1996–97 Wisconsin Badgers men's basketball team

American college basketball season March 2026 August 2023 Basketball 1996-97 Wisconsin Badgers Wisconsin Badgers logo.svg Big Ten Conference Big Ten 18-10 11-7 Dick Bennett 2nd Brad Soderberg Shawn Hood Brian Hecker UW Field House(capacity: 11,500) NCAA Tournament First Round The 1996–97 Wisconsin Badgers men's basketball team represented the University of Wisconsin–Madison as a member of the Big Ten Conference during the 1996-97 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. Head coach Dick Bennett completed his second season coaching with the Badgers. The team played its home games in Madison, Wisconsin at the UW Field House. Wisconsin finished the season 18–10, 11–7 in Big Ten play to finish tied for fourth place. The Badgers received an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament as a No. 7 seed in the East Region, where they were defeated in the first round by No. 10 seed Texas. Season summary Wisconsin won 18 regular season games for only the second time in school history and recorded a winning Big Ten record for the first time since 1974. The Badgers finished as the Big Ten's top defensive squad, surrendering only 55.3 points-per-game over the entire season and 56.8 points-per-game on 39.7 percent shooting during conference play. They overcame the absence of two promising wing players with a strong frontcourt featuring lone senior Paul Grant, a 7-foot transfer from Boston College, at center. Grant led the team in scoring (12.5 ppg), while leading rebounder Sam Okey (8.5 rpg) and junior Sean Daugherty manned the forward spots as the second and third leading scorers, respectively. A highlight of a 6–0 start was when junior guard Sean Mason scored all 18 of his points in the second half and overtime to win at Temple, 64–57. The Badgers dropped two contests when Okey and guard Ty Calderwood took turns missing one game apiece, but the team's first loss at full strength came on the road to No. 15 Minnesota in the 10th game of the season. Wisconsin responded two nights later by using a 17–0 opening run to topple No. 12 Indiana, 71–58, to snap a 31-game losing streak to the Hoosiers. Calderwood made a pair of memorable game-winning plays during his junior year. On February 26, 1997, he hit a three-pointer with seven seconds remaining to beat Iowa, 49–48, to extend Wisconsin's Big Ten winning streak to six games. In the regular season finale, Calderwood sank two free throws and then poked the ball away on the following defensive possession to upset No. 2 Minnesota, 66–65. Wisconsin earned a No. 7 seed in the NCAA Tournament, only its second bid in 56 years, but the Badgers lost to No. 10 seed Texas, 71–58, in a first-round game in Pittsburgh. Notable injuries Mason was Wisconsin's leading scorer (12.3 ppg) through three games when he went down with a season-ending ACL injury to his left knee in the opening minutes against Brown on December 7, 1996. He then redshirted. It was the second straight year Mason's season ended early due to an ACL injury.Crothers Tim January 25, 1999 Inside College Basketball https://vault.si.com/vault/1999/01/25/inside-college-basketball https://web.archive.org/web/20200612051124/https://vault.si.com/vault/1999/01/25/inside-college-basketball dead June 12, 2020 2020-06-12 Sports Illustrated Vault SI.com en-us Still recovering from the severely dislocated left knee cap he suffered in Wisconsin's first round NIT game the previous season, junior Mosezell Peterson sat the entire year as a medical redshirt. Peterson never suited up for the Badgers again as a result of the foot drop he developed,Temple Jesse October 23, 2012 UW's Bruesewitz focused on speedy recovery http://www.foxsports.com/other/story/uws-bruesewitz-focused-on-speedy-recovery-102312 2020-05-27 FOX Sports en-US accepting a student assistant role the following season. Awards All-Big Ten Sam Okey - 2nd team (media) and 3rd team (coaches) Paul Grant - Honorable mention (media and coaches) Big Ten Player of the Week Sam Okey - Week of December 16 Roster 1996 Wisconsin Badgers y Duany Duany 3 F/G 6 4 190 FR y Bloomington, IN n Sam Okey 4 F 6 7 240 SO Cassville, WI n Hennssy Auriantal 5 G 6 1 190 SO Montreal n Ty Calderwood 12 G 6 0 175 JR Joliet, IL n Mosezell Peterson 13 G/F 6 4 200 JR Louisville, KY n y yes Sean Mason 22 G 6 2 175 JR Country Club Hills, IL n yes y Mike Kosolcharoen 23 G 6 1 195 SO Adams, WI n * David Burkemper 25 G 6 1 205 JR Hubertus, WI n * Adam Shafer G/F 32 180 6 4 JR Downers Grove, IL n * Brian Vraney F 33 6 6 JR 240 Valders, WI n **Earned 1-year scholarship for '96-97Paul Grant basketball 40 C 7 0 245 SR West Bloomfield, MI y C Booker Coleman 41 F/C 6 9 230 JR Jamestown, NY n Matt Quest 42 F 6 6 220 SO y Watertown, WI n W Sean Daugherty 52 F/C 6 10 230 JR Vincennes, IN n G Troy Schuhmacher W 6 3 FR Sun Prairie, WI G Matt Meiners Hyattsville, MD W 6 0 FR * Dick Bennett (Ripon) * Brad Soderberg (Ripon) Shawn Hood Brian Hecker http://images.library.wisc.edu/UW/EFacs/UWAthletics/Basketball/BBall1997/M/0049.jpg 2019-08-05 1996-97 Wisconsin Badgers Schedule and Results https://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/schools/wisconsin/1997-schedule.html College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com en 2020-05-27 *awarded one-year scholarship prior to season Schedule no yes yes |- !colspan=8 style="Wisconsin Badgers"| Regular Season 11/23/1996 7,000 3 Calderwood, Okey 10 Daugherty 20 Grant 1-0 49-46 Capital City Shootout Ottawa, ON Corel Centre Memphis yes yes no 11/30/1996 11,354 6 Calderwood 6 Okey 13 Mason 2-0 68-35 Madison, WI UW Field House UNC-Wilmington yes no 12/4/1996 3,427 7 Calderwood 10 Grant 18 Mason 3-0 OT 64-57 Philadelphia, PA McGonigle Hall Temple y yes no 12/7/1996 11,354 3 Calderwood, Okey 7 Auriental 13 Auriental 4-0 52-30 Madison, WI UW Field House Brown yes no 12/10/1996 10,982 8 Calderwood 17 Okey 30 Okey 5-0 61-41 Madison, WI UW Field House UW-Milwaukee yes no 12/14/1996 5,953 6 Calderwood 12 Okey 16 Grant 6-0 77-68 Olean, NY Reilly Center St. Bonaventure y yes no 12/23/1996 11,500 2 Calderwood, Duany, Kosolcharoen 9 Grant 16 Daugherty, Grant 6-1 57-59 Madison, WI UW Field House Providence yes no 12/26/1996 11,500 5 Auriental, Okey 8 Daugherty 19 Daugherty 7-1 74-59 Madison, WI UW Field House Ball State yes no 12/31/1996 15,292 6 Auriental 7 Auriental 14 Duany 7-2 52-59 Milwaukee, WI Bradley Center Marquette y yes no 1/2/1997 14,351 4 Calderwood 10 Daugherty 16 Okey 7-3(0-1) 48-65 Minneapolis, MN Williams Arena 15 Minnesota y no 1/4/1997 11,500 6 Calderwood 5 Okey 13 Daugherty, Grant, Okey 8-3(1-1) 71-58 Madison, WI UW Field House 12 Indiana no 1/9/1997 ESPN 11,719 2 Okey 6 Daugherty 15 Grant 8-4(1-2) 50-58 Madison, WI UW Field House Michigan State no 1/11/1997 15,500 5 Calderwood, Okey 11 Okey 15 Grant 8-5(1-3) 53-78 Iowa City, IA Carver-Hawkeye Arena Iowa y no 1/18/1997 11,715 5 Calderwood 7 Daugherty 13 Calderwood, Okey 9-5 (2-3) 64-45 Madison, WI UW Field House Penn State no 1/22/1997 14,123 5 Okey 7 Okey 14 Calderwood 9-6(2-4) 52-60 West Lafayette, IN Mackey Arena Purdue y no 1/25/1997 15,448 5 Calderwood 16 Okey 20 Duany 10-6(3-4) 73-56 Champaign, IL Assembly Hall Illinois y no 1/29/1997 11,500 3 Calderwood 7 Daugherty, Okey 17 Okey 11-6(4-4) 65-53 Madison, WI UW Field House Northwestern no 2/1/1997 10,001 2 Calderwood, Okey 13 Okey 16 Daugherty 11-7(4-5) 42-60 Columbus, OH St. John Arena Ohio State y no 2/6/1997 11,500 7 Okey 11 Daugherty 19 Grant 12-7(5-5) 58-53 Madison, WI UW Field House 13 Michigan no 2/8/1997 5,117 5 Calderwood 12 Okey 12 Calderwood 13-7(6-5) 56-44 Evanston, IL Welsh-Ryan Arena Northwestern y no 2/12/1997 11,500 3 Okey 11 Daugherty 16 Okey 14-7(7-5 62-45 Madison, WI UW Field House 20 Illinois no 2/15/1997 11,500 4 Calderwood 9 Daugherty 20 Okey 15-7(8-5) 69-52 Madison, WI UW Field House Purdue no 2/19/1997 13,205 3 Okey 14 Okey 11 Grant 16-7(9-5) 49-45 University Park, PA Bryce Jordan Center Penn State y no 2/26/1997 11,500 3 Okey 10 Grant 23 Grant 17-7(10-5) 49-48 Madison, WI UW Field House Iowa no 3/1/1997 15,138 5 Calderwood 6 Okey 12 Grant 17-8(10-6) 49-68 East Lansing, MI Breslin Center Michigan State y no 3/5/1997 17,284 5 Calderwood 7 Grant 16 Grant 17-9(10-7) 66-70 Bloomington, IN Assembly Hall 25 Indiana y no 3/8/1997 11,500 3 Auriental, Calderwood 9 Okey 19 Calderwood 18-9(11-7) 66-65 Madison, WI UW Field House 2 Minnesota no |- !colspan=8 style="Wisconsin Badgers"|NCAA tournament 3/14/1997 17,300 6 Okey 10 Okey 17 Okey 18-10 58-71 First Round - East Region Pittsburgh, PA Civic Arena Texas y yes no 10 no Player statistics +Individual player statistics (Final)The University of Wisconsin Collection: Wisconsin 1997-98 media guide: Wisconsin 1997-98 media guide http://digicoll.library.wisc.edu/cgi-bin/UW/UW-idx?type=turn&entity=UW.BBall1997.p0121&id=UW.BBall1997&isize=M digicoll.library.wisc.edu 2020-05-29MinutesScoringTotal FGs3-point FGsFree ThrowsReboundsPlayerGPGSTotAvgPtsAvgFGFGAPct3FG3FAPctFTFTAPctOffDefTotAvgATOBlkStlPFGrant, Paul282676527.335012.5129261.49401.00092129.7131455.22162341482Okey, Sam272783330.930211.2103239.4311648.33380125.6402308.57763243290Daugherty, Sean282179528.42709.6104235.4431748.3544565.6921515.42239131778Mason, Sean448120.2379.2925.36039.3331620.800112.859257Calderwood, Ty272488632.82388.871202.35139117.3335772.792873.21016856371Duany, Duany27945917.01375.147142.3312886.3261534.441391.411291631Auriental, Hennssy281363122.51415.049121.4052049.4082340.575752.7424522572Kosolcharoen, Mike28457520.51174.239110.3551237.3242733.818451.6245521666Coleman, Booker2722117.8301.11123.47800.000825.320371.421513324Burkemper, David241030012.5160.7415.26717.14378.875251.025190533Shafer, Adam70233.340.604.00002.00048.50010.120001Vraney, Brian110242.260.528.25000.000221.00060.500013Schuhmacher, Troy60152.530.513.33312.50002.00040.700000Meiners, Matt4051.220.5111.00000.00000.00020.500002Quest, Matt100222.210.102.00000.00016.167101.003104Total28-562540.2165459.15701391.410137406.337377569.66332063195134.033242297187564Opponents28-562540.2154855.35021329.378128408.314416612.68029658988531.623643773195525 Legend  GP Games played  GS Games started Avg Average per game  FG Field goals made FGA Field-goal attempts Off Offensive rebounds Def Defensive rebounds  A Assists  TOTurnovers Blk Blocks Stl Steals High Team high Records and trivia Wisconsin went 5–2 against teams ranked in the AP Top 25. Calderwood tallied 63 steals in 27 games to lead the Big Ten with a 2.33 steals-per-game average. Prior to the season, Bennett awarded one-year scholarships to four walk-ons from the 1995-96 roster: juniors David Burkemper, Adam Schafer, Brian Vraney, and sophomore Mike Kosolcharoen. This brought the number of scholarship athletes on the 1996-97 roster to the allowed maximum of 13.1996-08-24 Janesville Gazette Newspaper Archives, Aug 24, 1996, p. 29 https://newspaperarchive.com/janesville-gazette-aug-24-1996-p-29/ 2020-06-04 NewspaperArchive.com en References Wisconsin Category:Wisconsin Badgers men's basketball seasons Wisconsin Wisconsin Badgers men's b Wisconsin Badgers men's b