Category: Athletics

So much for the reputation of the University of Miami football program as a factory for the NFL with little regard to academics.

Former University of Wisconsin football coach and current athletic director Barry Alvarez was announced today as one of three members of the 2009 class for the Rose Bowl Hall of Fame. They will be inducted by the Pasadena Quarterbacks during a ceremony Dec. 30.

The destination (Orlando, Fla.) and the bowl (Champs Sports) might not titillate Wisconsin fans who watched UW get thumped in the 2008 Champs Sports Bowl and saw the Badgers play in Orlando after the 2005 and â??06 seasons, too.

The opponent, however, offers an attractive matchup and tremendous opportunity for UW coach Bret Bielema and his players.

UW (9-3), which moved into the USA Today top 25 coachesâ?? poll (No. 22) and The Associated Press top 25 media poll (No. 24) on Sunday, will face Miami (9-3, No. 14 AP, No. 15 USA Today) in the 2009 Champs Sports Bowl on Dec. 29 in Orlando. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m.

Miami will face Wisconsin in the Dec. 29 Champs Sports Bowl in Orlando with a chance for its first 10-win season since 2003. The No. 14 Hurricanes (9-3) are hoping to use the game to propel themselves into next year and perhaps get a higher preseason ranking. Miami has improved in each of the three years under coach Randy Shannon, and next seasonâ??s expectations will be even higher.

Former University of Wisconsin quarterback Brooks Bollinger has been named Most Valuable Player of the inaugural season of the United Football League.

Noted: Much of the obnoxious behavior that occurs at sporting events is directly related to the excess consumption of alcoholic beverages. Football games, with their customary tailgating, are tailor made for problems. Two schools, the University of Wisconsin and the University of Minnesota, have instituted programs to combat problems associated with excessive drinking. Fans that are ejected from games for drinking related offenses are required to pass a breath test if they want to attend a future game.

The rocket-like roar rose up from the floor of the Kohl Center on Wednesday night, drifted out over the streets of Madison, across the Big Ten Conference and perhaps to every corner of the nation.

Dukeâ??s unblemished record is history, this season and in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge. With senior point guard Trevon Hughes alternating between point guard and shooting guard and hitting big shot after big shot, unranked Wisconsin stunned unbeaten Duke, ranked fifth and sixth in both major polls, 73-69, in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge.

Even after the game, Trevon Hughes FSY had all the answers. Hughes had 19 of his career-high 26 points in the second half and Wisconsins 73-69 win over No. 5 Duke on Wednesday night snapped the Blue Devils perfect mark in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge.

It was one of the most hyped and anticipated games in the history of the Kohl Center. Remarkably, the University of Wisconsin menâ??s basketball teamâ??s 73-69 victory over Duke Wednesday night exceeded expectations.

Athletic department officials tried hard to turn the University of Wisconsin football teamâ??s longest trip of the season into a home game.

The University of Wisconsin menâ??s basketball teamâ??s 60-59 victory over Illinois on March 5, 2003 that gave the Badgers their first outright Big Ten Conference title since 1947 is one of 16 new games to be aired on the “The Big Tenâ??s Greatest Games,â??â?? which is broadcast every Monday on The Big Ten Network.

Wisconsin football fans can only hope Monday was just the beginning for tailback John Clay and linebacker Chris Borland. Clay, a third-year sophomore from Racine Park High School, was named the Big Ten Conference offensive player of the year. Borland, a freshman from Kettering, Ohio, was named the leagueâ??s freshman of the year.

At one point this season, University of Wisconsin sophomore running back John Clay talked to his offensive linemen and told them he would go as far as they would take him. They took him all the way to the consensus Big Ten Conference Offensive Player of the Year, as selected by both the media and coaches, in voting announced Monday night.

Upon further review, Wisconsinâ??s two-point Big Ten Conference loss to Northwestern looks and feels the same: Squandered chances killed UW and left an unsightly blemish on what to this point has been a solid season.

Kassy McCarthy isnâ??t stopping at a state title — she wants to be a Badger.Moments after her Waunakee team put the finishing touches on the schoolâ??s first WIAA championship since 2002, the senior kicker told reporters she intends to seek a tryout with the University of Wisconsin football team.

Basketball coaches have challenged Trevon Hughes, the Badgers point guard, to play consistently this season.

The good news for the Badgers after their loss Saturday to Northwestern is their bowl prospects didnâ??t seem to change much. If the Big Ten Conference lands two teams in the Bowl Championship Series, the Badgers appear likely to go to the Outback Bowl in Tampa, Fla., to face a Southeastern Conference opponent on Jan. 1.

Becky Roth waited much of her life for a chance to head north to deer camp. Then, when she was finally invited, her job cut deep into the beginning of Wisconsin’s nine-day season. Roth is a wildlife biologist in Spring Green with the Department of Natural Resources and has a degree from the University of Wisconsin in deer biology.

Wisconsinâ??s coaching staff plans to secure an evaluation of John Clayâ??s draft stock should the third-year sophomore tailback decide to enter the 2010 National Football League draft.

“I think at this stage Bret may have already started looking at some things and talking to some people to find out where he might fall,” UW running backs coach John Settle said, referring to head coach Bret Bielema. “And then weâ??ll probably have that talk based upon what he does these last few weeks.”

In her limited playing time as a freshman, Jade Davis established a reputation as the Badgers’ designated shooter, and she turned the tide in at least a couple of games.

Everyone is enjoying what they see of John Clay on Saturdays. Clay is the leading rusher in the Big Ten Conference, has gone over 1,000 yards for the season and, in many ways, is the starting point for UWâ??s surprising 8-2 record.

The memory is more than three years old, but Whitney Owusu brought it to life like it was on speed dial. She was a freshman midfielder for the University of Wisconsin womenâ??s soccer team when it went to Penn State to play a Big Ten Conference match in October of 2006.

Peter returns to his alma mater, the University of Wisconsin â?? Madison, just in time for the big game against Michigan. On Saturday, Nov. 14, 2009, he was live from Camp Randall Stadium as the Badgers and the Wolverines faced off. Featured guests from the first hour of the show include:

The University of Wisconsin-Madison cycling team has won a bid to host the 2010 and 2011 Collegiate Road National Championship races.

Bret Bielema knew his University of Wisconsin football team had no shortage of motivation Saturday at Camp Randall Stadium. The UW coach was aware that his players wanted badly to send 18 Badgers seniors out the right way and that they wanted just as badly to gain a measure of revenge for a painful loss at Michigan last season. So Bielema might have played on those emotions a little bit when he sent the 21st-ranked Badgers back onto the field for the second half with a mere four-point lead over the Wolverines.

As she looked forward to the new season, University of Wisconsin womenâ??s basketball coach Lisa Stone was prepared to go with a new point guard. When the Badgers open the regular season Sunday against North Dakota, thatâ??s just what theyâ??ll have â?? a new point guard. The only thing is, sheâ??s got the same name as their old point guard. While Rae Lin Dâ??Alie remains her old diminutive, effervescent, energetic self, when Dâ??Alie looks in the mirror these days she sees an entirely different person than the one who was there a year ago.

Dan Cascone returned as a fifth-year senior, enjoyed his most productive season at UW and will be one of 18 seniors honored Saturday when the Badgers host Michigan at Camp Randall Stadium.

Tyler Barnes, 19, who originally committed to the Badgers in 2007, will be among the group of prospects signing national letters of intent with UW during the early signing period, which began Wednesday.

Dan Moore took a big gamble when he walked away from a scholarship at Eastern Illinois, but now he’s a starting defensive tackle for the No. 21 Badgers and is on track to become his family’s first college graduate in May.

The senior class for the University of Wisconsin football team is small in numbers, short on starters and lacking in name recognition. That hasn’t prevented the class from putting itself in position to leave a lasting mark on the UW program.

The University of Wisconsin-Madison cycling team has won a bid to host the 2010 and 2011 Collegiate Road National Championship races. The National Collegiate Cycling Association, a division of USA Cycling, says the events will include a road race, a criterium through downtown Madison and a team time trial.

Editorâ??s note: The following is an excerpt from Justin Dohertyâ??s book, “The Dayne Game: Ron Dayne and the Greatest Day in Wisconsin Football History. “Once the Senior Day festivities were completed, it was finally game time. Former Wisconsin RB Ron Dayne rushed into the NCAA record books on Nov. 13, 1999. Iowa, once the Badgersâ?? yearly nemesis, had hit a low point in its programâ??s history.

The University of Wisconsin-Madison cycling team has won a bid to host the 2010 and 2011 Collegiate Road National Championship races.The National Collegiate Cycling Association, a division of USA Cycling, said the events will include a road race, a criterium through downtown Madison and a team time trial. Nearly 300 teams with about 800 athletes are expected to participate.

Each week, we’ll revisit the corresponding game from the University of Wisconsin’s most recent Big Ten championship team, which produced Heisman Trophy winner Ron Dayne. This week, we look back upon the Badgers’ close road victory over the Boilermakers and their own Heisman hopeful.

Timeline of Barry Avarez’s life and career.

Some people might be surprised to see the University of Wisconsin womenâ??s soccer team in the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2005, but none of those people are on the team. The teamâ??s confidence is a big reason why the Badgers (9-5-5) will face Arizona State (9-7-3) at 7:30 Friday night at McClimon Field in a first-round match.

Heisman Trophy-winning Ron Dayne’s record-setting UW career is appreciated better through the lens of history.

Senior Dustin Sherer, the Badgers’ former starting quarterback, was told during preseason camp the staff had decided to go with junior Scott Tolzien as the starter and redshirt freshman Curt Phillips as the backup. Sherer would have to stay sharp and ready just in case. He responded by becoming a mentor for them.

A not guilty plea has been entered for former Vikings first-round draft pick Erasmus James, who is charged with disorderly conduct in a Madison bar fight.

MADISON (WKOW) — A former Badger football player appeared in Dane County court Thursday on charges of battery after an alleged bar fight last weekend. Erasmus James entered a not guilty plea at Thursdayâ??s hearing on felony battery charges. Police arrested James Monday after he allegedly lost his temper when a bartender wouldnâ??t serve him after closing time.

MADISON (WKOW) — Madison police officials are developing leads in trying to find the man who attacked and severely beat former Badger basketball player Darin Schubring.

Spokesperson Joel DeSpain said a witness told investigators someone in a Wizard of Oz-themed costume punched the unsuspecting Schubring several times in a downtown bar Halloween night. DeSpain said Schubring fell hard to the ground and the attacker ran off.

University of Wisconsin sophomore forward Laurie Nosbusch and freshman midfielder Alev Kelter have garnered All-Big Ten Conference honors, becoming the first Badgers womenâ??s soccer players to be so honored since since Kara Kabellis in 2006.

Jada Buggs hasnâ??t met or even talked with Morgan Paige yet. When they do get together, they should have plenty of notes to compare.

Buggs and Paige have more in common than being future University of Wisconsin womenâ??s basketball players. They made that official Wednesday when they signed their national letters of intent, following through on the verbal commitments they made to the Badgers in the spring.

In addition to sharing the same destination, Buggs and Paige have the common experience of playing for their mothers as coaches in high school.

The University of Wisconsin-Madisonâ??s menâ??s basketball team hosts UW-Superior in an exhibition game Wednesday night at the Kohl Center. Since this is a higher education blog, weâ??ll stay away from breaking down the matchup and instead pose a question: Who is the most famous person to earn a degree from UW-Superior?

A former Baraboo High School basketball star remains in critical condition after being punched in a Madison bar on Halloween by a man dressed as a flying monkey.A spokeswoman for the University of Wisconsin Hospital in Madison said Tuesday that Darin Schubring, 42, is critical but stable condition. She had no other details.

Last week was “Hell Week” for the University of Wisconsin womenâ??s basketball team. Following an uninspired performance in a closed scrimmage at Northern Iowa last Sunday, the temperature was turned up in practice throughout the past week. The message — expressed loudly and frequently by coach Lisa Stone and her entire staff — was simple: If the Badgers are to be successful this season they will have to be tough, physically and mentally.

Bo Ryan and his wife, Kelly, are grandparents for the third time. The University of Wisconsin menâ??s basketball coach learned just before his press conference Monday afternoon that his oldest daughter, Megan and her husband Matt Kaiser just became the proud parents of a baby girl that they named Imogen.

The best collegiate road cyclists in the nation will square off in Madison in May. USA Cycling has announced that the University of Wisconsin will host the Collegiate Road National Championships, the final event of the 2009-10 season.