Badger fans came into UW's home game against the Michigan Wolverines Feb. 27 with high expectations. Forty minutes later, the wishes of thousands of students, alumni and Wisconsinites everywhere came true when the men's basketball team defeated Michigan 74-54 to win a share of the Big Ten Championship.
It was Wisconsin's first conference title in 55 years.
The season started inconspicuously enough. Wisconsin had a new head coach and returned two starters. Preseason projections placed UW among the bottom three in the Big Ten.
Only in their wildest dreams could team members have imagined that this squad could achieve what Mike Kelley, Mark Vershaw and Andy Kowske could not in their Final Four season two years before.
However, as the season passed, fans found more and more reasons to believe in the likes of junior and freshman guards Kirk Penney and Devin Harris.
As the final regular-season game against Michigan approached, the Wolverines were the only Big Ten team UW had not defeated.
With seven minutes left in the first half, the Badgers scored 14 unanswered points en route to a 48-23 halftime score. Three-point efforts by Penney and Harris accounted for most of the Badgers' scoring. The two went on to outscore the entire Wolverines squad.
Senior guard Travon Davis was responsible for 10 rebounds and seven assists.
The win catapulted Wisconsin to the No. 1 seed going into the Big Ten Tournament, where Iowa defeated the Badgers, 58-56.
Despite the loss, UW entered the NCAA Tournament as a No. 8 seed, where it defeated St. John's 80-70 before falling 87-57 to the eventual national champion, Maryland, in the second round.
