The Wisconsin Badgers have a well-defined identity. It has existed for the past quarter of a century under three different coaches: Dick Bennett, Bo Ryan, and now Greg Gard.
That identity is rooted in unselfish team basketball, rugged and resilient and resourceful at both ends of the floor. Everyone sacrifices for the team. Everyone does what it takes to win without needing personal glory. Five as one. The Way.
This identity has been embodied by the many high-quality Wisconsin teams we have seen over the years, but one of its best examples — among many good ones — was the 2011 win over Kansas State which sent the Badgers to the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2008.
At the heart of Wisconsin’s “all for one” team identity is the fact that the Badgers didn’t have the best player in this game against the Wildcats — not by a long shot — but they had the winning team.
Jacob Pullen almost carried Kansas State to the Final Four in 2010. Butler stopped him and KSU in the Elite Eight in Salt Lake City. Pullen had one more chance to make the Final Four in 2011, and he did his very best against the Badgers, scoring 38 points on 13-of-22 shooting.
Meanwhile, Wisconsin point guard Jordan Taylor — forced to defend Pullen — did not do well at the offensive end of the floor. The difficult nature of Taylor’s defensive assignment made it harder for him to function well on offense. Taylor was 2 of 16 from the field.
Purely going by statistics, shooting lines, and scoring totals, the point guard matchup in this game was a complete mismatch in favor of Kansas State.
Wisconsin won anyway.
The Badgers committed just five turnovers. They made 19 of 23 foul shots. They outscored Kansas State by 10 points — 15-5 — on the bench. They hit 9 of 20 3-pointers, even with Taylor having a rough game in Tucson at the McKale Center.
They did whatever it took.
Bo Ryan praised Taylor for holding the Badgers together, even though his own offense just wasn’t flowing:
“He was having a rough shooting night, but he was a taskmaster of his own skills and his own abilities,” Bo Ryan said. “He’s not going to throw the rest of it away simply because things have gotten away from him. He’s that dedicated to being the leader on this team on the floor.”
The non-Pullen Kansas State players scored a total of only 27 points in this game, going 9 of 26 from the field. Conversely, the non-Taylor Wisconsin players hit 19 of 34 shots and scored 58 points.
The team beat the individual. It was a classic Wisconsin win, and it delivered another Sweet 16 to the Badgers.
