Badgers

General Information

NCAA Division: Division I

Conference: Big Ten

City: Madison, WI

Stadium: Kohl Center

Championships:

• National Championships: 0
• Conference Titles: 3 (20 regular-season titles)
• NCAA Tournaments: 1941, 1947, 1994, 1997, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2019, 2021, 2022

Past Conferences:

• Western

Team History

A graph of success in the Wisconsin men’s basketball program might look a bit like an inverted bell curve. The Badgers were a juggernaut in the early days of the Western Conference/Big Ten, endured decades of mediocrity (at best) and then became a powerhouse again this century.

It all began in the late 1800s, and it was in the second decade of the 20th century that the team posted records of 15-0, 15-0 and 20-1. Overall, Wisconsin won 13 Big Ten titles between 1907 and 1947, establishing itself as one of the teams to beat on an annual basis.

Walter “Doc” Meanwell was at the helm for much of this time. One of his All-Americans was Bud Foster, who took over as coach in the mid-1930s and guided the team to its first NCAA Tournament appearance in 1941.

Foster also had an NCAA Tournament team in 1947 and teams that reached the national rankings in 1950 and 1954. However, during his final four seasons at the helm, his teams were 44 games below .500.

The Badgers then entered a prolonged stretch of second-division play. They had just eight winning seasons between 1954 and 1995. The program began to crawl back to respectability, with NIT appearances under Steve Yoder in 1989 and 1991, plus another under Stu Jackson in 1993.

Enter Michael Finley

Jackson, who coached the New York Knicks to the playoffs in 1990, took over from Yoder that season and added some name recognition to the stagnant program. He also inherited some pretty good talent, namely Michael Finley, who was a sophomore star for Jackson’s first team.

With Finley as a junior in 1993-94 and a standout center from Chicago named Rashard Griffith, the Badgers had a different vibe. They opened 11-0 and scored a big early upset in Big Ten play with a victory over ninth-ranked Purdue.

There were some stumbles later in the regular season, but the NCAAB Tournament committee saw enough to give Wisconsin its first berth since 1947. Finley and Griffith made sure the Badgers stuck around a couple of days, scoring 22 points apiece in an opening-round win over Cincinnati.

The 1994-95 team was ranked early in the season under new head coach Stan Van Gundy, but it faltered and finished below .500.

Dick Bennett, whose son would one day win a national title coaching Virginia, took over and didn’t let the program slip back to mediocrity. In five seasons at the helm, Bennett took three teams to the NCAA Tournament. Despite NCAAB odds stacked against them, they even reached the Final Four in 2000 with a Cinderella-like run as a No. 8 seed.

That team had one player – Kirk Penney – who would reach the NBA, and he lasted only six games. Bennett was doing a lot with a little.

Coach Bennet’s Burnout

Bennett would leave abruptly early the next season due to burnout. The Badgers made the NCAA Tournament again under an interim coach before Bo Ryan was brought aboard for the 2001-02 season. This is when that inverted bell curve starts to climb high on the back end.

Ryan’s first team won a share of the Big Ten regular-season title – its first since 1947 – and it began a streak of 16 consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances. Wisconsin Badgers team stats annually displayed smart, defensive-minded squads with just enough playmakers to make the difference in close games.

Among the stars of the era were Devin Harris, Alando Tucker (the program’s all-time leading scorer,) Frank Kaminsky, Sam Dekker, and Nigel Hayes. Tucker was a senior on the first Badgers team to win 30 games in 2006-07 and Kaminsky, Dekker, and Hayes were the stars on the best team in program history.

That campaign was from 2014-15, and it began with a 15-1 record. After an upset loss to lowly Rutgers on Jan. 11, the Badgers turned the switch back on with 10 straight victories. They’d win the Big Ten by two games over Maryland, steamroll through the conference tournament, and open as a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament for the first time. Betting tips suggested a long run, and Wisconsin made those wagers hold up with a series of hard-fought wins, including triumphs over North Carolina, Arizona, and Kentucky in the Final Four. That national semifinal win ended Kentucky’s perfect season.

The Badgers were right there against mighty Duke in the title game before falling 68-63. Like Bennett, Ryan left early in the following season, giving way to longtime assistant Greg Gard. He’s guided the Badgers to the NCAA Tournament in five of the six times it has been conducted during his tenure, winning the conference regular-season crown in 2020 and 2022.

All-Time Records

Points Scored

• Alando Tucker: 2,217
• Michael Finley: 2,147
• Ethan Happ: 2,130

Rebounds

• Ethan Happ: 1,217
• Joe Franklin: 858
• Michael Wilkinson: 856

Assists

• Tracy Webster: 501
• Jordan Taylor: 464
• D’Mitrik Trice: 430

Wins

• Bo Ryan: 364
• Bud Foster: 265
• Doc Meanwell: 246

FAQs

Follow us on Twitter