I have never seen him cry,’’ Kaminsky said. “That would be a great feeling to see Coach Ryan cry if we were able to win this one.’’