Below the Rim: Altitude Wellness November 3, 2006 by Steve Lagman, Court Reporter It is not easy writing about a product that is hardly out of the box, but nobody ever said sportswriting would be easy. The product in question is the soon-to-debut 2006-07 edition of the Wisconsin men’s basketball team. For most of us, it exists only in name until we can get our hands on the tangible result of the first game. Only then can we discuss–with the certainty that forty minute’s worth of observation affords–the merits of our team’s features and specifications. That’s not to say we should avoid speculation. Speculation is half the fun of being a fan. Like most seasons, this one comes with ample preseason conjecture, but unlike any other in Bo Ryan’s tenure as head coach of the Badgers, rumors of impending success are spilling out of the Kohl Center like hot popcorn in an overfilled pan. Word is out across the country. Most prominent is a No. 9 ranking in the preseason coaches poll. Much internet chatter touts Wisconsin as the frontrunner for the Big Ten title, and predicts a deep UW run in the tourney. One pundit for a major sports publication rated the Badgers in his top four. Duke, a.k.a. University of McDonalds All Americans, was humbly listed fourteen spots back. Alando Tucker is the Big Ten pre-season player of the year. No offense to Tucker, who has certainly earned respect in past seasons of hard play, but that award is one of basketball’s more inane inventions. Tucker could very well finish his career as the league’s best player, especially if he plays better than everyone else, but I prefer it when the honor follows the accomplishment. I have no doubt that he will accept the recognition in proper context and consider it a challenge rather than an entitlement. Being the favorite (runner up to the favorite if you live in Odenville, Ohio) is a double-edged backboard, and about as familiar in these parts as collard greens. To win wearing the coat of the underdog, as the Badgers did most notably in 2002 with a share of the Big Ten championship in Ryan’s first year here, is a remarkable feat, but flying under the radar has its advantages. This year’s Badgers couldn’t ambush anyone if they wore invisibility cloaks at night in a rain forest. Welcome to the potential hazards of the frontrunner’s pedestal. High expectations add pressure and motivate opponents to over achieve. When there’s a proverbial target on your back, there is no shortage of proverbial hunters to shoot at it. It is easy to get distracted by the bright lights and your own headlines. But lets not lose sight of the obvious: This is a good problem to have. I do not refer to the hype itself, but the reasons for the hype: an experienced, balanced, hard-working team led by one of the best coaching staffs in the country. The pedestal need not be top heavy and vulnerable. Favorites win all the time. If Ryan has his say, the Badgers will follow Tucker’s lead and realize that entitlements are like jolly red-suited fat men in flying sleighs and 2004 Big Ten Championship banners in the Breslin Center: Believe in them all you want, but they are not real. If that perspective is realized, then legitimate, well-earned accolades are likely to follow. ___________ Below the Rim is an amateur sports column written as a public service for the Badger Basketball Boosters. The above opinions are the exclusive semi-intellectual property of the author, probably because nobody else would want them. The author apologizes to anyone who is actually familiar with collard greens. Invisibility cloak is probably a registered trademark of some shoe company.