Head coach Bo Ryan reaches 300 career wins for Wisconsin
In what has already been one of the best starts in history for Wisconsin men’s basketball, head coach Bo Ryan tallied his 300th win at UW.
The game took place Dec. 4 when the Badgers recorded a 48-38 victory over the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. The victory was part of the Big Ten-ACC Challenge and marked Wisconsin’s ninth straight victory to start the season.
In many ways the gritty defensive win embodied the exact type of basketball that Ryan has brought to Madison over the course of his 300 wins. It was a low- possession game that featured solid team defense and a balanced offensive attack.
This disciplined style of play is the reason why Ryan has never finished outside of the top four in Big Ten standings since becoming the coach at UW.
Ryan is only the ninth coach in Big Ten basketball history to reach the 300-win milestone. He has been the coach at Wisconsin since 2001 and he has made the NCAA Tournament every season since his arrival, making it to the Sweet Sixteen on four occasions and the Elite Eight once.
Ryan currently holds a 0.727 winning percentage at Wisconsin and is amidst the second best start in school history, as the Badgers stand at 10-0.
Wisconsin volleyball’s ongoing NCAA Tournament run
Often, with a new coach, things can be rough the first few seasons, but not for the Badgers this year.
First-year head coach Kelly Sheffield brought new life to a team that had been stagnant compared to the previous decade of dominance UW had in the late 1990s and early 2000s.
The Badgers, who are in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2007, beat Milwaukee and California Dec. 6 and 7 to advance to the Sweet Sixteen.
Key to the team’s on-court success was another newcomer: freshman setter Lauren Carlini. She has been named First Team All-Big Ten, as well as Big Ten Freshman of the Year for her skills in adeptly running the team’s offense.
In a season full of new triumphs, one thing stayed constant: Senior libero Annemarie Hickey was solid in leading the defense.
This season, Hickey cemented her place in Badger history by moving up to third on Wisconsin’s list of career dig leaders.
The Badgers played extremely well in the tough Big Ten conference, including back-to-back top-10 wins for the first time in program history. Playing in such a competitive conference prepared the team for a grind of a postseason. Sheffield has often referred to the Big Ten as a “gauntlet” that whipped his team into shape.
The Badgers are still alive in the NCAA Tournament, and travel to Champaign, Ill., to play Florida State in the Sweet Sixteen Dec. 13.
Alex Rigsby breaks the UW wins record for a goaltender
Senior goaltender Alex Rigsby has had unprecedented success with the Wisconsin Badgers, managing to break several school records throughout the course of her remarkable career.
Heading into her final season with the Badgers, Rigsby was within striking distance of two school records, and she managed to break them both in a Thanksgiving weekend series against Minnesota-Duluth.
In the first game of the series, the UW captain passed Jackie MacMillan for the most minutes played in program history, becoming the first player to log 7,000 minutes in the net for the Badgers.
The very next night, Rigsby reached another huge milestone by picking up her 92nd career win, surpassing Jessie Vetter for the most wins in school history.
All this success didn’t come without personal adversity.
Being a goaltender for a Division I hockey program is stressful enough as it is, but Rigsby’s life was turned upside down when her mom, Nancy, was diagnosed with breast cancer shortly before her junior year.
While such adversity could understandably cause a negative effect on a player’s performance, Rigsby wouldn’t allow it to be an excuse. She put together a spectacular campaign during her junior year, and her mom was able to beat cancer.
Her commitment, humility and ability to overcome any obstacle has allowed her to reach unprecedented levels of success and made her a great choice to be team captain.
When all is said and done, there’s no doubt Alex Rigsby will certainly go down as one of the greatest players to ever take the ice for the Wisconsin Badgers.
