How will the year 2009 be remembered?

In terms of people and events, who will forget the inauguration of President Obama, the economic recession, or swine flu epidemic? 2009 was also the year of health care debate, the Kanye West-Taylor Swift incident, and Tiger Woods’ scandal. Add on the war in Afghanistan, emergence of Twitter, as well as death of Michael Jackson and you have yourself an exhilarating span of 365 days.

Now, how will the Wisconsin Badgers be remembered in the year 2009?

Of course you have to start with this year’s 9-3 Badgers football team who is playing in the Champs Sports Bowl on December 29, 2009. Then there is the UW Men’s Basketball team who raised the blood pressure of thousands of Badger faithful by pulling off a last-second win against Florida State in the 2009 NCAA Tournament. The win over Duke in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge wasn’t too shabby either.

So what else happened in Badger sports over the last 525,600 minutes? If Cinderella postseason runs, Big Ten Titles and two National Championships don’t come to mind, then you may need a brief refresher on Badger sports in the year 2009. Here’s a month-to-month breakdown to get you back on track (Part I will cover the months of January through May).

January: The first month of the year was a trying time for the UW Men’s Basketball team. After back-to-back wins against Penn State and Northwestern to begin the month, the Badgers dropped six games in a row, including two rare home losses to Minnesota and Purdue. The six-game losing streak was the longest of Bo Ryan’s tenure at Wisconsin.

Most frustrating about the losing streak was aside from the loss to Purdue, all of the losses were by an average of 3.8 points. No game can characterize the losing streak quite as well as the home loss to Minnesota on January 15th. Winning by nine points at the 3:24 mark in the second half, Wisconsin looked well on their way to yet another home win at the Kohl Center. Things started to unravel for the Badgers when Minnesota switched to a pesky full-court press in the closing minutes, cutting the Badger lead to three with 15.2 seconds to go. Gopher guard Lawrence Westbrook hit the tying three at the end of regulation and scored five points early in the overtime session. The win by the Gophers was their first at Wisconsin since February 12, 1994.

In other sports, the UW Men’s Hockey team went 4-4 in the month of January, making them 14-11-3 up until that time. The UW Women’s Hockey team started and ended the month as the No. 1 ranked team in the NCAA. Their 5-1-1 January record included wins over North Dakota, St. Cloud State, and Ohio State.

February: The big news in February was a visit from Jay Bilas, Digger Phelps, and the rest of the ESPN College GameDay crew for the Ohio State game on the 14th. Fans showed up early Saturday morning for the taping of the popular talk show and were treated with a tutorial from Coach Bo Ryan and Bob Knight on “proper offensive technique in the post.” Rece Davis called the Badger crowd, “the best of the year” and the Badgers helped their NCAA tournament hopes by beating the Buckeyes 55-50. The victory was one of five February wins for the Badgers as the team went 5-1 in February.

The most impressive accomplishment came from the UW Women’s Track team. Senior distance runner Gwen Jorgensen had been on the team for less than two years when she arrived in Bloomington, IN for the 2009 Big Ten Track & Field Championships. A former member of the UW women’s swimming and diving team, Jorgensen won both the 3,000 and 5,000-meter races to sweep the events’ distance races. Jorgensen’s memorable performances earned her the title of Great Lakes Regional Track Athlete of the Year.

March: Badger fans might have chose to borrow Andy Williams’ hit song, “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year” to describe their feelings during the month of March. Though it was not Christmas, there were plenty of presents in store for the Badger faithful.

The first present came from the UW Women’s Basketball team, who entered the Big Ten Tournament with a 16-13 record. With their NCAA Tournament hopes hinging on a Big Ten Tournament Championship, the UW Women’s team did their best Cinderella impression in beating No. 10 seeded Northwestern followed by No. 2 seeded Michigan State. Unfortunately for the upstart Badgers, their third round matchup against the No. 3 seeded Purdue Boilermakers played out exactly like their previous two meetings: a loss. Still, the Badgers were able to advance to the Big Ten Tournament semifinals for only the second time in school history and wrapped the season up with a short run in the WNIT.

On the men’s side of the hardwood, a 16-10 Badgers team began March squarely on the bubble. Finishing the season at 18-12 while losing their first round Big Ten Tournament game (to a fellow bubble team in Ohio State no less), was not exactly assuring for most Badger fans. After finding out that they had snuck in the NCAA tournament as a No. 12 seed, the Badgers traveled to Boise, ID to take on the No. 5 seeded Florida State Seminoles. After going down early to the Noles’, the Badgers led a furious rally to send the game into overtime. With 0:07 left and down by one, Badgers point guard Trevon Hughes made a spectacular spin move down the lane, converting the basket plus a foul. With 0:02 left in OT, the Seminoles were unable to get a shot off, providing one of the most memorable moments in the 2009 NCAA Tournament as well as Wisconsin Badgers’ history. The Badgers went on to lose to Xavier the next game, however Hughes’ shot will be on highlight reels for years to come.

Finally, the ice rink is where the Badgers probably had their best results. The UW Men’s Hockey team swept Minnesota State in the 1st round of the WCHA playoffs to advance to the 2nd round, where they ultimately lost to University of Denver. Though they did not make the NCAA Tournament in 2009, the Badgers placed third in the WHCA Tournament, finishing the year at 20-16-4. Badgers defensemen, Jamie McBain was named WCHA Player of the Year and eventually left the team to pursue his NHL career with the Carolina Hurricanes.

The UW Women’s Hockey team won the WCHA Final against the No. 1 seeded Minnesota Golden Gophers and entered the NCAA Tournament as the No. 1 seed. After beating both Dartmouth and Minnesota Duluth, the Badgers looked to win their third national championship since 2006 as they took on No. 3 seeded Mercyhurst. Behind one of the all-time greatest UW athletes ever in goaltender Jesse Vetter, the Badgers cruised to a 3-0 victory. The win brought Madison its first national championship of 2009 and secured the women’s hockey team as the school’s most successful team of the decade.

April: The month of April was certainly less eventful than the previous month, however, a few Badger sports were still in action. The women’s tennis team hosted the Big Ten Women’s Tennis Tournament and beat Iowa in the first round. In the second round, the team fell to Michigan, giving them a 7th place finish in the Big Ten with an overall record of 10-14.

At the end of the month, four Badger football players were selected in the 3rd round of the NFL Draft. The four players were: DE Matt Shaughnessy by the Oakland Raiders, LB DeAndre Levy by the Detroit Lions, OT Keith Urbik by the Pittsburgh Steelers, and TE Travis Beckum by the New York Giants. All four have seen playing time this season.

May: The last month of classes also was the last month for some teams’ seasons. The men’s tennis team made its 3rd straight NCAA tournament appearance before losing in the first round to No. 21 seeded Louisville. The women’s softball team also concluded their season with a loss to Northwestern to finish the season at a mediocre 15-40.

In Men’s Track and Field, there were two individual standout performances at the Big Ten Conference Championship. The first belonged to Ryan Gaspers, who won his second straight 3,000-meter steeplechase. The second memorable performance was Craig Millers’ win in the 1,500-meters event. Miller is another 2-time Big Ten Champion and is the school-record holder in the mile (3:59:09).

Eitan Horwitz is a Staff OP/ED writer for BadgerChatters.com.

You can find more of Eitan's articles on the Examiner.com.

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