LOS ANGELES - Bo Ryan is trippin' about being back in the NCAA West Regional.
First, the Wisconsin coach has the same man escorting him around that he did last year, when the Badgers won the regional in Anaheim. Then Ryan bumped into coach Sean Miller, whose Arizona team lost to the Badgers in a one-point overtime game to get to the Final Four.
"I'm like, wait a minute," Ryan said. "Weren't we just doing this a year ago?"
So Ryan feels right at home in Los Angeles, and he's hoping Frank Kaminsky & Co. do, too.
The top-seeded Badgers (33-3) take on fourth-seeded North Carolina (26-11) in a regional semifinal tonight at Staples Center. The teams are meeting in the NCAA Tournament for the second time and the first since 2006. The Tar Heels won both games.
North Carolina hasn't been this far since 2012, although the Tar Heels are 25-6 all-time in regional semifinals.
Their top task? Defending Big Ten player of the year Kaminsky, who leads the Badgers in scoring (18.4 points), rebounding (8.1), and field-goal percentage (.556).
"Very, very seriously is the way we're going to try to deal with him," Tar Heels coach Roy Williams said Wednesday.
Carolina's front line of 6-foot-9 Kennedy Meeks, 6-6 J.P. Tokoto and 6-8 Justin Jackson can't match the 7-foot Kaminsky in height, but the 270-pound Meeks has nearly 30 pounds on "Frank the Tank."