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UW women's basketball: Badgers return to early roots for NIT
Mariah Dunham has a little piece of the Field House in her heart. The sophomore on the University of Wisconsin women's basketball team played two games at the history-laden facility while a senior in high school at Watertown, and frequents it each fall to watch her three roommates play volleyball for the Badgers.
"The crowd is definitely a sixth man. I love that feel," she said. "The bleachers are right on top of you, and it's an old-school barn feeling."
Meanwhile, the tandem of UW head coach Lisa Stone and assistant Donna Freitag have a little piece of the Field House in their scrapbooks at home -- literally. They snipped a piece of net after playing there as prep teammates at Oregon in the 1979 WIAA state tournament ... after losing a Class B semifinal game to Greendale.
"There was a picture in the Oregon Observer of me hoisting Lisa up there," Freitag recalled with a laugh, noting that the WIAA instituted a rule soon afterward to put an end to the ceremonial practice, even for winners.
Consider Dunham, Stone, Freitag and senior standout Jolene Anderson, who made her state tournament debut in the facility as a sophomore in 2002, all big fans of the journey back in time to the Field House. The Badgers (16-13) will play there for the first time in a decade when they open Women's National Invitation Tournament play tonight at 7 with a second-round game against Villanova (16-15).
Wisconsin has submitted bids to host all six rounds of the tournament at the Field House, should the Badgers advance that far; the site, based on the value of the offer, will be determined after each round.
Anderson made her state tournament debut at the Field House in 2002 as a sophomore for tiny South Shore High School in Port Wing, located on the shores of Lake Superior, scoring 23 points in a semifinal loss to eventual Division 4 champion Pecatonica. It was the last tournament held there. (Anderson returned to state as a senior at the Alliant Energy Center Coliseum, where she set the all-divisions single-game record with 46 points.)
"It fuels your fire," she said of the facility, which is regarded as a shooter's gym because of the shallow background behind the baskets.
Her backcourt mate, Janese Banks, however, may more accurately represent the feelings of the majority of the Badgers.
The Indianapolis native certainly can appreciate the tradition of the Field House, which hosted its last UW women's game in 1998, and was the home of the men's program from its opening in 1930 until that time. And she smiled when reflecting about a conversation this week with Howard Moore, an assistant coach with the Wisconsin men's team, who related that he was a member of the UW team that defeated the legendary Fab Five of Michigan there in 1992, before the freshmen-led Wolverines streaked all the way to the NCAA championship game.
"But I don't care about history," Banks countered. "We're going to make history."
The Badgers' spirits certainly appear to be rejuvenated since their first-round exit from the Big Ten Conference tournament on March 6, a loss to Illinois that ended their aspirations of securing the program's first NCAA tournament berth since 2002.
Now, they're setting their sights on a return trip to the WNIT title game, where last season they lost to Wyoming after winning a program-record 23 games. The prevailing thought at the time was that appearance would serve as a prelude to a strong final season for the triumvirate of Anderson, Banks and Danielle Ward, who were part of Stone's first recruiting class.
That didn't materialize. Wisconsin got off to a 1-6 start in Big Ten play, a hole so deep that it couldn't be erased even by winning eight of its last 11 conference games. But within days of the loss to the Illini, the Badgers regrouped and are eager to return to the court after a 15-day layoff.
"I think we're ready for it," Dunham said. "I talked to (Ohio State's) Marscilla Packer on Facebook and she said, 'You guys better take the NIT.'"
The pressure isn't just coming on social Web sites from peers like Packer and Indiana's Jamie Braun, whose Hoosiers would be in line to face Wisconsin in the WNIT semifinals, but from Stone as well.
"We're going to play to win, to send these seniors out with success and a smile -- and some redemption for our early exit from the Big Ten tournament," she said. "And for the young ones to use this as a springboard for next year."
