Fast Five: The week ahead in Wisconsin athletics

1. Hoosier Daddy?

The University of Wisconsin men’s basketball team is coming off a 74-63 win at Iowa Saturday and four game winning streak. Frank Kaminsky led the Badgers with 24 points and nine rebounds as UW defeated the Hawkeyes for the second time in 11 days.

Wisconsin will now set its sights on Indiana, which comes to the Kohl Center for the two squads’ only matchup of the season. The Hoosiers were ranked 22nd last week, but fell out of the AP Top-25 after losing 83-67 at Purdue Wednesday and beating Rutgers 72-64 Saturday.

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In two meetings last season, each team won its home game, with Indiana knocking off then-No.3 UW for its first loss of the 2013-14 season. Tip-off is scheduled for 6 p.m.

Northwestern will visit Wisconsin Saturday in the teams’ second matchup of the year. UW took down the Wildcats 81-58 in Evanston Jan. 4. Sam Dekker scored 16 points, while Kaminsky had 16 of his own and 10 boards. Tip-off Saturday is set for 4:30 p.m.

2. Sign Here for Awesomeness

Wednesday is National Signing Day in the college football universe, the day thousands of high school seniors commit to institutions and realize their dreams of playing college football will come true.

Wisconsin will welcome an estimated 20-25 signees, highlighted by four-star running back Jordan Stevenson from Texas and three-star quarterback Austin Kafentzis from Utah.

Other recruits, such as Alabama running back Bradrick Shaw and Wisconsin athlete Alec Ingold, have gone to Twitter to announce their commitments to Wisconsin in the past month.

I would also like to take the time to say that I am officially committed to the University of Wisconsin #OnWisconsin
🔴⚪️🔴⚪️👐

— Bradrick Shaw (@bradricks7) January 25, 2015

After talking with my family I'm proud to announce that I'm committed to the University of Madison pic.twitter.com/weVAbV2sFj

— Alec Ingold (@AI_XLV) January 21, 2015

We will have up-to-the-minute coverage of UW’s Signing Day and their Class of 2015 Wednesday.

3. Border Em-Battled

The men’s hockey team picked up a point this weekend in the Big Ten standings after winning the shootout in a 4-4 tie against Minnesota Saturday night. The shootout win came on a timely night in which Wisconsin celebrated the 25th anniversary of its 1990 National Championship team.

The previous night, after leading 3-1, the Badgers squandered that lead in a matter of one minute and 40 seconds, giving up four goals within that span. They went on to lose 7-5.

A bright spot from the weekend is the improved power play. UW began the season 1-29 a man up, but since then they are 12-56.

This weekend the Badgers face Penn State on the road. The Nitanny Lions swept the first series between the two teams this season with 5-2 and 4-2 victories in Madison.

4. Women’s hockey looks to lock up second place

After thumping last-place Minnesota State 3-0 and 5-1 this weekend on the road, the women’s hockey team comes home for a series against third-place Minnesota-Duluth. The revitalized offense has scored twelve goals in its last three games, while scoring only six goals in its previous three.

The Badgers have a comfortable nine-point lead over the Bulldogs in the WCHA standings, but still trail Minnesota by seven points with six games to play.

5. Already better than last year

The women’s basketball team has already surpassed its conference win-total from last season, garnering its fourth Big Ten win of the 2015 campaign with a 73-62 win at Illinois. The win came on the heels of a 85-73 loss to Ohio State Thursday night.

Junior guard Nicole Bauman was on fire in those two games, scoring 21 points in the win against Illinois. But even more impressive was her career-high 31 points on a night where she set the school and Kohl Center record of eight three-pointers in one game against Ohio State.