What does it mean to be inducted into the Wisconsin Athletic Hall of Fame?
That’s a question I’ve been thinking about a lot lately and the best way I can answer that is by going back to the beginning. And for me, that beginning was not glamorous. It wasn’t headlines or hype. It was a quiet drive north, a small hotel room with my dad snoring all night and a campus I’d only seen on TV.
It was my first-ever college recruiting visit and at that point I had one scholarship. Very few schools were recruiting me, so we figured this trip to Wisconsin would be one of those polite, routine stops, the kind where coaches pretend that they’re interested and you pretend you can grow two more inches and put on 20 pounds of lean muscle by the end of the summer.
My visit started off with a meeting with Coach Ryan, just me, my dad and coach. The first 20 minutes of it were basically just my dad and coach swapping stories about the old days, how tough guys used to be, how soft the new generation was. I wasn’t sure if I was being recruited or being used as an example of what went wrong with the new generation.
Because when I got to campus, I quickly learned this wasn’t just a basketball program. This was a culture, a family, a standard.
At some point, coach turned to me and asked a few of the classic questions (“How are your grades? What do you like to study?’’) Of course, I gave the standard answers (“I’m one A-plus away from making a run at valedictorian.’’ And (“I’m not sure yet, but something super academic.’’) Which translated to me meant I have no idea and I’m hoping you don’t ask more about my grades.
But then Coach Ryan did something I’ll never forget. He pulled out my high school game film. He started with the East Suburban Catholic Conference championship game from my junior year and what happened next has stuck with me since. He started showing me clips of me passing, the way I ran up and down the floor, cheering for my teammates, blocking shots, playing defense, diving on the floor. I don’t remember exactly what he said, but I believe he said I had a “happy trot.’’
He said he wanted guys like that in his program and that really stuck with me. After that, he offered me a scholarship. I remember sitting there, staring at him for a few minutes, thinking he’d probably lost a bet and his punishment was to offer a scholarship to the weirdest kid on the list and see how it played out.
I was stunned, but in that moment, I knew I had to go to Wisconsin. Little did I know that would become one of the most important moments of my life. Because when I got to campus, I quickly learned this wasn’t just a basketball program. This was a culture, a family, a standard.
