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Badger men’s hockey to open NCAA Tournament against Bemidji State

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The Wisconsin Badger men’s hockey team was awarded a number-one seed in the NCAA Tournament’s East Regional and will face Bemidji State (15-9-3) in the opening round on Friday at noon at Webster Bank Arena in Bridgeport, Connecticut.

The Badgers (20-9-1) are making their first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2014.  They’re 7-0 all-time against the Beavers.

It’s also the first ever NCAA tournament appearance for Badger coach Tony Granato, either as a coach or a player.

Massachusetts (16-5-4) and Lake Superior State (19-6-3) meet in the other regional semifinal with the winners to meet for the championship at 3 p.m. on Saturday.  The winner there will head to the 2021 Frozen Four at PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh on April 8 and 10.

The Big Ten landed four teams in the 16-team tournament field.  Minnesota (23-6-0) also landed a top seed.  Michigan and Notre Dame are the other Big Ten teams in the tournament.

North Dakota is the top overall seed.  Boston College also earned a number-one seed.

Badgers have two Hobey Baker finalists

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Wisconsin sophomore’s Cole Caufield and Dylan Holloway have been named two of the ten finalists for the 2021 Hobey Baker Award.

Caufield leads the nation in goals (28) and points 49 in 30 games.  He was named the Big Ten’s player of the year on Tuesday before the Badgers fell to Minnesota in the Big Ten Tournament championship game.  Earlier this year, the Montreal Canadians first round draft pick helped the U.S. win a gold medal in the World Juniors in Canada.

Caufield’s 28 goals are the most for a Badger since 2010 Hobey Baker-winner Blake Geoffrion scored the same number.

Holloway is tied for fourth nationally with 34 points despite missing eight games in the first half of the season to be at Canada’s World Junior Championship camp.

Holloway had 17 points in eight games during the month of February, matching his point total in 35 games played his freshman [Read more…]

Hockey Badgers make a haul in Big Ten honors

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2021 Big Ten Coach of the Year Tony Granato

The Big Ten regular season champion Wisconsin Badger men’s hockey team, set to play in Tuesday night’s Big Ten Tournament championship game, made a haul when the All-Big Ten honors were handed out today.

Eight different Badgers were named either All-Big Ten, All-Big Ten Freshman or a Big Ten Sportsmanship Award winner.

The league’s scoring champion, Cole Caufield, was awarded the Big Ten Player of the Year.  He becomes the eighth Badger to win a conference player of the year award and the first since defenseman Jamie McBain took the WCHA Player of the Year honors in 2009.  The sophomore is the first Badger to be named Big Ten Player of the Year, an award that follows his title of Big Ten Freshman of the Year in 2020.

Caufield tallied 24 goals and 43 points in 24 Big Ten games, outpacing the next closest skater by 10 goals and 10 points.  The 2019 Montreal Canadians first-round draft pick also set the Big Ten standard for goals in a conference season with the performance.

Other UW conference player of the year winners are: Mike Eaves (1978), Mark Johnson (1979), Curtis Joseph (1989), Gary [Read more…]

Big Ten Men’s Basketball Tournament has record breaking viewership

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The Big Ten Network’s coverage of the 2021 Big Ten Men’s Basketball Tournament became the most-watched men’s tournament in network history and included the most-watched men’s basketball game in network history.

Across the entire tournament on BTN, the total audience grew by more than 14% to more than 5.2 million viewers.  The average audience for each game grew by more than 15%.  The first-round averaged increased by more than 9%.  The second-round average went up by more than 11% and the Friday quarterfinals saw an increase of more than 18%.

Driving the quarterfinal increase was Friday night’s game between Iowa and Wisconsin, which earned 938,784 viewers, the highest-rated game in network history.

 

 

Badgers open NCAA Tournament Friday against North Carolina (AUDIO)

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The Wisconsin Badgers (17-12) drew the number-9 seed in the South Regional and will square off against number-8 seeded North Carolina (18-10) in a first-round game Friday (6 p.m.) at Mackey Arena in West Lafayette, Indiana (CBS).

The winner will face either No. 1 Baylor (22-2) or No. 16 Hartford (15-8) on Sunday.

The Badgers are one of a record nine Big Ten teams to make the 68-team NCAA Tournament field.

The Tar Heels finished in a tie for sixth place in the Atlantic Coast Conference, then beat Notre Dame and Virginia Tech in the ACC Tournament before falling to second seeded Florida State 69-66 in the semifinals.

Wisconsin enters the tournament coming off of a 62-57 loss to Iowa in the quarterfinals of the Big Ten Tournament.  They’ve won just two of their last eight games.

But those losses all came against teams in front of them in the Big Ten standings.  The Badgers fell to Michigan, Illinois, [Read more…]

Another down weekend for top-ranked Wisconsin volleyball

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The top-ranked Wisconsin women’s volleyball team was supposed to return from a two-week COVID pause with a scheduled two-game Big Ten series against Northwestern at the UW Field House this Friday and Saturday.

Now, the Badgers will get another weekend off, this time because of a pause in the Wildcats’ team activities.  The decision to postpone was mutually agreed upon and the schools will work with the Big Ten Conference to identify rescheduling options.

The Badgers are now scheduled to return to action next week when they take on No. 5 Minnesota in a home-and-home series.  The home match against the Gophers has been moved to March 18 at 7 p.m.  Wisconsin will travel to Minnesota on March 21 for a 7 p.m. match from the Maturi Pavilion.  Both matches will air live on the Big Ten Network.

Badgers fire women’s basketball coach Jonathan Tsipis

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Jonathan Tsipis

The Wisconsin women’s basketball team got off to a terrible start against Illinois in the Big Ten Tournament on Tuesday.  Jonathan Tsipis watched his team miss their first 18 shots while being outscored 24-2 in the first quarter, falling to the Illini 67-42.

The Badgers shot 25-percent from the field, missed 12-of-13 three-pointers, committed 15 turnovers and finished 5-of-19 overall.

Tsipis said after the game that his team was outplayed and he was outcoached.  The Wisconsin athletic department took notice and fired him shortly after the game.

“I appreciate Coach Tsipis’s efforts during his five years with us, but we feel it is time for a new direction for our women’s basketball program,” said Wisconsin AD Barry Alvarez in a statement.  “I wish Jonathan the best as he moves forward.”

Wisconsin finished the 2020-21 season with a 5-19 overall record and a 2-18 mark in Big Ten regular-season play.

In his five seasons at Wisconsin, the Badgers went 50-99, 14-74 in the Big Ten and they never finished better than 11th in conference play.  The Badgers string of losing seasons now stands at 10.

Big Ten Men’s & Women’s basketball Tournaments to Allow Limited Fan Attendance

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The Big Ten Conference announced Thursday it will allow a limited number of fans to attend the 2021 Big Ten Men’s and Women’s Basketball Tournaments.

The men’s tournament will be held March 10-14 at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, while the women’s tournament will be held March 9-13 at Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.

Following approval by the Marion County Health Department, the men’s tournament will limit capacity to 8,000 fans, while the women’s event will limit capacity to 2,500 fans.

A limited number of tickets will go on sale through each school’s ticket office for the the men’s tournament.  Single-session tickets will go on sale to the general public for the women’s tournament through Ticketmaster on Thursday, March 4, at 11 a.m. CT.

Additional details for the men’s tournament can be found at http://www.bigten.org/mbbt

Additional details for the women’s tournament can be found at http://www.bigten.org/wbbt

 

Wisconsin was better but still falls short at Purdue

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Purdue’s 7’4 freshman center Zach Edey scored a career-high 21 points to lead the 23rd ranked Boilermakers to a 73-69 win over the 25th ranked Wisconsin Badgers in West LaFayette, Ind., on Tursday night.

With the Boilermakers dealing with foul trouble, Edey delivered, going 8 for 11 from the field and pulling down seven rebounds.

Purdue (17-8, 12-6 Big Ten) has won four straight and five of their last six, putting themselves in position for a first round bye in next weeks Big Ten Tournament.

Brad Davison had 15 points to lead the Badgers (16-10, 10-9).  Nate Reuvers and Micah Potter added 11 each, but the Badgers have dropped four of their last five and fell to 4-42 all-time at Mackey Arena.  Wisconsin is also now 0-7 against Big Ten teams in front of them in the standings.

If they Badgers are going to finish above .500 in the Big Ten regular season, they’re going to need to win at Iowa on Sunday.

The Badgers shot just 24.1% from three-point range (7-of-29) and were outrebounded 37-27.

 

Badgers sweep Ohio State, stay in Big Ten title picture

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Hobey Baker Award candidate Cole Caufield notched a hat trick to lead the 5th ranked Wisconsin men’s hockey team (17-8-1, 15-6-1 1-1-0 Big Ten) to a 7-0 win over the Ohio State Buckeyes (6-17-1, 6-17-1 0-2-0 Big Ten) in the Badgers regular season home finale.

Ty Pelton-Byce also scored twice for the Badgers, who also got single tallies from Ty Emberson and Dylan Holloway.

Freshman goaltender Cameron Rowe stopped all 21 shots he faced for his second career shutout.  Rowe leads all freshmen goalies with a .939 save percentage.

Linus Weissbach, Pelton-Byce, Tarek Baker, Jason Dhooghe, Josh Ess and Robbie Beydoun make up Wisconsin’s senior class.

The hat trick for Caufield is his second of the season and third in his two-year career.

The Badgers kept the heat on the Minnesota Gophers.  With two games left, Wisconsin needs to win twice at Michigan State and get Minnesota to lose once to Michigan for the Badgers to clinch their first regular season league title in 21 years.