The Badgers open their season Saturday against the Louisiana Tech Techsters. Saturday serves as the return of sixth-year senior Michala Johnson to the Kohl Center floor. Johnson is back in Madison after bypassing the pro ranks for one final season with UW and, at age 24, is one of the oldest players in college basketball.
On the sideline this weekend facing off against the Badgers will be Louisiana Tech head coach Tyler Summit who is only one year older than Johnson. Summit, the son of famed University of Tennessee coach Pat Summit, is the youngest head coach in Division I athletics, and he led his Lady Techsters to a 16-15 record last year. In their lone exhibition game against Mississippi College, Louisiana Tech won by a whopping 60 points, 112-52.
But even with Louisiana Tech’s dominant offensive showing in its exhibition game, Wisconsin head coach Bobbie Kelsey is only concerned about putting her team in a position to succeed.
“I feel confident. We’re trying to give them confidence,” she said. “If we handle our business, we can compete with everybody.”
Kelsey’s goal for her team is the NCAA tournament and she is optimistic the return of Johnson, as well as four other players via either injury or transfer, will give the Badgers a chance to make their first tournament since the 2009-’10 season.
“We definitely want to get to the NCAA... If we had a little more firepower last year, I think we would have been there then,” Kelsey said.
