BY MIKE LUCAS
UWBadgers.com Senior Writer
MADISON, Wis. — After a stunning 85-48 dismantling of a ranked Louisville team — "We were thoroughly outplayed, outmanned, out-toughed, outcoached," said Cardinals coach Chris Mack — Wisconsin's Greg Gard singled out someone for special recognition in the Kohl Center locker room.
There were plenty of candidates. Micah Potter had a season-high 20 points and seven rebounds. Trevor Anderson came off the bench and matched his UW career high with 11 points. He didn't miss a shot (4-of-4). Neither did D'Mitrik Trice (3-of-3, all 3's) who had five assists without a turnover.
Everyone in the eight-player rotation contributed something positive.
"They played like a million bucks," Mack lamented.
Gard was definitely appreciative of what he saw.
"We have a lot of guys who can hurt you in a lot of different ways," he said.
But he had another focal point after completing a seventh and final nonconference game.
"We gave Marc a standing ovation in the locker room afterwards," Gard said of Marc VandeWettering, the UW's director of basketball operations and chief scheduler. "There have been several days where, to be honest with you, I didn't think we'd get seven games in.
"We went into some weeks not knowing who we were going to play. To get to this point — where we were able to complete seven games obviously doing the additions and shuffling that we've had to do — is a credit to Marc and the other people who have helped along the way."
The unassuming VandeWettering felt "overwhelming gratitude" for the shout-out and props.
"Not really my cup of tea, I like to work behind the scenes," he admitted of the post-game attention. "But he (Gard) was very generous to do that. We were just happy to get seven nonconference games in for the guys. Just giving them an opportunity to play was where my focus has been all along.
"A couple of weeks ago when we first started nonconference play (Nov. 25 against Eastern Illinois), I really wasn't sure how it was going to go. We set a high bar for protocols for any nonconference teams to play us and then we really weren't sure how many we'd get in."
VandeWettering acknowledged there was a sense of "relief" after Saturday's game to go along with his "overall appreciation" of the moment knowing how much the players wanted to play and how challenging it was to accommodate them with a competitive and complete schedule during a pandemic.
"They were in my ear as much as Coach Gard, 'Hey, who are we looking at? Who are we thinking about (scheduling)?"' he said. "They'd get so excited to play. As I had conversations with different guys, just kind of updating them on where we were, they'd say, 'We just want to get games
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"They're more appreciative of that this year than maybe ever before with the way things ended last year and not getting a crack at the Big Ten and NCAA tournaments. They really appreciate the opportunity to play this season and the way we've been able to pull it off so far."
Whenever a scheduled opponent was forced to hit the pause button, VandeWettering's resourcefulness was tested to fill the void; no small feat given the timing and all the moving parts in a fluid, everchanging landscape brought on by COVID-related cancelations and postponements.
"The quick turnarounds were probably the biggest challenge," said VandeWettering, a 2015 UW graduate in business management and former Badger team manager. "In a typical year, a game contracting process and agreement is a couple of weeks to a month process.
"We were shrinking that down to a couple of hours."
VandeWettering's patience and communication skills were also put to the test. He estimated that it took 33 phone calls to line up Rhode Island for a fill-in game December 9 at the Kohl Center. That paled in comparison to the background behind the booking of Loyola Chicago for a Dec. 15 home date.
"That Saturday (Dec. 12) was a big one — that was 54 calls to get Loyola figured out with the possibility of playing Villanova (at Madison Square Garden) and then Louisville," he said. "We were trying to see what we could all do and what were realistic options.
"At the time, we didn't really know what Louisville's status was and if they were going to get cleared to play as they continued their return back from their pause. We tried to get those last two game lined up, knowing Northern Iowa wasn't going to be able to happen, but it all worked out.
"Any sort of strategy or playbook that I had in previous years did not apply this year at all."
VandeWettering credited one of his Big Ten scheduling counterparts Kevin Pauga, an assistant athletic director at Michigan State, for creating a website, FAKTOR, to facilitate the matchmaking process by providing relevant info and the open dates for teams nationwide.
"With Rhode Island, we had been talking previously," said VandeWettering, a Kaukauna native. "Getting contact information for Loyola was helpful in knowing the dates that they had available. And when they lost Duquesne (to a cancelation), it became a realistic option for us."
It helped VandeWettering to have experience in the general logistics of staging a game.
"There are a lot of people that a game change or a date change affects," he said. "Being able to know who that team of people is that I can reach out to who then can scatter the information to their people as well is important. There's a lot that goes into pulling this stuff off.
"I've spent the last few years figuring out who needs to know what and when. But this year everyone needs to know everything at the same time because there's not a lot of lead time going into anything. Everybody has to have as much information as they can.
"Even if it's not complete, give them what you can, so they can prepare for what they know."
The Badgers will open Big Ten play Tuesday night against Nebraska at the Kohl Center.
"Now I get back to the normal job description," VandeWettering sighed. "The first few months were duties unassigned as we tried to scramble and get all this stuff figured out. The thing that is nice now is that we're all in Big Ten play and we've all been operating under the same protocols for months.
"We're used to it. We get each other. We've been working with the other Big Ten directors of operations across the league to get everything set up with each other. And we understand how difficult it is going to be this year to continue to have play uninterrupted.
"What we can do for each other is to help minimize any disruptions as far as getting testing lined up on the road because usually you're just trying to get a shootaround time. Now I have to make sure that the testing time also lines up with that shootaround time.
"You don't want to make two trips to the arena to do those two separate things."
The Badgers will play at Michigan State on Christmas Day. It's one of five Big Ten games scheduled for the holiday which has been normally reserved for the NBA. "Now a new generation of fans can appreciate some Big Ten and Badger basketball on Christmas as well," VandeWettering said.
Getting to this point has been rewarding for players and coaches alike.
"Kudos to our guys," said VandeWettering, noting, "They've been going from home to practice back to home" as part of their commitment to playing games. "They've been incredible taking it seriously and doing everything right they can away from here (the Kohl Center).
"The coaching staff has done a good job of explaining the situation, 'Hey, this is what we've learned from other teams and other programs across the country and this is why this team went on pause and this is the issue that team had.'
"We've passed on that information so our guys can learn from others. That's the key piece for us this year — to continue to do our thing and if new information becomes available, we'll adapt. If we learn something along the way from somebody else, we'll share it.
"And we'll continue to move forward as we work our way through league play."
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