Many teams call themselves a \family"" in the figurative sense-often to promote cohesion, which invariably leads to success-though rarely do those same teams stand up for each other in times of need that do not directly involve the sport.
Exclude head coach Bo Ryan from this faction; when his players need him, he's there.
During the halftime show of last Tuesday's heavyweight bout against No. 1 Illinois, ESPN analyst Doug Gottlieb called Wisconsin the most overrated team in the Big Ten, though more insidiously, named redshirt freshman Brian Butch the conference's most overrated player.
Ryan, who is often dismissive about such matters as people's opinions about his team-and would usually be completely indifferent if not bemused by negative comments-was instead up in arms about the malicious nature of Gottlieb's comments though did not name Gottlieb.
Ryan prepared a statement after talking to Butch and presented it to local media last Thursday. In the statement, Ryan both implied that Gottlieb's comments were uninformed and unnecessary, and defended his player, mentioning Butch's academic success, volunteer work and most importantly, his devotion to his mother who was diagnosed with cancer in 2004.
""All I know is [Gottlieb] said a lot of good things since then ... Butch is a young man who is a player and working hard as a college student and he's doing a pretty good job of that...,"" Ryan said.
Ryan added that the team and staff are being very patient with Butch, whose skill and physical frame are both still developing, and that he is invaluable to the program not only because of his athletic ability but also because of his outstanding character.
