Perpetuated by celebrity influences, aspirational advertising and the dark, swirling world of social media, the ugly act of body shaming takes shape both within private conversations with friends and very public conversations on the internet.
When Greg Gard took over after Bo Ryan stepped down as head coach back in December, an enormous task laid ahead for him. The young Badgers sat at 7-5, including devastating home losses to Western Illinois and Milwaukee, and now had been dealt yet another blow with the loss of their head coach. Sure, the timing of Ryan’s resignation essentially gave Gard a three-month tryout to convince athletic director Barry Alvarez that he was the right man for the job on a permanent basis, but he was inheriting a team that was mired in a state of disarray for which there was no easy solution. Of course, every Wisconsin fan knows how the story has played out since then.
In the eyes of many sports fans, an athlete is often solely measured in terms of their wins, losses and statistics.
Jordan Smith isn’t used to the spotlight. Throughout his five years in Madison, the redshirt senior guard has lived in relative anonymity when compared to most of his teammates, a group that includes some of the best players to ever slip on a Wisconsin uniform. With only 16 points and 52 minutes of game action to his name, Smith isn’t exactly the first guy fans think of when it comes to Badger basketball. But on Sunday afternoon, Jordan Smith had the spotlight all to himself. As the sole senior on UW’s roster this season, Smith was the total focus of the Senior Day festivities.
Wisconsin’s starting lineup did most of the heavy lifting for the Badgers in a 68-57 win over Michigan, but Sunday night belonged to Jordan Smith. The redshirt senior guard, the lone senior on UW’s roster this season, took center stage for a Senior Day ceremony prior to tip-off.
When the results for the 200-yard freestyle preliminaries came out Friday morning, it was pretty easy to say that Brett Pinfold and his teammates were excited.
The Badgers won their final game in the USF Under Armour Classic early Sunday morning, beating the UNLV (8-8), 6-3.
After the Wisconsin Badgers (3-15 Big Ten, 7-21 overall) fell to the Northwestern Wildcats last Saturday afternoon, head coach Bobbie Kelsey straightforwardly summed up the most important part of basketball: “Basketball is about making shots,” Kelsey said. And Sunday afternoon against the Purdue Boilermakers in the Badgers’ regular season finale, Wisconsin struggled to make shots and, not surprisingly, fell to Purdue in underwhelming fashion 68-48. Saying the Badgers struggled to make shots Sunday afternoon might be giving them too much credit.
Wisconsin offensive tackle Tyler Marz, quarterback Joel Stave and outside linebacker Joe Schobert participated in the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis this weekend with the hopes of improving their draft stocks in advance of the NFL Draft in late April.
The Badgers (1-11-4 Big Ten, 6-16-8 overall) squandered an opportunity to climb out of the Big Ten cellar this weekend, allowing late-game goals to the Buckeyes (5-8-3, 10-17-3) in both games, resulting in a tie and a loss.
With its final home game Sunday, Wisconsin (10-5 Big Ten, 18-10 overall) will look to all but seal up an NCAA Tournament bid against the Michigan Wolverines (10-6, 20-9). Winning nine games out of its last 10, the Badgers have been one of the most impressive squads in the entire nation over the past month and a half, owning wins over Michigan State, Indiana, Maryland and Iowa. Getting a victory Sunday will essentially clinch an NCAA Tournament spot for UW and will serve as another résumé booster.
It was a momentous Saturday for the No. 3 Wisconsin Badgers (32-3-1), as they defeated Minnesota State (3-29-4) 6-0, earning a series sweep and booking their place at the WCHA Final Face-Off next weekend, along with junior goaltender Ann-Renée Desbiens recording her 18th shutout, breaking the single season NCAA record, all in front of a sold out crowd at LaBahn Arena in Madison.
After a hard-fought 77-83 loss to Maryland (15-2 Big Ten, 26-3 overall) last Thursday, the Badgers (3-14, 7-20) travel to Purdue (9-8, 18-10) to find a way to generate more momentum in their last regular-season game before the Big Ten Tournament. Last Thursday against Maryland, the Badgers played one of their most complete games of the season.
Wisconsin split its two games against the University of South Florida Saturday, winning the first 9-5 before falling by a score of 10-2 in the second. The first game, played at 10:30 a.m.
Percentages in parentheses are calculated using KenPom.com and represent the chance of that outcome occuring.
With a 67-59 win on the road against No. 8 Iowa Wednesday night, the Badgers all but locked up their spot in the NCAA Tournament for an 18th consecutive year. To do so, they relied on major contributions from their supporting cast and a barrage of 3-pointers to get the job done. Throughout Wisconsin’s remarkable turnaround over the last month and half, junior forward Nigel Hayes and redshirt freshman forward Ethan Happ have been the key cogs on offense most nights.
The No. 3 Wisconsin Badgers (31-3-1) were able to quickly forget their sweep against Minnesota last weekend, as they defeated the Minnesota State Mavericks (3-28-4) Friday night 4-0, winning the opening game in the first-round series of the WCHA playoffs. The last time Wisconsin faced off against Minnesota State was on Senior Day Feb.
Wisconsin (5-6) dropped its first two games of the USF Under Armour Showcase to Kansas (5-6 overall) 2-1, and to UNLV (8-4) 14-3 Friday in Tampa, Fla. The Badgers continued their early season trend of scoring first, jumping out to a 1-0 lead in the first inning after an RBI double from freshman catcher Melanie Cross scored senior infielder Ashley Van Zeeland. Kansas tied the game in the bottom of the fourth inning on a solo home run. UW missed two opportunities in the late innings.
The Badgers will travel to Columbus this Friday and Saturday for a two-game series against a struggling Ohio State team. The Buckeyes’ defense has allowed at least four goals in five of their last six outings.
With 45 seconds left to play in the first half, the Badgers (3-14 Big Ten, 7-20 overall) were remarkably down only one point to a Maryland (15-2, 26-3) team who currently ranked second in the Big Ten and sixth in the nation.
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