Cheeseheads going wild over Wisconsin’s run

Steve Addy

Monday, March 27, 2000 | 10:46 a.m.

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. -- Look out, Final Four. The Wisconsin Badgers are going to Indianapolis with invitations in hand, and contrary to popular belief, they're taking some athletes with them.

Oh, you hadn't heard about their athletes?

That's no surprise, because despite the Badgers' four-game romp to the NCAA West Regional title as a lowly eighth seed, the sexiest angle is to treat them as interlopers -- bratwurst-chomping frat boys crashing the NCAA's wine-and-cheese party -- rather than a deserving Final Four club.

Granted, the Badgers finished only sixth in the Big Ten, not one of their players was chosen to an all-conference team (not even honorable mention) and their defensive style won't make them a staple of the nightly sports highlights.

But if you think Wisconsin doesn't deserve to be in Indy playing top seed Michigan State, or in the Final Four with tradition-laden North Carolina and well-regarded Florida, you have not been paying attention these last two weeks.

Ask Fresno State, Arizona, Louisiana State and Purdue what they think. Here's what they'll say: underestimate the Badgers at your peril.

"If you haven't faced them, brother, you're going to have your hands full," Purdue coach Gene Keady said.

Though Purdue did not appear to take the Badgers lightly in Saturday's regional finale, a 64-60 win for Wisconsin at The Pit, the Boilermakers might be alone in that distinction. The Badgers' first three tournament opponents seemed stunned by their concede-nothing defense, well-drilled offense and deceiving athleticism, and didn't gain respect for them until it was too late -- if ever.

It's a dicey subject, with overtones of race and stereotypes about white athletes, but with four white starters, the Badgers are easy targets for convenient labels -- that they're not athletic enough, are too slow or are a "cerebral" team.

While no one would be dopey enough to give public credence to such assertions, they seem to lie just below the surface of many opinions about the Badgers' terrific run in the tournament. They can't run, the story goes, so they have to out-brawl and out-think their opponents.

Never mind the Badgers have made practically every crucial shot in the tournament, or that they couldn't play such terrific defense if they didn't have quick feet and hands. LSU tried to take them off the dribble and the Badgers stopped them cold, forcing 23 turnovers in a 61-48 victory in the West semifinals.

"Maybe we should get some athletes," Wisconsin junior guard Mike Kelley said with eye-rolling sarcasm. "We have some good athletes, but we play a system where we're not running up and down the floor all the time, so there's a perception that we're not athletic enough.

"While I think some people who really understand basketball respect us, there is a majority of people who don't enjoy the way we play or don't understand why we play the way they do. Getting to the Final Four will show the nation what our style can be about. It's about winning."

Badgers coach Dick Bennett has been hearing criticism of his team's style since he became coach five years ago, and by now he knows he's fighting a losing battle of perception.

"When I coached at (Wisconsin) Stevens Point and Green Bay, I thought we were playing the game the way you were supposed to -- get the ball to the open man, play hard defense, don't take bad shots," he said. "It really wasn't until recently that I learned we have 'set the game back.'

"I happen to consider anticipation and reaction as a part of athleticism. I've seen some great athletes who had no reactions, and they're almost useless. But take a guy who's a decent enough athlete and will not be embarrassed in moving from Point A to Point B, he'll negate much of the advantage the fast runner or high jumper has. I think a lot of our kids are like that.

"Regardless of that, I still think the only thing we don't do is run that beautiful three-lane break. We pick most of our rebounds off the floor, so how are we going to run?"

Opponent ignorance won't be a factor when the Badgers (22-13) play Michigan State (30-7) in the national semifinals Saturday at the RCA Dome. It will be the teams' fourth meeting this season, with MSU winning each time. The Badgers are 11-3 in their last 14 games, with each loss to MSU.

Though the Spartans have superior talent and are the favorites, Wisconsin claims it won't go to Indianapolis feeling satisfied.

"We had the chance to let down after Fresno State, again after Arizona and then after LSU, but none of those times did we fall to that temptation," Kelley said. "I don't think we will this time. We have such a competitive group, I don't think it matters if we're playing basketball or bridge, we're going to try to win. So I don't think we're going to go out (meekly)."

Bennett said, "I'm not going to keep our players from being happy. I think they've earned that right. But this is a levelheaded group. They have been that way throughout the tournament. They have celebrated quietly. If the very worst thing that happens to us is that we're just happy to be there and we don't play particularly well, then we've got a pretty good life."