The Wisconsin women's basketball team was picked preseason to finish sixth in the Big Ten. Despite dropping their final three conference games, the Badgers finished in a three-way tie for fifth place, with Minnesota and Penn State, at 7-9.
The Badgers' final loss came Sunday on the road against the Iowa Hawkeyes, 103-93. A win would have secured them sole possession of fifth place and a first round bye in the Big Ten Tournament, but instead, because of head-to-head tiebreakers, they earned the No. 7 seed and a first round matchup against Michigan, a team they defeated twice in the regular season.
After starting off 10-1 in non-conference play, and being 7-6 in the Big Ten less than two weeks ago, the 0-3 conclusion of the season was disappointing, to say the least. And with no seniors on the roster, some people point to the lack of experience as an explanation.
"We're not going to use 'young' as an excuse for anything," said assistant coach Tasha McDowell, filling in for head coach Lisa Stone at Monday's press conference in the Kohl Center. "That's been thrown out the window. We don't talk about that anymore. And our attitude is, we're disappointed in what happened on Sunday, but all of our energy is going into Michigan right now. [We] are optimistic. [We] are determined. And we've been given a new life here."
Finishing at 18-11 overall and in the middle of the Big Ten, the Badgers still have an outside chance at an NCAA Tournament at-large bid, but will need a strong performance in this week's Big Ten Tournament. The winner of the tournament gets an automatic bid into the Big Dance.
"We're on our second [life] going into the tournament here," McDowell noted. "We like our matchups. We like where we are right now. I certainly think that before [Sunday's] game, we [were] starting to peak, and that's where you want to be [come] tournament time."
The best get better: Anderson, Banks lead the way
Going into the season with eight new faces, there were a lot of question marks for this Badger squad. Because of that, junior guards Jolene Anderson and Janese Banks — the team's top scorers from last season — had a lot of weight on their shoulders to lead the team while elevating their own games. They didn't disappoint.
"We all challenged [Jolene] at the beginning of the year to become a better on-the-ball defender," McDowell said. "And she has committed herself to that. That's really been a focus for her."
"She's in the upper echelon of all the players in a lot of categories," McDowell continued. "So she really has become a more balanced player offensively and defensively."
Anderson was not the only Badger guard to take her game to the next level this season.
"Janese spent a lot of time in the off-season working on her outside shooting, and she certainly is one of our [best 3-point shooters]," McDowell added. "She [practices] all the time. She's improved her free throw [shooting]. She attacks the basket a lot more efficiently than she did last year, and she's committed herself also to becoming one of the better defenders. And we stick her on the fastest and certainly the most athletic players every single game, and she does her best and digs in."
