The 2014–15 Wisconsin Badgers men's basketball team represented the

University of Wisconsin–Madison A university () is an educational institution, institution of higher education, higher (or Tertiary education, tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. Universities ty ...

in the

2014–15 NCAA Division I men's basketball season The 2014–15 NCAA Division I men's basketball season began in November with the 2K Sports Classic and ended with the Final Four in Indianapolis April 4–6. Practices officially began on October 3. Season headlines * May 14 – The NCAA a ...

. This was

Bo Ryan William Francis "Bo" Ryan Jr. (born December 20, 1947) is an American former college basketball coach and player. He was the head coach of the University of Wisconsin–Madison Badgers men's basketball team from 2001 to December 2015. Ryan se ...

's 14th and final full season as head coach at Wisconsin. The team played their home games at the

Kohl Center The Kohl Center is an arena and athletic center at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, United States. The building, which opened in 1998, is the home of the university's men's basketball and ice hockey teams, and the women's basketball team. ...

Madison, Wisconsin Madison is the county seat of Dane County and the capital city of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. As of the 2020 census the population was 269,840, making it the second-largest city in Wisconsin by population, after Milwaukee, and the 80th-lar ...

and were members of the

Big Ten Conference The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...

.They finished the season 36–4, 16–2 in Big Ten play to win the Big Ten regular season championship. They defeated

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

Purdue Purdue University is a public land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded in 1869 after Lafayette businessman John Purdue donated land and money ...

, and

Michigan State Michigan State University (Michigan State, MSU) is a public land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the first of its kind in the United States. It i ...

to win the Big Ten tournament and earn an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. This marked the Badgers' 17th straight trip to the Tournament. In the Tournament, they defeated

Coastal Carolina Coastal Carolina University (CCU or Coastal) is a public university in Conway, South Carolina. Founded in 1954 as Coastal Carolina Junior College, and later joining the University of South Carolina System as USC Coastal Carolina, it became an in ...

and

Oregon Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...

to advance to their second straight Sweet Sixteen. They defeated

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...

and

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...

to reach the school's fourth overall and second consecutive Final Four. By upsetting unbeaten

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia to ...

71–64 in the Final Four in

Indianapolis Indianapolis (), colloquially known as Indy, is the state capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the seat of Marion County. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the consolidated population of Indianapolis and Marion ...

, the Badgers moved on to play

Duke Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, they are ran ...

in the National Championship Game, going for their first title in 74 years. However, Wisconsin lost the game 68–63.

Previous season

The

Badgers Badgers are short-legged omnivores in the family Mustelidae (which also includes the otters, wolverines, martens, minks, polecats, weasels, and ferrets). Badgers are a polyphyletic rather than a natural taxonomic grouping, being united by the ...

finished the 2013–14 season 30–8, 12–6 in Big Ten play to finish in a tie for a second place. They lost in the semifinals in the Big Ten tournament to

. They received at-large bid to the NCAA tournament as a No. 2 seed in the West region. They defeated

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

and

to advance to the Sweet Sixteen. They defeated Baylor and

to advance to the Final Four. However, they were eliminated by

in the Final Four.

Departures

2014 Commitments

Awards

All-Big Ten by Media * Frank Kaminsky - Player of the Year & 1st team (both unanimous) * Sam Dekker - 2nd team * Nigel Hayes - 3rd team All-Big Ten by Coaches * Bo Ryan - Coach of the Year * Frank Kaminsky - Player of the Year & 1st team (unanimous) * Sam Dekker - 2nd team * Nigel Hayes - 3rd team * Josh Gasser - All-Defensive team

Roster

Schedule and results

Source , - !colspan=12 style="background:#cc1122; color:#ffffff;", Exhibition , - !colspan=12 style="background:#cc1122; color:#ffffff;", Non-conference regular season , - !colspan=12 style="background:#cc1122; color:#ffffff;", Big Ten regular season , - !colspan=12 style="background:#cc1122; color:#ffffff;", Big Ten tournament , - !colspan=12 style="background:#cc1122; color:#ffffff;", NCAA tournament

Rankings

Player statistics

*As of April 7, 2015

		        MINUTES    , --TOTAL--,    , --3-PTS--,  , -F-THROWS-,  , ---REBOUNDS---,                  , -SCORING-,  
## Player           GP GS Tot  Avg  FG  FGA  Pct  3FG 3FA Pct FT FTA  Pct  Off Def Tot Avg PF FO  A  TO Blk Stl Pts Avg
44 Kaminsky, Frank  39 39 1311 33.6 267 488 .547  42 101 .416 156 200 .780  58 262 320 8.2 65  0 103  63 57 33 732 18.8
15 Dekker, Sam      40 40 1239 31.0 213 406 .525  50 151 .331  80 113 .708  77 143 220 5.5 42  0  49  36 18 21 556 13.9
10 Hayes, Nigel     40 40 1318 33.0 166 334 .497  40 101 .396 125 168 .744  85 162 247 6.2 76  1  79  51 16 34 497 12.4
24 Koenig, Bronson  40 24 1152 28.8 115 278 .414  62 153 .405  56  69 .812  19  51  70 1.8 64  2  98  33  8  9 348  8.7
12 Jackson, Traevon 21 17  506 24.1  60 139 .432  11  39 .282  40  47 .851   4  31  35 1.7 27  0  54  32  3 19 171  8.1
21 Gasser, Josh     40 40 1320 33.0  77 174 .443  49 126 .389  62  75 .827  29 110 139 3.5 90  1  70  21  8 30 265  6.6
13 Dukan, Duje      38  0  605 15.9  60 155 .387  29  91 .319  31  46 .674  28  70  98 2.6 48  0  24  25  3  8 180  4.7
03 Showalter, Zak   35  0  266  7.6  23  53 .334   2  14 .143  24  27 .889  18  27  45 1.3 38  0  16   5  4 10  72  2.1
30 Brown, Vitto     34  0  214  6.3  26  59 .441   0   0 .000  10  17 .588  12  31  43 1.3 38  0   7  15  8  8  62  1.8
35 Dearring, Riley  15  0   39  2.6   4  10 .400   3   7 .429   0   1 .000   0   4   4 0.3  5  0   1   6  0  1  11  0.7
05 Moesch, Aaron    14  0   28  2.0   2   7 .286   0   1 .000   0   2 .000   2   4   6 0.4  4  0   3   2  1  0   4  0.3
04 Ferris, Matt      9  0   17  1.9   1   3 .333   0   1 .000   0   0 .000   3   2   5 0.6  1  0   0   1  1  1   2  0.2
02 Smith, Jordan    14  0   35  2.5   0   9 .000   0   5 .000   0   0 .000   1   1   2 0.1  3  0   0   0  0  0   0  0.0
   Team                                                                      47  57 104       0       6
   Total..........  40  8050 1014 2115 .479 288 790 .365 584 765 .763 383 955 1338 33.5 501  4 504 296 127 174 2900 72.5
   Opponents......  40  8050  896 2092 .428 202 538 .375 333 469 .710 297 809 1106 27.7 723 10 359 378  84 163 2327 58.2

Season highs

Departures

Following the 2014-15 season seniors Frank Kaminsky, Josh Gasser, Traevon Jackson and Duje Dukan had all exhausted their NCAA eligibility. Following their NCAA championship defeat when Nigel Hayes was asked if he would declare for the NBA draft he said, "I'm nowhere near good enough to do anything but come back." On April 10 Sam Dekker chose to forgo his senior year and declare for the 2015 NBA Draft.

NBA draft selections

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:2014-15 Wisconsin Badgers men's basketball team Wisconsin Badgers men's basketball seasons

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament Final Four seasons

Badge A badge is a device or accessory, often containing the insignia of an organization, which is presented or displayed to indicate some feat of service, a special accomplishment, a symbol of authority granted by taking an oath (e.g., police and fi ...

Big Ten men's basketball tournament championship seasons