Badgers guests spend a Kohl day in hell

Joe Gergen

January 21, 2005

Considering the location, in the heart of America's dairyland, it would be entirely appropriate if the Wisconsin basketball team played in a big, red barn. Instead, the home of the Badgers is a stylish, state-of-the-art arena named for Sen. Herb Kohl (D-Wis.), a former roommate of baseball commissioner Bud Selig at the university.

To rivals, however, it might as well be an unheated facility with dirt floors and a pile of hay for benches. Ever since Bo Ryan signed on as the Wisconsin coach, upon arrival in Madison, opponents invariably perform like farmhands afraid their next step might encroach upon a cow chip. In other words, they tread lightly.

Just Sunday afternoon, Michigan State came to town with a national ranking and an unblemished record in the Big Ten. Wisconsin even spotted the Spartans an eight-point lead with two minutes left.

Then the Badgers went to work, scoring 11 consecutive points while State committed turnovers, twice missed the front end of one-and-ones and saw a potential three-point field goal rim out in the waning seconds of the home team's 62-59 victory.

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What made the result remarkable, over and above the fact that the Spartans have lost the last six games in the series, was that Wisconsin now has won its last 38 games at Kohl Center, the longest such streak in Division I basketball. Ryan, in the midst of his fourth season, is 26-0 against the rest of the Big Ten in the 17,000-seat arena that opened in 1998. "It certainly has been friendly [to us]," the coach understated earlier this week.

That should be of some concern to Illinois, the next team to test the Badgers in Madison on Tuesday night. The Illini have been on a roll of their own, even if their most impressive victories have been posted in Champaign. Who better to challenge Wisconsin's campus domination than the top-ranked team in the land? It's not as if Illinois hasn't been forewarned. Their last regular-season loss in 2003-04 occurred at Kohl, after which the Illini won their last 10 and the Big Ten title. Of course, they also were blitzed by the Badgers in the conference tournament championship game in Chicago, proving that Wisconsin deserves respect even when it ventures out of state.

"They're a team that's not going to beat themselves," said Thad Matta, whose Ohio State team was whipped in Madison two weeks ago. "But when you go in there, you have to be at least 10 points better than them to win."

The home-court advantage doesn't include dead spots in the floor or excessive heat in the locker rooms, as was the case for opponents of the Celtics at Boston Garden. The coach points to the exuberance of the fans. Even when his team trailed the Spartans 59-51 Sunday, Ryan noted, the support was extraordinary. "We sucked in some of that energy," the Wisconsin coach said.

It was unlike anything he could remember hearing during his youth in the Philadelphia area. A high school quarterback whose center was none other than former Jets defensive coordinator Ted Cottrell, he claimed to have been at Franklin Field on the day the Eagles last won an NFL championship at the conclusion of the 1960 season.

"If the Eagles weren't winning by 20 -- or the Phillies weren't ahead by five runs -- it wasn't good enough," Ryan recalled. "Let's say Wisconsin fans -- including those who root for the Packers, the Brewers and the Bucks -- are a little more forgiving. In Wisconsin, they stick with you a little bit longer."

Of course, in terms of the state's favorite college basketball team, they have reason to give the Badgers the benefit of the doubt. They haven't lost at Kohl since a game against Wake Forest on Dec. 12, 2002, and they haven't been defeated in Big Ten play since Michigan State squeezed past them, 51-47, on Feb. 27, 2001. Ryan, who won four Division III national championships at Wisconsin-Platteville and spent two years at Wisconsin-Milwaukee in preparation for this job, is 52-2 at home with the Badgers. Their victims this season include heavyweights Maryland and Alabama in addition to the Spartans.

Oh, by the way, as a native of Chester, Pa., Ryan would not know his way around a barn. But Mike Wilkinson is another story. The 6-8 senior forward and team leader grew up on a farm, where he tended the cows each morning before going off to high school. Wisconsin students wear T-shirts in his honor. "Got Wilk!" they proudly declare.

Memphis blues

The season is headed downhill for John Calipari's Tigers. Projected to be among the top teams in preseason polls, Memphis already has suffered eight losses, including home games against Ole Miss, Louisiana Tech, Providence and, most recently, TCU. Now the team will have to do without sophomore forward Sean Banks, an academic casualty.

Banks, a 6-8 New Jersey high school star who arrived in Memphis with an arrest record, was one of the best freshmen in the land a year ago and Calipari cited his as a success story. His sophomore tale hasn't been nearly as heartwarming. The coaching staff criticized him for poor practice habits in the preseason, he was suspended for a game, he fought with teammate Arthur Barclay after a defeat at Texas and he was relegated to the bench before the announcement that he was ineligible for the second semester. "I am going to take classes somewhere and hopefully get eligible again," Banks said. If not, there's always the NBA.

Missing State

Understandably, Mississippi State lost an offensive weapon when swingman Winsome Frazier, the team's second-leading scorer, broke his foot. But that doesn't fully explain how the Bulldogs managed only three field goals in the first half of a thoroughly embarrassing 98-49 defeat at Alabama on Tuesday night. Not only did State win its first outright SEC title in 41 years last season but it was ranked 17th in the current AP ratings and had won 15 of 18 before arriving in Tuscaloosa. Yet, the Bulldogs misfired on all 11 attempts from three-point range, and the 22nd-ranked Tide shot 12-for-25 from beyond the arc.

So sorry

The Big Ten conceded that its officials erred in awarding Purdue's Carl Landry a field goal and a free throw after he was fouled at the buzzer with the ball still in his hand at the end of the first overtime against Indiana last weekend. Fortunately for the Hoosiers, Landry missed the free throw, leaving the score tied at 63-63, and Indiana went on to win in the second overtime, 75-73. The correct call, the Big Ten said, would have been no basket and two free throws.