Tag: Devin Harris

Former Wisconsin MBB coach honored Wednesday

After what felt like far too long, former Badgers men’s basketball coach Bo Ryan is set to be honored Wednesday in Madison.

After what felt like far too long, former Badgers men’s basketball coach Bo Ryan is set to be honored Wednesday in Madison. Ryan along with multi-sport athlete Gary Buss will be inducted into the Madison Sports Hall of Fame Club.

Ryan was the head coach at Wisconsin for 14 full seasons (12 games in 2015) and produced 364-130 overall record, which is good for an all-time program best 73.7 percent win percentage. Additionally, Wisconsin made the NCAA Tournament in all 14 of the campaigns he was the head coach.

Most notably, the Badgers made two consecutive trips to the Final Four in 2014 and 2015, losing in the National Championship to Duke 68-63 in the latter run.

Ryan helped coach some of the best players in program history, namely Alando Tucker, Devin Harris, Frank Kaminsky and Sam Dekker amongst others. There’s no denying that he left a substantial impact on the program, the university, the city of Madison and the state of Wisconsin as a whole.

[mm-video type=playlist id=01eqbyzzyj3n3jt6m7 player_id=none image=]

Wisconsin Badgers basketball all-time starting five

Wisconsin men’s basketball’s all-time starting five:

The University of Wisconsin men’s basketball program has been among college basketball’s most consistently successful programs during the past two decades and counting.

The people in Wisconsin have Midwestern values. They’re blue collar, hard hat, lunch pail people that appreciate an honest day’s work. They want to see a reflection of themselves on the court, and the Badgers men’s basketball program has given them exactly that.

While Wisconsin isn’t on the same tier as college basketball’s blue-blood programs, it has put together a rather impressive resume of its own:

  • National Championships: 1 (1941)
  • Final Four Appearances: 4 (1941, 2000, 2014, 2015)
  • Elite Eight Appearances: 6 (1941, 1947, 2000, 2005, 2014, 2015)
  • Sweet Sixteen Appearances: 10 (2000, 2003, 2005, 2008, 2011, 2012, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017)

Achieving this kind of success required high level coaching, but it also took a handful of extraordinary players capable of elevating the program to new heights.

That begs the question, who would make up Wisconsin basketball’s all-time starting five? Today at the BadgersWire we’re going to unpack who those players should be, and their credentials:

Top 5 individual scoring performances of the Bo Ryan & Greg Gard eras

Here, in order, are Wisconsin’s top five individual scoring performances of the Bo Ryan and Greg Gard era’s.

Monday night against Purdue, Wisconsin Badgers star guard Johnny Davis posted one of the most memorable scoring barrages in recent memory.

The sophomore guard finished with 37 points, 14 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals and 2 blocks in a 74-69 victory at Mackey Arena.

It was a top-five individual scoring performance against a team ranked in the top five, and put Davis’ name firmly in the discussion for National Player of the Year.

The La Crosse, Wisconsin, native’s historic offensive performance took me on a stroll down memory lane on other big-time individual scoring performances in program history.

So, here, in order, are the school’s top five individual scoring performances of the Bo Ryan and Greg Gard eras.

Chucky Hepburn will join elite company if he starts in Wisconsin basketball’s season-opener

The Badger freshman would be the first opening-night true freshman starter in 20 years

Wisconsin basketball has traditionally been a program filled with upperclassmen. The 2021-22 iteration of the Badgers, however, sees a young core and exciting freshman class looking to gain Big Ten experience.

Buzz from Wisconsin practice has been that true freshman guard Chucky Hepburn looks likely to crack the Badger starting lineup when UW faces St. Francis Brooklyn on Tuesday night at the Kohl Center.

According to Assistant Director of Brand Communications at Wisconsin Brandon Harrison, that would be a feat over 20 years in the making. The last Badger to true freshman to start a season- opener? Devin Harris in 2001, who would go on to be a lottery pick in the 2004 NBA draft and spend 15 seasons in the league. Harris was also Big Ten Player of the Year in 2004 during his senior season as a Badger.

Hepburn looks to be following in elite footsteps on Tuesday night.

What an all-time Wisconsin Badgers NBA starting five would look like

Creating an all-time NBA lineup of Wisconsin alums

While Wisconsin basketball has not always been a consistent tournament team that pumps out NBA talent, we have seen a number of Badgers succeed at the next level over the years. With this all-Wisconsin starting five we will be creating an all-time NBA starting five featuring Badger alums. The criteria I used to come to the selections was as follows. The players chosen were selected because of their NBA careers, not their Wisconsin careers, and positions were sometimes hard to fill with a player that was actually listed at that position. For each player chosen, I also chose the year that I would want them on my team (in other words, the best year of their NBA careers). So, here is our BadgersWire all-time Wisconsin NBA starting five.

Pages: Page 1, Page 2, Page 3, Page 4, Page 5, Page 6

Kyrie Irving made Nets history in all-around game against Pistons

Kyrie Irving had his second-highest scoring total of the season in the Nets’ win over the Pistons.

Kyrie Irving is one of the NBA’s most skilled scorers, but when he shows his all-around game that elevates his skill set to another level.

Irving led the Brooklyn Nets to a 121-111 overtime win Saturday against the Detroit Pistons, and he made Nets history with his 45-point performance.

According to Justin Kubatko of Stat Muse, Irving became the first Nets player since the franchise merged with the NBA in 1976 to have multiple games of scoring at least 45 points, grabbing at least five rebounds and dishing five assists. Per Kubatko, only Vince Carter, Kenny Anderson, Devin Harris and Deron Williams have posted the stat line at least once.

The other time Irving accomplished the feat this season was opening night, when the Nets lost to the Minnesota Timberwolves.

Irving had an electric debut with his new team, scoring a season-high 50 points, grabbing eight rebounds and totaling seven assists. Irving’s 45 points against the Pistons is his second-highest point total of the season

A six-time All-Star, Irving has played in six games since returning from a right shoulder impingement. Since his return, Irving has averaged 24.8 points per game, 5.8 assists and 5.0 rebounds.

The Nets will play the second game of a back-to-back Sunday in New York against the Knicks.

[lawrence-related id=6243,6227,6196,6171]

Monday marks unpleasant 10-year anniversary for Nets

The Nets look good now, but the franchise has been through some rough times. Back in 2009-10, the franchise was the doormat of the NBA.

The Brooklyn Nets have 10 wins through their first 20 games of the 2019-20 season, placing them seventh in the Eastern Conference standings. A .500 start isn’t exactly earthshattering for the Nets. Some might even consider 10-10 a disappointment.

Ten years ago, Nets fans would’ve been plenty happy with a 10-10 start. Ten years ago, the Nets were the worst team in the NBA — and Monday marked the anniversary of the record they set in 2009-10.

Prior to 2009-10, two teams had lost 17 consecutive games to start a season in the history of the NBA: the 1988-89 Miami Heat and 1998-99 Los Angeles Clippers (lockout season).

Twenty-one seasons after the Heat set their record, the New Jersey Nets broke it on December 2, 2009 when they lost their 18th game in a row in a 117-101 finish against the Dallas Mavericks.

On that December night in New Jersey, Dirk Nowitzki scored 24 points for the Mavs and ex-Nets point guard Jason Kidd scored 16, had 10 assists, grabbed eight rebounds and finished with five steals.

For New Jersey, Chris Douglas-Roberts led with 24 points. Devin Harris had 17 and Brooke Lopez scored 16.

The Nets would snap their losing streak with a 97-91 win over the Charlotte Bobcats two nights later.

New Jersey would finish 2009-10 with a 12-70 record, the worst finish in franchise history.

Six years later, the Philadelphia 76ers would tie the Nets for the worst start to a season in NBA history.