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Badgers preparing for Cal State Fullerton

MADISON — Bo Ryan’s advice to his Wisconsin team as it prepares to face Cal State Fullerton in the first round of the NCAA tournaments: Don’t blink.

He did. It wasn’t pleasant.

“They’ll get the ball up in a hurry,” Ryan said. “I was looking at one game film today and I must have blinked, but they were laying it in at the other end after a make. Must have been a slow blink.”

Despite being Big Ten champions and ranked sixth in the nation, the Badgers will have to stay alert to avoid an upset Thursday in Omaha, Neb.

The 14th-seeded Titans (24-8, 12-4 Big West) beat UC Irvine on Saturday night to win the conference tournament. Josh Akognon scored 23 points and was picked as tournament MVP.

No. 3 seed Wisconsin (29-4, 16-2), beat Illinois 61-48 to win the tournament title Sunday, to go with its regular season championship.

Ryan put his team through a light shooting workout Monday – “no diving for loose balls, no chasing, no pinching, no rabbit punches,” he said – but he said he saw plenty of shortcomings during the conference tournament that his players will focus on when the heavy-duty workouts resume Tuesday.

Last year, the Badgers were without injured leading rebounder Brian Butch and got bounced by UNLV in the second round. But he has been healthy all this season and is averaging almost 13 points and seven rebounds a game.

“We know we’ve got tough competition down the road,” Ryan said. “But the other teams playing us know they’ve got a team that’s going to battle them, too, and I like the group that I have going into these games.”