Our writers all have their favorite Badger moments since we enrolled. Throughout the years, it’s been pretty good to be a Badger fan. Now, the question is what lies in store for you.
“Brust across halfcourt, he’ll hoist one up... HE HIT IT!!!”- Matt Lepay, Wisconsin Radio
On Feb. 9, 2013, Wisconsin produced one of the biggest upsets of the college basketball season against No. 3 Michigan. The Wolverines were a robust 21-2, while the unranked Badgers were a respectable but somewhat unimpressive 16-7.
Despite a roster with four future NBA first rounders, Michigan could not pull away from Wisconsin. Finally, the Wolverines appeared to strike a decisive blow when Tim Hardaway Jr. nailed a 3-pointer with 2.4 seconds left to make it a 60-57 game.
Following a timeout, Mike Bruesewitz inbounded the ball to Ben Brust near half-court. After one dribble, Brust heaved up a prayer that smoothly swished through like a free throw to tie the game.
The noise inside the Kohl Center was so piercing that you could not hear anything except a wall of noise. It was a flurry of shock and disbelief as the game headed to overtime.
In the extra period, Brust followed his end-of-regulation heroics with a game-clinching 3-pointer to give the Badgers the final 65-62 lead.
The student section rushed the court in celebration. There’s nothing to do once you’re on the floor besides stand around and take it all in, but it was a thrilling, once-in-a-lifetime experience. While people love to hate rushing the court, I’d love to see anyone do something else after a game like that.
-Jim Dayton
Wilson to Duckworth, UW pays Spartans back
When Russell Wilson went 75th overall in the 2012 National Football League Draft, Jon Gruden and Mel Kiper spiritedly debated over his future, unable to decide if he could be even an NFL starter.
There was no such debate in Madison. Why? Let’s go to the late fourth quarter of the 2011 Big Ten Football Championship.
The Badgers were playing Michigan State for a second time in the season. In the first meeting, a fluke of a Hail Mary gave the Spartans the win and ended a perfect season for the Badgers, who were a true national contender that season.
The second game is going to be shown on the Big Ten Network for a long time. A back-and-forth affair, with incredible plays made by both teams, came down to a key drive for the Badgers that had stalled at midfield. Down 39-34, the Badgers had a final snap at 4th and 6 to save the season.
Wilson snaps the ball and scrambles left. He fires across the field and nails a diving Jeff Duckworth to set up first and goal and an immediate touchdown on the next play, supplying the final score of the game.
You want calmness under pressure, it was there when Wilson easily escaped a broken pocket. You want a strong, accurate arm, you saw it in his throw. You want toughness, then all you need to know is Wilson had his nose fractured by a blow to the face during an earlier touchdown pass.
Put those traits together and you get a player that most definitely had an NFL future and a play that had the audience in my dorm’s basement screaming in ecstasy as our team reached a second straight Rose Bowl.
-Jack Baer
Volleyball makes a surprise run to NCAA finals
When I arrived in Madison at the beginning of last year, I knew that I wanted to be a sports writer at the Daily Cardinal. After attending a recruitment meeting, I realized the glamorous sports (football, basketball, hockey) were already being covered by upperclassmen.
So I requested volleyball, a sport I knew little about. My knowledge of the game came from lazy games on the beach, and I was nervous to cover a college sport for the first time. But after attending a few matches of an unheralded Wisconsin squad, my knowledge of the game increased, and I realized how fast-paced and exciting it really was.
My newfound love for the game was undoubtedly helped when the team turned out to be quite good. I saw them take down two top ten opponents in back-to-back games for the first time in team history and earn a berth to the NCAA tournament.
Luckily, the first two rounds were held at the UW Field House in Madison, so I went to one game as a reporter, and another as a fan. The team won four straight games and found themselves flying to Seattle to play in the Final Four.
Their game against No. 1 overall seed Texas fell on the night before my last final exam, but my friends and I took a break from studying to watch the Badgers win a stunner. Unfortunately, they went on to lose in the finals to Penn State days later.
Four months earlier I never would have imagined six to eight college guys crowded around a small TV in a dorm room going berserk about women’s volleyball, but there I was celebrating a win for a team I felt part of in one of my most memorable moments as a Wisconsin sports fan.
-Andrew Tucker
Badgers win inaugural Big Ten Hockey tournament
If there was one thing you could expect from the Wisconsin men’s hockey team during the 2013-14 season, it was that they’d always make things interesting.
In March, the squad played in the first-ever Big Ten tournament, a culmination of Big Ten hockey’s inaugural season. After a first-round bye and 2-1 victory over Penn State, the Badgers showed off their penchant for last-minute comebacks in the championship game against Ohio State.
Wisconsin fell behind 2-0 midway through the first period. To launch its comeback, Wisconsin took advantage of two power plays, tying the game with goals from junior defenseman Jake McCabe and redshirt sophomore Morgan Zulinick.
But the Buckeyes responded with two goals of their own. In a 4-2 game midway through the third period, the Badgers needed a miracle.
Just 20 seconds after OSU’s fourth goal, senior forward Jefferson Dahl cut the Buckeyes’ lead to one goal on a McCabe rebound. 28 seconds later, senior forward Tyler Barnes tied the game with a goal of his own.
The tie still stood when the buzzer sounded and the teams headed to overtime.
As if the Badgers hadn’t made it interesting enough, it was senior forward Mark Zengerle who scored the game-winner for Wisconsin. Zengerle, who led the Big Ten in assists during the regular season, was best known for his set-up skills. In a fashion true to Wisconsin men’s hockey, Zengerle stole the spotlight when it mattered most. The Badgers’ 5-4 victory was also their first lead of the game. That didn’t seem to matter as they celebrated their first ever - and the first ever - Big Ten tournament championship.
-Devin Lowe
Softball punctuates 13-game win streak
Nestled along the Lakeshore Path, with a view of Lake Mendota in right field and the Picnic Point Marsh in left, Goodman Diamond, home of the Wisconsin softball team, is off the radar.
Wisconsin softball does not typically garner the attention of the more prominent UW sports that transform the campus into a sea of red on game days. Students need to hop on their bikes or catch a bus to get out to the Diamond to see the Badgers take the field. The team usually has to go about its business quietly, performing in front of a handful of fans and moving on to the next opponent.
This past spring, the Wisconsin softball team rattled off a 13-game winning streak that revived a mediocre season and filled the stands at its home field.
Beginning with an April 9 bashing of North Dakota and ending with a loss to Big Ten rival Nebraska April 30, the Badgers unleashed an offensive onslaught that, coupled with dominant pitching, made UW nearly unbeatable.
The highlight of the streak was a home victory against Purdue April 26. The Badgers put together one of their most solid performances of the season in front of 1,371 fans, which was the second-largest attendance in school history. With Goodman Diamond filled to the brim, a cool breeze blowing off Lake Mendota and the Badgers playing to their highest potential, the sunny afternoon game represented the pinnacle of what Wisconsin softball has to offer.
Pitchers Cassandra Darrah and Taylor-Paige Stewart combined to shut down the Boilermakers, while outfielder Mary Massei, third baseman Michelle Mueller and first baseman Stephanie Peace generated the offensive spark to power Wisconsin to a 7-3 win.
The Badgers went on to finish 36-20 during its 2014 campaign, which ended with a loss to powerhouse Oregon in the NCAA Regionals.
However, on that one Saturday in April, Wisconsin softball was at its prime. The time-honored simplicity of the game, along with a complete team performance and stands packed with fans made the win over Purdue a day to remember. It was worth the bike ride.
-Jake Powers
Bo Ryan finally reaches his first Final Four
Heading into the 2013-’14 season, Bo Ryan had accomplished essentially all there is to accomplish as a college basketball coach. However, he still had one glaring omission from his resume: a trip to the Final Four.
After defeating American, Oregon and Baylor in the NCAA tournament, Ryan and the Badgers found themselves just one win away from the Final Four.
The only thing standing in their way was the Arizona Wildcats, the top seed in the West Region.
In one of the best games of the entire tournament, Wisconsin and Arizona traded blows back and forth all game long, with neither team getting ahead by more than three in the final 17 minutes of regulation and all five minutes of overtime.
Meanwhile, Frank Kaminsky became a household name across America with his stellar performance, scoring 28 points and grabbing 11 rebounds, seven offensive.
After a tense video review awarded possession to the Wildcats in the waning seconds of overtime, Wisconsin fans held their breath as the Badgers desperately tried to hold on to their one-point lead.
Arizona’s Nick Johnson took the inbound pass and took it towards the lane, but his shot was both off the mark and after the buzzer, giving Bo Ryan his first Final Four berth at the Division I level.
With the Badgers returning to college basketball’s final weekend for the first time since 2000, students back in Madison took to State Street for a celebration 14 years in the making, leaving all those in attendance with an experience they can tell their children about for years.
-Zach Rastall
Badger nation’s border reaches CA
If the Badger football team had to be described in one word, persistence could do them justice. As a confused, stressed-out high school senior, I had to make the decision of where to spend the next four years of my life.
My answer did not come from college trips and long lists of pros and cons, but from 25 proud Badgers taking residence in my California home for the 2013 Rose Bowl game.
My older brother attended Wisconsin and not only did he provide housing for a small population of the Badger community, but successfully convinced me that my college decision really was not a decision at all. The only place I belonged was by the light of the moon.
Like I mentioned, the Badgers have persistence. Although “third time’s a charm” is an optimistic way to view consecutive visits to the Rose Bowl, it does not quite fit the trying times of Wisconsin football.
Crowds of red, white and cheese heads populated the streets of Pasadena leading up to the beloved Rose Bowl game.
Some visitors looked in awe at the towering mountains which surround the bowl or enjoyed their wardrobe changes from knee length parkas to T-shirts and flip-flops.
Gameday tailgating outside the stadium was unlike any Saturday spent around Camp Randall. Fans spent pregame festivities on the surrounding golf course turned parking lot playing catch and enjoying the 70-degree weather sunny southern California offers in January.
Although thousands of miles from Badger stomping ground, that Wisconsin favorite, “Jump Around,” could still be heard sporadically through tailgates on the course.
Amidst the throngs of Badger fans filled with school pride, I found myself longing to be a part of them. Even a third Rose Bowl loss could not deflate the spirits of the prideful fans, nor my longing to officially join the group of dedicated students calling themselves Badgers.
-Colleen Degnan
Cochran pulls out miracle comeback
There was something magical about the McClimon Soccer Complex this past season. The year resembled a Hollywood narrative for the Badgers.
Wisconsin, current owners of the nation’s longest home unbeaten streak (14), was looking at starting its Big Ten season with two straight losses.
Indiana had not started their NCAA title defense well, coming into Madison at 4-6-1 overall. But after a scoreless first half, a pair of Hoosier freshman brothers put the Badgers down two goals just 10 minutes into the second half.
Wisconsin grabbed a goal back, but after Indiana responded in the 67th minute. The Badgers appeared to be out of the game, facing another two-goal deficit with only 20 minutes remaining.
Enter Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year and current member of the Houston Dynamo A.J. Cochran.
Tomislav Zadro, who was named Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year, whipped in a corner kick that was thundered home by Cochran to give the Badgers a sniff of potentially drawing the game.
With that glimmer of hope–all the Badgers needed–Wisconsin pushed forward and Jacob Brindle tied the game with a shot from six yards out.
An 84th minute corner from Drew Conner met Cochran’s head at the far post and the comeback was complete.
Cue Cochran ripping his jersey off. Cue fans rushing the field. Cue pandemonium.
The Badgers’ storybook season ended with their first NCAA tournament appearance since 1995. But no scene was more emblematic of UW’s home-field magic than their 4-3 win over the Hoosiers that October night.
-Jonah Beleckis
