Men’s Basketball
Instead of eating drumsticks and mashed potatoes, Wisconsin (8-0 overall) spent its break getting suntans and wins in Playa del Carmen, Mexico. Despite nearing 300 career wins, head coach Bo Ryan is modest.
“I thought we played good teams and we’ve played pretty well, but it’s early yet,” Ryan said. “You bring up we’re 8-0, but, oh, yeah, by the way, now you have Virginia and Marquette this week.”
Next weekend the team will head to Virginia, then return home to battle their neighbors from Marquette. Ryan said Virginia will be a steeper challenge this year with the return of their senior guard Joe Harris from a foot injury.
“And yet I know Tony [Bennett] was just licking his chops knowing that next year with Joe Harris and the rest of the guys healthy and the guys we had sitting out, then you know,” said Ryan. “That’s why a lot of people felt they were going to be a better team this year.”
Junior forward Frank Kaminsky has been a leading scorer this year, and Ryan commended his effort, but said he still has a lot to prove.
“Averages that we have going right now are after eight games. The important thing is to try to continue in the areas where we’ve done fairly well, to keep doing that and then to shore up some other areas,” Ryan said. ”So Frank’s progress has been very good.”
Men’s Hockey
After getting steamrolled in their first game against Minnesota, the Badgers (0-2 Big Ten, 4-5-1) came tantalizingly close to winning their second game, but fell to the Gophers in the final minute.
The Kohl Center will host a Big Ten series this weekend, and the Badgers will face Penn State’s impressive goaltending on Friday and Saturday.
“Their goaltending, it starts right there. It’s very good, very stellar,” head coach Mike Eaves said. “They’re a well-coached team that’ll be in great shape and work very hard.”
Eaves is looking forward to playing again this weekend, after being on and off the ice every other week, and welcomes the opportunity to forget last weekend’s losses.
“That’ll help us get over last weekend for sure,” Eaves said. “We can get right back on the ice and not have to live with this for another bye week.”
Senior forward Michael Mersch has a lot of trust to earn back after a last-minute turnover to Minnesota, which gave the Gophers the win.
“Watching the fourth goal, I was almost in disbelief,” Eaves said. “Michael will get right back in the saddle. We’re going to look at that today, learn, throw it away and then move forward.”
Volleyball
This is a year of firsts for the Badgers (12-8, 23-9). This is head coach Kelly Sheffield’s first year coaching for Wisconsin, and the first year going to NCAA tournament for all but one of his players.
Sheffield hopes the field house will send home some happy red and white this weekend in the battle against Milwaukee for a place in the second round of the NCAA tournament. Sheffield appreciated the team’s effort last weekend in Minnesota and at Northwestern.
“Now we get to work starting today,” Sheffield said. “It’s a heck of a subregional, but we’re excited to get started.”
Sheffield is working to eliminate distractions in practice to assure his No. 15-ranked team won’t allow any losses.
“We’ve been through a meat grinder of a year,” Sheffield said. “When you’re in the Big Ten, that preps you for the NCAA tournament. You lose and your season’s over.”
Women’s Hockey
Mindset is everything for the Badger women (8-2-2, 12-2-2). To continue their 12-game unbeaten streak they will have to avoid the mistake of relaxing once they go back home, a mistake made by many NHL teams who return home after arduous road trips.
“You’ll hear announcers talk about NHL teams that are on extended road trips, six, seven, eight games, and they come back and play that first home game, and they usually lay an egg or it doesn’t go very well,” head coach Mark Johnson said. “I anticipate having another week of strong practice and the competitiveness and the chemistry being part of it.”
No update has been made of senior goaltender Alex Rigsby who was injured in last weekend’s game in Duluth, but Johnson said he was happy with the way freshman goaltender Ann-Renée Desbiens stepped in and helped earn the team a 1-0 victory.
Johnson mentioned the two main things he liked about his team were their chemistry and the way they’ve responded to challenges over the last three weeks.
“Part of it when you go on the road is if you have good chemistry, you can have success. Certainly, our success the last three weekends was part of our chemistry,” Johnson said. “We played very competitive, played hard, won a big hockey game.”
Women’s Basketball
The Badgers (4-2) will host Boston College for the ACC challenge this Thursday, prior to seeking in-state bragging rights against the Golden Eagles at Marquette on Saturday. Despite the loss against Vanderbilt, head coach Bobbie Kelsey liked the fight put up last weekend in Nashville.
“We had a nice trip to Nashville,” Kelsey said. “We had a good time with the line dancing and the honky-tonking down there, but we had business to take care of as well.”
For Kelsey, the Big Ten-ACC Challenge will be good preparation to assess their standing early in the season.
“ACC teams always compete well in the NCAA tournament and also throughout the year,” Kelsey said. “So for us to be able to play the caliber of team that’s from the ACC, it helps us to get ready for what we’re going to be seeing in our own conference.”
