Dick Bennett's last game

Charlie, God bless him, woke up at 5:15 this morning, about 90 minutes earlier than I hoped he would. Silver lining: the Wisconsin-Maryland game from November 2000 was on the Big Ten Network.

Watching it (intermittently) was a nice trip down memory lane. I went to that game with our old friend John Koebel, who many of you know as Chez Whitey, at the Bradley Center in Milwaukee.

After the game, I got grabbed by cop for jaywalking. When trying to explain my way out of it, I called the guy "Dude," and he explained to me that he wasn't my "dude."

Anyhoo, back to the game. When Dick Bennett stepped down as Wisconsin coach after this game, it didn't come as a huge surprise to me. I remember thinking that he looked like he was having an awful time on the bench. Trying to pass a kidney stone awful. All while his team was playing a good game against the team that went to the Final Four that year and won the national championship the next year.

Maybe that's just how he was all the time, and having been in Ohio for awhile I'd forgotten. But man, did he look unhappy.

He should have been very happy. Happy with seeing Kirk Penney show what kind of big-time player he would become. Happy with Mike Kelley's defense (oh, and with his 12 assists). Happy with Charlie Wills and Mark Vershaw picking their spots.

Not happy with Andy Kowske's hair -- frosted tips.

That season turned out to be really interesting. After making that fluky run to the Final Four in March, most of the guys returned, and the 2001 team should have been pretty damn good. Maybe it would have been had Bennett hadn't stepped down to give Brad Soderberg a shot.

As it was, when we lost in the first round to Georgia State, I was sort of happy about it, because I didn't think Soderberg was the long-term answer. (Didn't think Bo Ryan was either at first, very happy to have been wrong on that count.)

One other thing: playing these Big Ten-ACC Challenge game in NBA arenas is really stupid, glad we haven't had to do that since.

One last thing: when doing a Google Image search for Andy Kowske (looking for those frosted tips), this picture showed up on the first results page.

Tony Bennett

Did you see that Tony Bennett was hired as Virginia's head coach? My first thought on that was that it's surprising he did not pursue or take, depending on reports, offers to coach Indiana and Marquette last year when those jobs were open and he was a hotter commodity.

Virginia is clearly a better job than Marquette, and while less prestigious than Indiana there's less baggage accompanying the job. They have a new arena on the way and play in the ACC.

Sounds like the people at Washington State were stunned that he left. Not sure why. He had two outstanding years followed by a so-so year. As good a coach as Tony is, it's not a given that he would have gotten the Cougars back to the level they reached in his first two years. His stock is as high as it's going to be for awhile, so taking the opportunity to coach in the ACC makes a lot of sense.

My friends were discussing what this meant to Bennett's chances of succeeding Bo Ryan in Madison. I don't think it means much, unless he a. Succeeds spectacularly or b. Fails miserably. Both are possibilities, but the greater likelihood is that he'll have a fair amount of success that qualifies him, as a home state boy, to be the next guy in charge at Wisconsin.

Bo could do like Dick Bennett did with Brad Soderberg and position Greg Gard or Gary Close to be the next coach, but just as Pat Richter dismissed Sodes to take Bo, I can't see Barry Alvarez just rubber stamping Bo's preferred choice.

Best of luck to Tony in Charlottesville.

Badgers basketball coaching tree

It's funny: when doing the Wisconsin football coaching tree, I was able to remember dozens of former assistant coaches, even guys who were only with the program for a couple years. But when trying to remember basketball assistants, I drew a blank. Thankfully the media guide materials available for download at uwbadgers.com has a list of all former assistant coaches, just as it did for football.

Writing this before I start the compilation, my gut feeling is that this list might be even more impressive than the football list. Let's see.

-Stu Jackson, executive vice president of basketball operations for the NBA. The man who really got the ball rolling on the Badgers' basketball renaissance is in the news a lot, mostly for suspension and referee-related issues.

-Stan Van Gundy, head coach of the Orlando Magic. Stan Van was the head man during my freshman year, 1994-95, arguably the most underachieving team in UW athletic history. How do you finish with a losing record with Rashard Griffith, Michael Finley, and others? Still, if Pat Riley had an ounce of selflessness in his body, Stan would have won an NBA title with the Heat two years ago, on the heels of the league refs' Dwayne Wade free throw-a-thon. Good for him.

-Tony Bennett, one of the hottest coaches in the nation for the job he's doing at Washington State. Give Dick a lot of credit for his plan, it worked out well for both WSU and his son. My gut says that Tony should move on to a better job after this season, since he'll lose a lot from a veteran team. Maybe he, not Jeter, is Bo's heir apparent.

-Rob Jeter, leading a baffling turnaround at UWM. If he gets some more talented kids who play with the kind of chemistry and fire his current kids are playing, they'll be a force.

-Saul Phillips (left), head coach at North Dakota State. He's an up-and-comer, and has Bo's kid, Will Ryan (right - what a resemblance!), on his staff. Also of note from this staff: Dan Weisse, former UWM and Oshkosh West standout, is Saul's director of basketball operations.

-Brad Soderberg recruited the players who scored 20 points in a game for St. Louis a couple weeks ago, and current coach Rick Majerus is throwing him under the bus. Classy, Rick. (If you haven't, read the SI story about Majerus, it showed a side of him I hadn't heard about before. Interesting guy.)

-Mark Vershaw, head coach at Monmouth (Ill.) College. From the little bit I've seen, his team is struggling.

-Howard Moore returned to UW after Jeter left and is doing a nice job for Bo.

-Tracy Webster has hooked up with Billy Gillispie at Kentucky. They're struggling, last night's win over Tennessee notwithstanding, but even money says Billy has them in the Final four within five years. He just needs time to fix the roster after Tubby Smith left it relatively bare.

-Brian Hecker, scouting information director for the Miami Heat.

-Sean Miller, an assistant for one year under Stu, is the coach at Xavier and one of the real rising stars in the profession.

-Tim Buckley, an assistant under Stu, is back at Marquette after stints at Ball State and Iowa.

-Bob Beyer, the third assistant on the 1993-94 staff, is an assistant at Dayton.

-Dave Bollwinkel, an assistant under Van Gundy, is a part-time scout for the Boston Celtics after serving as St. Mary's coach.

-Ray McCallum is an assistant with Kelvin Sampson at Indiana after being a head coach at Ball State and Houston.

Whew! That's more than I thought there would be. Who am I forgetting?