Adam Kotin
Shhh...secret scrimmage results in Badger dominance!
On the night before the University of Wisconsin men’s basketball team notched a signature win at Iowa last week, Carver-Hawkeye Arena sat empty.
Unless you count a group of student managers from both teams, engaging in a competitive yet friendly basketball game of their own. The Badgers won that one, too, and as of Sunday, were atop the standings in what’s known as the B1G Manager Hoops League with a 6-0 record. (The small number of games played is indicative of how difficult it can be for managers of opposing teams’ schedules to coincide.)
Wisconsin’s manager squad is one of more than 120 teams — representing about a third of all 351 schools in Division I basketball conferences — that collectively have played more than 200 games this season. They take place in deserted arenas, late at night, with all the luxuries of “real” games — scoreboard, shot clock and sometimes locker rooms. The only thing missing? Fans.
KPI Sports, a website that provides college basketball data, analytics, algorithms and analysis, even logs manager games and ranks teams. Last week, the Badgers were fifth behind No. 1 Kansas, Akron, Virginia Commonwealth and Miami (Fla.). The nearest Big 10 rival was Michigan, way down at No. 23.
The (real) Badgers men’s team has 15 student managers — 12 men and three women — who perform such thankless tasks as rebounding during warm-ups and collecting water cups after time outs. But not all of them participate in the scrimmages, says senior Ben Eckburg, head student manager. Wisconsin takes only three managers to away games, so other UW staff members, including program assistants and video coordinators, literally jump into action.
“I’ve been doing this for four years, and we put together as many games as we can,” says Eckburg, who played basketball for his high school team in Rockford, Ill. “It’s definitely evolved, which is pretty cool.”
In 2014, two Michigan State student managers established the B1G Manager Hoops League (follow the action @B1GManagerHoops). The Badgers managers have their own Twitter page, too: @BadgerMBBMGRS.
A couple of weeks ago, KPI announced plans to organize a national tournament featuring the top 64 manager teams, based on rankings. Games will be determined in part by geographical region, and if specific matchups at conference tournaments aren’t possible, online fan votes will help decide which teams move on. Four regional champions — a Final Four, of sorts — will be announced on Selection Sunday, March 13.
“If that actually happens,” Eckburg says about the national tournament, “that would be awesome.”
