Miller: Football approaching, WIAC inducting and Badgers eyeing rematch
The high school football season is less than two weeks away, while the college football season starts in less than four weeks on Thursday, Sept. 3.
Wisconsin starts four weeks from tonight against Alabama in Jerry Jones’ palace in Arlington, Texas.
ESPN has announced it will host College GameDay at the Fort Worth (Texas) Stockyards for the Badgers-Crimson Tide matchup at Arlington’s AT&T Stadium.
Rece Davis takes over for longtime host Chris Fowler on College Gameday this year.
The Badgers, by the way, are 10½-point underdogs at this point.
The annual football Family Fun Day will take place after Media Day activities Sunday, from 3-5 p.m. in Camp Randall Stadium.
WIAC Hall of Famers
UW-Whitewater’s J.P. Fisher and Nancy Nelson were among the 30 inductees into the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Hall of Fame last weekend.
Fisher is a Whitewater High and 1962 UW-Whitewater graduate who went on to coach golf at Elkhorn High for four decades. Fisher, who never played golf at Whitewater High or UW-Whitewater, coached the Elkhorn boys golf team for 42 years and the girls team for 31 years before retiring in 2009.
Fisher was a four-time letter-winner in baseball at UW-Whitewater.
Nelson, a 1970 UW-Whitewater graduate and also a Whitewater High grad, was one of the greatest female athletes in UW-Whitewater history. She earned 13 letters during her time as a Warhawk—four in women’s basketball, four in golf, two in volleyball, two in softball and one in women’s tennis.
Jim Miller, former athletic director at UW-Whitewater, said the recognition is deserved for both Fisher and Nelson.
“Sometimes we forget about the players who set the table,” Miller said.
Another shot at Duke?
With all the talk about college football, Badger basketball fans might have missed the announcement this week that Bo Ryan’s squad could get another shot at Duke early in the 2015-16 season.
The 2K Classic announced Wisconsin will play Georgetown in a semifinal game of the tournament’s championship rounds Nov. 20 at Madison Square Garden in New York.
Duke is taking on VCU in the other semifinal game. If both Wisconsin and Duke win, they will meet in the championship game Nov. 22.
Duke, Georgetown, VCU and Wisconsin make up one of the strongest fields ever for the 21st annual 2K Classic. The four programs combined for a 119-29 record this past season.
Tom Miller is a sports writer/page designer for The Gazette.