BOSTON—The NCAA has a parquet floor ready to go here at TD Garden, and Wisconsin and Syracuse are set to tip at 6:15 p.m. central time. Here are some notes on both teams in advance of the night’s first Sweet 16 matchup.
Forgive the average fan of Wisconsin men’s basketball if he or she isn’t overly excited about the Badgers being one of only 16 teams still alive for a national title. After all, Sweet 16 appearances are nothing new in Madison.
There’s something special about this year’s crop of Badgers under head coach Bo Ryan. The usually stoic and unassuming Wisconsin basketball team (26-9) have captured the hearts and minds of the Badger faithful everywhere with the right combination of hard work, determination and charm.
DULUTH, Minn.—The stage is set for what will be another chapter of one of the fiercest rivalries in college athletics. The Wisconsin women’s hockey team will take the ice Sunday against Minnesota looking for back-to-back national championships.
DULUTH, Minn.—In preparing for the NCAA Frozen Four national semifinal, Wisconsin women’s hockey head coach Mark Johnson stressed the importance of coming out strong in the first period. Less than a minute in to Friday’s game, however, Johnson’s team found itself trailing Boston College 1-0.
Around this time one year ago, the Wisconsin women’s hockey team found itself getting ready for a NCAA semifinal matchup against Boston College at the Frozen Four, where both teams knew that after stellar seasons they were just two wins away from a national championship.
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.— Having gotten over the sting of Saturday’s loss to top-seeded Michigan State in the semifinals of the Big Ten Tournament, the Wisconsin men’s basketball team is now set to begin the second season that is the NCAA Tournament.
With a national championship and the highest individual honor in collegiate women’s hockey up for grabs, this coming weekend has the potential to be the high-water mark for Brianna Decker’s career. As the junior forward gets ready to lead her team into the NCAA semifinal Friday afternoon against Boston College, she is also one of three finalists for the Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award given to the most outstanding player in the game.
Coming into the WCHA playoffs the Wisconsin men’s hockey team was riding a wave of momentum, but in the end that renewed confidence wasn’t enough to push the Badgers past No. 9 Denver on the road in their first-round WCHA match-up.
INDIANAPOLIS—There is an old adage in basketball about how difficult it is to beat a team three times in a season. No. 8 Michigan State made it clear that adage wasn’t going to apply to them as they rolled to a 65-52 defeat of No. 14 Wisconsin in Saturday’s Big Ten semifinals.
INDIANAPOLIS—Any time a college basketball player puts up 30 points in a game, he is going to command attention. When that player enters the game averaging 3.1 points per game, attention becomes an understatement.
INDIANAPOLIS—Rob Wilson’s Wisconsin career hasn’t exactly been the stuff of legend. While the senior guard came to Madison as a highly touted recruit, his four years in a Badger uniform had not exactly lived up to expectations.
Having finished off the regular season in style with three straight conference victories, Wisconsin men’s basketball now heads down to Indianapolis to begin what it hopes is an extended postseason run. Just a year after being upset in the Big Ten quarterfinals by Penn State, the Badgers (12-6 Big Ten, 23-8 overall) will likely enter Friday’s quarterfinal matchup with Indiana (11-7, 25-7) as a slight underdog.
After wins in four of its last five games, the Wisconsin men’s hockey team (11-15-2 WCHA, 16-16-2 overall) is heading into its WCHA playoff series at No. 9 Denver this weekend playing at its best hockey of the season.
The WCHA champion and No. 1 seeded Wisconsin women’s hockey team (23-2-2 WCHA, 31-4-2 overall) will host Mercyhurst (8-1-3 CHA, 23-7-3 overall) in the NCAA quarterfinals this weekend at the Kohl Center.
Head coach Bo Ryan has been in the business of college basketball for a long time. That’s why when a reporter tried to ask if he had any regrets about losing out on a share of the Big Ten regular season title, Ryan didn’t even let him finish the question.
Something great happened at the Daytona 500 a few weeks ago.
Encouraged by its results at the end of the regular season the Wisconsin men’s hockey team (11-15-2 WCHA, 16-16-2 overall) heads into it’s road WCHA playoff series with No. 9 Denver (16-8-4, 21-11-4) with what head coach Mike Eaves calls “legitimate” confidence.
The familiar Wisconsin vs. Minnesota rivalry made its way to Indianapolis for the first round of the Big Ten Women’s Basketball Tournament Thursday. A Minnesota team eager to avenge a home loss to the Badgers in the regular season left no doubt about who would advance to the second round, ending Wisconsin’s season with a 81-49 romp.
The No. 14/15 Wisconsin men’s basketball team (11-6 Big Ten, 22-8 overall) will close out its regular season Sunday at the Kohl Center against the Illinois Fighting Illini (6-10, 17-12).
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