Head coach Tony Granato stood back-to-back with Ryan Wagner after practice and asked the group of reporters who was taller.
The most successful football coaches are the ones who put their players in the best possible position to produce.
This week's Cardinal Zone Podcasts previews the Big Ten Championship between Wisconsin and Penn State.
The Badgers were all business Thursday night, as they treated their fans to a dominating performance in the first round of the NCAA Tourney.
Facing a 22-point deficit coming into the second half, the Badgers showed no signs of life, as North Carolina put on a clinic of a first half, doing damage on both sides of the floor.
Playing mostly a backup role, outside of one start in the game at UW-Milwaukee, sophomore forward Marsha Howard has been a sparkplug for this young Badgers team. Wisconsin (2-5) has been struggling to find its identity all season. After a pair of early losses, a down-to-the-wire loss against Saint Francis and a close victory over Butler University, the Badgers don’t necessarily possess the record they wish they did.
The Badgers (17-3 Big Ten, 25-4 overall) are headed to their fourth straight NCAA Tournament as the No. 3 seed, the highest seeding in program history, behind the coaching of Kelly Sheffield and the leadership of senior Lauren Carlini. The two came to Madison at the same time back in 2013 and led the team to a national championship appearance, and they hope to one-up that accomplishment with a national title in their final year together.
Growing up in suburban Maryland, sophomore forward Charles Thomas IV went by many different names.
Entering college is a stressful experience for any student, but especially so for student-athletes.
This week, senior swimmer Harrison Tran will kill two birds with one stone when he heads to the University of Texas.
Everything was falling the way of the No. 17 Badgers (6-2) Tuesday night as they downed No. 22 Syracuse, 77-60.
For a long stretch of No. 17 Wisconsin’s (5-2) practice Monday afternoon, members of the UW scout team sported pinnies specifically in preparation for tomorrow’s game against the No. 22 Syracuse (4-1). The mesh jerseys were appropriately orange as the Badgers worked on attacking the Orange’s infamous 2-3 zone. Monday was the first time the Badgers took out the orange pinnies, but after an overtime win against the Orange last season, a nearly identical Wisconsin team feels confident and prepared going up against the unique Syracuse defense. “I think we are a lot more confident this year than last year,” sophomore forward Charles Thomas said.
Around 4:00 p.m. Saturday, all this talk from myself and many others about the different College Football Playoff scenarios that may or may not involve Wisconsin looked like it could be for naught. The Badgers came out extremely flat against archrival Minnesota, allowing the Gophers to build up a 17-7 halftime lead that left the state of Wisconsin holding its breath. Luckily for Wisconsin fans, Minnesota imploded, thanks in large part to quarterback Mitch Leidner completing more passes to the Badgers defense (four) than to his own receivers (two) in the second half.
After a disappointing showing in the Maui Invitational Championship against North Carolina, Wisconsin shored up all their weak spots that led to the loss, and showcased the kind of high-level play expected of them.
With just under a week until the NCAA Tournament gets underway, No. 3 Wisconsin took the court this week and split its last two matches of the year to wrap up the 2016 regular season. Wednesday night, the Badgers (17-3 Big Ten, 25-4 overall) made their last appearance at the UW Field House this season, treating a sellout crowd of Wisconsin faithful to a four-set triumph over the Iowa Hawkeyes (19-12, 9-10). Three days later, set to encounter much stiffer competition, Wisconsin ventured off to Minnesota and fell to the second-ranked Gophers (17-3, 25-4) for the second time this season. Celebrating Senior Night at the Field House, the Badgers made it look easy Wednesday night, upending Iowa by a score of 25-15, 22-25, 25-16, 25-7.
Since Tony Granato took over as head coach of the Badgers, the program has looked more energized and driven to succeed.
Wisconsin started the first contest of the Lady Rebel Round-Up as well as anyone could ask for, but shot itself in the foot with 31 turnovers, a season high, against Ole Miss.
Thanks to a high-octane offense and solid goaltending, No. 1 Wisconsin swept Cornell 3-0 and 5-2 this weekend at LaBahn Arena. Friday’s game began as a defensive battle, with both teams going the first 51 minutes without scoring.
Entering this season, the Wisconsin Badgers’ secondary was the biggest question mark defensively as they had to replace three starters on the back end with questionable depth.
Though they were recently smothered on the boards by North Carolina in the Maui Invitational Championship Game, the Badgers have spent the bulk of this season snagging just about every rebound available. That trend should continue for No. 16 Wisconsin (4-2) against Prairie View A&M (2-4), which has been dominated on both the offensive and defensive glass in just about every game this year. The Badgers have been astonishingly good at rebounding in the early goings of 2016, as they rank in the top 20 of offensive rebounding percentage and defensive rebounding percentage, according to Ken Pomeroy.
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