Wisconsin basketball announced Wednesday that sophomore forward Aleem Ford has suffered a knee injury and will have to undergo surgery. Ford is expected to return later this season but was ruled out “indefinitely” in a press release from the program.
When the Wisconsin men’s basketball team took the floor for warm-ups before the “Red and White Scrimmage” Sunday, one of the first songs to play over the loudspeakers was Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin’.” It was an apt choice for this year’s team, one that finds itself in uncharted territory. After a 2017-2018 season full of injuries, heartbreaking losses and countless ups and downs, the 2018-2019 squad returns with a chip on their shoulder.
The 2018-2019 men’s basketball season began in earnest Sunday at the Kohl Center as the Badgers took part in the annual Red and White scrimmage.
There is perhaps no better indicator of expectations and interest in a team than ticket sales. An emptier Kohl Center highlights the perception of the Wisconsin Badgers men’s basketball team.
On a typical night, Jared Berggren will come home from practice to be greeted by his wife, Cass, and their baby daughter, a welcome sight at the end of a long day. There’s nothing particularly novel about Berggren spending time with his daughter, just eight months old, and his wife of over three years. But these days, Berggren’s family time happens in a unique fashion, that cuts across transatlantic lines and couldn’t have been replicated even a decade ago. “I’m pretty much FaceTiming with my wife and daughter every morning and every night, so it gives you a little taste of home,” he said. Berggren, a Wisconsin basketball alumnus, currently plays for the Shinshu Brave Warriors of Japan, and technology has been paramount in connecting him to his family back in the United States. Berggren’s stint in Japan is not his first overseas, as he’s played in Belgium and Italy as well.
After three years with the Badgers, forward Andy Van Vliet will be transferring from Wisconsin to another Division I school, he said in a statement on Twitter Tuesday. “After meeting with the coaching staff last week, I have made the decision to leave the University of Wisconsin and pursue my academic and athletic goals at another Division I school,” he said in his statement. Van Vliet’s came to Madison from Antwerp, Belgium, to a buzz of excitement on campus that was promptly silenced by the NCAA.
NEW YORK — Through a thick stream of tears and a lump in his throat, Brad Davison extolled the virtues of playing college basketball following the No. 9-seed Badgers’ (8-12 Big Ten, 15-18 overall) season-ending loss to top-seeded Michigan State (17-2, 29-3). He could barely get the words out. “It's fun,” he said.
NEW YORK — As Brad Davison walked off the court for the final time in the 2017-’18 season, head coach Greg Gard was right by his side.
NEW YORK — With a Big Ten Tournament loss and his redshirt junior season now in the books, Ethan Happ is weighing his options. Though he said that nothing is set in stone, he said, moments after Wisconsin’s 63-60 loss to Michigan State, that he will declare for the NBA Draft so that he can compete at the NBA Draft Combine on May 16-20.
NEW YORK — As Brad Davison’s game-tying 3-point attempt fell inches short of the front of the rim at the buzzer, he dropped his hands to his knees.
NEW YORK — Five days ago, when the Wisconsin men’s basketball team fell at home to Michigan State, Brad Davison addressed the team.
NEW YORK — With a split bottom lip, junior forward Khalil Iverson made what might have been the most important defensive play of Wisconsin’s season.
NEW YORK — For the sixth game in a row, as Brad Davison jogged out of the locker room onto the court, he left behind a message in all caps on the team’s whiteboard: “BE SPECIAL.” And while for the majority of the game, highlight moments were few and far between, down the stretch Thursday afternoon, the No. 9 seed Badgers (8-11 Big Ten, 15-17 overall) got special contributions from several players as they survived No. 8 seed Maryland 59-54 to advance to the quarterfinals of the Big Ten Tournament. Though UW led for the overwhelming majority of the game, it could never quite piece together enough consecutive plays to separate from the Terrapins.
NEW YORK — When junior forward Khalil Iverson was fouled with less than one second to play and Wisconsin (8-11 Big Ten, 15-17 overall) leading by five points, freshman guard Brad Davison’s hands shot to the sky in excitement.
NEW YORK — The Wisconsin locker room seemed dejected as players enteredand drooped down in their black fold-up chairs.
Lilly Kuske sits on her bed with her head buried in her hands. She’s not an emotional person, but tonight the tears won’t stop.
"We'd rather beat them next week, anyways." That was the message Brad Davison gave to his teammates after the Wisconsin Badgers’ (7-11 Big Ten, 14-17 overall) 68-63 loss to No. 2 Michigan State (16-2, 28-3) on Senior Day Sunday afternoon. In the team’s final game of the regular season, Davison exploded for a career-high 30 points, the most by a Wisconsin freshman since 1996.
No matter how many times freshman guard Brad Davison clapped his hands on defense, let out fist pumps to the crowd on offense or hit highly contested jumpers, No. 2 Michigan State (16-2 Big Ten, 28-3 overall) failed to go away. Wisconsin’s (7-11, 14-16) 68-63 loss on Senior Day marked yet another time the Badgers have hung with some of its top opponents, but failed to close the deal.
In late January, when Wisconsin (7-10 Big Ten, 14-16 overall) fell to No. 2 Michigan State (15-2, 27-3), a talented trio of Spartan frontcourt players proved too much to handle for the undersized Badgers.
Andy Van Vliet has spent the majority of the 2017-’18 season playing on Wisconsin’s practice scout team.
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