Pure Madness: This week’s Fast Five

March 16, 2015

Bo Ryan has been known to voice his displeasure with officials.

It’s the Fast Five, March Madness style. Buckle up!

1. Vindication: Big Ten Tournament Champs

In a game for the ages, the men’s basketball team captured the Big Ten tournament title Sunday afternoon 80-69 in an overtime thriller against Michigan State at the United Center in Chicago.

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All hope seemed lost when the Badgers were down by 11 with 7:45 remaining. But the team finished the last 12-plus minutes of regulation and overtime on a 34-12 run.

The win was so remarkable that Bronson Koenig had absolutely no idea what to say when it was over.

https://vine.co/v/OVKaAU3uzIp

In the semifinal win against Purdue, the Badgers were down by five entering the half. But Wisconsin came out inspired in the second half and crushed Purdue, cruising to 71-51.

Friday, Wisconsin handled Michigan in the quarterfinal matchup 71-60. With the game tied at 54, the Badgers erupted for a 17-6 run to dispatch the Wolverines.

Duje Dukan’s dunk surprised many people, but trainer Henry Perez-Guerra summed up everybody’s reaction:

Shoutout to our trainer Henry but next time don't act so surprised when I dunk hahaha pic.twitter.com/sVzgYcAOBw

— Duje Dukan (@dujedukan) March 13, 2015

2. Now to the Big Dance

The only part of the season that everyone truly cares about begins Thursday. Though, the Badgers won’t play until Friday night in Omaha (tip-off approximately 8:20 p.m.).

For the first time in program history, Wisconsin will enter the tournament a one-seed. Frank Kaminsky was getting real comfortable with the championship trophy when he found out.

https://vine.co/v/OVK521tx5ra

The Badgers’ opening round foe is the Coastal Carolina Chanticleers.

Oh, you have no idea what a chanticleer is? Let us (or the Coastal Carolina game notes) fill you in:

A badger beats a chanticleer 11 times out of 10 in the wild – that’s a fact.

3. Badgers advance to Frozen Four

Following the annihilation of fifth-seeded Boston in the opening round of the NCAA tournament, Wisconsin will head to the Frozen Four in Minneapolis.

The Badgers scored two first period goals, including the first of the game from freshman Annie Pankowski. It was pretty dirty.

'Sconnie's Annie Pankowski with some dirty dancing. #frozenfour https://t.co/8oVNURf9w2

— BucciOT.Com (@Buccigross) March 16, 2015

No. 4 seed Wisconsin will take on top-seeded Minnesota in the NCAA semifinals Friday at 5 p.m. It will be a tall task for the Badgers who have not beaten the Gophers in their last 15 meetings. The winner of Friday’s game will take on the winner of No. 2 Boston College and No. 3 Harvard Sunday at 4 p.m. for the National Championship.

4. Record-setting season (not in a good way) coming to a close

The Wisconsin men’s hockey team ended the most disappointing regular season in program history this weekend with two losses to Ohio State at the Kohl Center. Saturday’s 2-0 loss to the Buckeyes gave the Badgers their 25th loss of the season, surpassing the 1975-76 team that lost 24 games.

Wisconsin has one last chance to salvage its season with the Big Ten tournament this weekend in Detroit. The sixth-seeded Badgers will play No. 3 Michigan at 7 p.m. Friday night on the Big Ten Network. Should Wisconsin advance, the Badgers will take on Michigan State in the tournament semifinals.

Athlete Tweet of the Week: Sam Dekker silencing the trolls of the internet #StudentAthlete

https://twitter.com/samdek1/status/577299306010537984

https://twitter.com/samdek1/status/577311937681178624