The Best...
No. 5-Mazel tov, Bernie
Badgers fullback Matt Bernstein started the 24-hour Yom Kippur a day before Wisconsin's home battle with Penn State. Fueled on turkey and orange slices consumed quickly after kickoff, Bernstein led UW in their victory over the Nittany Lions. He rumbled for 123 yards, only three in the first half, at times leaping over everyone in his path.
No. 4-Aloha means goodbye
Ranked 22nd and seeded 14th, the women's volleyball team couldn't have expected much to come out of the NCAA tournament. The Badgers surprised everyone, upsetting undefeated Hawaii in the round of 16 to advance to their first regional final since 2000.
No. 3-Simon says
Every time junior Simon Bairu ran could have been a top-five moment this year. Bairu won the NCAA title in cross country and recently shattered the UW 10,000-meter record with a time of 28 minutes, 4.75 seconds.
2-Tucker's heave ousts Hawkeyes
Tied at 56 with Iowa in the semifinal round of the Big Ten tournament, with 3.7 seconds left and the length of the court to go, it looked like the Badgers would have to try to win in overtime. But Alando Tucker had something to say about that, hitting a running three-pointer off the backboard as time expired. After the game Tucker said, \After it went in, I called backboard.""
No. 1-Look what I found
After running the clock down, and needing a first down to all but seal up the victory, then Heisman front-runner Purdue quarterback Kyle Orton took off and was hit by Badgers Robert Brooks and Scott Starks, causing Orton to fumble. Starks picked up the loose pigskin and returned it 40 yards for the touchdown, giving the Badgers a 20-17 lead and an amazing win.
Honorable mention-Crew handy man
After clipping at log and breaking the rudder at the Marathon Rowing Championships in November, senior Anders Pesavento, the farthest rower from the stern, jumped out of UW's boat, swam to the stern and replaced the rudder. Pesavento proceeded to row the final 12.2 miles, as Badgers beat Texas by 10 seconds to win the race.
-Sam Pepper
...and the worst.
No. 5-Boo Wade saga continues... ends
After missing the first half of the 2004-'05 season due to personal reasons, Boo Wade returned to the UW men's basketball team in late December. But just two weeks into his triumphant return, Wade was on his way back out the door, ending any speculation that he was Devin Harris' successor.
No. 4-Cross country stumbles at finish
The UW men's cross country team was ranked No. 1 in the nation all season. Unfortunately, nobody told Colorado. At the NCAA Championships, the Buffaloes outran the seemingly invincible Badgers. UW coach Jerry Schumacher's explanation: ""It seems to me there was quite a bit of 'unpredictableness' in the race today."" That, or they were just faster.
No. 3-Score one for the ladies
Title IX guarantees equality between the sexes in athletics, but what about athletic crime? Well, when women's basketball player Lesha Jones was arrested for alleged burglary, she broke down the gender crime barrier, forever proving that Barry Alvarez's boys aren't the only athletes who know how to have a little delinquent delight.
No. 2-Hockey team gets brain freeze
On Feb. 4, the No. 3 UW men's hockey team beat Minnesota 3-1 to improve its record to 20-6-1. Fast-forward 50 days and things looked a lot different for Mike Eaves' squad. The Badgers looked catatonic during the stretch run. In their final 14 games, they won just three times and crashed out in the first round of the NCAA Tourney with a 4-1 loss to Michigan.
No. 1-Football team adopts Go 0-3 motto
Throughout the 2004 season, the phrase of choice among the Badger football team was ""Go 1-0."" During their 9-0 start, the players and coaches applied the catchy little saying to everything. That is, until the final three games of the season, when they changed their battle cry to ""Go 0-3,"" and lost by an average of 20 points per game.
Honorable Mention-Badgers get blitzed at combine
Every college football player dreams of being a ""high pick"" in the NFL draft. Former Badgers Anttaj Hawthorne and Jonathan Clinkscale took that quite literally when they both got busted for pot at the NFL Combine in March.
-Joe Hasler
