When it comes to Wisconsin sports, the year 2022 was mostly disappointing, especially compared to a 2021 season that featured a Milwaukee Bucks championship and strong performances from the Milwaukee Brewers and Green Bay Packers that simply weren’t repeated this year .
The Bucks were challenged by Boston in the 2022 Eastern Conference semifinals. The Packers struggled mightily. The Brewers missed the playoffs. The Badgers football team had to scratch and scratch to be bowl eligible and underwent a stunning coaching change, and the surprising UW basketball team was ousted in the first weekend of the NCAA tournament even while playing in Milwaukee. The Marquette men made the tournament, but took a lopsided loss to eventual national runner-up North Carolina in the first round. Even the Winter Olympics didn’t go as well as the last cycle did for Wisconsin athletes.
This is a year that may be remembered more for what went wrong (trades for Davante Adams and Josh Hader? A fight between coaches at a Badgers basketball game? A five-game Packers losing streak?) than what went right.
More: Thirteen moments that defined the tumultuous 2020 year in Wisconsin sports
More: These are the 20 Wisconsin sports moments from 2019 we’ll never forget
More: Woodruff’s home run, Cobb’s 75-yard catch: See the top 10 moments in Wisconsin sports of 2018
It’s not all bad, of course. These are the moments we’ll remember from the 2022 calendar year in Wisconsin athletics.
A stunning fire, a stunning hire
The Wisconsin Badgers football team started just 2-3, with an upset loss to Washington State at Camp Randall Stadium and lopsided losses to Ohio State (understandably) and Illinois (less understandably). Still, it stunned everyone when, a day after the loss to the Illini and former Badgers coach Bret Bielema, UW announced football coach Paul Chryst had been fired, a bold move by second-year athletic director Chris McIntosh. To see also : 10 Overlooked Video Games in Great Franchises | ScreenRant.
In his place, defensive coordinator Jim Leonhard took the helm on an interim basis, with most assuming he would be named to the full-time gig at season’s end. Instead, shortly after UW lost its chance to regain Paul Bunyan’s Ax with a disappointing 23-16 home loss to Minnesota, McIntosh announced he was hiring Cincinnati‘s Luke Fickell for the job. For a program that rarely goes so far outside the box in its maneuvers, it surprised everyone.
Two unforgettable trades
Which major Wisconsin sports store caught you more off guard? Which had the greatest impact? This may interest you : The short-handed Warriors remind the up-and-coming Grizzlies why they’re the champions in thrilling Christmas Day victories.
In March, the Packers announced they were trading wide receiver Davante Adams to the Las Vegas Raiders for a first- and second-round pick, a move that reunited Adams with his former college quarterback, Derek Carr, and satisfied his preference to leave Green Bay himself with a better financial offer to stay. Without Adams, the Packers offense has failed to match the elite performance that allowed the team to go 13-3 last year, though Adams and the Raiders are also headed for a disappointing season.
In early August, the Brewers traded all-star closer Josh Hader to the San Diego Padres, a move that backfired as the Brewers quickly fell out of the postseason standings and ultimately missed the playoffs altogether. Hader also struggled in San Diego for a month before finding his groove, and the Padres ended up advancing to the National League Championship Series. For the Brewers, it was their first time missing the playoffs since 2017, and a suspect bullpen showing down the stretch compounded the frustration of Hader’s departure.
Brewers president of baseball operations David Stearns, who admitted the trade hurt the team more than he anticipated, then shockingly announced he was stepping down from his position in late October, leaving general manager Matt Arnold at the top of the food chain for player personnel. Stearns oversaw an unprecedented run of Brewers success, leading the franchise to four straight postseason appearances.
Blocked punt in the snow
The Packers’ 2022 nightmare began in earnest in January when Green Bay fell to the San Francisco 49ers in the divisional round of the playoffs at Lambeau Field, 13-10, bringing a promising season to an end when the snow fell. See the article : Steven Spielberg is ‘a true gamer’, says ‘Halo’ producer Kiki Wolfkill (exclusive).
San Francisco scored a touchdown in the game as the much-maligned Packers special teams unit made its biggest mistake on the biggest stage. Defensive lineman Jordan Willis burst through the Packers line to block Corey Bojorquez’s punt near the goal line, and safety Talanoa Hufanga scooped it up at the 6-yard line and ran it into the end zone with 4:50 left in regulation.
The Packers expected to bounce back with another huge season in 2022, but they lost five straight games and opened the year 5-8.
Jrue Holiday makes Marcus Smart a meme
OK, it wasn’t all bad news, was it?
In May, the Bucks staged a remarkable rally to top the Boston Celtics at TD Garden in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals, taking a 3–2 series lead.
Down by 14 points in the fourth quarter, Jrue Holiday and Bobby Portis provided the heroics. First, Portis assisted on a Holiday three-pointer to tie the game at 105 with 41 seconds left. Then, after Jayson Tatum gave the Celtics a 107-105 lead with a pair of free throws with 31 seconds left, Portis came to Giannis Antetokounmpo’s rescue by making a missed free throw to make it 108-107, Milwaukee, with 11.4 seconds left.
On the ensuing drive, Holiday literally took the ball out of Marcus Smart’s hands for a block as the Boston guard attempted to shoot. That led to a Bucks timeout and two Pat Connaughton free throws to make it 110-107 with five seconds left. Holiday then made the catch by stealing the ball from Smart, leading to a deluge of perfect memes.
However, there is a bittersweet tinge at the moment. The Celtics stormed back to win the series 4-3, preventing the Bucks from defending their NBA title.
Chucky Hepburn banks it in
Against talent-rich Purdue, the Wisconsin men’s basketball team won a thriller at the Kohl Center in a massively hyped March contest, with Chucky Hepburn’s long 3-pointer banked in with 1.2 seconds left to break a tie, moments after Purdue had just tied the game. at 67.
The win, which marked a season sweep over the Boilermakers, meant the Badgers had clinched at least a share of the Big Ten regular-season title after entering the season picked to finish 10th.
“I knew we were going to be Big Ten champs after I released it,” Hepburn said, a quote surpassed only by the reaction of fast-rising star Johnny Davis. “I’m not going to lie. It was some (expletive), but it went in.”
But alas, the joy was short-lived. Wisconsin suffered a stunning home loss to Nebraska in which Davis was injured, meaning UW had to settle for a Big Ten matchup with Illinois.
Then, after struggling to beat Cornell in the first round of the NCAA Tournament in Milwaukee, UW fell to Iowa State, coached by Wisconsin native T.J. Otzelberger, 54-49. This time it was Hepburn who left the match with an injury.
Juwan Howard vs. Badgers coaches
Before Hepburn’s bank shot, by far the biggest story of the Badgers basketball season had been what happened just over a week earlier, when Michigan coach Juwan Howard punched Badgers assistant Joe Krabbenhoft in a brawl after UW’s win over the Wolverines.
Howard had been unhappy with a late Badgers timeout in the 77-63 win and began exchanging words with Badgers coach Greg Gard during the postgame handshake, leading to players from both teams getting involved.
Victor Caratini on the Fourth of July
There’s a lot to unpack from this midseason game between the Brewers and Cubs.
In the ninth inning, Josh Hader surrendered an inside-the-park home run to Seiya Suzuki, among the first indications that Hader wasn’t quite himself (which would come into play when the team opted to trade him after the month). That also gave Chicago the lead, but Christian Yelich drew a two-out walk against Cubs closer David Robinson with the bases loaded to tie the game 2-2.
In the 10th, backup catcher Victor Caratini – who had struck out four times in the game – secured a three-run homer off Scott Effross for a walk-off, 5-2 winner. At the time, the Brewers moved to 47-35, still up three games in the National League Central.
But as fun as it was, things went downhill from there. Milwaukee lost four of its next five games and eight of 11. Hader continued to falter, and the Brewers were treading water the rest of the year.
Falling down in London
The Packers finally played a regular season NFL game overseas against the New York Giants, but what was supposed to start a favorable stretch in Green Bay’s schedule turned into a nightmare.
Not only did Green Bay blow a lead and lose in London, 27-22, but it marked the first of five straight losses and turned what should have been a competitive season into a playoff longshot.
Cavallini helps U.S. women take silver
Arrowhead High School alumnus Alex Cavallini saved 25 of 26 shots as the U.S. women’s hockey team beat Finland to clinch a spot in the championship game at the 2022 Winter Olympics, although the U.S. ultimately fell to Canada, 3-2.
It was a silver medal, although it could not repeat the gold medal performance of 2018. Numerous members of the Wisconsin women’s hockey program were involved for both the USA and Canada, including Madison native Amanda Kessel and Dousman’s Brianna Decker, who was injured early in the Olympics and missed most of the games.
More: Meet the 2022 Olympic athletes with ties to Wisconsin
Giannis breaks Kareem’s record
Of course, Giannis Antetokounmpo became the all-time leading scorer in Bucks franchise history … on a 3-pointer?
It was a big one, too, helping the Bucks tie Brooklyn with 18 seconds left in the game en route to a 120-119 Milwaukee overtime win at Barclays Center. The performance had become an expectation at some point, but it was still a remarkable achievement for a player who has become so important to the team and the city.
Others
