The Wisconsin Badgers earned a No. 5 seed on Selection Sunday, drawing the No. 12 High Point Panthers in the first round. With that draw, Wisconsin will travel to Portland, Oregon and play in the early slate on Thursday, with tip-off set for 12:50 p.m. CT.
Following Selection Sunday, select players and head coach Greg Gard were made available to the media as they broke down the matchup and the opportunity to play in March.
Here’s everything Gard said on Sunday after the Selection Show.
Opening Statement
Yeah, I think, you know, one thing you are always mindful of is that you don’t take this day for granted. I know it’s become commonplace here, and it’s not commonplace everywhere. So I think the one thing that I always remind myself and hopefully remind everybody else, that this doesn’t happen easily, doesn’t happen by accident. There’s a lot of people and a lot of time and a lot of effort that goes into this, and a lot of people have their fingerprints on it. To be able to be in this consistently over the past quarter century is amazing.
And it’s a credit to all the people that have had, like I said, players, coaches, support staff, everybody that’s had their hands in this. I just don’t want to ever take it for granted because it’s not easy to accomplish. Obviously excited for our name to get called, which we expected. It’s about where I thought we would be given my information and looking at all the different sites and talking to our people that have a little better insight on it on my staff. High Point, obviously a really good team. As you heard me say before, all the bad ones are on spring break. 30-win team, first-year head coach has done a great job.
I’m familiar with a couple of their guys. Cameron Fletcher started at Kentucky, then went to Florida State. Was really good at Florida State. Went to Xavier last year. I think he got hurt. And then obviously finishing out here at High Point. Others, you know, they’ve got Rob Martin, I believe was a St. Louis kid, started at SEMO. And the other kid, [Terry] Anderson, the leading scorer, started, I believe, at Lamar.
So again, a team, when you win 30 games, it’s not by accident. We’ll dive deep into them. I’ll start watching them here as soon as I leave this press conference and, you know, use the next 24 hours before we get on the floor tomorrow to prepare for what we know will be a good team. So excited to be in it. I don’t care where we get sent, who we have to play. Just eager to have the opportunity to make a deep run.
On how much pace will be a factor…
I mean, every team, if they can get easy baskets, wants them, right? I mean, no team in the country is going to turn down opportunities to score in transition. So I haven’t dove deep into the analytics yet to study that, but yeah, we’ll draw some comparisons as we unpack the film more.
On lessons to take from previous struggles as No. 5 seed…
Erase the numbers. That’s what I always say, erase the numbers. Like I said, they’re conference champion in the Big South. They had a terrific year. They’ve had a terrific year. Most of their losses were early. I mean, they haven’t had many. They’ve only had 4, but a lot of those came early. So again, I don’t care where if you’re a 1. When we were a 1, when we were a 2, I wasn’t any less nervous. You prepare knowing that these teams that are in this are really good. So forget the 5-12, 7-10, 6-whatever, 6-11, okay, 8-9. I always say erase the numbers. It doesn’t matter. That’s just for marketing purposes.
On how Badgers have used rest…
We got back here last night. We bussed back after— shortly after the game yesterday, which obviously not only wanted to get back, but the weather coming in, we wanted to make sure we were back here as soon as we could be. And, you know, just normal operations today. They did stuff with the medical team. Nothing from a basketball standpoint for anybody today. Today was our off day, and I just wanted to be off our feet and, you know, regroup and be ready for this afternoon, which obviously guys were just in here watching the show, and then staff is already at work putting a plan together, and we’ll implement part of that tomorrow.
And, you know, Nolan and Jack, I think, are doing good. Updates have both been positive today. Nolan’s done more. Jack has some more medical evaluations tomorrow. But, you know, I think we’re in a good place.
On what’s special about the group…
I think just how they have grown together. I mean, just where we were back in November, December, you know, a lot of the prognosticators in January had us not in this tournament, and we’ve been on an ascension from, you know, mid-January on. And just how they’ve improved, how they bonded together, how their toughness has grown, how their connectivity has grown. We’ve had individual players take steps forward. I can’t name anybody that hasn’t gotten better. And that’s been a rewarding part to watch. And now you’ve earned this opportunity to go play in this tournament, which obviously it’s bright lights and big stage and everybody’s eyes are on it.
But the message always is we’ve had to work for 5, 6, or more months to get to this point. Like I said, it doesn’t just happen here in March. This journey started a long, long time ago. And we have to continue to get better and continue to be the best version of ourselves as we go forward into Thursday and you got to play your best 40 minutes to earn another 40 minutes. And that’s the mission here as we walk into this week.
On if guard play will be the X-Factor…
Yeah, it’s definitely important. I think probably just how the game has changed. In terms of the scoring, in terms of all the rule changes, the guard play has become even more accentuated, and rightfully so. I mean, those guys typically have the ball in their hands, you know, and you have quicker possessions.
The game in and of itself is faster than it was 10, 20 years ago. Just the pace of play universally is up. So it’s, it’s obviously important. And I think obviously we’ve got really good ones starting with Nick and John, and then obviously the job that Andrew and Braeden have done has been, you know, instrumental as well.
On the message for players who haven’t played in the tournament…
Yeah, I think just the experiences they’ve had before. They’ve had conference tournament experiences. I think this past week helps in terms of that environment. It’s very similar in terms of the things that the Big Ten does that emulate what we go through this coming week with the NCAA tournament. But I think the other thing is you stay true to who you are and you stay true to what got you to this point. You don’t change, right? You aren’t going to morph into something else or a different type of team or a different type of player.
We just have to continue to get better and you have to play your best. Like I said, if you don’t, you typically get sent home if you don’t play your best. So that’s not making it bigger than it needs to be because it’s still about the game and it’s about playing the game the right way. But I’m happy for obviously Braeden because he’s never played in an NCAA tournament. So that’s unique and special for him and obviously for our freshmen, those guys to get to experience it. Obviously for Austin Rapp to get to experience it. He hasn’t been in one. Aleksas probably didn’t even know what the heck an NCAA tournament was when he was coming to Wisconsin, so he’s about to find out.
But, no, I just think the overall— you use every experience. We’ve been in a lot of big, big moments, right? You can go up and down our schedule this year and we’ve been in a lot of high-stakes, bright light games. And you just build upon those experiences and take your best foot forward.
On how the Big Ten depth has prepared Wisconsin for NCAA Tournament…
Yeah, I mean, it’s as deep as it’s been. I mean, obviously, of course, we’re 18 teams, of course we’re deeper. But you just look at, other than Michigan, you had the next 3 or 4 teams at 15-5, then you had ourselves at 14-6. And you look Purdue, I think finished either 14-6 or 13-7. So yeah, I mean, there’s really good teams and I don’t think there was any bad ones. There was no get-well games in our league this year. And, it’s been that way for a long time. I mean, you have really good coaches, really good players. You play in very hostile environments, which is not the case in every league.
When you go on the road, there’s some bottom feeders that don’t get anybody to games. Our league, attendance-wise, has led the country for darn near 50 years, and we’ll see what this year’s attendance is, but I would not expect it to go backwards. It does prepare you, but that preparation only takes you so far. Then again, you’ve got to perform in the moment. What happens in the past doesn’t matter other than we can draw upon our experiences and we’ve got to go play our best.
On how Nick Boyd’s experience will play a factor…
Yeah, I think it’s not only the fact that he’s played deep in a tournament, and he played obviously and won at San Diego State too, but just his personality, his ferociousness, his competitiveness. Those things this time of year are essential. And I think that that balance of him and John in terms of personalities has been really good for our team. So that’s just his demeanor on the court, his feistiness. I think all those things we feed off of. And it’s good for us on the court. And obviously, you like to lean into experience, which we’ve got experience with him and JB and Nolan. And like I said, Rohde’s played a lot of basketball. So, that’ll be something we have drawn on already and we’ll continue to do that.
On how close Jack Janicki is to returning…
I don’t know, I stopped after my master’s degree in college. So I don’t— doctor-wise, I don’t know. I mean, it’s going to be— he’s done a little more every day. I think he’s got another medical appointment tomorrow. He’ll get more of an update. I’m just a messenger. I don’t make decisions. I don’t do any evaluation. Like I said, I’m not a doctor, so I leave that up to the people that are much smarter than me. And it’ll be to how Jack feels. You know, it’s— you treat each patient separately. You treat them for who they are and their symptoms, and everybody heals a little bit differently. But I think all signs have been positive. There hasn’t been any setbacks, but there’s never been an exact date circled on the calendar that this is going to be when.
On the challenge of bringing guys back into the rotation…
Yeah, I guess I’ll cross that bridge when I get to it. But yeah, I think this has helped us become a little deeper, a little better. I think the experience for Hayden, the experience for Will has been good. Even the experience for Aussie and Aleksas has been good. They’ve gotten more on their plate than would they had we had Nolan and Jack during this time. So hopefully when everybody gets back, it just elevates the the whole group and we have more options and more hands on deck. And I see it as nothing but a positive. But we’ll wait and see when that, you know, how there is a balance. I haven’t gotten any green light on full go with either of them. So, the next 24, 48 hours will, I think, tell me a lot more.
On reflecting about the roster construction back last offseason…
Yeah, I think the intent was knowing what our system required and how we were able to recruit intentionally to that system and what we needed to address. We felt, within reason, that we felt we got the right pieces and most importantly the right people. And then it’s a matter of you can have the right pieces. We’ve all seen this around the country. You can have the right people or pieces or players, whatever you want to call them, on paper. But then it doesn’t chemically balance. It becomes imbalanced and it doesn’t work. So this group has, has grown together organically, you know, and that takes time.
And I think that’s why we were, you know, sputtering a little bit early in the year, and we didn’t handle adversity real well. I think we’ve gotten better mentally at handling adversity and fighting through harder times. And that’s also— it’s not any one individual, it’s the collective growth together. And, you know, here down the stretch, we’ve had 7 of the 8 guys that have been playing are first-year guys in our program other than JB. So just the testament to their growth, I think, is the biggest thing that jumps out. Obviously, we felt that, like I said, going back to April, May, June, July, we thought that we had some really good pieces and people were coming here for the right reasons. And then it was a matter of: you got to go through the journey. You got to grow together. You don’t just snap your fingers and boom, here we are in March. There’s a lot that goes into it and a lot of people that have had their hands on this success.
