Haven’t been to the Field House in awhile? Neither have the Big Ten Wrestling Championships. It’s been a long time coming, but the tournament is finally calling the Field House its home in 2003. As host, Wisconsin will see every Big Ten wrestling program in Madison for the annual tournament, to be held March 8-9.
Although the honor of hosting the tournament rotates among Big Ten schools, UW still considers this opportunity to be a great chance to showcase the sport of wrestling. Held at Illinois’ Assembly Hall in 2002, it is now UW’s turn to accommodate wrestling enthusiasts from around the Midwest. Nevertheless, the wrestling team is more than happy to have the home-field advantage.
“Being able to be home and be in your home environment surrounded by friends and family is always a positive,” said Jessica Burda, the wrestling team’s sports information contact.
Fans won’t be wearing the Badgers’ cardinal and white, however. The popularity of wrestling in the area, and the knowledge that each Big Ten team will send a fair-sized contingent of its own, should have the Field House rocking. Couple that with the large number of impartial wrestling enthusiasts figuring to make the trip to Madison, and the Badgers may not have the UW-favored crowd they’re used to. While the fans may not be cheering exclusively for Bucky, they will be eager to see the best in the Big Ten take to the mats.
Adding to the excitement is the fact that the seldom filled-to-capacity Field House will attract huge crowds over the weekend. While it used to serve as the center for virtually all of UW’s indoor sports, ever since the Kohl Center opened its doors, “The Barn” has hosted almost exclusively smaller crowds as the home for the volleyball and wrestling teams. The Big Ten Wrestling Championships offers a very welcome change of pace as several thousand fans will converge on the Field House and create the sporting environment that opposing teams find quite intimidating.
“The Field House for wrestling is just a good environment because [the fans] are a little closer and people are right up near the action,” Burda said. “It gets really loud in there and kind of intimidating if you get a good crowd and very exciting.”
“The Field House is a classic,” UW Sophomore Ryan Wherley said. “Everybody loves to see wrestling in ‘The Barn’ — I know I do.”
Wherley’s thoughts were echoed by UW freshman J.J. Pike. “The Field House is just a classic sporting venue,” said Pike. “It’s a great place to watch a game.”
The surroundings and turnout in a few weeks won’t be the only things that are top-notch, because the tournament itself will showcase some of the top talent in the nation.
“The Big Ten Conference is hands-down one of the best conferences for wrestling in the country,” Burda said.
Six of the nation’s top 10 teams will be taking the floor March 8-9 and out of the whole conference, only Indiana and Northwestern have failed to earn a top-25 ranking. This caliber of competition promises to offer some exciting matches and a good idea of what may happen later in the NCAA championships.
