At the end of the 2000-'01 season, a bitter pill was swallowed by the Badger women's basketball squad. With a 12-4 conference record and a third seed in the Big Ten Conference Tournament, Badgerball seemed poised to go on to greater things.
Then a loss in the opening round of the Big Ten Tournament to Illinois followed by a defeat in the NCAA Tournament to Missouri made the successful regular season meaningless.
For Head Coach Jane Albright, getting to the Big Ten Tournament may have taken the focus away from the team.
\I think we did very well [in the regular season], then we got to the Big Ten Tournament,"" Albright said. ""Then I think people started to pay attention to individual things. ... I think we lost our focus.""
In addition, the offseason graduation of center LaTonya Sims and the transfer of sophomore center Nina Smith made the tumultuous time off even more difficult.
Yet, for all the bad that came about at the end of the previous year, optimism is as high as ever for the team. With two pre-season All-Big Ten members'senior guard Tamara Moore and senior center Jessie Stomski'captaining the Badgers this season, along with senior guard Kyle Black, Albright has reason to feel good about her squad.
""My captains are people who I respect as much as any three players that I have coached in my career,"" Albright said.
Leading by example, the captains, along with the rest of the squad, started working hard for the next season.
Unlike previous seasons, the work started in early April. The Badgers not only worked on conditioning drills to help their bodies sustain the grind of a full regular season and postseason, but also played pickup games with each other twice a week during the summer, giving the players a chemistry not seen by previous teams.
""I've never been on a team that has had the chemistry that this team has,"" Stomski said.
As has been the case for most Albright teams, the non-conference schedule will give the players a taste of what the level of play will be like in March. Opening up the season at home against Washington, a team that was one game away from a Final Four trip a year ago, should offer Badgerball a stern early challenge. Following the opener, the Badgers have two tournaments, including a Thanksgiving tournament on the road that has Texas, Florida and USC as possible opponents for UW.
Albright though, is confident her veteran group can handle the early competition.
""I knew we had a group of veterans coming back,"" Albright said. ""I also knew that last year, we just didn't do well last year [at the beginning]. [Last year] we were on the road with high expectations. This year, we are at home with high expectations.\
