University of Wisconsin-Madison senior Alex Meyer had the Wisconsin men’s basketball team winning his whole NCAA bracket, a feat that would have been the perfect end to his last year as a Badger.
A day after Wisconsin defeated the University of Arizona March 29 to advance to the Final Four, Meyer joined thousands of fans who streamed into the Kohl Center to celebrate the team’s homecoming. The event provided a small sampling of the widespread support the team received throughout the entire championship tournament, he said.
“Just talking to my brother who goes to Marquette, having all those guys watching the Wisconsin game, they’re rooting for us, they’re cheering for us and, you know, they have a lot of team spirit,” Meyer said. “It’s not just a [UW-Madison] thing, it’s a state thing and having the whole state rally behind us is really cool to see.”
Among a sea of red and white, he awaited the team’s arrival as the UW-Madison marching band played popular Wisconsin cheers, the same ones students had belted on State Street in celebration the previous night and would come to sing in lament just one week later.
Following a one-point loss to the University of Kentucky, Grateful Red fans took to State Street once again Saturday night. In contrast with their first procession, however, Saturday’s gathering brought not only more melancholy, but also increased police intervention.
Students’ passions and multiple couches alike were set ablaze in response to the Badgers’ defeat. These incidents, along with instances of “body passing,” accounted for the majority of “a dozen” arrests made that night, said Madison Police Department spokesperson Joel DeSpain.
Fans’ unrest resulted in a few minor injuries, including a concussion suffered by UW-Madison freshman Story Sandy after a flying beer can struck his head. Despite the injury, Sandy reported the crowd was not threatening.
“People were behaving pretty well and it was calm, it just seemed to be a kind of unfortunate isolated incident,” Sandy said.
A Badger loss was certainly not ideal, and its reality was perhaps especially difficult for UW-Madison junior Lauren Peterson.
Peterson, whose mother attended the University of Louisville, has harbored a disdain for the Kentucky Wildcats from a young age and, following a week of trash-talking from relatives supporting UK, she wanted more than anything to see a Wisconsin victory.
Nevertheless, Peterson said she was pleased to see the fans’ continued support of the team, citing fans’ desire to band together Saturday night in spite of—or perhaps because of—their mutual heartbreak.
“I think it just shows the goodwill of everyone here,” she said. “Yeah, it really sucks that we lost, but we were still happy to just be that far and it kind of shows that we still rally around the positive things regardless of what happens to the team.”
Peterson added that she looks forward to next year and hopes this season will make recruitment more competitive and hopefully help establish a basketball dynasty in Wisconsin.
Similarly, UW-Madison sophomore Alex Jenkins said he is proud of the team’s accomplishments thus far and has high hopes for next year and the Badgers’ potential to make the upcoming season “something special.”
Jenkins boarded a university-provided coach bus and headed down to Texas alongside fellow fans Friday morning to cheer on the Badgers. He was one of 79,444 basketball enthusiasts present Saturday at AT&T Stadium, helping to set a NCAA Final Four attendance record, according to the Associated Press.
Jenkins said a substantial crowd of Wisconsinites was present and their energy never waned.
“Our students by far were the loudest,” he explained. “Even when we were losing, or after the last shot, we all sang ‘Varsity’ and supported our team. I just think it made us look like the best school that was at the Final Four.”
He added that, while the game was an unforgettable experience, his favorite part of the trip was going to an alumni pregame event that was attended by hundreds of Wisconsin graduates and several former UW-Madison basketball players.
“It was just such a great atmosphere to be there and see Badgers young and old all cheering for one team,” Jenkins said.
Patricia Johnson contributed to this report.
