Men's basketball head coach Bo Ryan addressed the media Monday, four days after his team clobbered the Hoosiers on the road, 78-46, and ahead of Wisconsin's matchup with Iowa Wednesday in its final home game of the season.
Normally teams focus a great deal of their attention on what is coming next, but with the Badgers preparing for Senior Night Wednesday, Ryan spent much of the news conference looking back on what his two senior guards, Jason Bohannon and Trevon Hughes, accomplished since enrolling at Wisconsin.
Ryan could not believe it is already nearly time for Bohannon and Hughes to say farewell to the men's basketball team and said he knows the two have grown in more than one way since their freshmen seasons.
""Doesn't it seem like yesterday we were talking about two other players, [Joe] Krabbenhoft and [Marcus] Landry?"" Ryan said, referring to two seniors from last season.
""You have to ask the players what their experience is [at UW],"" Ryan said. ""But what I've seen is I've seen two young men blossom on the court [and] off the court.""
Ryan had nothing but good words for the two and said he thinks former players and other people around the basketball team are proud of them.
""There's a tradition of student-athletes who have worked extremely hard to give Wisconsin the image that it has, and they've continued that,"" Ryan said.
This season is still far from over, but Ryan said Bohannon and Hughes have already accomplished a great deal at Wisconsin.
""No matter what happens here with the rest of the season, there's a lot of people who have enjoyed those past four years with them,"" Ryan said.
When discussing more specific contributions made by Bohannon and Hughes at Wisconsin, Ryan mentioned he believes the two took on a greater role in offseason conditioning programs.
""I thought they were in better shape when we started in September,"" Ryan said. ""And that has to come from somewhere, some place. And it isn't always seniors, but I think those two definitely led the way.""
While most of the discourse revolved around the two guards, Ryan also spoke about the progression of junior forward Jon Leuer since returning from his wrist injury. Ryan said he tries not to get overly caught up in the effect of one player's return from an absence.
""I never approach it that way, like it's a different season because a guy comes back from injury,"" Ryan said. ""I always try to make those kinds of things seamless even though maybe they aren't on the surface.""
Leuer has played in three games since being sidelined, and has scored 9.3 points and grabbed three rebounds per game in those contests. In Leuer's first 16 regular-season games this season, he averaged 15.4 points per game.
After Wednesday's game against Iowa, Wisconsin plays its final regular-season game Sunday at Illinois and will then prepare for postseason play, with the Big Ten Tournament beginning March 11 and the NCAA Tournament starting March 18.
