Women’s Hockey
No. 2 Wisconsin (24-3-1 WCHA, 34-3-1 overall) clinched back-to-back WCHA Final Face-Off titles, defeating No. 18 Minnesota-Duluth (10-17-1, 15-21-1) 5-0 and No. 3 Minnesota (24-3-1, 32-4-1) 1-0 in Minneapolis, Minn., last weekend.
Head coach Mark Johnson was pleased to win but still sees room for improvement.
“I was very impressed with the way our team battled the entire 60 minutes. You knew it was going to be a tight, hard-fought battle, and at times when Minnesota gets up to speed and gets going as well as they're able to play, you can bend a little bit, but you ask your players to do some of the little things that are necessary if you're going to be successful, whether it's winning a face-off in a certain situation, blocking shots, [you do] things necessary to get yourself to the finish line,” Johnson said.
“I credit our players. They had to dig down deep and they were able to do that. The satisfaction from that is as the game ends you watch the joy and the smiles and the celebration afterwards and I think for the coaching staff, that's a unique and a real special moment.”
Johnson believes coming out of a strong conference like the WCHA will help in the NCAA tournament.
“I think if you look at the strength of schedules and some of the games that we have had to play lately, Minnesota might have a case, too, but the nice thing about the teams that are able to come out of our league and move on to the Final Eight, it's great preparation,” Johnson said.
“So yesterday's game was great preparation, even the two games we talked about a couple weeks ago that we lost up in Minnesota was great preparation as we got ready for the playoffs. If you can maintain that level of play, that will bode well for Minnesota and their game and should help us as we get prepared for Saturday.” Wisconsin will host No. 13 Mercyhurst (19-10-5) in an NCAA tournament quarterfinal at LaBahn Arena Saturday night at 7:07 p.m.
Men’s Basketball
After Wisconsin (12-6 Big Ten, 20-11 overall) beat Minnesota (2-16, 8-22) 62-49 and then fell to No. 13 Purdue (12-6, 24-7) 91-80 in the Big Ten regular season finale, it cemented a No. 6 in the Big Ten Tournament.
Newly named head coach Greg Gard, who had the "interim" tag officially removed from his title Monday, reflected on how far his team has come since he took over on an interim basis for then-head coach Bo Ryan Dec. 15, 2015. “For our guys to be able to finish out the year after starting 1-4 in league play, and obviously that's been well documented, and to finish 11-2 and also the places we had to go to with the road games that came down the stretch and how they have responded and grown, you've heard me talk about it before, I'm very proud of how they've grown and the position they put themselves in to finish in a tie for third and finish in that top grouping—top four, I guess, it is for the 15th consecutive year—and that puts us into a position to have postseason play, and that's something I'm proud of, and they've earned it. They have had to go through a gauntlet of a schedule and obviously a transition, and we're excited about what's going to come down the road,” Gard said.
Entering the postseason, Gard isn’t letting it change his mindset.
“It can't change your mindset. I think if you try to make it something different than what it is -- we understand it's possession-by-possession, I think that—I keep using the ‘process,’ I've probably overused it. Is there a counter on how many times I say process? Process, process, process; I don't know how many times I've said it,” Gard said.
As the six-seed in the Big Ten Tournament, Wisconsin will play the winner of the Nebraska-Rutgers game Thursday night at 8 p.m. in Indianapolis.
“I think while you stick to that, we have that approach of taking it day-by-day, that helps us, too, as we prepare. We will prepare starting tomorrow for Rutgers, and we will use Wednesday for Nebraska day, and understand we have been talking about that over a week now, and it's March, and that point in time where you have to be very consistent or you're going to go home. They understand that. They know—these guys have played—even the freshmen have played in high school tournaments, prep school tournaments, in [Alex Illikainen’s] case, and Jordan Hill's case. They understand what's at stake. I don't think we have to make it any bigger than it is,” Gard said.
Gard sees three teams as the favorites, but wouldn’t count out the Badgers.
“Well, I think you've got three teams specifically that are playing really well and we saw one of them last night [Purdue], and I thought that going into last night, I thought they looked like they were in sync like I thought they would be most of the year, and they were really until Notre Dame beat 'em, and then they lost to Butler. Butler beat 'em, nonconference, right? Between Purdue, Indiana and Michigan State, I think the three that are hitting on all cylinders right now and hitting a stride,” Gard said.
“The rest of us obviously are—you always—it's one game at a time. You never know what can happen in terms of foul trouble, somebody gets hurt, somebody sprains an ankle, tournaments sometimes—not so much in the conference tournament because you know the match-ups, and it's unlike the NCAA Tournament in terms of match-ups are so key. We know how we match-up with some teams and how we don't match-up well with other teams, but you look at who is playing well and I think those three in my mind, looking across the board, are playing at a high level, more consistent level than anybody else right now.
“I think we're in that mix as well. I still don't think we've played as well for as long as what we're capable of. The closest we came was at Maryland on both ends of the floor, but I think we have a lot of room to grow and hopefully we have a lot of games yet in which to grow in that part.”
Men’s Hockey
Wisconsin (2-12-4 Big Ten, 7-17-8 overall) split its final home series with No. 12 Penn State (10-7-1, 20-10-5) losing 2-1 Friday night and winning 4-3 Saturday night.
Head coach Mike Eaves was pleased to get the win, but he still sees lots of room for improvement from his young team.
“Well, we've played better and lost, so I'm not going to look a gift horse in the mouth and say no thank you. It's not the way we diagrammed it out, and we found a way to win, and that in itself is a small step in the right direction,” Eaves said. “Different task for us in terms of our young team finally figuring out how to play with a lead and win, so another chapter in a book, another paragraph and we'll move forward from there.”
As the Big Ten regular season comes to a close and with conference award ballots due soon, Eaves believes a few of his players deserve consideration.
“Well, the Big Ten All-Rookie Freshman, Big Ten Freshman team we will nominate and have nominated Luke Kunin for that. As far as the regular teams, I think that, you know, for us, I think Kevin Schulze has done a really good job along with Eddie [Wittchow], for the ice time they get. Their numbers probably aren't going to help them in terms of plus-minus and points, but I think for us those guys have been really good for us,” Eaves said.
The Badgers head to Minneapolis this weekend to take on No. 16 Minnesota (13-5-0, 18-15-0). The puck drops Friday and Saturday at 7 p.m.
Track and Field
Wisconsin continues preparation for the NCAA Championships this weekend in Birmingham, Ala.
Director of Track and Field Mick Byrne has high expectations for the four athletes who qualified for the tournament in Alabama.
“All four student athletes heading to Birmingham this weekend are coming off huge performances at the Big Ten Championships, scoring multi points for us in the team scoring, and obviously when you have a great Big Ten meet, you look for them to take that confidence, excitement and momentum into the national meet,” Byrne said.
Specifically, redshirt senior Kelsey Card, who was previously named 2015 Big Ten Field athlete of the year, looks to earn more recognition this season on a national scale.
“On the women's side, Kelsey Card is obviously our leader, currently ranked No. 3 in the nation with 58 feet 6 and ¾ in the shot put and No. 1 in the weight throw at 72-feet-7 and ¾,” Byrne said. “Kelsey will compete against Raven Saunders, the defending NCAA Indoor and Outdoor Champion, currently one of the top throwers in the world, also Christina Hillman, from Iowa State, with 58-feet-10, right around Kelsey's mark, so it looks to be an exciting and intense competition.”
Redshirt senior Zach Ziemek, who holds the best time in the Big Ten in the decathlon, will anchor the men’s effort.
“On the men's side, Zach Ziemek is No. 5 in the nation with 5,825 points. Zach we decided not to do the ‘hep’ at the Big Ten meet, thought it was best for him to rest and do some individual events and even have some fun with that. He had already competed once this year in the heptathlon, and I think it was the right decision for Zach, a little bit fresher going into the NCAA meet,” Byrne said.
Sophomore Morgan McDonald, school record-holder in the mile (3:57) leads Wisconsin’s long-distance presence at the tournament.
“Morgan McDonald, we decided to run Morgan in the 3,000 meters instead of the mile. Felt that a lot of our training for the 3,000 meters was strength based, and we just thought it was a great decision. Really looking forward to outdoor season and continuing the strength building for such a young athlete. Turns out many of the top milers in the country scratched out of the mile and opted to run the 3K so we will know in a couple of days if it was a good decision or not, so we're excited to see Morgan as a sophomore heading to the national meet.”
Finally, junior Georgia Ellenwood is coming off an impressive showing at the conference meet in late February.
“Back on the women's side, obviously in the multis is Georgia Ellenwood, huge PR in that event at the Big Ten Championships. To lose the title by one point was heartbreaking. She is currently fifth on the list, Jess Lehman from Minnesota, the Big Ten Champion, has decided to scratch from the meet so, again, an open competition and with Georgia scoring four out of five PRs at the Big Ten meet, she's obviously got a lot of confidence and riding high coming into the national meet.”
The NCAA Championships begin Friday and conclude on Saturday.
