It's Time for Barry Alvarez to Pay Greg Gard His Money

It’s not just that the Badgers have won seven in a row, but who they’ve beaten and how they’ve beaten them that has been very impressive. The winning streak has all come inside the Big Ten, including home victories over (then) no. 4 Michigan State and no. 19 Indiana, as well as the first time the (then) no. 2 Maryland Terrapins have lost at home since joining the conference in 2014. It’s now time for Barry Alvarez to take that “interim” tag off Greg Gard’s title as head coach.

(I realize the thesis of this post is about to be the dictionary definition of buying high, but I promise you I meant to write it late last week, and never got around to it.)

The turning point against Maryland on Saturday came just before the midway point in the second half. A 15-point halftime lead had frittered down to six, and Gard opted to put Ethan Happ and Zak Showalter, both of whom had four fouls, back in the game. Wisconsin never looked back, and now they’re off the bubble in most bracketologies.

ESPN’s Eamonn Brennan did a good job of breaking down the fundamental changes Gard has made on offense during the winning streak, which has essentially boiled down to returning to the swing offense that Bo Ryan had eschewed, with great success, the last couple seasons with playmakers like Frank Kaminsky and Sam Dekker.

Vitto Brown, who rarely played meaningful minutes last year, has stepped up big time, and the rotation has been extended to give young players like Charlie Thomas, Khalil Iverson, Alex Illikainen, and Jordan Hill more playing time.

Before the winning streak, Wisconsin was 9-9 overall and 1-4 in conference play. Gard took over for the legendary Bo Ryan who was, um, distracted? early in the season, and wanted to give his chosen heir apparent a chance to earn the job. As much as it must hurt a prideful man like Barry Alvarez to lose an ostensible power struggle like that, this sure looks like it’s yielded a favorable outcome for the Badgers.

The response to adversity by Wisconsin, in resuscitating a season that was on life support, is all the convincing Barry Alvarez should need to lock Gard up for the next several years. It doesn’t matter that he’s an unproven recruiter, because Wisconsin never lights up the Rivals board in basketball and football as it is, and they’re not going to shell out the money for a coach that will. As an alum, I’ve come to grips with this reality. Keep Gard, who by all appearances wants to be in Madison for the long haul, and let him continue to make the most out of his team’s talent.