Bo knows coaches

BUFFALO, N.Y. - The forgotten team in the Villanova-St. Joe's-UConn pod is Milwaukee. Such oversights are common for 15-seeds with a schedule strength resembling the weight of an NBA power forward (230).

But what the Panthers lack in BPI, RPI, Ht. and Wt., they make up for in grit. Picked last in the Horizon League in the preseason, Milwaukee beat two of the top three seeds on the road in the conference tournament. Tonight the Panthers get Villanova in a first-round game.

If talent is the primary ingredient to success in sports, coaching is second - especially in college basketball. Milwaukee's Rob Jeter is one of several apples from the Bo Ryan coaching tree to land in this tournament.

"When you spend 15 years with an older, gray-haired guy, some things are going to rub off on you, and luckily for me, there was a lot of positives to rub off when it comes to Bo," said Jeter. "I think the best thing to sum up Bo is that he really cares for his players. I think that's why his players work so hard for him, and that's why his teams play so well together because they trust him and they care about him."

Jeter played for Ryan at Division III UW-Platteville and was an assistant under Ryan at Wisconsin and Platteville for another 10 years.

Ryan, a Chester native, recently became the fifth active coach with 700 wins.

Saul Phillips from North Dakota State and Tony Bennett, an almost certain finalist for national coach of the year after the job he has done this season at Virginia, also served as assistants under Ryan.

The University of Milwaukee and the University of Wisconsin are not on the same plane athletically, but there are similarities in style.

"I think Bo has a reputation of being like a controlling coach when really there's always a guy on that team that's got the freedom to go," Villanova coach Jay Wright said. "Jordan Aaron's like that. I think it's very similar to a Wisconsin team."

Aaron, the Panthers' leading scorer, was suspended for four games late in the season for violating unspecified team rules. UM went 1-3. Wright said that Aaron reminds him of Speedy Claxton, a former star for Wright at Hofstra who the Sixers drafted in the first round in 2001.

Ryan traditionally takes his extended basketball family out to a dinner at the Final Four: former players, assistants, that kind of thing. Next month down in North Texas, it might look more like a banquet.

"The dinner is going to be a lot more fun this year," said Sharif Chambliss, a former player under Ryan who is now one of Jeter's assistants. "He has a lot of guys in here."

Connecticut's Shabazz Napier was asked about the challenge of playing against DeAndré Bembry.

He couldn't place immediately place the well-coiffed Bembry, so teammate Niels Giffey helped out.

"You know," Giffey whispered to Napier, "the guy with the 'fro."