The 2003 Wisconsin Badgers are remembered for making the Sweet 16, which solidified for many people the sense that the program was here to stay. Making the Sweet 16 represented a strong national statement from Bo Ryan’s bunch. The Badgers were not content to settle for No. 8 or No. 9 seeds and first-weekend NCAA Tournament exits. The program had bigger goals and dreams, even though it was certainly in a much better place compared to the early 1990s a decade earlier.
In order for the 2003 Badgers to reach the Sweet 16, they had to get out of the first round. Sent once again to the West Region — a frequent landing spot for the team in its earlier NCAA Tournaments over the past 30 years — Wisconsin was a No. 5 seed shipped to Spokane to play the Weber State Wildcats.
You might remember that Weber State had developed a reputation as an NCAA giant-killer at the time. Weber State was a 14 seed which knocked off third-seeded Michigan State in the first round of the 1996 NCAA Tournament. Three years later, in 1999, Weber State once again pulled off a 14-over-3 upset by beating North Carolina in the first round. Wisconsin had to avoid the dreaded 12-over-5 upset to make its way to the Sweet 16.
Kirk Penney said, “I got this.” (Not literally, but essentially.)
Penney played all 40 minutes, scoring 21 points with nine rebounds and five assists, as UW beat Weber, 81-74.
The background for this game was established the season before. Weber State upset UW, 73-69. Penney was just 1 of 10 from the field in that game. In this game, he was 9 of 17. He answered the bell and fueled a Wisconsin offense which hit 53.4 percent of its field goal attempts. Weber State finished just 40.8 percent from the field, a lot of that in the final minutes after UW had built a 17-point lead and cruised to the finish line. The final seven-point margin was deceptively close. The game was much more lopsided.
“It’s in the back of your mind that we lost to them last year,” Penney said. “We wanted to play them again. But when push comes to shove on the court you have to play well and not worry about that.”
Penney definitely played well… and the Badgers built part of their NCAA Tournament legacy in Spokane.