We went through Marquette’s history earlier today, and of course, we will go through Wisconsin’s history as well. Badgers basketball does not have the same history. Dick Bennett, Bo Ryan, and Greg Gard have made Wisconsin basketball into what they are today. Therefore, these memories are much fresher than some of the stuff you’ll see when we are giving the Marquette history lesson for the day. March 16th started two of the deep runs in the NCAA Tournament for Wisconsin.

March 16th, 2000: For the first time in Wisconsin basketball history, Badgers went consecutive NCAA Tournaments. After a disappointing 1999 NCAA TOurnament where they only scored 32 points in 40 minutes against Missouri State in a loss, Wisconsin bounced back to beat Fresno State as an eighth seed. Wisconsin trailed after the first half then shut down Fresno’s offense in the second half by holding them 22 points. Badgers would win 66-56. Jon Bryant made seven threes in a victory. This would be the start of the first great tournament run for Wisconsin.

March 16th, 2017: Wisconsin beats Buzz Williams, but this time at Virginia Tech, not Marquette. Badgers scored 84 points against the Hokies which is eye-popping. But even more eye-popping was Bronson Koenig shooting 17 threes in this game. He made eight of them leading all scorers with 28 points. For me, this game is more famously known for my friend Eric yelling at Flannery’s bartender to not put all the TV’s on the Badgers game. He had to protest for a while, but he got his way. The full game below for your enjoyment.

March 16th, 2007: Badgers began the 2007 Tournament as a two seed. Their highest ever. At that time, I was a senior in high school, and no team I hated more than Wisconsin due to shit-talking among boys in high school. Badgers would beat Texas A&M Corpus-Christi that day. I remember watching it at a buddy’s house as we cut classes in the afternoon. I hoped for TAMU CC upset but I would have to wait a couple of more days for that.

Charlie.