The Wisconsin Badgers men’s basketball team was picked to finish 10th in the Big Ten Conference this season. They went on to win the regular season championship (shared with Illinois.)
“It’s rewarding as a coach [when] you see young people come together and grow through a season,” Badgers Head Coach Greg Gard told WTMJ’s John Mercure. “I could tell that the new leadership had a drive to them and a goal in mind.”
The expectations for the Badgers season changed after they won to the Maui Invitational in November. Held in Las Vegas due to COVID-19 restrictions in Hawai’i, the Badgers beat Texas A&M, Houston, and St. Mary’s to win the in-season championship.
The surprising win put the team into the AP Top 25 poll and on the radar of every prognosticator in the country. People also started to learn the name Johnny Davis.
The sophomore guard from La Crosse became a household name as well as a player of the year candidate.
Davis averaged 19.7 points an 8.7 rebounds on the season, highlighted by 30-point performances at Indiana and Purdue. Davis would later be named the player of the year in the Big Ten and a first-team AP All-American, joining Alando Tucker (2007) and Frank Kaminsky (2015) as the only Badgers to do so.
“He’s obviously an electric athlete, got size, strength,” Gard said. “The number one thing I’ve always said with him is his will to compete and desire to be successful.”
The magical season earned the Badgers a #3 seed in the NCAA Tournament, with a first-round matchup against #14 seed Colgate in friendly territory at Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee.
Tipoff is set for 8:50 p.m. Friday.
