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LOCATION: Milwaukee, WI
CONFERENCE: Midwestern Collegiate
LAST SEASON: 8-19 (.296)
CONFERENCE RECORD: 5-9 (6th)
STARTERS LOST/RETURNING: 3/2
NICKNAME: Panthers
COLORS: Black & Gold
HOMECOURT: Klotsche Center (5,000)
COACH: Bo Ryan (Wilkes College '69)
record at school First year
career record 353-76 (15 years)
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ASSISTANTS: Rob Jeter (Wisconsin-Platteville '92)
Greg Gard (Wisconsin-Platteville '95)
Saul Phillips (Wisconsin-Platteville '96)
TEAM WINS: (last 5 years) 3-9-8-3-8
RPI (last 5 years) 292-205-253-244-260
1998-99 FINISH: Lost in conference first round.
ESPN.com Clubhouse
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The folks at Wisconsin-Milwaukee must have thought it was some sort of April Fool's Day joke when they discovered that William F. "Bo" Ryan, the man who had written the book on winning basketball at the NCAA Division III level, was coming to town to be their next basketball coach. After all, why would Ryan, the most successful NCAA coach in the 1990s (four national titles and .906 winning percentage this decade at Wisconsin-Platteville), leave one successful Wisconsin-hypenated school for another one that routinely recorded single-digit season victory totals the last five years? Well, it wasn't an April Fool's Day hoax. Seeking a challenge after dominating the D-III world for the last 15 years (national titles in 1991, '95, '98, '99), Ryan will take over a moribund program that was 28-28 in four seasons under Ric Cobb, who was reassigned to be the school's director of community outreach. For a school that has been among the MCC's dregs for quite a while, landing one of the nation's best sideline tacticians is quite a coup. Ryan is so widely respected that Division I coaches used to come to UW-Platteville to learn his defensive philosophies. Ryan has written three basketball books Passing & Catching: A Lost Art, How to Run the Swing Offense, and Applying and Attacking Pressure. Plus, he has released five instructional basketball videos. Bo knows coaching, but can the man who has written the book on winning basketball in this state turn around this mess? "We feel Bo Ryan will make an immediate and significant impact on the Panther program," Wisconsin-Milwaukee athletic director Bud Haidet said. "Bo Ryan will bring dynamic and progressive leadership to all facets of the basketball program."
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Blue Ribbon Analysis |
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BACKCOURT D BENCH/DEPTH C-
FRONTCOURT C INTANGIBLES B
After spending the last 15 years beating the brains out of other Division III programs at Wisconsin-Platteville, Bo Ryan tries his luck at another Wisconsin school. It will take him some time to work his magic, but landing this guy was a coup. There probably isn't a better X-and-O man anywhere in the country. But first, Ryan who signed a five-year contract must install his system and improve the overall talent base. The focal point of Ryan's offense the next two years will be 6-9, 240-pound junior Chad Angeli, a second-team All-MCC selection a year ago who led the Panthers in scoring (14.9 ppg) and was second in rebounding (5.3 rpg). Starter Shaun Fountain (8.2 ppg), a 5-10 senior guard, also returns. Ryan pieced together an eight-man recruiting class, led by freshman Dan Weisse (a first-team all-state player from Oshkosh, Wisc.) and junior-college imports Adrian Coffey and Michael Sowder. This won't be an overnight success story, but give Ryan some time and a couple recruiting classes and he'll start to win here. |
Ryan is off to a good start. Although he came on board late, Ryan used his many connections in Wisconsin to land five new recruits. In all, there will be seven new faces 11 counting Ryan and his three new assistants (all three Wisconsin-Platteville graduates). "I'm very excited about my move to UWM," Ryan said. "I look forward to building a winning program here." He doesn't have many raw materials lying around with which to build. The best of the four returnees is 6-9, 240-pound junior center/forward Chad Angeli, the only Panther to start all 27 games last season. With a big-time coach, Angeli is expected to blossom into one of the MCC's premier players over the next two seasons. A rugged inside force, Angeli averaged 14.9 points and 5.3 rebounds. Angeli shot .810 from the free-throw line and earned second-team All-MCC honors last season. Rejoining Angeli is fellow starter Shaun Fountain, a 5-10 senior point guard. Fountain averaged 8.2 points, 3.5 rebounds and 2.8 assists ast year and gives Ryan a steady, proven hand at the wheel. Just about everywhere else Ryan looks, there are question marks. Lots of them. Aside from Angeli and Fountain, the only returnees are seldom-used 6-10 sophomore Kyle Kickert and 6-5 junior Reggie Wheeler. Kickert appeared in just 12 games last year for a grand total of 65 minutes, averaging a modest 0.8 points and 0.5 rebounds. Wheeler played in only six games in 1998-99, averaging 1.0 points and 0.7 boards. To his credit, Ryan didn't sit and sulk about the lack of returning talent in the UWM program. Instead, he hit the recruiting trail, piecing together a haul that was part junior college quick fix (to strengthen his weak frontcourt) and part 1999 Wisconsin high school stars (to improve his backcourt). His first signees were in-state products Dan Weisse and Kolombo Kadima. The 5-11, 175-pound Weisse was a first-team all-state section by the Associated Press at Oshkosh West High. Weisse averaged 16.2 points, shot .532 from the field, and drilled 52 of his 130 three-point shots last year. For his career, Weisse finished with 1,412 points, 527 assists and 282 steals. "Dan is a great perimeter shooter," Ryan said. "He can play the one- or two-guard positions and has a shooting range that can stretch teams defensively. He is a very hard worker as well as being strong, tough and hard-nosed." Kadima, a 6-2 freshman, averaged 10 points, 5.0 assists and 4.0 rebounds at Milwaukee's King High School, where he earned second-team all-city honors. "Kolombo is a late bloomer whose potential is limitless," Ryan said. "He is one of the best defensive players in the state. He can play various perimeter positions and is very strong and athletic." Then, Ryan added two junior-college imports to his frontcourt, as well as another highly-decorated prep player to his backcourt. Adrian Coffey, a 6-5, 240-pound junior forward from Olney (Ill.) College, should add strength to the UWM frontline. Coffey, who played his prep ball at the hoops factory Westinghouse High in Chicago, averaged 10.3 points and 11.3 rebounds at Olney last season. "Adrian brings size, strength and experience to our front line," Ryan said. "He is athletic enough to defend on the perimeter and plays with a physical presence inside." Ryan's other frontcourt hope is 6-9, 260-pound Mike Sowder, who averaged 10 points and seven rebounds for junior-college powerhouse Danville Area (Ill.) Community College. "Mike brings a great sense of the game and a physical presence that will help our front line," Ryan said. "He has been very well coached at Danville and he brings maturity and experience that we will need in order to reach our goals." Ryan tapped into his vast Wisconsin network again to land his two-guard of the future in 6-4 freshman Jason Frederick of Waukesha (Wisc.) North High School. Frederick earned a spot on the Associated Press' second-team all-state squad after averaging 24.2 points, 6.0 rebounds, 3.1 assists and 2.7 steals. This youngster is a player and figures to combine with Weisse to form UWM's backcourt of the future. "Jason is a big combo guard who can score from anywhere," Ryan said. "He's a tough, hard-nosed athletic player who has the look of a winner in his eyes and is hungry for success at the Division I level." Those aren't the only new faces. Two guards, 5-9 Ronnie Jones and 6-3 Clay Tucker, are both redshirt freshmen backcourt types. Jones is a quick point guard who can shoot the three, as evidenced by the fact that he averaged three three-pointers per game and hit 40 percent of his shots from behind the arc as a senior at Las Vegas (Nev.) High School. The 165-pound Jones has a smallish frame, but that didn't keep him from posting 19.5 points and 4.7 assists per game as a high school senior. Tucker had excellent prep credentials, too. He was all-conference player from Perry High School in Lima, Ohio in 1997-98 before sitting out last season. It'll be interesting to see if Jones and Tucker hang around for four more years, especially because neither was a Ryan recruit.
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