\Overachievers"" may be the perfect word to describe the 2001-'02 men's basketball team. With a new head coach in Bo Ryan and only one returning starter in Kirk Penney, many ""experts"" had the Badgers picked to finish dead last in the Big Ten.
After a slow 3-6 start in nonconference play, Wisconsin set off to prove everyone wrong by winning 15 of their last 20 games to earn a share of the conference title with Indiana and Ohio State.
The conference title was the Badgers' first since 1947. Highlights of their amazing year included a win at Michigan State Jan. 12 that ended the Spartans' 53-game home winning streak, a win at Indiana Feb. 13, which ended the Badgers' 25-year losing streak at Assembly Hall, and Bo Ryan's 400th coaching win Feb. 19 against Iowa.
Wisconsin also qualified for the NCAA tournament for the fourth year in a row, where they lost to the eventual National Champion Maryland Terrapins 87-57 in the second round.
2001 proved to be a successful one for volleyball. The Badgers were able to successfully defend their 2000 Big Ten Conference title finishing with a 19-1 record.
This was the first time in Badger volleyball history that Wisconsin had won back-to-back conference titles.
In addition, the Badgers made their 10th appearance in the NCAA Tournament, falling to Texas A&M in the regional semifinals.
Despite losing the first match of the non conference season, the Badgers showed that the team had what it took to take home the Big Ten Conference title for the second year in a row.
Contributing to the Badgers' success were all-American seniors setter Lizzy Fitzgerald and middle blocker Sherisa Livingston. Fitzgerald averaged 13.72 assists per game, and Livingston had a .402 hitting percentage, setting the UW season record.
The dictionary defines disappointment as, ""to fail to satisfy the hopes or expectations."" The University of Wisconsin football team of 2001 fit that definition well with a 5-7 record and an atrocious defense.
The season started off promising enough with a strong home win against Virginia and a tough loss on the road to eventual Fiesta Bowl champ Oregon.
The levee broke at home against Indiana Oct. 6 when the Hoosiers scorched UW for 63 points, the most points surrendered by a Wisconsin team in more than a century. Camp Randall Stadium was renamed ""Camp Randle El"" due to Indiana quarterback Antwaan Randle El's performance.
The final straw in the dismal season came against Minnesota as UW surrendered the Paul Bunyan Axe to the cellar-dwelling Golden Gophers Nov. 24.
Returning a trio of senior starters from a team that went 12-4 in Big Ten play the year before, the expectations for this year's team were higher than perhaps any other in the Jane Albright era.
The team got off to a scorching 16-1 start, highlighted by a 15-game winning streak, the longest streak in the program's history. The onset of Big Ten play came with an impressive victory over highly-ranked Purdue, followed by six more conference wins. A team that began the season unranked had vaulted its way to No. 5 in the AP poll.
Then everything, quickly, fell apart. The same team that had risen to national prominence and seemed destined for a long stay in the NCAA Tournament lost six straight.
After the Badgers handed perennial Big Ten doormat Northwestern its 39th straight Big Ten regular-season loss, the Badgers closed out the regular season with three more losses.
