The hiring of then-Milwaukee head coach Bo Ryan yielded little fanfare outside the city of Madison.

Other than an improbable run to the Final Four in 2000, there had been few bright spots since the Badgers hung their 1947 Big Ten championship banner. Not only were there no Big Ten titles over that 54-year stretch, but Wisconsin also had four times as many losing seasons (32) as top-four finishes in the league (eight). There were just four NCAA tournament appearances, including 47 straight seasons without one.

So, when Dick Bennett abruptly retired in November 2000, he took with him some of the excitement as the Badgers stumbled to a 13-loss season and a first-round upset. Ryan and associate head coach Greg Gard didn’t wait long to change the culture.

Winning back-to-back Big Ten titles in their first two seasons, the Badgers have been dominant in winning 71 percent of its games during Ryan’s 14 seasons as head coach and in the last six-plus seasons under Gard (503-205 through Feb.15). UW has won eight Big Ten titles, appeared in 18 of the last 19 NCAA tournaments, and advanced to two Final Fours.

Since Ryan and Gard arrived, Wisconsin has the most Big Ten wins and the best winning percentage in the conference at 252-117 (.683) and has flipped many conference rivalries that had long been one-sided affairs.

Over the course of this Big Ten season, BadgerBlitz will examine Wisconsin’s series with the 13 other conference teams, what it was before Ryan and Gard arrived, what the series looks like now, and some memorable moments along the way.

Today, we look at Wisconsin’s series with Michigan.

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Pre 2001-02: Michigan led 81-53

Since 2001-02: Wisconsin leads 24-12

Ryan’s Record vs. Michigan: 20-6 (7-5 in Ann Arbor, 3-0 neutral)

Gard’s Record vs. Michigan: 4-6 (1-3 in Ann Arbor, 0-1 neutral)

Record when both teams were ranked: Ryan 2-1; Gard 0-3

When Wisconsin was ranked, Michigan was not: Ryan 12-3, Gard 1-2

When Michigan was ranked, Wisconsin was not: Ryan 2-0, Gard 2-1

When both teams were unranked: Ryan 4-2, Gard 1-0

A series that started in 1920, Wisconsin never had sustained success against Michigan. The Badgers had a three-game winning streak in the 20s, a four-game run in the 30s, 40s, and 50s, but never put together a dominant stretch. That wasn’t the case for the Wolverines. Michigan won six straight from 1928-32 and from 63-67 and gained separation in the 1970s, 80s, and 90s when the Wolverines were making NCAA Tournament runs.

After UW swept the season series in 1970, the Wolverines went 42-13 (76.4 percent) from 1971-99. Michigan’s best stretch was winning 15 of 16 from 1984-92. The one triumph was in January 1989, a year the Wolverines won the national title, when the Badgers upset sixth-ranked Michigan, 71-68, at the UW Field House.

Under Ryan: Wisconsin lost Ryan's first matchup against the Wolverines, but the second matchup, a 74-54 victory in February 2002, clinched a share of its first Big Ten title since 1947. Ryan was 5-4 in the first nine matchups in the series, but the Badgers caught fire in 2007. Starting with a 71-58 victory for the third-ranked Badgers in Ann Arbor, Wisconsin won 10 straight in the series and 15 of the next 17 leading into Ryan’s retirement. UW only faced four ranked Wolverines squad during that stretch, but the Badgers went 3-1 over that time with a couple of buzzer-beaters (Josh Gasser in 2011, Ben Brust in 2013).

UW won all three meetings against Michigan in Ryan’s final year, including a 69-64 overtime victory in Ann Arbor, giving him six wins in his final seven trips there.

Under Gard: The rise of Michigan in the last five years has taken a toll on the Badgers. Wisconsin lost two of the three meetings in 2017, including a stinging defeat in the 2017 Big Ten tournament final in Washington D.C., and has dropped three of the four games played in Ann Arbor.

Last year was particularly brutal for the Badgers in a Michigan sweep: experiencing a 43-6 stretch as the No.9 team in the country and trailing by as many as 40 points in a loss at seventh-ranked U-M and squandering a 12-point halftime lead at home when Michigan couldn’t play for three weeks due to COVID.

Despite the doom and gloom, Wisconsin’s 2020 win at No.19 Michigan might have been the best. The 7-point win was spurred by D’Mitrik Trice’s 28 points, 18 each from Aleem Ford and Micah Potter, and UW going 11-for-23 from 3-point range. In a way, that win solidified UW as a title contender, which the Badgers validated with a conference crown nine days later.

Overall, Ryan/Gard went 6-4 against Tommy Amaker, 17-6 against John Beilein, and 1-2 against Juwan Howard.

John Beilein won 754 games in his coaching career, but never could really figure out Wisconsin. Of the 23 times Beilein faced Wisconsin, the Badgers held the Wolverines under 64 points 20 times (15 of those happened under Ryan). I asked a former Big Ten assistant coach about Wisconsin’s dominance over Beilein, who had his two best Michigan teams in his final two seasons with the program.

“I think the big thing with Beilein was he finally started to coach some defense. When he first got into the league, I think he tried to outscore people. He’s a smart guy. He probably pattered his teams more after Wisconsin’s than any other coach. You watch what other teams do and if a team is doing something really well, you look at it and try to figure it out. Wisconsin didn’t turn the ball over and play great defense. They turned the ball over a lot and had an inconsistent defense, and I think his last few years they improved in that area and that’s why they moved to the top of the Big Ten.”

Brust left the University of Wisconsin in 2014 as the school’s all-time leader in 3-point makes. Of the 235 ones he hit during his four years, one stands out above the rest.

On the move when he took the inbounds pass with 2.4 seconds left, Brust drained a halfcourt buzzer-beater to force overtime, only to hit a tiebreaking 3-pointer with less than 40 seconds left in overtime to lift the Badgers to a 65-62 victory over No.3 Michigan

“It was awesome, something I'll remember forever, and I'm sure a lot of people will,” Brust said.

Michigan looked poise to make its case for the NO.1 team in the country after Tim Hardaway Jr. hit a contested 3-pointer to put the Wolverines up with less than three seconds left.

Following a timeout, forward Mike Bruesewitz – who was unguarded - passed up his first option in the inbounds play and hit Brust in stride as he leaned over the end line. The guard took one dribble across half court and fired his attempt from just past midcourt. It hit nothing but net.

“The best thing was Mike's pass on the dime on the run, didn't have to reach back for it, able to catch it all in one motion,” Ryan said.

Beilein said after the game that Michigan was going to foul and put Caris LeVert – currently averaging over 18 points per game with the NBA’s Cleveland Cavaliers – on Brust, the Badgers’ best perimeter shooter. The problem was LeVert wasn’t quick enough to catch Brust, who also hit the game-winning 3-pointer over the Michigan defender with less than a minute to go in overtime.

Brust led UW with 14 points, while Jared Berggren (13 pts/8 rbds), Sam Dekker (12), and Ryan Evans (11 pts, 9 rbds) all reached double figures.

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