Back in October, few people outside Madison gave the Wisconsin Badgers any chance of competing for the Big Ten title this season.
Head coach Bo Ryan's squad went into the 2007-'08 campaign without one of the top players in program history, Alando Tucker, who led the team in scoring and was a first-round choice in the NBA draft. Also gone was the No. 2 scorer on the team, Kammron Taylor.
The two combined for 33.2 points per game and led Wisconsin to unparalleled heights, including the program's first-ever No. 1 ranking, before bowing out in the second round of the NCAA tourney.
The abilities and contributions of Tucker and Taylor were so highly regarded that Wisconsin, which won a school-record 30 games a year ago, was picked to finish fourth in the Big Ten behind Michigan State, Indiana and Ohio State.
Not much was expected out of Ryan's Badgers. Senior Brian Butch was considered by many to be a disappointment, given his injury history and the hype he generated by being named a McDonald's High School All-American. His supporting cast was hardly known outside of Dane County.
Yet, it's March and the Badgers are Big Ten Champions. Undisputed. The Spartans, Hoosiers and Buckeyes? They're all looking up and wondering just how this Wisconsin team bested them.
Things began to come together for the Badgers Dec. 29. Unranked after earlier losses to both Duke and Marquette, Wisconsin -- playing without injured point guard Trevon Hughes -- dug in and found a way to beat No. 9 Texas, 67-66, in Austin.
Michael Flowers clinched that victory for Wisconsin by hitting a three-pointer with just 2 seconds left. Flowers not only hit the game-winner, but also stole the Longhorns' inbounds pass to make it official.
It was a game that Wisconsin wasn't expected to keep close. But there was Butch, scoring 21 with 11 boards. The Badgers realized that as team, they were as good collectively as Tucker or Taylor were individually. There was no choice, it's the way things had to be.
"A win like this goes so far for us," Butch told reporters after that game. "To get a good win like this, because we don't have that. I mean, we've beat good teams but not a top-10 team. This just shows the maturity our team has gone through since the Duke game."
Aside from Butch and maybe Hughes, these Badgers are an unknown and unheralded bunch. Wisconsin didn't and doesn't have the flashy household names, but played a disciplined form of team basketball.
"We all believe in each other and care about each other and it's no fake thing," Butch said after the 65-52 victory at Northwestern that clinched the outright title. "It's an awesome thing to have and it keeps growing and building."
That's Ryan's style. It worked at UW-Platteville, where Ryan won four NCAA Division III titles; it worked at UWM, where Ryan laid the groundwork for greater things to come; and, it's worked at Wisconsin, where the Badgers have three conference championships in Ryan's seven years.
What the Badgers have lacked in star power this season, they've made up for in productivity and team play. The team's top six scorers are separated by a little more than five points.
Butch, Hughes and Marcus Landry are the only players with double-digit scoring averages. The numbers -- 12.7, 11.8 and 11.2 points per game, respectively -- aren't all that impressive compared to the way that Taylor and Tucker carried the offense for four years, but the results have been the same.
"I never compare teams, but as far as satisfying and a group coming a ways, this group has come as far as any team I've ever had," Ryan said.
With the No. 1 seed in the upcoming Big Ten Tournament, Wisconsin -- with a good run -- could find itself close to last season's No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament. Given the way this group is playing, the bitter taste of last season's early exit could be erased.
At this point, it shouldn't surprise anybody.
