Category: Athletics

University of Wisconsin men?s basketball coach Bo Ryan has received a raise that will push his annual compensation package past the $2 million mark.

Dear Editor: Badgers win the lottery ? flush the season. Quarterback Russell Wilson arrives, and the coaching staff has no idea how to utilize his talents. A cheap nonconference schedule gets them ready for nothing. What a waste of the opportunity of a lifetime.

A North Carolina State alum emailed me after I blogged about how the Badgers may be wasting their one-year opportunity with Russell Wilson, the transfer quarterback from that school. “You couldn?t be more correct on this!” he opined.

Despite suffering consecutive Big Ten losses, Wisconsin on Sunday remained in the top 20 of The ESPN/USA Today coaches? poll and The Associated Press media poll.

URBANA, Ill. ? Behind the record-setting race of junior Mohammed Ahmed, the University of Wisconsin men?s cross country team grabbed its 13th straight Big Ten Conference championship on Sunday. The Badgers easily distanced themselves from the field by placing five runners in the top six for a team score of 17 points ? 43 points ahead of runner-up Indiana.

New York-area colleges have not produced many Heisman Trophy winners. But a former New York Giants player won the 1999 Heisman, the icing on the cake of one of the greatest careers in college football history.

MADISON ? Barry Alvarez is on board with most of the major reforms approved Thursday by the NCAA, but the University of Wisconsin athletic director has his objections and concerns.

University of Wisconsin senior point guard Jordan Taylor was named to the preseason All-Big Ten team in a vote by the league?s media.The Badgers are picked to finish second in the league behind defending champion Ohio State. Michigan State is picked to finish third. Only the top three predicted finishers are announced.

“Hail Mary, full of grace. Our Lord is with thee. …” One prayer got answered late Saturday night in East Lansing, Mich., and one national championship dream got blown up, all in the space of four seconds.

….A miracle is what it would now take for the Badgers to return to national title contention. Although that dream is off the table, a terrific season certainly is not. If the Badgers are able to win their remaining five games, they would go to the first-ever Big Ten championship game, with a Rose Bowl berth on the line. A possible opponent in that Big Ten title game? Michigan State. Better say your prayers, Sparty.

Ohio State reached out to quarterback Russell Wilson at some point during his recruitment last summer, although by that time he had already narrowed his choices down to the University of Wisconsin and Auburn.

The University of Wisconsin women?s hockey team was a unanimous No. 1 selection in the USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine poll released Tuesday. The Badgers, coming off a sweep of Minnesota-Duluth over the weekend, received all 19 first-place votes. Minnesota, which handed UW (7-1-0) its only loss of the season, was No. 2

In this tough economy, there?s much talk about creating jobs at home and buying local. WISN 12 News investigative reporter Colleen Henry found that a Wisconsin mainstay is sending tax dollars out of state for products that could be gotten in state.

The morning after Coach Bret Bielema led Wisconsin to one of the biggest wins in his program?s history, an Oct. 1 blowout of then-No. 8 Nebraska that confirmed the Badgers? status as a national title contender, he began crying in his office.

Even with a couple days to reflect, University of Wisconsin football coach Bret Bielema sounded more convinced than ever on Monday he did the right thing in using his timeouts at the end of the game on Saturday night.

Like many college football teams, the University of Wisconsin works on the Hail Mary pass during training camp and every Thursday in practice. It?s one of the things coaches do, never knowing if the last-second desperation pass will ever decide a game.

“In my coaching career, I?ve never been in a situation where a game has come down to a Hail Mary pass,” UW defensive coordinator Chris Ash said on Sunday. “You could go a whole career and it never happens.”

The only salvation for UW (6-1, 2-1) is that because this is the first season of divisional play, the Badgers still control their path to the Leaders Division title and the Big Ten championship game Dec. 3 in Indianapolis.

Wisconsin?s critical Big Ten game at 7 Saturday night against host Ohio State will be on ESPN.

The University of Wisconsin-Madison is an extraordinarily self-sufficient entity. It produces its own electricity, grows its own produce on the student farm and even makes its own Berry Alvarez ice cream at the campus dairy store. So few realize their tickets to Badger football are not printed in Wisconsin.

Wisconsin checked in at No. 14 and Marquette at No. 21 in the ESPN/USA Today men?s basketball preseason coaches? poll released Thursday.

Thursday came with an unusually early morning for the men of Sigma Phi Epsilon, a fraternity at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

A dozen of the fraternity members left their house on Langdon Street to start the road trip to East Lansing, Mich., and the Badger match-up against the Michigan State Spartans. The 18th annual Tour de Touchdown will be a blustery 368-mile bike relay to raise money for American Family Children?s Hospital.

The University of Wisconsin men?s basketball team is ranked No. 14 in the USA Today/ESPN Top 25 coaches? poll, the Badgers? best preseason ranking since starting the 2006-07 season at No. 9. The Badgers, who finished No. 15 in last season?s final coaches? poll after going 25-9 and advancing to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA tournament, are one of three Big Ten Conference teams ranked in the poll, which was released Thursday.

The University of Wisconsin football team won?t have to worry about Michigan State standout defensive end William Gholston on Saturday night. The Big Ten Conference stepped in Thursday, after Michigan State officials declined to act, and suspended Gholston for one game. Gholston threw a punch last week against Michigan offensive tackle Taylor Lewan, which violated Big Ten Conference Agreement 10.01.1.A.1 – “Striking or attempting to strike or otherwise physically abusing an official, opposing coach, spectator or athlete.”

As the World Series begins, the most powerful man in baseball readies a nest in Madison for retirement. It contains bubble gum, pretzels, a basket of baseballs and a cable connection to Major League Baseball?s TV channel. Allan H. “Bud” Selig has charmed the UW-Madison history department, paid a million-plus for a professor to teach the history of sports and had scholarships created in his honor. His new office in the Humanities Building is cozy and modest. The effect of his presence will be the opposite.

According to deputy athletic director Sean Frazier, the University of Wisconsin Athletic Department is putting together a formal bid to host the women?s NCAA Frozen Four in March of 2014. The national semifinals and championship games would be played at the Kohl Center. The new LaBahn Arena, scheduled for completion in the fall of 2012, will help facilitate practices and other events for the schools involved.

Allan H. “Bud” Selig?s endowed chair in the UW-Madison history department wasn?t his only financial splash. In addition to that endowment, the Hank Aaron Chasing the Dream Foundation endowed the “4 for 4 Scholarship” in honor of Selig. The name references the 12 times in his baseball career that Aaron went 4-for-4 at the plate. Also, three major league team owners created a scholarship to honor Selig and his wife, Suzanne. Milwaukee Brewers owner Mark Attanasio, Oakland A?s owner Lew Wolff and Boston Red Sox co-owner Tom Werner made the endowment under UW-Madison?s Great People Scholarship program.

As the World Series begins, the most powerful man in baseball readies a nest in Madison for retirement. It contains bubble gum, pretzels, a basket of baseballs and a cable connection to Major League Baseball?s TV channel. Allan H. “Bud” Selig has charmed the UW-Madison history department, paid a million-plus for a professor to teach the history of sports and had scholarships created in his honor. His new office in the Humanities Building is cozy and modest. The effect of his presence will be the opposite.

Bret Bielema was understandably apprehensive when ESPN approached him about featuring the University of Wisconsin football program in a show focusing on quarterbacks.

A city commission approved the construction of an outdoor beer garden area that would be open to the public at Hotel Red across from Camp Randall during Monday night?s meeting.

As a former defensive player and coach, Bret Bielema knows there are multiple ways to rattle an opposing quarterback. So the University of Wisconsin football coach has no problem with the tactics taken by Michigan State this week, which include safety Isaiah Lewis saying the Spartans defensive linemen are going to hurt Badgers quarterback Russell Wilson.

Being a college football fan these days requires a lot of work. A background in mathematics, an understanding of computer programs and a high tolerance for frustration all help as well. Yes, the Bowl Championship Series standings, in all of their mystifying splendor, are upon us.

For Badgers fans, the party doesn?t end after the clock winds down. Since the early 1970s, the university?s marching band has taken the field for a ?fifth quarter,? during which fans sing and dance to tunes ranging from Top 40 hits to the crowd pleasers ?On, Wisconsin!? and ?You?ve Said It All.?

The release of the initial Bowl Championship Series standings Sunday night did not change the agenda for unbeaten Wisconsin.

That is, win each game and see where you stand heading into bowl season. UW, No.?4 in all three major human polls, came in at No.?6 in the BCS standings.