Admission: Two Ten-Spots

ALBUQUERQUE — The school that has set basketball back 50 years has now set back Fresno State, Arizona, Louisiana State and Purdue.

Wisconsin in the Final Four?

Set back your clocks.

Proving again that you don’t need to jump through hoops to play hoops, Wisconsin on Saturday defeated Purdue, 64-60, before a crowd of 16,004 at the Pit to claim the West Regional title and extend a monthlong March joy ride into April.

At No. 8, Wisconsin (22-13) is the lowest-seeded team to make the Final Four since No. 11 Louisiana State in 1986. No Final Four team has had more losses than the Badgers.

Saturday’s win was a victory for floor burns, patience, defense, V-neck sweaters, milk shakes and sock hops.

Anne Bennett, wife of Wisconsin Coach Dick, stood a few steps above the court at game’s end and let the tears flow.

Last year, her husband’s team was ridden out of the NCAA tournament on a rail after scoring 32 points in a first-round loss.

She has seen Dick’s plodding coaching style ridiculed for years. She heard the heckles when the Badgers fell to 1-4 in the Big Ten and 11-10 overall.

Saturday’s win was vindication for vintage.

Not even UCLA Coach Steve Lavin--leading cheers in the stands for Purdue--could prevent Team Time Warp of its destiny.

“I dreamed of this, but I never thought I’d see it,” Anne Bennett said. “I’m so proud of my husband. The system works.”

We’ll see. Wisconsin, 0-3 against Michigan State this season, faces the Spartans in Saturday’s national semifinals.

Dick Bennett coached Saturday’s game with teeth clenched, like a man who knew he might never get another chance, a fair estimation given Wisconsin hasn’t been to a Final Four since it won the NCAA title in 1941.

In the end, his team landed one more haymaker than Purdue, beat the Boilermakers to one more ball, milked one more precious second off the shot clock, and ultimately checked the Boilermakers in a game of defensive chess.

“Whatever superlatives you can think of to imagine how I feel, use those words,” Bennett said.

What Bennett was with 5:23 left was “nervous” after Purdue forward Brian Cardinal’s two free throws tied the score at 52-all.

Andy Kowske’s basket put Wisconsin back up by two, and the lead was headed to four when Roy Boone stole the ball and raced toward an uncontested layup.

Boone didn’t merely miss the shot, he missed the rim.

It might have been disastrous, yet Boone recovered to score six points down the stretch, including two free throws with 17.6 seconds left to clinch the victory.

“I just went on and blocked it out,” he said of his breakaway blunder. “I had to put the last play behind me.”

As with most Wisconsin wins, this one began and ended with junior guard Mike Kelley, who set the defensive tone. He’s like cornerback Deion Sanders in his prime, assigned to the opposing team’s best receiver.

Saturday, Kelley limited Purdue guard Jaraan Cornell to three points on one-for-nine shooting.

In four games against Kelley this year, Cornell is nine for 42, five for 23 on three-point attempts.

But there were other heroes besides Kelley.

The most unlikely was guard Jon Bryant, a former walk-on, whose game seemed perfectly suited for St. Cloud State, the Division II program he attended before transferring.

“What a road,” he said of the trip from Minnesota to Madison.

Bryant made his first three three-point shots, finished with 18 points, and was named the most outstanding player of the regional.

“I never would have thought we could get to the Final Four, to be honest with you,” Bryant said.

No one would have thought so.

The Badgers, who shoot 42% for the season, shot 48.6% against Purdue.

Cardinal led the Boilermakers (24-10) with 13 points. “He deserved better,” Coach Gene Keady said of his senior forward.

Keady could have said the same about himself. He has led the Boilermakers to great heights in his 20 years at Purdue, but has once again been denied a trip to the Final Four.

“I feel indescribably happy,” Bennett said, “but a big part of what’s inside of me feels for Coach Keady. They have my undying respect.”

It took time, but Wisconsin has finally earned its fair share.

“The majority of people out there don’t enjoy the way we play,” Kelley said. “They don’t understand why we play the way we do.”

Wisconsin plays that way because it has no other choice.

“We don’t run up and down the floor because we can’t,” Bennett said. “So people think we’re setting the game back.”

In four West Regional games, Wisconsin held its opponents to 56, 59, 48 and 60 points.

“Doesn’t defense count for anything?” Bennett asked “Isn’t it 50% of the game? Today’s approach is almost all about offense. But you have your days in the sun, like this one, and you enjoy it.”