David Stluka/UW Athletics
Happ couldn’t carry the team on his shoulders.
Despite a late-season surge that included a signature win over No. 6 Purdue and a first-round victory against Maryland in the Big Ten Tournament, the University of Wisconsin men’s basketball team will miss the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1998.
For perspective, Dick Bennett was in his third season as head coach back then, and the Badgers tied for ninth place in the Big Ten (3-13) with a 12-19 overall record.
Two decades later, Wisconsin finished the season tied for eighth in the Big Ten (8-11) and 15-18 overall. That’s not good enough to earn a spot among the 68 teams invited to the Big Dance.
This is new territory for UW fans, who watched Wisconsin advance to the Final Four in 2014 and 2105, and to the Sweet 16 in 2016 and 2017.
The Badgers entered this season with only one returning starter, redshirt junior Ethan Happ, who often tried too hard to carry a young and inexperienced team on his broad shoulders. Still, Happ was the only player in the country to lead his team in points, rebounds, assists, blocks and steals.
Additionally, injuries to sophomore guard D’Mitrik Trice (foot) and freshman guard Kobe King (knee) slowed down this team’s progress. Huge props, though, to another freshman guard, Brad Davison, who played most of the season with a bum left shoulder and still managed to lead the Badgers in minutes (1,208) and was second in total points (398) behind Happ’s 590.
Wisconsin also won four of its six final games. Both losses — by a total of eight points — came at the hands of No. 2 Michigan State, a contender for this year’s national title.
Happ recently said he’ll declare for the NBA draft but hasn’t ruled out coming back for his senior year. If he stays in Madison and his teammates get healthy, Wisconsin is capable of returning to its status as a premier team.
Other Big Ten teams know this, too. Earlier this season, I had the opportunity to speak on the phone with John Beilein, head coach of the Michigan Wolverines, who at one point had a 22-point lead over the Badgers in an early February game at the Kohl Center before winning, 83-72.
When I mentioned I’m from Madison, he told me “There are a bunch of [Big Ten] teams that are figuring things out, and some of them are going to be pretty good.” I couldn’t help but think he was talking about the Badgers.
