BY MIKE LUCAS
UWBadgers.com Senior Writer
MADISON, Wis. — Following an early elimination from the Big Ten tournament, coinciding with a bumpy takeoff and flight home from Indianapolis, Wisconsin head coach Greg Gard used the word "turbulent" to frame the season against the backdrop of the 67 other schools in the NCAA tournament.
"I don't know if there is another team in this field that has had a more turbulent ride," Gard said on Selection Sunday upon learning that the Badgers had drawn a No. 7 seed in the East Region, thereby extending their streak to 18 consecutive appearances in the Big Dance.
Each of UW's assistant coaches, Howard Moore, Gary Close and Lamont Paris used another word for not only the season-long journey but how these players have passed their first two tests, victories over Pitt and Xavier, to advance to the Sweet 16 in Philadelphia. The word was resilient.
Moore pointed to how the players were able to "fight through some adversity" against Xavier when Vitto Brown, Ethan Happ and Nigel Hayes got into foul trouble. Then, again, he noted, they had encountered and overcame a similar foul dilemma with Happ and Zak Showalter at Maryland.
"We've seen everything this year," said Moore, who left Big Ten Network to join the coaching staff in late December. "But they've stayed together. They've stayed true to one another. They've stayed true to Coach Gard. They've stayed true to the principles of this program.
"That's what stands out the most. It's not about talent. It's not about one guy or a special play or special offense or whatever. It's staying together, grinding it out and playing Wisconsin basketball."
Staying together begets staying the course.
"They're a resilient bunch," Close said. "They keep improving, they keep believing. This is something that has been going on for quite some time here, this is what this program is all about. This is a group of high-character kids that believe in themselves and believe in what we're doing."
That belief has not always been shared by others.
"There were a lot of people who didn't think these guys could get to the NCAA tournament let alone win at all in the tournament," Paris said of the national pundits who knew too little about the Badgers to even give them a benefit of the doubt. "I think it just speaks to how resilient they are.
"Xavier is a physically-superior team to a lot of people. They're well-coached and tough. To match their physicality, mano a mano, was a challenge and I thought our guys did a great job. I thought there were a lot of toughness plays that we made.
"That included sticking your face in there and taking a charge (Zak Showalter). That's toughness. I'm not talking about bench-pressing or throwing a guy down to the ground. To step in front of a guy right there, to put it on the line and risk everything, that's real toughness."
Lately, Paris has exhibited his own personal toughness in the face of adversity, real life adversity. It had nothing to do with a poor shooting percentage, sloppy ball-handling, fouls or uneven officiating. It had everything do with the health and welfare of his 62-year-old mother, Kathy Gutierrez.
Paris left the team last week to be at her bedside in Findlay, Ohio, after she was hospitalized and listed in critical condition. Initially it was feared that she had a stroke. But it now appears that her condition was related to a combination of things, including pneumonia, he said.
"It has been extremely challenging, a very emotional time obviously," confided Paris, who's completing his sixth season at Wisconsin. "This arena, basketball in itself, has always been a place where I've been able to kind of lose myself. That has been helpful to me."
Paris spent a couple of days with his mom before rejoining the team Thursday in St. Louis.
"When we're not actually playing in a game, my thoughts are with my mom and family that is back there spending time with her," he said. "It's really challenging because I don't process information as efficiently right now as I do normally. It takes longer to do things, but that's OK.
"You have distractions, so you just have to stay on task."
Paris put together the scouting report on the UW's second-round opponent, Xavier. Not only did the Badgers win the game on Bronson Koenig's clutch 3-pointer but they held the highest-scoring team in the Big East to just 63 points, 18 under its season average.
After fielding a series of game-related questions, Paris also updated the media corps on his mother's status. He said that he had received some "positive, encouraging" information yet cautioned, "It's baby steps and there's still a long way to go. But there has been some progress made physically."
The Wisconsin charter landed in Madison around 1:30 a.m. Monday. That same morning, Paris boarded a flight for Findlay. He was back at practice Tuesday afternoon armed with the scouting report on Friday's opponent, Notre Dame. He had more positive news, too. He talked with his mom.
Again, he was cautious about her condition. But the communication, however limited, was a breakthrough. Last week, she wasn't capable of responding to his voice or touch. That made it all the more difficult to leave Findlay — not knowing if he would get another chance to communicate with her.
"It was a tough decision as to whether to come back or not (to St. Louis)," said Paris, who lost his dad to a heart attack in 1996. Henry Paris was 46. "But with the relationship that I have with her and how big basketball is between the two of us, I just felt like it was the right thing to do.
"It's funny but when she learned that you could voice your text messages, she started to text me a lot more. I'd get them after games about how proud she was of me and the team. It was a source of pride that she would at least be able to look at the TV and see me (on the sideline).
"In fact, one of the texts that she sent me in January was after we had beaten someone and she offered her congratulations and said that I was one step closer to being a head coach. I'm just so grateful that we had those exchanges. It's so poignant how much it could mean to you now."
Paris has been overwhelmed by the support that he has received.
"I've been very blessed to have so many good people in my life, and that started with my parents and my family," he said. "The people of Wisconsin and just my friends, particularly in this circle where I spent a lot of time, have been unbelievably supportive in thinking about and praying for my mom.
"And I can't say enough about the people here and the players — they're really an extension of my family. That's how I've always viewed them. When I came back (to St. Louis), I didn't know how I would feel and respond and whether I would interact the same way.
"And within seconds of seeing the guys again, you're right back into it with them. A lot of that is because of the kinds of guys they are. Some of them texted. Some would come up and say something. I just feel blessed to have these people around me in what is one of the toughest times of my life."
Paris made it clear to everyone, "This is not about me."
But everyone knew how much he was hurting.
Especially Gard, who lost his father to cancer in late October.
"I understand completely what he's going through," Gard said Monday. "He was there and he gave me great advice way back last June when the diagnosis with my dad came out. We kind of knew talking to the medical people what was going to be the finality of everything.
"He said, 'My dad never got to see me coach a single possession … your dad has just watched you coach in two Final Fours.' It's not maybe the message you want to hear because you still wanted to find a way to save your dad or cure the cancer.
"But it also gave me perspective. Hey, everybody goes through some type of adversity in their life. Appreciate the good things that have happened and try to make the most of anything negative that is going on. The main thing, I've tried to reach back to Lamont and help him with that.
"I know that he has felt support from the players, from our staff and from the people in our program — just like I had felt it over the last eight months — and that has been a big part of helping me get through this and hopefully we can continue to help Lamont, too."
There are a lot of great teams, coaches and storylines in the Sweet 16. But none may be greater than the one this team and these coaches have authored together. Resilient, indeed.
