UW Women's Basketball in NIT Championship Game

The Lady Badgers will play the University of Wyoming Cowgirls today in Laramie for the NIT Championship.

From UWBadgers.com

The Badgers moved on to the title game with a 79-72 win over Western Kentucky in the semifinals Wednesday at the Kohl Center. Wyoming advanced after beating Kansas State at home in triple overtime, 89-79.

The title game appearance is the third for UW, who advanced to the championship contest in each of the three seasons it has been in the tournament. The Badgers beat Florida to win the WNIT championship in 2000, and were the runners-up to Arkansas in 1999. UW is now 13-1 in WNIT tournament participation. Wisconsin, however, is looking for its first road win in WNIT play. The Badgers have hosted and won 13 of 14 games in its WNIT history. The lone loss was on the road to the Lady Razorbacks in 1999.

Wisconsin also will be looking to build on its record-setting year, already setting a program mark in an 84-78 come-from-behind win over Virginia in the quarterfinals last Sunday.

Footie Goodness

Tonight on ESPN2 there will be an international friendly between the US and Guatemala, which in itself is a reason to watch.

But rumor has it that Wisconsinite and Green Bay boy made good Jay Demerrit will be interviewed at half (and may be pimping local, fabulous bar the Highbury)

Alando Tucker named AP All-American

By Mark Stewart

Tucker named AP All-American

University of Wisconsin senior Alando Tucker was a first-team All-American on the Associated Press team released today.

Tucker, a 6-foot-6 forward who averaged 19.9 points and 5.4 rebounds per game, already received first-team All-American recognition from United States Basketball Writers Association, National Association of Basketball Coaches, the Sporting News, SI.com and ESPN.com. He is the Badgers first first-team All-American since 1950.

Tucker was joined on the AP first team by Arron Afflalo, a junior guard from UCLA, Kevin Durant, a freshman forward at Texas, Acie Law IV, a senior guard from Texas A&M and Greg Oden, a freshman center from Ohio State.

Marquette Golden Eagles sophomore guard Dominic James earned honorable mention after averaging 14.9 points and 4.9 assists per game.

Lots of moves for the Brew Crew

There was so much housecleaning today I almost wonder if today was some sort of self-imposed deadline for Ned Yost and the Brewers.

The cleaning began last night when we traded Brady Clark to the Dodgers (along with $2.1 million dollars) for right-hander Elmer Dessens. Yost said Dessens will fill a middle relief role.

According to a Journal-Sentinel article, the Dodgers are mighty thin in the outfield, more-so now with injury and were looking for a solid guy. Brady fills that role and will also be the only right-handed batter in their outfield.

Heading into spring training the Brewers had 6 "starters" on the roster vying for 3 outfield spots.
As previously discussed, Kevin Mench and Geoff Jenkins are sharing left field. Corey Hart (my favorite!!!) will be in right and Bill Hall has been tagged for center, leaving Brady Clark and Gabe Gross "homeless." In addition, Tony Gwynn, Jr. and Layne Nix, who showed themselves rather well when they were called-up last season, are possible outfield choices. Nix is currently injured, but Gwynn should be given serious consideration to make the roster.

The Journal article is actually a good read with a lot of details, including Dessens' stats and the probable bullpen situation.


Yost also announced the starting rotation, though it contains little we didn't expect.

Ben Sheets will start on opening day, followed by Chris Capuano, Jeff Suppan, Dave Bush and Claudio Vargas.

The Brewers also traded AAA pitcher Ben Hendrickson to the Royals for minor league catcher Maxim St. Pierre, who will probably be sent to AA Huntsville.

The catcher position has plenty of depth now, since catcher Mike Rivera has stayed in the organization despite being put on waivers. He wasn't offered a contract by any other major league team, so he took direct assignment to Nashville. Another catcher, JD Closser cleared waivers earlier in camp and has been assigned to Nashville.

The presumption is that Rivera being in Nashville opens a finally roster spot, most likely for Tony Gwynn, Jr.

Too Funny Not To Post

This pic comes from Deadspin, who has it via some North Carolina fanboard. Hilarious!

Tubby Smith leaving Kentucky for Minnesota???

In what may the strangest news I've heard all day, Tubby Smith is leaving perennial basketball powerhouse Kentucky to coach at Minnesota. Yes, the same Minnesota that hasn't won a NCAA tournament game since I was in high school, and they had to cheat to win that one!!

Tubby had four years left in his contract, but up and left for a lower profile and lower paying job in Minnesota.

The scuttlebutt is that Tubby didn't like being the center of attention in Kentucky and wasn't a fan
of being at the end of the looking glass, but I still can't possibly comprehend this move.

The word on the street is that this is an all-win situation, so I guess we'll see. I'm certainly not relishing the prospect of Minnesota becoming a basketball powerhouse. It seems an odd marriage, but it would appear that the Gophers are looking to raise their basketball power.

I don't see Tubby being able to avoid the fishbowl, no matter where he goes. Though basketball at Minnesota is nowhere near the top of the state's radar, his mere presence is going to bring attention and, I can only imagine, some serious expectations. I can't imagine that a big name coach switching to a no name program and trying to revamp it would be any less of the microscope Tubby is said to want to be away from.

WISCONSIN WOMEN'S HOCKEY WINS BACK-TO-BACK CHAMPIONSHIPS

The Wisconsin Women's hockey team brought home it's second straight National Championship just minutes ago by beating the University of Minnesota-Duluth 4-1.

Congratulations to Mark Johnson and the women's team for winning the National Championship!

Click here to see a nice tribute from the UW athletics website.

Links to follow.

Damn you Xavier!

For reasons not entirely explainable, I refused to put Florida and Ohio State in the NC. I just plain refuse.

So here goes Xavier, about to pull of the upset of the year. They're up by 3, less than minute left, Greg Oden fouled out of the game.

AND THEY LET OHIO STATE TAKE THE 3!

Why on god's green earth do you let them take the 3?

Someone explain to me why you don't foul them and force them into a 2 point situation. Oden is out of the game, so your rebound chances are high if they deliberately miss the second free-throw.

SO WHY DO YOU NOT FOUL?

This will haunt me.

(Also, Maryland just completely busted my bracket. I'd have been so much better if Ohio State had lost!)

Cute Sports standings

We kick off today with Rick and Todd tied for first place, while I toil away pathetically alone in last place!

UW Women's Hockey team in Frozen Four

The University of Wisconsin women's hockey team will be playing St. Lawrence today at 4pm in the semi-finals of the national championship today in Lake Placid.

The game is being televised on CSTV. It will be on the radio in Madison and a live broadcast will be available at USCHO.com

From UWBadgers.com

Wisconsin has not allowed a goal in the last 328 minutes and 13 seconds of NCAA tournament play. That includes 127:09 against Harvard on Saturday, 60 minutes against both St. Lawrence and Minnesota at the 2006 Frozen Four and 81:04 against Mercyhurst in the 2006 NCAA quarterfinal.

Of that 328:13 streak, sophomore Jessie Vetter has been in net for all but eight seconds. Vetter was pulled briefly for an extra attacker on a delayed penalty in the third overtime against Harvard.

Vetter enters the Frozen Four with a personal shutout streak of 354 minutes and 9 seconds which includes four straight shutouts.

In playoff games, Vetter has not allowed a goal in 448 minutes and 5 seconds, or nearly 7.5 hours. That total includes five straight playoff shutouts dating back to last season.

The Badgers have continued to improve as the season has passed. In 19 games since Jan. 1, Wisconsin has out-scored its opponents 73-9 while posting 12 shutouts. In their last 51 games, the Badgers are 46-1-4 for a winning percentage of .941.

The Badgers have allowed just 35 goals in 39 games this season, an average of 0.90 goals against per game. The NCAA record for fewest goals allowed per game is 1.14 by both Mercyhurst in 2004-05 and New Hampshire in 2005-06.


If Wisconsin wins, they will play the winner of the Boston College - Minnesota-Duluth on Sunday at noon.

Even sausages need to check their email!

This picture is from inside the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee student center, where two of the Milwaukee Brewers' racing sausages were kneeling, typing away at some computers.

No one can say that the Bratwurst and the Italian are from the old world!


(sorry for the blurry pic, the boyfriend captured this on his camera phone)

Deadspin preview part 2

Here's Deadspin's preview of Wisconsin.

Why you should respect Wisconsin

I saw this on HBO last week and have been waiting for someone to have the equipment to post it on YouTube. My prayers have been answered.

It's in two parts, but the whole thing is less than ten minutes and it's well worth your time.

Check out an up-close-and-personal look at why Alando Tucker is the guy you should want your kid to grow up to be. And see why we're so happy to have Bo Ryan. He's the winningest coach with 20 years of experience or more. He's got class. He's got morals. And he's not afraid to put those things before a winning season.

Jerel McNeal out for the tournament

Now that this is out maybe we'll get some more information on what, specifically, McNeal did to his thumb.

The information thus far has been, understandably, sparse. Clearly too much information would have been detrimental to the team.

I hope we get some answers because thus far we know that he injured his thumb in practice and it's starting to reek of Rickie Weeks' wrist injury - suffered while playing with his bat on the bench (no pun intended, get your minds out of the gutter!)

Deadspin breakdowns

Deadspin is doing a breakdown of every first round game.

Here's Marquette's, but just go to Deadspin.com and scroll the past three days to see any team you'd like.

Breaking down the Tourney - Mascot form

Found on Deadspin.com


This post breaks down the teams in the 65 team field based on their mascots. It's an interesting compendium, but loses some street cred by naming the badger an "aquatic animal" along with ducks, terrapins and gators.

Maybe he was thinking of Beavers, though I still wouldn't call them aquatic. At least not in the way ducks, turtles and alligators are.


The Badger. Not often found in water.

More on how Marquette got the shaft...

from Cracked Sidewalks


"What a crock. MU gets in as an 8 seed in the East Region. WTF? This is an absolute joke.

MU's 'reward' for a 24-win season (including a 10-win conference season while playing the Big East's second-toughest intra-league schedule)? ........a Thursday game in Winston-Salem against #9 seed Michigan State (who also deserved a higher seed). Mentor vs. Mentee, how cute. The winner gets UNC.

Its been said that the selection committee factored in unbalanced conference schedules in choosing Texas Tech over K-State - - but they must not have considered it with Marquette. Imagine if MU was 26-7 (12-4) because the team had beaten St. John's and Cincy instead of losing on the road to G'town and ND. MU was a victim of the unbalanced schedule.

A few cases in point:

• ND as a #6 seed? I guess conference road wins don't matter (unless you beat RU and Cincy like the Irish did -- their only road wins in Big East play and part of their 13th ranked Big East intra-league schedule. The Irish lost at SJU, btw. And don't forget the Irish played 10 teams north of 200 in the RPI. 10! MU played 5 such opponents).
• Duke as a #6 seed? 4-6 in their last 10, one and done in the ACC tourney. Get Vitale off of the committee.
• Vandy as a #6 seed in MU's region? They have fewer road/neutral wins and a lower RPI. Losing to Furman and Appalachian State must not matter. The Commodores are the most over-seeded team in the field.
  
• Boston College, I mean Betting Central, as the #7 seed in MU's region? Again, a team with a lower RPI than MU and fewer road/neutral wins.
• Indiana as a #7 seed? The Hoosiers have a worse RPI, fewer top 100 wins, twice as many road losses as wins, and were 5-5 in their last 10 (like MU). How on earth is IU a #7 seed?"

Is Wisconsin screwed?

This guy thinks Wisconsin is the worst of the 2 seeds, has the toughest path and can't be counted on to go very far.

Congratulations to the Badger Women's Hockey Team

In echoes of last year's mens team, the Badger Women's team went 4 OTs last night against Harvard before Jinells Zaugg's one-timer sent the team to the Frozen Four.

Details here and here






photo from USCHO.com

Brackets

I'm sick (again) and so I really can't stay upright very long to write. I have lots of comments on today's picks, not the least of which is that I think Marquette's 8 seed is bogus.

But for now, sign up for my bracket and let me know what you think...

REMINDER

Brackets were announced today and I'm running a pool on CBS Sportsline. Leave me a comment or shoot me an email if you want to sign up.

Big Ten tournament shakedown

I can't find where I read it now, but two days ago I read someone predict that Indiana would win the Big Ten Tournament. That's a pretty bold prediction considering how Wisconsin, Ohio State and Michigan State have played this season, but to each his own.

Unfortunately for that anonymous blogger, Indiana couldn't make it out of the second round.

So tonight's Big Ten matchups look like this:

#1 Ohio State vs. #5 Purdue @ 12:40 CST on CBS

#2 Wisconsin vs. #6 Illinois @ 3:05 CST on CBS

Wisconsin 70, Michigan State 57

Unlike Marquette, who ran out of answers against Pitt, Wisconsin found a way past Michigan State after playing them for the third time in three weeks.

Alando Tucker was quiet in the first half, so Micheal Flowers, Kam Taylor, Joe Krabbenhoft and Marcus Landry stepped up.

Flowers had 8 of UW's first 10 points. And the rest of the UW offense managed what few have against Sparty's tough defense this season. This was the second highest point total Michigan State had allowed an opponent. And UW finished over 50% from the floor, something only one other team had done this season. To put that in perspective, UW shot around 35% in

photo from Jsonline.com
their two previous meetings this season.

But Tucker was not out. He scored 18 of his game high 21 points in the second half, going four for six from behind the arc.


Of course, it didn't hurt that two key Michigan State players fouled out and Drew Neitzel's first point - free throws, no less - didn't come until there were 11 minutes left IN THE GAME. Neitzel averages well over 20 points per game, but finished last night with just 10.

The Spartans were 2 - 11 from 3 point land. Both made baskets were Neitzel's, but he averages many more than that a game.

Wisconsin 70, Michigan State 57

Unlike Marquette, who ran out of answers against Pitt, Wisconsin found a way past Michigan State after playing them for the third time in three weeks.

Alando Tucker was quiet in the first half, so Micheal Flowers, Kam Taylor, Joe Krabbenhoft and Marcus Landry stepped up.

Flowers had 8 of UW's first 10 points. And the rest of the UW offense managed what few have against Sparty's tough defense this season. This was the second highest point total Michigan State had allowed an opponent. And UW finished over 50% from the floor, something only one other team had done this season. To put that in perspective, UW shot around 35% in

photo from Jsonline.com
their two previous meetings this season.
But Tucker was not out. He scored 18 of his game high 21 points in the second half, going four for six from behind the arc.


Of course, it didn't hurt that two key Michigan State players fouled out and Drew Neitzel's first point - free throws, no less - didn't come until there were 11 minutes left IN THE GAME. Neitzel averages well over 20 points per game, but finished last night with just 10.

The Spartans were 2 - 11 from 3 point land. Both made baskets were Neitzel's, but he averages many more than that a game.

Wisconsin 70, Michigan State 57

Unlike Marquette, who ran out of answers against Pitt, Wisconsin found a way past Michigan State after playing them for the third time in three weeks.

Alando Tucker was quiet in the first half, so Micheal Flowers, Kam Taylor, Joe Krabbenhoft and Marcus Landry stepped up.

Flowers had 8 of UW's first 10 points. And the rest of the UW offense managed what few have against Sparty's tough defense this season. This was the second highest point total Michigan State had allowed an opponent. And UW finished over 50% from the floor, something only one other team had done this season. To put that in perspective, UW shot around 35% in their two previous meetings this season.

photo from Jsonline.com

But Tucker was not out. He scored 18 of his game high 21 points in the second half, going four for six from behind the arc.


Of course, it didn't hurt that two key Michigan State players fouled out and Drew Neitzel's first point - free throws, no less - didn't come until there were 11 minutes left IN THE GAME. Neitzel averages well over 20 points per game, but finished last night with just 10.

The Spartans were 2 - 11 from 3 point land. Both made baskets were Neitzel's, but he averages many more than that a game.

Wisconsin 70, Michigan State 57

Unlike Marquette, who ran out of answers against Pitt, Wisconsin found a way past Michigan State after playing them for the third time in three weeks.

Alando Tucker was quiet in the first half, so Micheal Flowers, Kam Taylor, Joe Krabbenhoft and Marcus Landry stepped up.

Flowers had 8 of UW's first 10 points. And the rest of the UW offense managed what few have against Sparty's tough defense this season. This was the second highest point total Michigan State had allowed an opponent. And UW finished over 50% from the floor, something only one other team had done this season. To put that in perspective, UW shot around 35% in their two previous meetings this season.
photo from Jsonline.com

But Tucker was not out. He scored 18 of his game high 21 points in the second half, going four for six from behind the arc.


Of course, it didn't hurt that two key Michigan State players fouled out and Drew Neitzel's first point - free throws, no less - didn't come until there were 11 minutes left IN THE GAME. Neitzel averages well over 20 points per game, but finished last night with just 10.

The Spartans were 2 - 11 from 3 point land. Both made baskets were Neitzel's, but he averages many more than that a game.

MU out of Big East tournament

Marquette lost to Pitt 79-89 last night, ending their "run" in the Big East tournament.

I'm not sure anyone out there (or at least, anyone who's not a homer) picked Pitt to lose to us a third time. It just wasn't going to happen.

The "big" story for Marquette this week was the play of Dan Fitzgerald, who suddenly decided to hit the shots he took as well as to take shots from within the 3 point arc.

It's early and I'm on my way to work, so more on this later.

Yesterday's UEFA matches

There were some seriously amazing goals in yesterday's UEFA action, but You Tube is working against me, so I'm just going to post links.

Check out Bayern scoring the fastest goal in UEFA history: 11 seconds!

Also, a nicer header from Lucio to put Bayern up 2-0.

Finally, AS Roma put up two beautiful goals against Lyon. This is full highlights, so it's a few minutes. This is the second goal, a spectacular display of footwork by Mancini.

Breaking down the Big Ten...

by assigning them a character from Saved By the Bell.


Good stuff.

Congratulations are in order!

Alando Tucker was named Big Ten Player of the Year this morning.

From the Big Ten press release:

Wisconsin's Alando Tucker captured the conference's highest honor as he was named the Big Ten Player of the Year in voting by both the coaches and the media. He is the second Badger in the last four years to earn the award as Devin Harris claimed Wisconsin's first Player of the Year laurel in 2004. In Big Ten games only, Tucker ranked second in the conference in scoring (19.7 ppg) and tied for eighth in rebounding (6.1 rpg). The senior forward led UW to a school-record 13 victories in the Big Ten, while also tallying a 17-game win streak earlier in the season, the longest in school history. This year, Tucker became the second Badger and the 23rd Big Ten standout to reach 2,000 career points. He enters this week's Big Ten Tournament with 2,125 points and is close to breaking UW's all-time scoring record held by Michael Finley (2,147 points from 1992-95).

I'm not sure how it works, but both the coaches and the media vote on these awards. Tucker's award was unanimous.

Badgers also receving accolades were Senior Kammron Taylor, who received a second-team selection by both the media and the coaches. Junior guard Michael Flowers made the league's all-defensive team and received honorable mention from the media. Junior forward Brian Butch received honorable mention from the coaches.

Wisconsin Women's Hockey team continues to dominate

After securing the WCHA regular season title way back on February 11th, the UW Women's Hockey team then went on to rush through the WCHA tournament, defeating North Dakota (4-0, 3-0) in the playoffs, then Ohio State (4-0) and Minnesota (3-1) to win the WCHA tournament title for the second straight year.

The women also swept the WCHA Individual Awards and had 8 ladies named to all-conference teams.

Senior Sara Bauer was named WCHA Player of the Year for the second straight season. She ended the regular season with 51 points in 28 conference games.

WCHA Defensive Player of the Year is senior Meaghan Mikkelson. This is the fourth straight year a Wisconsin player has taken home this prize.

Meghan Duggan was named 2006-07 WCHA Rookie of the Year. She was also named to the WCHA All-Rookie team.

Mark Johnson was named Coach of the Year for the second year running.

Also, senior goalie Christine Dufour was named the 2006-07 WCHA Goaltending Champion, a statistical award based on goals against average. Her stats were: 1.07 over 727:01 of action.

Bauer and Mikkelson, and sophomore Jessie Vetter were named All-WCHA First Team selections.

Duggan, junior forward Jinelle Zaugg and senior defenseman Bobbi-Jo Slusar were named All-WCHA Second Team

Sophomore forward Erika Lawler and senior goalie Christine Dufour were named to the All-WCHA Third Team.

Finally, Sara Bauer has been named one of the top three finalists for the Patty Kazmaier Award - the MVP of women's college hockey. Bauer won the award last year.

Now the ladies move on the the NCAA tournament. Wisconsin hosts Harvard, who tied for the top spot in their conference. Wisconsin received the #1 seed heading into the tournament, which is single elimination. The winners of each of the regionals head to the Frozen Four, held this year in Lake Placid.

It seems fitting for Mark Johnson to head back to Lake Placid, scene of his triumph as a member of the Miracle on Ice team.

The schedule is as follows:

2007 NCAA National Collegiate Women’s Ice Hockey Championship

Regionals (at campus sites)
No. 1 Wisconsin vs. Harvard (March 10)
No. 4 New Hampshire vs. St. Lawrence (March 10)
No. 2 Mercyhurst vs. Minnesota Duluth (March 9)
No. 3 Darmouth vs. Boston College (March 10)

Women’s Frozen Four (Lake Placid, N.Y.)
Semifinals, March 16
Final, March 18

MU, UW move up in polls

After big wins this weekend both state teams moved up in the rankings.

Wisconsin is #3 in the AP poll and #4 in the ESPN/USA Today poll

Marquette is #18 in the AP and #19 in the ESPN/USA Today poll



Also, Marquette is set to play St. John's at 8 pm CST on ESPN in the first round of the Big East tournament. If they win that, they'll meet Pitt (again) on Thursday at 8 pm CST, also on ESPN.
Full Big East tourney schedule


Wisconsin will play the winner of the Northwestern/Michigan State game (go Northwestern, GO NORTHWESTERN!) Friday night at 5:40 pm CST
Full Big Ten tourney schedule

Two Marquette players named to All Big East team

Dominic James was named first team All Big East and Jerel McNeal was named to the second team.

Congrats, gentlemen!

I'm so not the only one...

That thought Ohio State coach Thad Matta's gum situation was disgusting!

Spring Training

And UniWatch features a pic of the Brewers in their Cerveceros unis.


Also, here's an ESPN.com article about Ben Sheets' new pitch.

Wisconsin 52, Michigan State 50

What a game! I was losing faith in the end, I'll admit it. This team has not proved itself too well in close games this season. I was with the team, assuming they'd pull it out against Indiana, Sparty and Ohio State, so this time my faith was a little tired.

But down by 1, Michigan State missed a shot and Wisconsin got the rebound. We took it down the court and called a timeout with 11 seconds left. Bo Ryan called a screen with Tucker and Taylor that Taylor said after the game involved an option. The screen worked and Taylor had the ball by himself behind the arc. He pulled up and hit a beautiful three with 3.9 seconds left.

Michigan State took the ball back down the court and Neitzel threw up a prayer 3 from NBA range that was short.

What an amazing way to end Senior Night for Taylor! Unbelievable!

It says something about Ryan's confidence in Taylor when he calls a play that allows him to take a 3 with 10 seconds left in the game.


This game just makes me that much more upset that we didn't win the Big Ten this year. It's absolutely the team's fault, since they just flat out didn't step up when it was truly necessary. Today's game was about saving face, but the first Michigan State game and the second Ohio State game were the two key games this season and we just couldn't pull it off.

It's just so frustrating because this has been something of a dream season and I really feel like it has lost some of it's sparkle and I know that those losses set Wisconsin back in some mindsets. We're constantly fighting for respect and this doesn't help.

Wisconsin vs. Michigan State

Well, Wisconsin did a lot to try and lose this game, but thankfully, Michigan State decided to suck, too! Alando didn't have a basket in the second half until the 10 minute mark. There was a 5 minute drought with no FGs in the first half and a 6 minute drought in the second half.

Luckily, they were also able to keep Drew Neitzel in check. He picked things up towards the end of the game, but with more than 10 minutes gone in the half, he was at 7 points for the game. However, Suton picked up his game and at last check had 16 points.


AND OH MY GOD! KAM TAYLOR JUST HIT A 3 TO WIN THE GAME! UNREAL!

Ahman Green may no longer be a Packer

Ahman Green, he of my Quizons autograph experience, is an unrestricted free agent as of this morning.

This doesn't mean (yet) that he won't be in the green and gold next season. It just means that he and the Packers couldn't reach a deal. Green apparently has said he wants to see what his worth is on the market.

The guess is that he's trying to prove to the Packers that he's worth more then they are trying to give him.