Welcome to our third annual Inside Wisconsin Sports All-State basketball issue. I hope you enjoy reading this issue as much as the staff at Inside Wisconsin Sports enjoyed putting it together. And how could you not enjoy reading about basketball in the State of Wisconsin? It is nearing the end of February as I write this Publisher’s Note and the newest Division I men’s basketball polls were just released. At the very top of the Associated Press poll sits a team that has never been there before, our very own Wisconsin Badgers. That’s right, the Wisconsin Badgers men’s basketball team is ranked #1 in the country.

Not North Carolina, Duke, Kansas or Florida, but the Wisconsin Badgers. Since the Associated Press started its national poll in 1948, the closest the Badgers got to the top spot (prior

this year) was #7 in the 1962-63 season. Quite an accomplishment for Coach Bo Ryan and his Badger basketball squad.

But it’s not just the Badger men’s team that is making noise in the nation’s college basketball scene. The State of Wisconsin also boasts another #1 nationally ranked team in the nation. Our very own UW-Stevens Point men’s basketball squad also sits atop the perch of the Division III men’s basketball polls. Those who thought the Pointers would slip into obscurity after Jack Bennett retired as coach, think again. In only his second year as the UW-Stevens Point Head Coach, Bob Semling is in the midst of starting his own dynasty and is on track for yet another National Championship, the third in four years for the Pointers. And if the task of another National Championship is too much for the Pointers and their young coach, there are plenty of other State men’s teams waiting in the wings UW-Oshkosh is rated an impressive #7, UW-La Crosse is rated #18 and two other teams, Carthage College and UW-Whitewater, are receiving votes and are on the cusp of breaking into the top 25. In fact, when you throw in Marquette University’s #16 ranking in the Division I men’s poll, Wisconsin has 10% of the basketball teams ranked in the Top 25 for men’s Division I & III combined. How impressive is that?

And it’s not just men’s college basketball that is making a splash in the State. The women’s programs are holding their own among the nation’s elite as well.

Division I, both the Marquette Golden Eagles and the Fighting Phoenix of UW-Green Bay are currently ranked #19 and #24 respectively. In Division III, the UW-Stout women’s team in ranked #17, with UW-Whitewater knocking at the door as the #28 team in the country. That gives Wisconsin 6% of the women’s basketball teams ranked in the Top 25 for Division I & III combined. Again, quite an accomplishment.

It should be an exciting “March Madness” for college basketball in our State. And while all of these rankings and notoriety are extraordinary and very exciting, the truth of the matter is, what matters most is what happens come tourney time (i.e., bringing home a National Championship trophy). I, as well as the rest of the staff of Inside Wisconsin Sports. wish you the best of luck.

Chad Griepentrog
"INSIDE WISCONSIN SPORTS"