Breaking: Badgers Assistant Coach leaves, a big setback for the Badgers.
Wisconsin Badgers assistant coach Joe Krabbenhoft is reportedly earning head coaching interest this offseason, as reports have tied him to the Southern Illinois vacancy.
Krabbenhoft, 37, joined head coach Greg Gard’s staff at Wisconsin as an assistant in 2016, and was promoted to associate head coach in 2022.
A former player at Wisconsin from 2005-09, Krabbenhoft began his career as an assistant coach at South Dakota State from 2014-16 before returning to his alma mater.
Krabbenhoft has been respected as one of the top aspiring coaches in the country, with ESPN naming him to their 40-under-40 list back in 2020, citing him as key in player development and an active recruiter.
Krabbenhoft’s ties specifically span in the Midwest, so it’s no surprise that Southern Illinois has shown interest, although it’s unclear whether he’s currently a favorite for the position or not.
Southern Illinois recently fired head coach Bryan Mullins, who had been the head coach since 2019, accumulating an 86-68 record, including 49-45 in conference play in the Missouri Valley Conference.
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Growing grit at heart of Wisconsin women’s basketball’s next step forward.
The University of Wisconsin women’s basketball team has seen growth in lots of tangible areas this season.
The Badgers have their most wins in five years — 14 — and have allowed 4.4 fewer points per game. Wisconsin’s biggest area of growth for coach Marisa Moseley can’t be attributed to numbers.
“I think we kind of have a lot more grit than we’ve had,” Moseley said Wednesday.
5 things to know about Wisconsin women’s basketball’s WNIT Super 16 home game
It was on full display during the Badgers’ 19-point comeback win over Southern Indiana on Monday night that has them hosting their first Women’s National Invitational Tournament game in 13 years.
Wisconsin (14-16) hosts Illinois State (22-11) on Thursday night at the Kohl Center. It’s nearly 13 years to the date of its last WNIT home game, a 62-59 loss to the Redbirds on March 26, 2011.
Ending that home playoff drought wouldn’t have been possible had it not been for the Badgers improved fortitude. It truly showed after a make-or-break conversation at halftime with Wisconsin trailing by 19 points.
“That’s what I told them at halftime, ‘You’ve got to make a decision. Do you want to go home or do you want to keep playing? It’s really up to you. You have the opportunity to do that,’” Moseley said.
“In that sense, it’s a gut check and that’s really what it was. I think they really answered the bell and made big play after big play.”
That started with sophomore guard Sania Copeland’s buzzer-beating 3-pointer to end the third quarter, sparking the Badgers’ extended 24-2 run that gave them the lead for good. More impressive than Wisconsin’s offensive efforts — Serah Williams scored a game-high 24 points help notch her 17th straight double-double, while Ronnie Porter added 19 and Copeland tacked on a dozen — was the Badgers’ job defensively.
Southern Indiana made just five field goals after halftime, shooting 5 of 25 from the field (20%), including a paltry 2-for-12 in the fourth quarter. It came on the heels of a 45.2% (14 of 31) display in the opening 20 minutes, including going 7 of 11 from behind the arc.
Williams was masterful on defense, too. The 6-foot-4 sophomore forward blocked seven shots, a Badgers WNIT record, and forced the game’s decisive turnover, getting Southern Indiana’s Vanessa Shafford to dribble the ball out of bounds after switching out on to the Screaming Eagles 5-9 guard.
Most impactful, though, was Williams’ emotional will exuded late.
“This year, defensively, there were times when we were really able to lock in and be really impactful on that end,” Moseley said of the second-half effort.
“Having someone like Serah, who has anchored us, she got in the huddle and was like, ‘We’re not going home!’” Moseley said. “Not that we ideally want to dig ourselves out of a hole, but knowing it’s not only possible but we are really capable of doing it, I think this team has really grown through that.”
Even taking away the nature of the Badgers’ win and it’s a massive step forward for the program.
Southern Indiana won both the Ohio Valley Conference regular-season and conference tournament titles, yet wasn’t eligible for the NCAA Tournament because of only being in Year 2 of the NCAA’s mandatory four-year reclassification process for school’s moving from Division II to Division I.
“There’s an excitement, there’s a joy with being able to still be able to be part of a select few that are still playing at this time of year. As much as you want to be in the Big Dance, as they say, these are steps towards doing that,” Moseley said.
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