Epic Battle Features Mutual Coaching Admiration
MADISON, Wis. – It was a meeting of epic proportions. The end result nearly matched that.
Valparaiso fought gallantly and stared the Wisconsin Badgers right in the eyes on their home floor. But the Crusaders fell short 68-58 on Saturday night at the Kohl Center.
It was a see-saw affair for a majority of the game before the Badgers pulled away at the end.
“I’m proud of our basketball team,” Crusaders coach Homer Drew said. “I really felt they executed a game plan… You’ve got to compliment Wisconsin. We really felt coming in it was a win-win situation if we could off a nice upset at Wisconsin. But if not, we will get better from this.
“I really felt our team got better.”
Heading in, the matchup of Wisconsin and Valparaiso was about the two opposing head coaches.
Wisconsin coach Bo Ryan and Valparaiso coach Homer Drew have combined to win 1,114 career games coming into Saturday night. Both were two of the 17 active head coaches in Division I to have won at least 500 career games.
“I have a good friendship (with Ryan),” Drew said. “I think a great deal of Bo. Obviously he’s been a highly successful coach whatever schools he’s been with… He’s just an excellent coach and we enjoy playing because we know it’s going to be a very good, physical game.”
As the 17,190 fans left the Kohl Center, it was Valparaiso’s near upset of the Badgers that had them heaving a sigh of relief afterwards. And not the excitement of two of college basketball’s best coaches.
Ryan is 81-28 in nonconference games during his seven-year tenure at Wisconsin, including an astounding 53-4 mark at home. Overall, Ryan is 99-6 at home, which is the second-best home record in the country during that seven-year span where Ryan has been the coach of the Badgers. Only Southern Illinois’ 81-4 mark is better during that span.
Also, the Badgers,have won 30 of their past 31 home games (Marquette on Dec.8). The loss to Marquette snapped a 28-game home win streak.
But for basketball fans who like to see pure wits go toe-to-toe, the fans in Madison got a special treat. It was a rare meeting of two coaches with more than 500 wins going up one another, and it’s hard to find that with coaches going in and out so fast nowadays. And there’s a mutual respect between the two.
“Homer’s been around a little bit,” Ryan said. “He’s been around a couple years… (Valpo) is always well-coached. His team’s always smart, always good shooters. I said to him Bryce (Drew) could shoot, left-handed, 85 percent from the free-throw line. He’d agreed with me.”
It nearly went unnoticed because fans sat in the backs of their chairs and were quiet for a clear majority of the game. One Wisconsin fan on the way out of the arena said the Badgers had no business beating the Crusaders. Stats only tell part of that story.
- 17-of-36 from the free-throw line was Wisconsin.
- Trailed 31-28 at halftime did Wisconsin, which was only the 21st time in the 105 career home games for Ryan at Wisconsin that had happened.
- 7-of-20 from 3-point range for Wisconsin.
But Saturday’s game marked the second time Ryan had squared off against Drew on the court. The other time came in 2000 when Ryan was at UW-Milwaukee. Milwaukee won 61-59.
After Saturday, the respect still stood tall.
“What a great guy for the game,” Ryan said. “People in that area ought to be so thankful you got a family like that, a basketball family and a patriarch like him.
“He’s the best. He’s good. He’s good for the game.”
