Some of you might cringe now, but 10 years ago there was optimistic talk inside the University of Wisconsin Athletic Department that its women's basketball program was on its way to solvency.

The highest arc of those discussions had women's basketball joining football, men's basketball and men's hockey as a consistent breadwinner for UW athletics.

At the very least, the program would bring in enough annual revenue as to be self-sustaining.

Believe it or not, such discussion was understandable.

Records show there was only a $1,579 gap between expenses and revenues for UW women's basketball in 1997-98. Ticket sales were up nearly $125,000, thanks in part to the move from the Field House to the Kohl Center. The fact the Badgers were on the rise nationally -- qualifying for the NCAA tournament three times in four seasons -- suggested that bold thinking was in order.

Now it looks like the UW women's basketball program is being sucked into a gigantic black hole. Not just financially, either.

The gap between expenses and revenues for UW women's basketball in 2006-07 was $1.634 million.

Granted, the equation has changed a good deal. Two major examples: 1) A state budget crisis led to the loss of annual funding for women's sports at UW, which took at least $100,000 out of play for basketball starting in 2001-02; 2) UW athletics began including operational expenses for home games in its financial reports in 2004-05, which accounts for that $710,044 item last season.

But there is no getting around the fact that, since 2000-01, coaching staff salaries have more than doubled, the cost of team travel has more than tripled and game expenses are nearly six times higher.

Those realities would be tolerable if the school or Badgers fans were getting their money's worth.

Except average attendance for UW women's basketball games has tumbled every year since 2000-01, ticket revenue has dropped more than $100,000 and three Big Ten Conference schools -- Purdue, Minnesota and Michigan State -- have built programs good enough to make it to the NCAA Final Four.

Through a spokesperson, UW athletic director Barry Alvarez said this week he didn't have time to take questions about the women's basketball program.

Alvarez's tenure as AD was in its infancy when then-deputy athletic director Jamie Pollard recommended Jane Albright not be given a long-term contract. That led to Albright's resignation/buyout after the 2002-03 season -- this after four 20-win seasons and five NCAA tournament appearances -- and the courtship of current coach Lisa Stone.

It seemed a great fit. Stone, likeable and energetic, was born in Madison, grew up in nearby Oregon and cut her coaching teeth at UW-Eau Claire before taking Drake to the NCAA Sweet 16 in 2001-02. She got big money -- her salary this year is $274,205 -- to come home.

But five years into her run at UW, Stone has one winning season despite the presence of guard Jolene Anderson, the all-time leading scorer in program history.

The Badgers were supposed to challenge for the Big Ten championship this season, but they are 3-7 in league play and 10-10 overall.

A gigantic black hole, indeed.