"I remember the press conference that night after we
got into the (NCAA) tournament and it just felt different
– very special," Kilbride said.
"I still think about it today
and how much work we put
into accomplishing it."
changed everybody's attitude in the whole program, from top to bottom," said Kilbride. "There
was just a different presence in the (locker) room."
Consider the assistants' pedigree and career
timeline since their Madison layover:
McCallum was the head coach at Ball State (six
seasons) and Houston (four seasons) before settling into his current position at Detroit where he
just completed his fifth season.
Van Gundy was the head coach of the Miami
Heat for three seasons and Orlando Magic for five.
Miller was the head coach at Xavier for five seasons and just completed his fourth year at Arizona.
"I absolutely knew those guys would be extremely successful," Kilbride said, "Their knowledge of
the game was something that I had not been exposed to before, and it was with every facet.
"I remember the morning workouts that we had
with those two guys (Van Gundy and Miller) and
just the way they talked you through different fundamentals."
Although the Badgers lost their 1993 NIT home
game to Rice, there was great anticipation for
Jackson's second season with the arrival of freshman Rashard Griffith, a Chicago King man-child.
"That summer and fall, you could just sense that
something was different," Kilbride said. "We kind
of believed in ourselves and we had players who
had been winners in high school.
"Going into the season (1993-94), we felt like,
'This was our year.'"
Only two seniors (Damon Harrell and Louis
Ely) had to be replaced, while Darnell Hoskins
40 » VARSITY
JULY 11, 2013
(Dayton, Ohio) and Jalil Roberts (Jersey City, N.J.)
joined Griffith in the highly-touted freshman class.
Jackson did have to tweak his UW staff with the
departures of McCallum and Miller. Siena College
assistant Bob Beyer and Rockford College head
coach Tim Buckley were the replacements.
"Stu was the greatest motivator I've ever been
around," Kilbride said. "He demanded it from you
every single day, every single moment. He never
missed anything in practices or games."
The Badgers got off to an auspicious start in their
