What do the Duke, Marquette and Purdue men's basketball teams have in common?

They were the only teams to beat the University of Wisconsin this season. Oh, and they were all knocked out of the NCAA tournament in second-round games Saturday.

Meanwhile, the Badgers play on.

That is no coincidence. Sixth-ranked UW, as it usually does under coach Bo Ryan, has continued on a steady path of improvement since it played those teams earlier in the season. At some point, the Badgers passed each one of them by.

While Duke and Marquette hit ceilings due to a lack of inside power and Purdue's young team ran into the freshman wall, UW just kept getting better and better. Next, the Badgers will go to the Sweet 16 for a date with Davidson on Friday night in Detroit.

If you're wondering whether UW can eliminate this year's version of George Mason, here is a good sign: The Badgers haven't finished improving this season.

"We left some stuff out there on the floor that we can improve on," forward Joe Krabbenhoft said after UW's impressive second-round victory over Kansas State. "I guarantee you we will get better these next couple of days. We've been getting better every day this whole year."

That is not uncommon for Ryan's teams. Unless it suffers in-season personnel losses due to grades or injury, UW is usually playing its best basketball at this time of the year.

Ryan's current group has incorporated his philosophies better than any team he's had at UW. Of his core beliefs — positioning on defense, unselfishness on offense, an even-keeled approach to every game, hard work at all times — perhaps the one this team has most embraced is Ryan's notion that a team can always get better.

"I think we still have a lot to work on," forward Marcus Landry said. "I think there's so much more room for improvement. But if we keep sticking to the rules that Coach provides for us and we keep playing our hearts out and we keep playing defense the way we've been playing, we can do great (things)."

Ryan told his players as the clock was running out against Kansas State that they could improve before their next game. That sounds like coach-speak, but the Badgers insist they believe it unequivocally.

"All we care about is winning, and one of the aspects of winning is wanting to get better and better and better," center Brian Butch said. "You ask any successful team, they've always wanted to get better. They always (say), 'We're not content with where we're at right now.' We realize we're not content right now and we've got a couple of extra practices to try to get better."

As always, Ryan will use those practices to look at video clips and work on the little things that UW didn't do well in the game.

"It's not anything drastic, it's just a constant reminder that we can improve," he said. "You just keep dangling things in front of them to (show them) how important competition is and (say), 'If you really want to get things done, why don't we do this a little better? Why don't we do that?' Competitive people will digest that and work on it and get better. That's what makes them who they are."

And who they will be by Friday.