Minneapolis – One trait has bound the Wisconsin and Minnesota programs the last 14-plus seasons:
Consistency.
UW for 14 seasons under Bo Ryan and for the bulk of this season under interim head coach Greg Gard, who worked under Ryan for more than two decades, has been consistently one of the top programs in the Big Ten.
Minnesota, working under its fourth head coach since 1999-2000, has been consistently mediocre or worse.
Ryan took over the UW program in 2001-'02 and in his 14 full seasons the Badgers won four Big Ten regular-season titles, three tournament titles, never finished lower than fourth in the league and qualified for the NCAA tournament 14 times.