COLUMN: Wisconsin basketball has serious Team of Destiny vibes
By Nathan Denzin | Mar. 10, 2020It’s extremely difficult to explain exactly why, but this Badger team feels like a Team of Destiny.
It’s extremely difficult to explain exactly why, but this Badger team feels like a Team of Destiny.
This past weekend, Wisconsin softball (14-10 overall) traveled to Tampa, Florida for the USF Tournament, their final pre-season tournament, and played five games over three days.
After a roller coaster season, the Wisconsin Badgers (14-6 Big Ten, 21-10 overall) clinched a share of the Big Ten regular season title thanks to a furious, late rally against the Indiana Hoosiers (9-11, 19-12) that gave UW a 60-56 win.
The Wisconsin Badgers’ (12-19, 3-15) 2019-2020 season ended in the second round of the Big Ten Tournament Thursday, falling to the fifth-seeded Rutgers Scarlet Knights (22-8, 11-7).
The Wisconsin Badgers softball team (10-9 overall) competed in the Sun Devil Classic Tournament last weekend, playing in five games over three days.
Leading from start to finish, the No. 24 Wisconsin Badgers (13-6 Big Ten, 20-10 overall) earned its seventh straight victory after defeating the Northwestern Wildcats (2-17 Big Ten, 7-22 overall) 63-48.
After ending the 2019 season 43-19 — the second-most wins in program history and the fastest team to reach 30 wins ever for Wisconsin — Badger softball came into the 2020 season looking to write more stats in the history book.
The Wisconsin Badgers (12-6 Big Ten, 19-10 overall) hung on to a 71-69 win over their cross border rivals, the Minnesota Golden Gophers (7-11 Big Ten, 13-15 overall) to earn their sixth straight win.
Zak Showalter has Cardinal red running in his blood.
Continuing in its success, Wisconsin (10-6 Big Ten, 17-10 overall) secured its fourth-straight win with a 79-71 victory over Rutgers (9-8 Big Ten, 18-10 overall) and improved to 13-1 at home this season.
The Wisconsin Badgers (2-13 Big Ten, 11-16 overall) fought tooth and nail at Sunday’s Senior Night game, but ultimately couldn’t stop the No. 18 Northwestern Wildcats (13-2 Big Ten, 23-3 overall) falling by a score of 82-66.
Thursday was Senior Night for the Wisconsin Badgers (4-5 Big Ten, 11-6 overall) — where the program recognized its six departing seniors — but the extra energy in the Field House wasn’t enough, as the Badgers fell 20-18 to the Northern Iowa Panthers (6-2 Big 12, 9-4 overall) in the final duel of the season.
The No. 7 Maryland Terrapins (14-2 Big Ten, 23-4 overall) did it again with their 12th straight win, which, unfortunately for the Wisconsin Badgers (3-13 Big Ten, 11-16 overall) meant another loss in the Big Ten.
Coming from a loss against Iowa (12-3 Big Ten, 21-5 overall) on the road Sunday, the Badgers are preparing for Wednesday’s home game against the Maryland Terrapins (13-2 Big Ten, 22-4 overall).
On Sunday, the Wisconsin Badgers (3-12 Big Ten, 11-15 overall) women’s basketball team travelled to Iowa City to face the No. 19 Iowa Hawkeyes (12-3 Big Ten, 21-5 overall), but the Badgers came up short, losing 97-71.
Coming into the weekend, No. 4 Wisconsin (4-5 Big Ten, 11-5 overall) had been on a two-match losing streak, with losses coming from No. 2 Penn State and unranked Michigan State.
No. 2 Wisconsin battled and bested the No. 6 Ohio State Buckeyes for a 2-1 win in double overtime Sunday at the Kohl Center, in front of a 1400-person crowd.
Going into the second match with the Purdue Boilermakers (7-7 Big Ten, 16-10 overall) this season, the Wisconsin Badgers (3-11 Big Ten, 11-14 overall) were looking to prevent the season sweep — one Purdue hasn’t pulled off against Wisconsin since 2009.
As per usual, Wisconsin’s football organization is budding with NFL caliber talent, and with the Super Bowl comeback of Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs now a distant memory, the NFL Draft is on everyone’s mind.
Stifling defense and a flurry of threes in the first half allowed the Wisconsin Badgers (7-6 Big Ten, 14-10 overall) to hold off the Ohio State Buckeyes (5-7, 15-8) for a comfortable 70-57 win.