Category: Athletics

Athletes praising God is the norm. Half-expected. After wins, after losses, so many players automatically shift to this mode.

Barry Alvarez was neither disappointed nor surprised to learn the NCAA?s board of directors had endorsed a plan to give 65 schools, including those in the Big Ten, more autonomy in providing assistance for athletes.

Runners took over downtown Madison Saturday morning for the 33rd annual Crazylegs Classic.

The University of Wisconsin men?s basketball team will be acknowledged on the field prior to the Milwaukee Brewers? game against the New York Yankees on May 9.

From this year?s Final Four in basketball, the University of Kentucky represents the former and the University of Wisconsin is an exemplar of the latter.

BTN analyst Shon Morris, a four-year letter-winner at Northwestern, has always been complimentary of Wisconsin coach Bo Ryan?s teams. Thursday night was no exception as Morris served as emcee for UW?s season-ending celebration.

The Kohl Center filled up Thursday night, ready to look back on an amazing season for the Men?s Basketball Team.Officials expected 700 people for the event. Players met with fans and alumni signing autographs and of course talking about the great season, making it to the Final Four, something that hasn?t happened since 2000.

While working out early Thursday Ryan used the time to review UW?s 74-73 loss to Kentucky in the Final Four. Is Ryan a glutton for punishment? Not at all. Ryan was already preparing for the 2014-?15 season.

“You know how hard it is to accomplish what these young men just did?” Bo Ryan asked the 700-plus fans who attended the basketball banquet. “Do you have any idea the breaks, all the landmines along the way? To be able to do that and represent an institution like this, how lucky can a guy get?”

Many scouts believe former Wisconsin wide receiver Jared Abbrederis is the best route runner in the draft.

Our congratulations and thanks to the University of Wisconsin men?s basketball team for a terrific season and a thrilling ride through the NCAA tournament.

It was only a basketball game. But when Shabazz Napier spoke into a CBS microphone late Monday night after his team had just won a national championship, he used the moment to broadcast a message that had little to do with sports.

Gary Andersen’s decision to hire former Georgia tailback Thomas Brown to coach Wisconsins running backs reaffirms the staffs desire to expand its recruiting into Southeastern Conference territory.

J.J. Watt made a rush toward Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson, but it wasn?t part of a defensive play on the field.

It seems that Wall Street Journal sports columnist and UW-Madison alum Jason Gay was in the same frame of mind as much of Madison on Saturday.

Before members of the University of Wisconsin men?s basketball team fully embrace the task of prepping for next season they need to sit down and talk about the elephant in the room.

The Wisconsin vs. Kentucky telecast Saturday night in the NCAA Tournament was the most-watched college basketball telecast in cable television history.

At the very last second, Kentucky made the extra point, ending Wisconsin?s journey to the Finals. Before that, Wisconsin fans all over the state were very hopeful and excited that they even made it to the Final Four, but for University of Wisconsin Madison alumni, the fact that they made as far as they did, means something a little bit more.

Montee Ball played football at the University of Wisconsin and attended the Final Four Saturday night in North Texas. The Denver Broncos running back showed up at the Wisconsin/Kentucky game wearing a lime green frog suit (alligator?). Late in the Badgers eventual one-point loss, Ball and friends dressed as a lion and cow, tried to make their way into the Wisconsin student section where they were summarily denied by AT&T Stadium security since they didn?t have the proper wristbands reports the Associated Press.

Wisconsin fans arrived as early as noon to get a good seat in the Sett at Union South to watch the Final Four matchup between the Badgers and Kentucky Wildcats. By tipoff time at 8 p.m. the place was packed.

Madison police said defeated Badger fans maintained composure when they took to the streets Saturday after the University of Wisconsin-Madison basketball team?s heartbreaking loss against Kentucky in a 74-73 game.

The Wisconsin men?s basketball team?s fall to University of Kentucky was tough for Grateful Red fans nationwide, but it was perhaps especially difficult for University of Wisconsin-Madison junior Lauren Peterson.

The University of Kentucky men?s basketball team made just two three-point shots in the NCAA semifinals. The second came with six seconds left to push the Wildcats into the title game, beating Wisconsin 74-73.

The Wisconsin men?s basketball team has returned home from its Final Four appearance.

Denver Broncos running back Montee Ball, who played college football at Wisconsin, wore a frog suit to the Final Four in North Texas Saturday night.

Saturday?s Final Four games will be broadcast on about half a dozen TVs at Union South.

While UW has been consistently viewed as a top-notch research school internationally, UK was trying to figure out how to secure more federal research than the University of Buffalo. The week I left Kentucky for my home state, the Lexington paper published a profile of Madison suggesting that if UK wanted to be more like UW, Lexington needed to be more like Madison ? artsy, progressive, intellectual.

Badger fans are showing a lot of heart one day after a tough loss to Kentucky Saturday night. The game didn?t exactly go as planned, but the Badger basketball team can take pride in knowing that win or lose their loyal fan base has their back.

Thousands of Badgers? basketball fans packed into the Arlington Convention Center for a pep rally Saturday afternoon. 

Former University of Wisconsin men?s basketball players Mike Kelley and Andy Kowske were backstage at a pep rally at the Milwaukee Theatre two weeks ago when they ran across two members of the current team, Josh Gasser and Ben Brust.

Frank Kaminsky?s full offensive arsenal was on display when the University of Wisconsin defeated Baylor and Arizona last week to advance to the Final Four of the NCAA men?s basketball tournament.

Eyebrows raised and jaws dropped when the members of University of Wisconsin men?s basketball team got their first look at AT&T Stadium on Thursday.

Bo Ryan likes to tell the story about the slam-dunk interview process when he was finally hired as the men?s basketball coach at the University of Wisconsin.

Tony Machi didn?t have to call in sick Friday. But he would have if necessary. Machi, who grew up in Milwaukee but has lived in North Texas since he came down to attend the University of North Texas, remains a Badger at heart. And with his beloved University of Wisconsin men?s basketball team set to play here in the NCAA Final Four, Machi joined an army of Wisconsin transplants at AT&T Stadium on Friday to watch the open practice sessions.

Wisconsin did almost everything it needed to do Saturday night to beat Kentucky except for hitting one crucial free throw.

Even though fans were nearly a thousand miles away from Madison, in the parking lot at AT&T Stadium fans noses could have lead them to believe they were home.

Wisconsin did almost everything it needed to do Saturday night to beat Kentucky except for hitting one crucial free throw.

The Wisconsin Badgers need a moment.

At one time, the college basketball world would have groaned to see the grind-it-out University of Wisconsin Badgers in the Final Four. There also was a time when those same people would have been thrilled to see the thoroughbreds from Kentucky reach the final weekend of the NCAA men?s basketball tournament.

My, how things have changed.

There wasn?t exactly a buzz in the recruiting world when a pair of prospects from the Midwest gave oral commitments to Bo Ryan on the same summer day back in 2010.

Luke Mich and Becky Rupel had a pretty good idea they?d be sitting in the nosebleed seats for Saturday night?s NCAA national semifinal basketball games.

The buzzer sounded and Traevon Jackson dropped into a squatting position.As Kentucky players sprinted past him and began celebrating, all the junior point guard for the University of Wisconsin men?s basketball team could do was stare at the court.

At some point, Ben Brust will be able to separate the emotions of Saturday night being his last game in a University of Wisconsin men?s basketball uniform from the fact it was also one of the greatest games his Badgers have ever played during his time in Madison.

UW?s four-game run to the Final Four, while difficult at times, surprised absolutely no one. It?s never a surprise when a No. 2 seed shows up on the big stage, especially one that impressed everyone along the way with its skill and toughness.

Amid the shell-shocked sadness, however, the discussion frequently turned to what might well be the most-anticipated season in the school?s basketball history.

The embrace was tight and emotional, Josh Gasser closing his bloodshot eyes and burying his face on the shoulder of teammate Zach Bohannon.