StaTuesday: Comparing Ryan, Gard as Badgers head coaches
When Greg Gard took over for Bo Ryan mid-season, he promised he'd make some tweaks to how things were done. After all, Gard might be a Ryan disciple but he is not Ryan.
With the team having played nearly the equal amount of games under Ryan and Gard this season (12 for Ryan, 11 for Gard), we thought it would be a good time to compare the differences. In particular, playing time.
For some players, the change meant little in terms of time on the court. However, Gard has definitely put his stamp on the program, making bigger changes in the rotation.
There are, of course, some variables to take into consideration, such as quality of opponents (Ryan stepped down before the start of Big Ten play) and players improving as the season goes on.
That being said, we can definitely see a difference.
Nigel Hayes is playing around the same amount of minutes under Gard than he did Ryan, but he is scoring more (18.8 points per game compared to 15.6).
Bronson Koenig and Zak Showalter are still starting, but both are playing fewer minutes and scoring, rebounding and assisting less under Gard.
Under Gard, Vitto Brown's playing time and production has decreased greatly.
Ryan's main two substitutes were Khalil Iverson and Charlie Thomas. Iverson is playing nearly 5 minutes less per game under Gard (and that includes a 31-minute game vs. Illinois which boosted his average minutes per game) while Thomas is getting around half the minutes under Gard than he did Ryan -- when plays, that is (Thomas hasn't played in three games under Gard after playing all 12 under Ryan).
On the flip side, Jordan Hill and Alex Illikainen have gone as afterthoughts under Ryan to contributors under Gard.
Hill played all of 27 minutes in seven games with Ryan as head coach (which includes a 12-minute game vs. Siena) after playing in just 25 minutes last season in 11 games. With Gard as head coach, Hill has played 20+ minutes eight times in 11 games.
Illikanen played 48 minutes in 10 games under Ryan (including 11 vs. North Dakota). In Gard's first three games as interim head coach, Illikanen played a combined 45 minutes. Overall, Illikainen has played 11+ minutes in nine of Gard's 11 games.
And then there's Ethan Happ, whose playing time and statistics almost mirror each other pre- and post-coaching change.
Here's the direct comparison between the two coaches, using per game averages of minutes, points, rebounds and assists.
UNDER BO RYAN (12 GAMES)
UNDER GREG GARD (11 GAMES)
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