Congratulations to Saul Phillips, Will Ryan and North Dakota State who won the Summit League Championship game earlier tonight to earn the first NCAA Tournament bid in school history.
Saul Phillips, NDSU's head coach, of course played for Bo Ryan at UW-Platteville and captained their undefeated 1995 National Championship team. The Reedsburg, Wis. native served as an assistant coach for Ryan when he was at UW-Milwaukee and was Wisconsin's director of basketball operations from 2001-04.
Will Ryan, is Bo Ryan's oldest son and one of Phillips' assistant coaches. Ryan was Wisconsin's director of basketball operations from 2005-07 before joining the Bison.
This was the first season NDSU was eligible for the NCAA Tournament after transitioning into Division I basketball.
Don't plan on any family matchups in the NCAA Tournament, however. North Dakota State is probably destined for a No. 13-16 seed, while the Badgers will most likely end up as a No. 8-12 seed. Of course, there are always upsets.
Many Badger fans would love to see a rematch with NDSU, which came into the Kohl Center in 2006 and gave Bo Ryan his most shocking loss as head coach of the Badgers. Phillips was an assistant coach for the Bison that season.
