A lesson many people learn when growing up is that it’s what’s on the inside that counts. Whether that is referring to people, book covers or anything else in the real world, this lesson very much applies to the 2016-2017 Wisconsin men’s basketball team. Well, inside the locker room, that is.
Outside, expectations are as high as ever for the team this season. The Badgers were ranked No. 8 in one of the first preseason polls that came out last week, and Nigel Hayes was picked as the Preseason Big Ten Player of the Year. Plus, Hayes, Bronson Koenig and Ethan Happ make up almost one-third of the entire Preseason All-Big Ten team.
As if that’s not enough, the team returns all of its starters and almost all of its rotation from a trip to the Sweet Sixteen last year. Not to mention the Badgers have the Jim Phelan National Coach of the Year in Greg Gard at the helm from the beginning this year, as opposed to starting during the middle of the season like last year.
All of this outside pressure and expectation could get to and even distract a team as it prepares for its season, but not to Happ and the rest of the Badgers. “I can’t speak for my other teammates but they probably feel the same way, as people expect us to play this way or win this many games,” the redshirt sophomore described. “But we have our own focus, and we’re not worried about anything outside of our locker room.”
“Our coaches have done a good job reiterating that, but it has to come from within our locker room,” Happ continued. “I don’t think it’s going to be an issue, and we’re just going to stay focused throughout the whole season.”
It’s always a positive sign when a younger player like Happ expresses such sentiments, following the lead seniors Hayes and Koenig have demonstrated throughout their successful Wisconsin careers. However, that’s not to say these Badgers don’t have high goals and expectations of themselves coming from within the team.
“We’ve talked about how we have a line of championships that we want to win,” Happ said.
“First one being the holiday tournament (Jim Maui Invitational) in Maui, then the Big Ten regular season, Big Ten Tournament, and the National Championship.”
Coming from within the team, these goals have to be music to the ears of Wisconsin fans everywhere. But for the actual players, the only noise they really care about is that which is coming from inside the team locker room.
Photo courtesy of Mary Langenfeld, USA Today.