A good day in my world

Going into the day, the Wisconsin Badgers were trying to earn a bye on the first day of the Big Ten Tournament, especially since only one team has ever won the tournament championship after playing four games in four days. That team was the 2001 Iowa Hawkeyes, beating the Indiana Hoosiers 63-61 behind current Brooklyn Nets forward Reggie Evans.

After the Big Ten expanded to 12 teams, only the top four teams had a Thursday bye instead of the five teams before Nebraska joined. Well, Ohio State and Wisconsin came into Sunday tied with identical 8-4 conference records with the Buckeyes already having beaten Wisconsin 58-49 last month in Columbus. The winner would have a leg up on that coveted first round bye.

Most people are critical of the style of play Wisconsin runs. When the Badgers are missing shots, the team looks awful, but when the team is making shots, it is a thing of beauty. Imagine that, when a team makes shots, it looks good. Luckily on this day, the Badgers played the best game they have played all season. Coming off a heartbreaker against Minnesota the previous game, Wisconsin needed this.

Junior guard Ben Brust, the hero from last Saturday's game against Michigan with his halfcourt buzzer beating 3-pointer to send the game into overtime, made three 3-pointers early in the Ohio State game to help put the game away early. With Ohio State and Wisconsin tied 6-6 early on, Brust drained two consecutive 3-pointers to start an 18-0 run for the Badgers en route to an easy 71-49 victory, thoroughly dominating the No. 13 team in the nation.

The good fortune did not end there, though. The Green Bay Phoenix also needed a victory to try to  stay in contention for a bye in the Horizon League Tournament. After Green Bay dropped its first eight road games of the season, the Phoenix had won three of four games away from home heading into a date with the Youngstown State. The Penguins were only one game behind Green Bay in the conference standings. A Green Bay win would almost assure it of a top four finish.

Junior big man Alec Brown helped the Phoenix to an eight point halftime lead. But a big run to start the half by Youngstown State had Green Bay trailing by one point with less than 16 minutes remaining in the game. The Phoenix responded with a 15-3 run to give it an 11-point lead and it never looked back. Sophomore guard Keifer Sykes scored 19 of his 24 points in the second half to lead the charge as Green Bay earned a big 71-54 victory over Youngstown State.

The day ended with wins by Wisconsin hockey over the rival Minnesota Gophers 3-2 and a Minnesota Wild win over Detroit by the identical 3-2 score. After a scoreless first period, Wisconsin took control of the game in the second, scoring three times to take a 3-0 lead to the third period. However, the Gophers dominated action in the third period and scored one early in the period and one late to cut the deficit to one. But the Badgers held off a last ditch effort by the Gophers to try to tie the game. Make it 3-0.

The perfect day day was about to be spoiled by Detroit as the Red Wings took a 2-0 lead early in the second period. But the Wild answered as, like the Badgers, it scored three second period goals to take a 3-2 lead. Goalie Darcy Kuemper held the Red Wings scoreless the last 39 minutes of the game to earn the victory. Make it 4-0. The perfect day. Now hopefully the teams keep it up going forward.