He came to this school little more than a skinny jump shooter from New Zealand. Four seasons and three head coaches later, Kirk Penney will go down as one of the greatest basketball players in the history of the University of Wisconsin.
Penney’s Badger career ended Thursday, as Wisconsin fell to Kentucky 57-63 in the Sweet Sixteen. Penney provided the Badgers with a team-high 20 points, but was unable to muster more than three points in the second half. It wasn’t his most memorable game, nor was the game before; nevertheless, he went out a player unparalleled in the memory of many.
It’s hard to remember a college player who rebuilt himself more drastically than Penney. After a sophomore campaign in which he was UW’s second leading scorer behind Roy Boone, Penney overhauled his body, adding thirty pounds of muscle, while making himself more of a slashing force to the basket. He incorporated the art of the ball fake into his game, and established himself as a two-time first team all-Big Ten selection over his final two seasons.
It was in his junior season, that Penney provided his most memorable performance in my mind. At eleven in the morning Sunday, Feb. 16, 2002, I walked over to my friends’ house to watch the Badgers. Groggy and hung over, my friends filed downstairs in their pajamas to watch the Badgers play the Gophers from Williams Arena.
The Badgers fell down early, trailing for a majority of the first half as Penney could only gather three points. The deficit was only five points, 34-29, at half time, as the all-around play of senior point guard Travon Davis kept the team afloat in a must-win game for the Badgers.
UW fell down by nine in the second half and it looked like the Gophers were going to run away with the game. Unfortunately for the Minnesota, Kirk Penney found his shot. In the final 15:39 of the second half Kirk Penney scored 27 points, including 14 in a row at one point. Minnesota was able to match Penney basket-for-basket, but Penney pulled the game away from the Gophers, scoring the last eight points of the game including a spectacular three point play with a mere 40 seconds left to seal the game. His performance had all of us in that living room jumping up and down as if we were in our Kohl Center seats.
“An instant classic,” one friend said jokingly. The truth was, it really was a classic performance and one I will never forget. To me, it’s right there with any college performance I have ever seen.
I had taped the game for my boss at the radio station, and I sat down the next Tuesday afternoon to watch it with him. He knew the final score, and I had watched the game two days prior, but we still found it hard to believe with mere minutes left in the game that the Badgers were able to take the win. It honestly was an astounding performance, and it catapulted the Badgers off the bubble and into the NCAA tourney.
More than a year later, Penney played his last game at the Kohl Center. In a last-minute thriller over Illinois, the Badgers claimed the Big Ten title outright for the first time in 55 years. Penney dropped a team leading 14 points and was all over the place, diving for loose balls, doing the little things to find the win.
The year before, Penney was overcome with tears of joy as the Badgers claimed a share of the title. Last month, the senior leader was much more composed as his teammates hoisted him to their shoulders and the crowd screamed out their adulation in a chorus of “MVP.” He kindly took the microphone away from Matt Lepay in the post game trophy presentation to address the crowd. The fans who took the floor that magical night let out a slight giggle after Penney’s first words into his address came out in his gleefully proper Kiwi accent.
Kindly enough, Penney acknowledged everyone who made the title possible. He recognized the student section in his pre-game ceremony, sending a smile and a wave to his finest fans. He left the Kohl Center with the same kindness and class that he brought with him four years earlier.
In his four seasons with Wisconsin, Penney improved his averages across the board. As a senior in totaled career highs in points (16.3) rebounds (6.0) and assists (3.0). He became the complete college athlete, well liked and well received, finishing his career as the Badgers sixth all-time leading scorer with 1,454 points. It would be a downright shame if Penney didn’t grab some all-American attention in the next few weeks.
We’ll see where the future takes Penney, a possible NBA draft pick, who looked more than capable of handling himself among professionals in this past summer’s World Championships. He is an accomplished landscape architecture major with the intelligence and work ethic to carry out any dream he may have.
No matter what he may do Penney will always have the interest and support of the students of Madison. Thanks for the memories Kirk, and cheers mate!
