It was a good week to be a Badger fan. The football team dominated Nebraska to remain tied with Minnesota for first in the Big Ten West. Men’s basketball raised last season’s Final Four banner and dominated both of its opponents.
The volleyball team beat Iowa to earn their 15th consecutive victory. Both women’s hockey and women’s basketball added wins to their belts. The men’s and women’s cross country teams each punched their tickets to the national championship after strong finishes in the NCAA Great Lakes Regional. The athletic department recapped the weekend success and looked ahead to the upcoming schedule at the weekly Monday press conference.
Volleyball
Wisconsin head coach Kelly Sheffield spoke about his team’s performance over the past few weeks and about the upcoming games this week. The Badgers have won 15 consecutive streaks.
“It’s been very challenging, the schedule has been very, very challenging and the travel has been tougher,” Sheffield said about the streak. “We haven’t really looked at how many wins in a row we’ve done, but I think we’ve done a really good job of continuing to try to find ways to get better.”
The Badgers play Illinois at home Wednesday and Ohio State on the road Friday. Both are Top 20 opponents. Sheffield is looking forward to the opportunity to play at home.
“We’ve got two more home matches, both of them are really, really close to sell-outs,” Sheffield said. “The fan support has been awesome and hopefully we will be able to win both of them.”
Men’s and Women’s cross country
It is a very exciting time for the cross country program as the men’s and women’s teams are both going to the national championship Saturday.
“Obviously we’re extremely happy and excited about the performance of both squads. Both teams executed the race plan to perfection,” said UW Cross Country and Track and Field Director Mick Byrne. “On the women’s side we knew that it was going to be a battle of Big Ten teams. On the men’s side those young guys bunched up in a group and ran together the entire race, ran with great poise and great confidence.”
Wisconsin has won 47 conference championships and is a regular at nationals year in and year out.
“We can’t take any of this for granted, and especially with two young teams. They know that it’s a national championship,” Byrne said. “They’ve had some good success, they’re very confident and are excited.”
Women’s basketball
The Badgers opened their regular season this past week with a victory over Illinois State.
“We are very pleased to open last night’s season with a win,” said head coach Bobbie Kelsey. “It’s always nice to get the “W” just starting out of the gates because then you have a lot of confidence going into your next game.”
The Badgers play Vanderbilt this Thursday at home.
“They have always been very good, well coached. We try to play different SEC, ACC, Power Five opponents that are comparable to us, and will give us a good challenge,” said Kelsey. “We’re trying to play those teams that give us an opportunity to showcase our skills and look good when it’s selection time at the end of the year.”
Men’s hockey
Coming off a weekend with no games, the men’s hockey team travels to Colorado this upcoming weekend.
“One of the measurements will be how we play this weekend,” said head coach Mike Eaves. “The issues dealt with fundamental things.”
This week the Badgers will be playing two different teams—Colorado College Thursday and Denver Friday. They’ve been off to a slow start so far this year and Eaves was asked about the similarities between this team and the 2012 team that also got off to a slow start before turning it around and making the playoffs. But to do that again, Wisconsin must find a sparkplug to rally the team.
“Guys like that are a huge factor. The difference is that we were a veteran team then, but now we’re a young team. But guys having been there are able to say, been there done that,” Eaves said. “The message comes down to controlling things you can control on a day-to-day basis. That’s the culture in the locker room right now and that’s a good one to get for these young guys to learn and understand that.”
