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“I’d be lying if I said we weren’t looking forward to that game,” said Blackwell. “We’re definitely looking forward to it. We’ve got a lot of basketball ahead of us. We’ve got a lot more preparing to do. That was a sour taste in my mouth from last year. I’m ready for that game.”

“I don’t really pay attention to that, but they said our national coverage is up quite a bit from last year,” Gard said. “The national media I’ve talked to here, I sense a tremendous buzz in Madison. I think those that have been in practice and around this summer, get that, because you’ve seen us with your own eyes. It’s starting to trickle nationally. I’m getting more and more people understanding and grasping what we have and what we could be.”

“You always have a short list on you file somewhere, if there is a vacancy. I mean, there’s a lot of things that go into that, but it happened so fast when Kirk came to me and said he needed to go back and wanted to go back to New Zealand for family and his business opportunities. We knew we were going to have to move from — we were two days from starting practice when he told me, so in terms of working that process through him, making a final decision, because I tried, like heck to keep him and talk him into it, but it was just it was unsustainable for him to be able to do that to his family consistently.

“And we were fortunate to have him for a couple years, but that wasn’t sustainable. And as a dad and a husband myself, I get that. I understand that. Really, his interests, are in the private business world, so he wanted to chase that and be a part of that. So, as we move forward, we were able to get campus approval, knowing we had to move quickly.

“Brad’s someone that I have always viewed — it was a matter of probably when not, if. It was just, when was he going to be done playing? Did it sequence with when we had an opening on staff? But he’s had his mind set on coaching for a long, long time. He’s one that watches, still watches our practices when he was playing overseas the last four years. He must be working with AJ, our video coordinator, to have the secret code to get on Hudl and watch practice, because he kept up to date. He had watched guys that were playing and texted the staff about who we should look at in the portal. The wheels were always spinning in that regard.

“He tried to catch me before I went to Europe, and at the end of the summer, when he was going. He wanted to catch me in Madison, and we didn’t connect, but he called me later and said, ‘Hey, I just want to let you know I only want to play three to five years, and I’m in year four. So if something happens…’ Well, within about 10 days, something happened. So I called him again when Kirk looked like it was definitely going to happen, and he wasn’t going to be coming back and I explained, hypothetically, ‘Here could be the situation, what do you think?’ And there was no hesitation in Brad and what he wanted to do. And then it was just a matter of everything falling into place.

“I’ve got a lot of experience on my staff. I’ve got a former head coach, Lance (Lance Randall), I’ve got a guy that’s had a ton of experience with me, and Joe (Joe Krabbenhoft) Sharif (Sharif Chambliss), Greg’s (Greg Steimsma) been in the NBA and has done a really good job in the development side, what I felt really was going to help us the most was go with somebody youthful and and full of energy, and really bring the juice.

“I think Kirk officially resigned on a Friday. I called Brad and said, ‘Hey, do you are you in? Can you do this?’ He said, ‘Yeah, I want to play one more. I want to play my first game on Saturday. So he played it on Saturday, retired on Sunday, packed on Monday, and flew on Tuesday. He was in Madison by Wednesday or Thursday. It’s as fast as transition and as smooth a transition as I’ve ever had.”

“I think the biggest thing is physically has changed,” said Gard. “You guys have seen practice, and change his body for the better. I think he’s leaner, stronger, got more power to him on the offensive end, in terms of what he gets downhill. And I think the experience, anytime you can keep adding rings to your tree, so to speak, as he gets older, those things, those things all help.

“So I think that’s the biggest thing with him, is how he’s improved physically and then taking advantage of the experience he’s able to get. And he played a lot as a freshman, played even more as a sophomore, and now it’s, it’s his time. As I always tell the guys you you’re out of half time in your career. It’s time to take a big jump like he’s ready to do that.”