When Wisconsin coach Bo Ryan left his team in midseason, many figured the Badgers were headed for a speed bump in the transition.
Obviously this wasn’t the Final Four team of the previous two years even with Ryan, but inserting new coach Greg Gard, formerly a Ryan assistant, on Dec.15 had to complicate matters.
For 2 1/2 months, that looked about right, as Wisconsin was 9-9 through Jan.12.
The Badgers have just one loss since, to the only team that’s hotter, Michigan State, and have beaten Big Ten powers Maryland and Iowa on the road.
Michigan, which gets its first and only scheduled look at the Badgers on Sunday at the Kohl Center, is catching Wisconsin at a bad time.