Badger fans self-created elite status

G

greghammel

Well-Known Member
From 1974 to 1990, the Badgers didn't win a single game in Iowa City. Growing up near LaCrosse WI there were many Badger fans around... they would say they didn't care about college basketball. It wasn't even worth talking about as they didn't even know their own roster.

But like any college, once the team started winning.... fans got on board. Here is the kicker though! Wisconsin fans don't claim remembering not caring about it. The all-time low was in 1986 when Iowa beat them by 53 pts (101-48) The Gulf War started in Jan 91, and since then, the Badgers have not been great, but much better than they were.

Now, they seem to think they are an elite program.... but compare them to even the Hawkeyes... you will find that Iowa leads the all-time head to head and the only reason it is close is the pre-1930 timeframe (5-17). (42-37) in my lifetime. The Hawkeyes have been to more NCAA Tournaments and more Final Fours. The Hawkeyes have sent many more players to the NBA.

The Badgers have been to 2 Final Fours in their entire history.

So... where does this attitude come from? Why do Badger fans think they have an elite program? Any guesses?
 
My coworker is from WI and he lets me have it whenever the Hawks lose a football game, especially to WI. Yet when the Badgers lose it's like football wasn't played on Saturday.
 
greghammel said:
From 1974 to 1990, the Badgers didn't win a single game in Iowa City. Growing up near LaCrosse WI there were many Badger fans around... they would say they didn't care about college basketball. It wasn't even worth talking about as they didn't even know their own roster.

But like any college, once the team started winning.... fans got on board. Here is the kicker though! Wisconsin fans don't claim remembering not caring about it. The all-time low was in 1986 when Iowa beat them by 53 pts (101-48) The Gulf War started in Jan 91, and since then, the Badgers have not been great, but much better than they were.

Now, they seem to think they are an elite program.... but compare them to even the Hawkeyes... you will find that Iowa leads the all-time head to head and the only reason it is close is the pre-1930 timeframe (5-17). (42-37) in my lifetime. The Hawkeyes have been to more NCAA Tournaments and more Final Fours. The Hawkeyes have sent many more players to the NBA.

The Badgers have been to 2 Final Fours in their entire history.

So... where does this attitude come from? Why do Badger fans think they have an elite program? Any guesses?
Click to expand...

Wisconsin isn't elite, but right now they have a better program than we do. In football, Minnesota is one of the best programs (historically). But would we still call them elite? Of course not. Things change, and Wisconsin basketball has been pretty damn good for the last 20 years. That's not some 2-3 year fluke.
 
greghammel said:
From 1974 to 1990, the Badgers didn't win a single game in Iowa City. Growing up near LaCrosse WI there were many Badger fans around... they would say they didn't care about college basketball. It wasn't even worth talking about as they didn't even know their own roster.

But like any college, once the team started winning.... fans got on board. Here is the kicker though! Wisconsin fans don't claim remembering not caring about it. The all-time low was in 1986 when Iowa beat them by 53 pts (101-48) The Gulf War started in Jan 91, and since then, the Badgers have not been great, but much better than they were.

Now, they seem to think they are an elite program.... but compare them to even the Hawkeyes... you will find that Iowa leads the all-time head to head and the only reason it is close is the pre-1930 timeframe (5-17). (42-37) in my lifetime. The Hawkeyes have been to more NCAA Tournaments and more Final Fours. The Hawkeyes have sent many more players to the NBA.

The Badgers have been to 2 Final Fours in their entire history.

So... where does this attitude come from? Why do Badger fans think they have an elite program? Any guesses?
Click to expand...

We can't have our cake and eat it too. We all say Nebraska is living in the distant past when they say how superior they are to the Hawkeyes in football, so I don't think it's fair to hold Wisconsin's distant past against them and say we're superior to them. In recent memory Wisconsin has been a much better basketball program then Iowa. I think the door will swing back the other way in the next several years though.
 
So we beat an 'elite' BB program the last 2 times we played them.

Transitive Property says we are teh elite. Yeah!
 
They are not ELITE, but they are in a high tier. Iowa fans were taking the same stance exiting the 2005 recruiting class when we had just witnessed Iowa football finishing a run of top 10 finishes and securing a top level recruting class. We were not elite then, as they are not now, but it sure is fun to be in the talk.
 
Wisconsin is as close to an elite program as Northwestern.

There aren't many elite programs; in recent memory or historically.

What BIG team is elite? Some would say MSU, if so, that would be it...in my opinion, none are.
 
Bo Ryan has been the head coach for 11 seasons. They have won 20 games each year, with the exception of two. Those seasons were: his first year (2001-2002) when they won 19 games, and 2005-2006 when they also won 19 games.

They have been to 11 straight NCAA tournaments. They've been to the Elite Eight once, the Sweet Sixteen 5 times and lost in the first round once.

They are not elite, but very good. So yes, the UW fans have inflated the success of the badgers, but not by much.
 
Wisconsin guys in the NBA:
Devin Harris, Michael Finley (retired), Jon Leuer, Alando Tucker, Marcus Landry, Greg, Stiemsma

Maybe there are more
 
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