Final Four 2015: Why Bo Ryan Would Gain the Most from a Title Run

They all have what Bo Ryan wants...

The three other head coaches in the 2015 Final Four—Kentucky's John Calipari, Duke's Mike Krzyzewski and Michigan State's Tom Izzo—have each staked their respective flags at the top of the NCAA tournament mountain at least once.

For any of those three, another national title would bolster an already glamorous legacy, but winning this year's Final Four would do more for Ryan—making his second appearance in the national semifinals as Wisconsin's head coach—than any of his Hall of Fame peers.

Coach K's trophy room features remembrances from four national-championship teams and two Olympic gold-medal-winning squads.

Calipari's recruiting classes grant Kentucky a chance at titles and records every single season.

Izzo is already being praised for what may be his best coaching job ever, regardless of what happens to Michigan State in Indianapolis.

Then there's Bo.

Mark J. Terrill/Associated Press

He is the leader of the Buzzcuts. A man with four NCAA Division III championships at UW-Platteville, four Big Ten regular-season championships and three Big Ten tournament championships. A man who has crafted what nearly every metric, per kenpom.com, deems to be the best offense in college basketball.

Ryan has four Big Ten Coach of the Year wins to Izzo's three, and he even leads Izzo in career winning percentage—71.9 percent to 71.4 percent.

Ryan has made every NCAA tournament since taking over at Wisconsin in 2001. Conversely, Calipari has played in three NITs during that time; two with Memphis and one with Kentucky in 2012.

Ryan has even tasted the sweet nectar of perfection that Coach Cal so desperately wants—twice.

"Not to promote my UW-Platteville teams, necessarily, but I had a chance to coach two college teams that went undefeated in a season,” Ryan said Monday on the Final Four coaches teleconference, per Rob Hernandez of Madison.com, referring to his 1994-95 (31-0) and 1997-98 (30-0) teams at Platteville. 

While Ryan can't quite touch Coach K's absurd collection of accomplishments—few in the history of the college game can—the winningest coach in men's Division I basketball history has praised the excellence of these stellar programs during the usual media rounds leading up to Saturday's games.

"Look, they're all really the best of the best," said Krzyzewksi during the Final Four coaches teleconference. "It's really an honor for me to be in a Final Four with those three programs and those three coaches because they're all really good guys and they've all understood the commitment to excellence that a program needs to make."

Still, even with the accolades, a 74.2 career winning percentage at Wisconsin and back-to-back Final Four berths, Ryan always seems to find himself a rung below these other three hallowed collegiate coaches.

Ryan's Wisconsin teams have always been decried as boring by the masses despite over a decade of success and superior play. The Badgers are a little like the San Antonio Spurs, a team no one wanted to see in the NBA Finals once upon a time.

Ryan's Badgers focus on fundamentals and team basketball. They lack rim-rattling dunkers and AND1-Mixtape-style on-court hijinks. They maintain an unwavering commitment to a seemingly old school, dull brand of basketball.

Bleacher Report's Kerry Miller broke down the case against Ryan and his Badgers in this year's Final Four:

"

Despite boasting the most efficient offense in more than a decade, Wisconsin ranks just 49th in the country in points per game.

This is because Bo Ryan's teams have consistently been playing at one of the slowest tempos in the country since he became head coach in 2001.

"

But as was the case with the Spurs, an appreciation has sprung up for the beauty of Ryan's offense and his extraordinary ability to mold 2- and 3-star recruits into exceptional college players.

Take Ryan's transformation of Frank Kaminsky, a former 3-star recruit turned unanimous AP All-American and finalist for college basketball's most prestigious individual award.

Charlie Neibergall/Associated Press

"I'm a completely different person and player than I was four years ago, and I think a lot of that has to do with coach," Kaminsky told ESPN's Myron Medcalf.

With a collection of overachieving, unheralded recruits like Kaminsky, Nigel Hayes and Traevon Jackson—and with just one former 5-star, junior Sam Dekker, on the entire roster—Ryan has led the Badgers to consecutive 30-win, Final Four seasons.

Izzo may get the publicity for creating masterful works of art with inferior supplies, but Ryan has done arguably more with less than any of his Indianapolis-bound peers.

Since 2010, Ryan hasn't had a single recruiting class rank in Rivals' top 30, yet he has led those teams to 139 wins, four Sweet Sixteen appearances and the aforementioned consecutive Final Fours. Even Coach K has had two teams (2012, 2014) knocked out in the round of 64 over that time.

It's not just the Kaminskys and Jacksons that benefit from Ryan's unique brand of basketball and life tutelage—top recruits like Dekker also realize the importance of what Ryan has tried to instill within them.

"He's obviously got me much more disciplined as a player and as a person, realizing [that] the little things in life go a long way," Dekker told Medcalf. "And if you wake up each morning with the mentality that you have to get better...you can do a lot in that 24-hour span to improve and build upon your life."

Despite the appreciation from former players, Badgers faithful and Big Ten basketball fans, Ryan is stuck playing the role of Rodney Dangerfield in a Final Four filled with Marlon Brandos, Jack Nicholsons and Paul Newmans.

Bo may not get respect from a nation enthralled with Izzo, K and Cal, but a win over undefeated Kentucky en route to his first national championship might just allow the 67-year-old to sneak into that revered group of singularly named coaching icons.

It's been a long ride to this magical moment for a man who began his coaching career at a junior high school in Pennsylvania over four decades ago, but if anyone deserves to break through, it's the pinball wizard from Pennsylvania.