The 2015–16 Wisconsin Badgers men's basketball team represented the

University of Wisconsin–Madison The University of Wisconsin–Madison (University of Wisconsin, Wisconsin, UW, UW–Madison, or simply Madison) is a public land-grant research university in Madison, Wisconsin, United States. It was founded in 1848 when Wisconsin achieved st ...

in the

2015–16 NCAA Division I men's basketball season The 2015–16 NCAA Division I men's basketball season began on November 13. The first early-season tournaments to begin were the Puerto Rico Tip-Off and the Charleston Classic. The season ended with the 2016 NCAA Division I men's basketball tour ...

. This was

Bo Ryan William Francis "Bo" Ryan Jr. (born December 20, 1947) is an American former college basketball coach. He was the head coach of the Wisconsin Badgers men's basketball, Wisconsin Badgers men's basketball team of the University of Wisconsin–Mad ...

's 15th season as head coach at Wisconsin, before he resigned 12 games into the season. On December 15, 2015, Ryan announced he would retire effective immediately leaving associate head coach

Greg Gard Gregory Glen Gard (born December 3, 1970) is an American college basketball coach for the Wisconsin Badgers. Gard took over on December 15, 2015, after Bo Ryan announced his retirement as head coach of the Badgers. Gard is a native of Cobb, Wisc ...

as interim head coach. The team played their home games at the

Kohl Center The Kohl Center is a multi-purpose arena located at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, United States. The arena opened in 1998 and is the home of the university's men's basketball and ice hockey teams, and the women's basketball team. The ...

and were members of the

Big Ten Conference The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference, among others) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Fa ...

. They finished the season 22–13, 12–6 in Big Ten play to finish in a four-way tie for third place in conference. Shortly after the regular season, Greg Gard had the interim tag removed as he was announced as the permanent head coach. The Badgers were upset by

Nebraska Nebraska ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Ka ...

in the second round of the Big Ten tournament. They received an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament, their 18th straight appearance in the Tournament. They defeated

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, second-most populous city in Pennsylvania (after Philadelphia) and the List of Un ...

and Xavier to advance to the Sweet Sixteen for the third consecutive year. In the Sweet Sixteen, they lost to Notre Dame.

Previous season

The

Badgers Badgers are medium-sized short-legged omnivores in the superfamily Musteloidea. Badgers are a polyphyletic rather than a natural taxonomic grouping, being united by their squat bodies and adaptions for fossorial activity rather than by their ...

finished the 2014–15 season with a record of 36–4, 16–2 in Big Ten play to win the Big Ten regular season championship. They defeated

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

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

, and

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

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 and

Oregon Oregon ( , ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...

to advance to their second straight Sweet Sixteen. They defeated

North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...

and

Arizona Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...

to reach the school's fourth Final Four. By upsetting unbeaten and No. 1-ranked

Kentucky Kentucky (, ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north, West Virginia to the ...

71–64 in the Final Four in

Indianapolis Indianapolis ( ), colloquially known as Indy, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Indiana, most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana, 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 Royal family, royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and above sovereign princes. As royalty or nobi ...

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

Departures

2015 commitments

Roster

Season news

The first major news of the 2015–16 season came on June 29, 2015, when head coach Bo Ryan announced he would retire at the end of the season. However, on August 13, he backed away from his previous announcement, saying he will make a final decision by the end of 2015. He also said that he could coach some more seasons. The 2015–16 season might not be his final year. On December 15, 2015, following a win over Texas A&M Corpus Christi in Madison, Ryan announced he would be retiring effective immediately. Assistant Coach Greg Gard was named as interim head coach.

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=9 style="background:#cc1122; color:white;", NCAA tournament

Rankings

Player statistics

Season highs

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:2015-16 Wisconsin Badgers men's basketball team Wisconsin Badgers men's basketball seasons

Wisconsin Wisconsin ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest of the United States. It borders Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michig ...

Badgers men's basketball team Badgers men's basketball team