Andy North with Sam Dekker after Wisconsin's victory over Arizona.Photo: Getty Images
He will not suit up alongside Frank Kaminsky and Co. when Wisconsin attempts to derail Kentucky's historic undefeated run in Saturday's national semifinal game at the Final Four in Indianapolis.
He will not be sitting on the bench next to coach Bo Ryan, whispering strategy suggestions into his ear in the heat of the game.
Not that Andy North wouldn't want to.
But North, a two-time US Open champion and current ESPN golf analyst, is about as much a part of Badgers basketball as Ryan, Kaminsky, Sam Dekker, Josh Gasser, Nigel Hayes and the rest of the team.
When I reached out to North on Thursday to speak about his beloved Badgers, I got a text back saying, "We head to practice soon. Could I call you when we get there.''
"We head to practice soon.''
This is how involved North is with Wisconsin basketball.
Back in March at the Honda Classic, where North was part of the ESPN broadcast team, I asked him at lunch on Thursday, the first day of the tournament, if he was staying through the weekend — wondering if it depended on a big-name player such as No. 1-ranked Rory McIlroy making a run up the leaderboard.
North squirmed a bit, before sheepishly revealing the Big Ten Championship was that weekend and he was hoping to skip out of town Friday night to attend the Wisconsin game. He wasn't wishing anything bad on McIlroy … just he wouldn't have minded if Rory did not catch fire entering the weekend. McIlroy never mounted a run at the Honda and North got his wish.
North has shadowed the Badgers every step of the way since on their magical run to a second consecutive Final Four, and he's in Indianapolis this weekend before heading to Augusta next week for the Masters.
Aaron Rodgers and Andy North at the UNC-Wisconsin NCAA tournament game.Photo: Getty Images
They might, on the surface, seem like strange bedfellows — a former US Open champion and a college basketball team. But North is a Wisconsin native and he makes his home in Madison. He is not one of those fly-by-night guys who gravitates to the spotlight for big events. He bleeds basketball and Badgers red.
He's been friends with Ryan for four decades. He's such an integral member of the Wisconsin basketball family that Kaminsky, whenever North enters a room, playfully announces him as "Andy North, two-time US Open champion.''
"Yeah, he gets a kick out of that,'' North said.
North grew up with basketball a backdrop to his youth. His dad was a basketball coach, and North called himself "a half-decent player 100 years ago.''
"As a kid, I grew up in the [Wisconsin] Field House [where the team played home games before it moved to the Kohl Center in 1998], so I've been going to Badger basketball games for 60 years,'' North said. "I can tell you the guys who played on the teams back when I was 10 or 12 years old. Bo and I have been friends going on 40 years. We played a Sunday morning pickup game back in the 70s with a bunch of guys. Our kids went to preschool together.''
When I asked North how much he would savor Ryan winning a national title for the first time, he actually sounded like Ryan — redirecting everything toward the players.
"It's so much about the kids,'' North said. "Bo would certainly love to win one, but he'd love to have the kids win one. Obviously, there's a lot of talent on this team … but their greatest strength is that it's a team. You watch our guys play and they pass up good shots to get a better one for somebody else. There's not a lot of ego involved.''
"Our guys.''
North is one of them, so much so he might trade one of those US Open trophies for a win over Kentucky on Saturday.
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