Bo Ryan won without talent and with talent. He is one of the best NCAA basketball coaches of all time. He would routinely school coaches like Tom Crean at IU, whom had the better talent but not a better strategy. Do you see Hastings being able to out coach Motzko/Nightingale/Carle/etc? I just don’t see it. If we match their talent level and we have a similar level coach, one would hope we will have the same level of success.
They don’t necessarily need to be draft picks. The scoring players from last year just happened to be draft picks. There have been plenty of high talent guys that were not draft picks. Mark Zengerle and Tyler Barnes are the immediate two that come to mind. Gavin Morrissey might be that kind of guy. If we could get 2-3 freshmen like those guys every year, we would be perennial contenders. However, non-1st round draft picks generally can give you 3-4 years of top 6 forward or top 4 defenseman play. Look at Denver; their top 5 and 8 of their top 10 point producers are draft picks. Seeing Buckberger definitely stings.
1995 was the year I was born. A google search showed me that Minnesota also beat Wisconsin that year 8-4 and 5-0 in Minneapolis and 4-3 in OT later on (WCHA Final Five?). Wisconsin finished that year 17-20-3 and did not make the tournament. On the other hand, Minnesota finished that year 30-10-2, won the WCHA tournament, made the NCAA tournament, and won a game before being eliminated. Minnesota definitely had the better year, so I am not really sure your point is resonating with me here… Perhaps further explanation is needed.