If you're going to ask Danielle Ward what her future holds, be prepared to listen for a little while.

Let's just say the senior forward has a long — and ambitious — list of things she'd like to accomplish once her career with the University of Wisconsin women's basketball team is finished.

For starters, she's got a year left before graduating with a double major in African-American studies and women's studies.

And Ward would like to pursue any opportunities to play professional basketball, wherever that might lead her. If that doesn't work, though, she wants to get into modeling and fashion design.

Or style hair.

Or mentor or teach youth in some capacity.

Oh, and she doesn't want to be too old before she starts a family.

"I feel that I'm not restricted to anything," Ward said.

The here and now for Ward and the Badgers is pretty wide open, too. UW (15-11, 8-8 Big Ten Conference) enters Thursday night's matchup with Michigan (16-10, 9-7) in Ann Arbor, Mich., having won four in a row and seven of its last nine.

That kind of recent form has the Badgers back in the middle of the pack in the Big Ten standings and just a game behind the three teams tied for fourth place — and the Wolverines are one of those teams.

But UW also is just a game ahead of ninth-place Illinois. So the final two games of the regular season will be vital to where the Badgers are seeded in the Big Ten tournament and where their season goes after that.

"I want to make the best of it that I possibly can, for myself and especially the other seniors and my teammates," Ward said of the season's final stretch. "Just try to go out with a bang, really."

The 6-foot-4 Ward has been playing her most consistent basketball in her final season, even though her statistics haven't been mind-blowing.

Her scoring average actually is down from last year (7.3 points per game compared to 7.9).

But the lanky Milwaukee native has been playing more relaxed and has given UW a defensive presence in the paint of late, blocking nine shots over the last four games.

That stretch includes an emphatic rejection of Minnesota standout guard Emily Fox in the Badgers' 59-57 win over the Golden Gophers on Saturday.

"She more under control," UW coach Lisa Stone said. "I think she's more in control. Defensively she's better this year."

The easy-going Ward doesn't get rattled by too much, something she attributes to her religious background. She grew up in a Baptist household, and her jersey number — 44 — is a tribute to a passage of scripture, Philippians 4:4.

"She's consistent," Stone said. "She's no drama. It's just (Danielle). Easy going, cool as a fan, that's (Danielle). Nothing rattles her. She just plays. Comes in and she's an introvert, she's very quiet, laid-back. Doesn't need the limelight, but gets it, and if she gets it, (there is) no change in her. She's very even-keeled."

Which probably bodes well for Ward given she's not sure what she'll end up doing.

"I just let things come," she said. "I don't force things to happen."