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.
The final game of the season has come, and the No. 5 Wisconsin Badgers (6-2 Big Ten, 9-2 overall) are just one win away from a Big Ten Championship appearance, sitting only two places out of the College Football Playoff. Enthusiasm shouldn’t be hard to come by for the Badgers, as Wisconsin takes on the Minnesota Gophers (5-3 Big Ten, 8-3 overall) in the annual Border Battle for Paul Bunyan’s Axe.
The Badgers lost a lot with the injury to budding freshman star Trent Frederic: A goal-scoring threat, an excellent passer and a lightning-fast skater, he’s currently second on the team in points with four goals and six assists.
After a stretch of ten consecutive conference games, Wisconsin (10-1-1 WCHA, 12-1-1 overall) finally gets an opportunity to move outside of the conference and face a less familiar opponent as they take on Cornell (4-2-1 ECAC, 6-2-1 overall) at LaBahn Arena for the first time in program history. The Badgers are coming off their toughest test of the season, a weekend series against No. 3 Minnesota-Duluth without star goaltender Ann-Renee Desbiens.
Before the season, Wisconsin football sent three athletes to Big Ten Media Days. One was defensive star Vince Biegel.
While the temperature was dropping in West Lafayette, Bart Houston began to heat up. A strong performance from the Badger quarterback highlighted Wisconsin’s 49-20 victory last Saturday.
For the first time since 1960, three Big Ten teams are in the top 5 of the AP poll. Say it together: “We’re the SEC now.” 1.
In the third season of the NCAA’s College Football Playoff format, the same narratives seem to persist each season; namely, that no one can predict what will happen and, no matter what, there will be controversy surrounding who the CFP Committee selects to play for a national championship. With only one week left in the regular season, the Big Ten—with four teams that could potentially make the Playoff—has exemplified this whirlwind of unpredictability and potential controversy.
Week 12 of college football has come and gone, and the annual matchup between the Wisconsin Badgers and the Minnesota Gophers is finally upon us.
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