Early in the season, the Badgers looked destined for the NIT and the bottom of the Big Ten. Greg Gard has turned the Wisconsin basketball team into a conference contender and a near-lock for the NCAA Tournament, and deserves the Big Ten Coach of the Year award for his job at the helm of the Badgers.
Let’s travel back in time a bit to December 15, 2015. The Badgers had just won a relatively easy contest against Texas A&M Corpus Christi, a welcome win after back-to-back losses to Milwaukee and Marquette. The press conference following the win shocked Badgers fans everywhere – Bo Ryan was retiring, and Greg Gard was taking over immediately as the interim coach.