Category: Athletics

Another late March, another welcome home celebration for the NCAA champion University of Wisconsin women?s hockey team. This year?s edition will be held Monday at the Nicholas Johnson Pavilion adjacent to the Kohl Center. The event, which starts at 6 p.m., is free and open to the public, and free parking is available in lots 88 and 91 starting at 5:30 p.m.

The top-ranked Badgers women’s hockey team finished off one of the greatest seasons in history with a dominating 4-1 victory over Boston University in the NCAA championship game before a crowd of 3,956 at Tullio Arena.

Looking lost after the Big Ten tournament, the Badgers now have an air of confidence.

The hardest thing to do when you?re in the middle of a great moment is to fully appreciate it. Mark Johnson knows this better than most. For the first time in months, the University of Wisconsin women?s hockey coach could completely exhale Sunday, secure in the knowledge that something truly extraordinary had unfolded before his eyes. The top-ranked Badgers won their fourth NCAA title on his watch thanks to a dominating 4-1 triumph over Boston University at Tullio Arena.

It?s great that the University of Wisconsin women?s hockey team will have a civic celebration Monday to celebrate its fourth NCAA title in the last six seasons, as well as Patty Kazmaier Award winner Meghan Duggan. One way to make the 6 p.m. get-together at the Nicholas-Johnson Pavilion even more special is to include UW swimmer Maggie Meyer. Meyer, a senior from White Bear Lake, Minn., won the 200 backstroke to become the first NCAA individual champion in program history over the weekend.

They left the McKale Center battered and bloodied Saturday night.

Wisconsin seniors Jon Leuer and Keaton Nankivil were knocked out in the first half after absorbing blows to the head that required stitches.
Yet all that mattered was that coach Bo Ryan?s players were not beaten.With Ryan getting contributions from up and down his roster, fourth-seeded UW moved on to the NCAA Tournament?s Sweet 16 for the first time since 2008 with a 70-65 victory over fifth-seeded Kansas State.

With students on spring break this week, UW-Madison employees will take a one-day break on Friday, the third scheduled campuswide furlough day of the academic year. But even with the campus closing on Friday, the Memorial Union will be open, so basketball fans can catch the action in the NCAA men?s basketball tournament on TVs in Der Rathskeller.

The UW women’s hockey team is using a scheduling slight for motivation as they prepare for the Frozen Four.

OK, I ask you, what?s wrong with this picture? The UW-Green Bay women?s basketball team has a 32-1 record; the University of Wisconsin has a 15-14 record. UWGB is ranked 13th in the nation; UW is unranked. UWGB is a No. 5 seed in the NCAA tournament; UW is playing in the NIT, starting Wednesday night against Butler.

They?re aware of the predictions. Looking for an upset special in the second round of the men?s NCAA Tournament? Don?t be afraid to pick 13th-seeded Belmont (30-4) over No. 4 Wisconsin (23-8) Thursday night at the McKale Center.

There was no party this year for the University of Wisconsin women?s basketball team as it awaited its postseason destination. In contrast to a year ago when the Badgers celebrated their return to the NCAA tournament after a seven-year absence, they had to wait deep into the night Monday to learn they will be hosting Butler at 7 p.m. Wednesday at the Kohl Center in the first round of the WNIT.

Meghan Duggan scored the tiebreaking goal at 7 minutes, 34 seconds of the third period to power the Badgers to a 2-1 victory over Minnesota Duluth in a national quarterfinal Saturday night at the Kohl Center.

The Badgers score their lowest point total in 12 years in an uninspired effort that could hurt their NCAA seeding.

No regional is ever easy, but the Southeast is the easiest of the four this year. That will give UW a fighting chance to make a tournament run, assuming the Badgers still have a run in them.

The University of Wisconsin men’s hockey team wasted another third-period lead in its playoff series against Colorado College, and likely spelled the end of its season.

Players from the University of Wisconsin men?s basketball learned Sunday that they will play Belmont in an NCAA tournament second-round game on Thursday in Tucson, Ariz. The Badgers (23-8), who earned their 13th straight NCAA tournament bid, are the No. 4 seed in the Southeast regional while the Bruins (30-4), who are the champions of the Atlantic Sun Conference, are the No. 13 seed.

Christmas in the desert. That is how Wisconsin junior guard Jordan Taylor reacted Sunday to the news UW was given a No.?4 seeding in the Southeast Regional of the men?s NCAA Tournament and will travel to Tucson, Ariz.

Gabe Carimi and J.J. Watt are expected to be drafted in the first round of next month?s NFL draft. Tight end Lance Kendricks and guard/center John Moffitt are expecting to hear their names called in the middle rounds, while running back John Clay and quarterback Scott Tolzien could be late-round picks. But if there?s no collective bargaining agreement in place and the NFL owners lock out players, as they?ve threatened to do, the former Badgers will start a waiting game.

Anchors from the first day of practice in October, junior guard Jordan Taylor and senior forward Jon Leuer combined to keep Wisconsin in the running for a share of the Big Ten Conference men?s basketball title into the final week of the regular season.

On Monday the duo helped UW make history. Taylor was named a consensus first-team all-Big Ten pick and Leuer was named to the coaches? first team and to the media second team.

The University of Wisconsin women?s basketball team envisioned a long run in the Big Ten tournament. Unfortunately for the Badgers, their stay lasted 40 minutes.

That?s because Illinois reeled off the game?s first 10 points and never trailed en route to a 63-56 victory over the Badgers in the first round of the tournament at Conseco Fieldhouse.

Jordan Taylor scored a career-high 39 points and almost single-handedly stopped Indiana’s second-half charge, leading No. 10 Wisconsin to a 77-67 victory on Thursday.

A cover story in this week?s Sports Illustrated takes a look at crime in college football.During a six-month investigation, SI/CBS News ran criminal background checks on 2,837 players on the teams in its preseason Top 25, finding 7 percent had criminal records. The University of Wisconsin tied for seventh on the dubious list with Oklahoma and Florida State with nine players who were charged. Pittsburgh topped the list with 22 charged players and Texas Christian was the only one of the 25 schools with no players charged.

Meghan Duggan, Brianna Decker and Hilary Knight are point-producing machines, and they say they’re geared up for this weekend’s WCHA playoffs and then the NCAA tournament.

University of Wisconsin women?s hockey coach Mark Johnson has already built one dynasty. Will he consider the opportunity to try his hand at another?

John Clay came to the NFL Scouting Combine at a lower weight and high hopes.

INDIANAPOLIS ? Dream Big, Work Hard.For J.J. Watt, it?s not just a snappy catchphrase. (Or, you?re following him on Twitter, his signature hashtag of #DBWH.). The former University of Wisconsin defense end is living proof of what you can accomplish when you do both.

Former Wisconsin hockey goaltender Kirk Daubenspeck remains hospitalized with severe brain injuries suffered in an auto accident Feb. 17 .Daubenspeck, 36, suffered the injuries when the car he was driving collided with a semitrailer truck in thick fog on Highway 18/151 near Dodgeville.

When they look back on their final Big Ten Conference game at the Kohl Center, Lin Zastrow and Alyssa Karel aren?t likely to dwell on the turnovers or the mid-game fade that threatened to cost them a must-win game against lowly Indiana. No, they?ll remember walking off the floor as winners, thanks to some big plays down the stretch that carried the University of Wisconsin women?s basketball team to a 65-57 victory over the Hoosiers before an announced crowd of 5,182 on Wednesday night.

Pre-season hype had six Big Ten teams getting invitations to the NCAA tournament. Not it looks like only Ohio State, Purdue and UW are locks.

Josh Gasser’s three-point buzzer-beater shocked the Wolverines and their fans just when it looked liked they would beat the Badgers.

Let?s eliminate the No.?1 question on the minds of Wisconsin basketball fans in the wake of UW?s stunning 53-52 Big Ten Conference victory Wednesday night at Michigan.

Freshman guard Josh Gasser did not call the bank shot.

“I wasn?t trying to bank it in,” said Gasser, who did everything else right on the final play of the game. “I was trying to get it up there and have a prayer.”

Consider your prayer answered, young man. Gasser?s three-pointer, from about 20 feet on the right wing and off a remarkable feed from guard Jordan Taylor, beat the buzzer, buried an improved Michigan team and led to Gasser being buried by his jubilant teammates in the backcourt.

University of Wisconsin football coach Bret Bielema filled the last vacancy on his coaching staff, hiring Thomas Hammock as the running backs coach.

For all of the attention we give to student-athletes at the University of Wisconsin, the truth of the matter is we don?t really know them well at all.

Kirk Daubenspeck, a second-team All-America goaltender in 1997, suffered a severe brain injury Feb. 16 when his car collided with a semi in heavy fog near Dodgeville. Daubenspeck is in critical but stable condition at UW Hospital. He?s in a medically induced coma and on a ventilator. Jamie Spencer and Mark Strobel were senior co-captains for UW when Daubenspeck was a sophomore in 1994-95. Tim Krug was a co-captain with Daubenspeck when the two were seniors in 1996-97. The three close friends ? all from the Twin Cities area ? have taken turns in a prayerful, round-the-clock vigil at Daubenspeck?s bedside. They have comforted his wife Peggy and the couple?s young son Axel.

The University of Wisconsin-Madison athletic department, in a departure from tradition, will charge fans to attend the Badgers? spring game at Camp Randall Stadium. UW athletic director Barry Alvarez says the $5 admission will benefit the School of Nursing?s building project. The Badgers typically draw about 20,000 fans to the spring games. This year the game is scheduled for April 23.

Fans will have to pay $5 to attend the University of Wisconsin football team?s spring game, starting this year, with proceeds going to different campus initiatives. This year?s spring game, to be held on April 23 at 1 p.m. at Camp Randall Stadium, will benefit the School of Nursing?s building project, UW athletic director Barry Alvarez announced on Monday.

Several former University of Wisconsin men?s hockey players planned long ago to be in Madison this weekend to watch the Badgers host rival Minnesota at the Kohl Center.

University of Wisconsin football coach Bret Bielema is nothing if not persistent in his search to find the right assistant coaches for his staff.