By Tony Chapman
sports.desk@theindependent.com

Ryan, who last year won the Clair Bee National Coach of the Year Award, has his team schooled in the Swing Offense and stingy man defense. And he's done it from the bottom up in the state of Wisconsin.

The Badgers did all the little things right against Kansas State as they ran away with a 72-55 win Saturday at the Qwest Center in Omaha. When the Wildcats tried to force the tempo by pressing in the second half, Wisconsin put on a clinic in defeating the press and then getting a good shot.

And, not caving to his principles, Ryan played K-State phenom Michael Beasley in straight man defense as the Badgers held Beasley to 23 points, but just six in the second half.

Plainly, they are known as "the rules" or "the principles" or "the system" if you are in the Wisconsin locker room. And, Nebraska media types took a liking to understanding the intricacies of the Badgers' nation leading defense this weekend.

"The satellites aren't going to make the universe work," Ryan explained. "Our guys rotate, sink, pinch, all our rules that we talk about, the different things that we do.

"All those things come into effect, and this group has embraced that concept as well as any team I've ever had, if not better."

How good was Wisconsin on Saturday? The Badgers held Kansas State without a 3-point field goal for the first time in 348 games and besides Beasley and forward Bill Walker (18 points) no other Wildcat scored more than four points. Kansas State was 0-for-13 from the 3-point line.

And if you want efficiency, consider the following: The Wildcats took 69 total shots in the game to score 55 points. The Badgers needed just 60 shots to score 72 points.

The head man seemed a bit unimpressed after the game a sign the Badgers could make for real tough work next Friday in Detroit when they play the Georgetown-Davidson winner.

"I thought our guards did an excellent job," he said. "And you gotta remember, Beasley and Walker still shot 50 percent. So we're not real happy about that. And, you know if you give up that to two players and they get those kind of numbers, if anybody else starts hitting, then you got some problems."

Ryan's success looks very familiar to how Nebraska reached the top in football: mix a few great players with homegrown talent. There are no names on the back of the Badgers' jerseys, just Wisconsin on the front.

This year's team features 10 players from Wisconsin, two from Minnesota, one from Iowa, one from South Dakota and playmaker Trevon Hughes from Queens, N.Y. Wisconsin played just seven players in the second round win until the final minute of the contest.

The coach credits the growth of basketball in Wisconsin to the schools success.

"In the 1970s when we were running basketball camps, a lot of the (high school) coaches coached two or three sports," Ryan said, "and basketball maybe was, 'Ok as soon as football season is over I'll coach basketball.'

"But now, the coaching is better in high school. I know more coaches come to our practices than ever before when they can. And, there are a lot more players that are getting the opportunity to play and a lot of them are choosing to stay close to home."

Arguably one of the most successful active coaches in the game, Ryan spent 15 seasons at NCAA Division III Wisconsin-Platteville and won three national titles as his teams there qualified for the national tournament 12 times.

After resurrecting the Wisconsin-Milwaukee program in two seasons, the Philadelphia native has been wildly successful in Madison for the past six seasons sporting an overall record of 173-59, including a 61-10 mark the past two years.

Omaha a success

Like with many things in Nebraska, people from this state and neighboring ones apparently flock to see winners.

That was certainly the case this weekend at Qwest Center.

Fans from all reaches of America from Ohio to Hollywood to Oregon came to watch their teams dance. In the end, Wisconsin and Kansas fans left the Midwest Sub-Regional with the most to be happy about.

Now the task lies in how they are going to get tickets for the Midwest Regional in Detroit that begins Friday.

With over 51,000 fans in attendance for the three-session event, you can put the first two rounds of the 2008 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament right up there with the long-standing College World Series and the volleyball Final Four as success stories for the city of Omaha.

The NCAA will be in Nebraska a few more times this year as well. First, the NCAA Division II women's basketball Elite Eight returns to Nebraska-Kearney on Wednesday with the finals on next Saturday.

After that, Omaha continues to get its shot. The NCAA women's bowling championship will be at Thunder Bowl from April 10-12, and the College World Series and women's volleyball Final Four return in June and December.

Qwest Center will also host the U.S Olympic Swimming Trials later in the summer.

Purple Rebels

While many of the coaches sent to Omaha shared ties, there was none bigger than Saturday's semifinal between UNLV and Kansas.

Rebel coach Lon Krueger is a tried and true Kansas State Wildcat. He played for legend Jack Hartman, and landed his dream job as the 'Cats coach in 1986.

He took a top-seeded team led by Mitch Richmond to the Elite Eight in 1988, but got beat by the Jayhawks in the regional final in Detroit and they were denied a trip to the Final Four. Two years later, he left for Gainesville, Fla.

Kruger led the Gators to the 1994 Final Four and was a raging success at Illinois where the guy on the opposite sideline on Saturday - Kansas' Bill Self took his place. After some awkward time in the NBA with the Atlanta Hawks, he has found a new home in Las Vegas.

While focusing on his own team, he has followed the Wildcats this year.

"I'm so very happy," Kruger said Wednesday before the games began "not only for the team, but also for the fans. They love getting back to the tournament, I know."

Wildcat fans made their presence felt for awhile as UNLV trailed just 34-29 at the half, but the athletic Jayhawks slowly pulled away from the over-achieving, out-manned Rebels for a 75-56 victory.

Ford Field Matchups

One man's opinion is that Wisconsin has everything they need to stay with their Sweet 16 opponent and with Kansas should the Jayhawks get by the Siena-Villanova winner on Friday.

Their defense is so much more impressive in person than on the television, it's unreal. The backcourt tandem of Michael Flowers and Hughes will match up well with Kansas. And, the Badgers style lends itself favorably to teams that have beat the Jayhawks this season a rugged, defensive, half-court brawl.

Should the Omaha winners advance in Detroit, Kansas and Wisconsin could be a battle for the ages.

Odds and Ends

o The crowds on Thursday were the largest in the history of the state of Nebraska to watch basketball as session one attendance which included Kansas was 17,839. In the second session, one highlighted by the O.J Mayo/Michael Beasley clash, the number was 17,162.

o The Cal-State Fullerton basketball team didn't have the normal Titan success reserved for Omaha. The Titan baseball teams and super-fan, alum Kevin Costner have won national baseball titles in 1979, 1984, 1995 and 2004. Wisconsin ended the Titans tournament hopes with a 71-56 win in the first round. It was Fullerton's first bid to the tournament since 1978.

o Ninth-seeded MAC conference champion Kent State picked an awful time to go cold in their first round game on Thursday. The Golden Flashes, ranked 24th nationally after beating St. Mary's in the ESPN Bracketbuster game, made just 5-of-24 shots in the first half against UNLV and trailed 31-10 at the half before getting beat 71-58.

o Even Kansas fans enjoyed watching Beasley. He left the Wildcat-Wisconsin game to a standing ovation from the Qwest Center, Jayhawk fans included. Beasley finished the season with 26 20-point games in 33 tries and an NCAA Freshman record 28 double-doubles.

o Spotted in Omaha: Miami Heat coach Pat Riley watching the Kansas State, USC game and presumably his draft pick in June; Kansas football coach Mark Mangino, former UNLV standout Larry Johnson, Dallas Maverick Jason Terry (his half-brother Curits is UNLV's starting point guard) and ESPN golf analyst and Wisconsin alum Andy North.