It's the first week of school and Bo Ryan sure seemed prepared to write an essay about everything he did this past summer.

Foremost on his mind after watching his University of Wisconsin men's basketball team finish its first day of running the Elver Park hill was his recent golfing trip to Bandon Dunes in Oregon.
Ryan played Bandon Trails (shot a 90), Bandon Dunes (another 90) and Pacific Dunes (91) and loved all three. But he rated Pacific Dunes, which has received the highest marks of all the highly regarded courses at Bandon, as his favorite. "It's ranked No. 1 and it's ranked No. 1 for a reason,'' said Ryan.

When Ryan started talking basketball, he gave his players high marks for the way they attacked the Elver Park hill. Nobody fertilized the hill with vomit as all 17 Badgers completed the requisite eight trips up and down the hill. Each player wore a heart apparatus that allowed trainer Henry Perez to watch their heart rates on a special monitor.

The Badgers were supposed to run the hill for the first time Thursday but rain postponed the event for 24 hours. Running a hill is a tradition for Ryan's teams dating back to when he coached at UW-Platteville. Besides helping the players get into playing shape, it is also a bonding experience that stays with the team throughout the season.

"Everybody did well, they really did,'' said Ryan, whose autobiography will be coming out soon is called, "Another Hill to Climb.'' Ryan wrote the book with the help of Capital Times columnist Mike Lucas.

Ryan listed Devin Harris and Mike Flowers as two of the best hill runners he has coached at Wisconsin. He said that Mike Wilkinson was the best big man at running the hill and Brian Butch was the most improved.

Finally, Ryan is thrilled that he has 17 players -- 13 scholarship players and four walk-ons -- on his roster this season because practices are often minus a few players due to injury or a class. "Now we can handle it if someone's injured or if someone is at class,'' said Ryan.

-- Rob Schultz