Wisconsin softball will most likely only go as far as their pitching will take them this postseason and on Friday afternoon in Lincoln, Nebraska that was on full display as the No. 4 seed Wisconsin blanked No. 12 seed Northwestern 3-0 in a Big Ten Tournament quarterfinal. 

The Badgers got behind their star pitcher Cassandra Darrah, who tossed seven innings of shutout baseball. She surrendered just 4 hits and struck out eight Wildcat batters, while giving up just three walks to earn the win and improve her season record to 24-5. 

Darrah also got help from the Northwestern defense, who had three errors on the day and helped throw away a good enough to win performance from pitcher Amy Letourneau who allowed just three hits over six innings of work, striking out seven. 

Letourneau also contributed to her own downfall by walking six Badger batters and contributing to the defensive errors as well.

Nothing was gauranteed to Matt Walsh, a member of the Badgers 1983 national championship team, but after going through the official process he had the iterim tag removed and became an official assistant coach on Mike Eaves' hockey staff for the 2013-14 season. 

“I think having Matt with us since November, we were able to see first-hand how he interacts with college students and the work that he does on the ice,” said Head Coach Mike Eaves in a statement. “It became clear as time went on, that he was very capable of doing the job here.

“We also got to know him as a man, we got to know his family and it all matches up really well.

“We went through due diligence in the process,” explained Eaves. “We had many people apply. I talked to a handful of people who I thought might be serious candidates and chatted with them, but in the end it all came back to Matt and what he did for us this year.”

Walsh will continue his focus on the Wisconsin defesemen, a unit that reall propelled the Badgers to the NCAA tournament and the Broadmoor Trophy this past season. It didn't 

It seems as if making lists, checking them twice.... Oh and coming out with ridiculously early preseason polls are all the rage around the interwebs these days. Normally I don't put a lot of stock in these things - especially the one's that come out like hours after the national championship game has been played - however, most have been smart now and have either updated or waited until the NBA draft deadline so we have a reasonable level of roster expectations. 

So, in that veign it's time to look at where the pollsters and bracketologists have the Badgers as we move into the summer dolldrums. 

(This list is meant as a conversation piece, so converstate away in our comments section folks)

Jon Rothstein of CBS: Wisconsin 24th
Sporting News: Wisconsin 11th
BracketologyExpert.com: Wisconsin 20th 
Real GM: Wisconsin 10th 
USA Today Sports: Wisconsin RV 
Dick Vitale's Top 40: Wisconsin 28th 
Jason King of ESPN: Wisconsin on the cusp 
Andy Katz of ESPN: Wisconsin 25th 
CBSSports.com: Wisconsin 12th 

As you can see the rankings are all over the place for UW and really, after reading the polls it's more of a personal preference for some of these guys than an actual analysis of facts, rosters, and the like. Who do you think as the Badgers ranked too high, too low, or just right? Comment away, commenters.

Wisconsin welcomed former assistant coach Tony Bennett and his Virginia Cavaliers back to the Kohl Center and coach Bennett's charges came out with a 60-54 victory in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge. The Badgers will get a chance to avenge that loss this season as the two will meet in the 15th annual Big Ten/ACC Challenge.

The Badgers and Cavaliers will meet on Dec. 4th at John Paul Jones Arena, with the time and ESPN station to be determined at a later date. 

Last season the two conferences were at a stalemate, tying at 6-6, and leaving the Big Ten with the Commissioners Cup as the winner of the 2011 challenge. 

The loss last year dropped the Badgers to 6-8 overall in the challenge, but they are actually one of the most successful teams in the Big Ten as they are second in wins to only Illinois. 

Wisconsin has won games three of the last five seasons in the challenge. 

UW's opponent is coming off an appearance in the 2013 NIT tournament and holds a 5-1 all-time record at home in the challenge. 

Expecting anything but a defensive challenge would be asking a lot from two teams who were ranked amongst the best on that side of the ball. UW was seventh in the nation in scoring defense (55.9ppg) and the Wahoo's were fifth with a nearly identical average (55.7ppg). 

Records are made to be broken and in 2013 that's what the University of Wisconsin softball team has been all about. Well, another one fell on Wednesday morning as five Badgers softball players were named to All-Big Ten lists. 

Leading the way were first team members Whitney Massey, Cassandra Darrah, and Mary Massei. Joining them on the lists were Kendall Grimm and Meghan McIntosh, who both earned second team all-Big Ten honors. 

Also honored was Maria Van Abel, who got the team's Sportsmanship Award by the Big Ten. 

Darrah was honored as a second team All-Big Ten member last season and finished this year tied for 2nd on the single season win list in Wisconsin history with a 23-5 record and a 2.25 ERA, which was 2nd in the conference this season. 

She wasn't the only one making a return to All-Big Ten honors as Whitney Massey is making her second consecutive appearance on the first team. She led the team with 18 doubles and broke yet another record with 12 home runs. She also knocked in 24 RBI's, which was sixth in Big Ten play this year. 

Back to the pitching mound the Badgers also saw Meghan McIntosh earn honors after a season in which she was 7-3 with a 2.72 ERA in league play alone (good for 6th in the B1G), as well as an unreal .173 opponent batting average in conference play. 

The final honoree Kendall Grimm who ended the regular season .391 batting average and was 2nd on the team in hits during B1G play with 25. She was also one of the best fielders around, ending the conference season with a perfect 1.000 fielding percentage. This was her 2nd honor after being named to the first team last year. 

Is it just us or is it still weird saying the words Big - Ten - Hockey? Alas we are getting closer and closer to that reality as earlier today the Big Ten conference offices announced the full schedule for the inaugural season of Big Ten hockey. 

Each team will play a 20 game conference schedule with most games taking place on Friday or Saturday and a few on other dates. That means each team will play the other five teams in two game series' both home and away. 

Things will open with a bang for the Badgers and they get to take on rival Minnesota in Minneapolis on November 29th and 30th. UW will open their Big Ten home slate the next weekend as they take on Penn State on Dec. 6th and 7th. 

Other highlights include a January 10th and 11th home series against perennial national power Michigan and then back-to-back series' against the Wolverines (Jan. 31st - Feb. 1st) and Minnesota (Feb. 6th or 8th and Feb. 7th). 

We're turning 2!!! No, it won't be the terrible two's here on Badgers Power Hour, we're moving onwards and upwards!! Big things are ahead for the show and it's changing landscape over this summer and we're excited about the new direction this show is taking. That said tonight is chalk full of fun stuff and it all gets going at 8:30pm CT, so check back for the LIVE video feed then!! 

On tonight's episode we'll speak with our first ever guest and our most frequent contributor, Badger247's Evan Flood, to talk recruiting. We'll talk Ron Dayne to the College Football Hall of Fame, the BTN annoucement of their primetime games, take a look around the Big Ten in our "As the B1G Turns" segment (courtesy of TheB1GTime.com), and explore the Badgers softball and club baseball teams as they head to major tournament action in the coming weekends.

... ENJOY!!

Make sure you subscribe to the YouTube page, follow us on Twitter @MTBadgers, and Like us on Facebook so you don't miss another episode of the only Badgers show by fans, for fans.

"You're only as good as the players around you," those words are often spoken in regards to team sports and team efforts and after finding out he was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame those were the first thoughts of honoree Ron Dayne. 

"I don't know. I can't stop smiling," said Dayne when asked about the award on Tuesday. "I'm excited and happy, especially for me and my teammates. We worked on it. We worked on it as a team."

"All the stuff that I'm getting, the stuff that I got, it was from teamwork. It's just great to be able to come back and still get awards."

Dayne, who rushed for over 7,100 yards (including bowl game performances, which weren't counted by the NCAA at the time), has been racking up the awards as of late. He was inducted into the Rose Bowl Hall of Fame before the 2012 game and now adds this to his already stellar resume in college football history. 

Paula Watkins crew finished 2012 with a 12-8-1 overall record and an even 5-5-1 in Big Ten play after scheduling a very difficult slate to prepare them for the challenge of Big Ten play. In 2013 it's a slightly different story as UW announced the Women's soccer schedule for the coming year.

Wisconsin will only face two teams out of conference that made the 2012 NCAA tournament in UCONN and Illinois State, with both games being road trips. 

In fact, road trip is the key word to the non-conference slate as UW will play it's first four games of the season on the road. After back-to-back games against UCONN and Illinois State the Badgers will head out west to take on Oregon (8-10-2, 3-7-1 Pac-12) and Oregon State (11-6-3, 3-5-3 Pac-12). 

UW will open play at the McClimon Complex on Sept. 6th against SEC foe Vanderbilt, whom Wisconsin has faced just twice in their history, holding a 1-0-1 record and winning the last meeting back in 2010 in Nashville. 

Perhaps the toughest slate of games will come when Wisconsin plays host to Penn State and Ohio State on the weekend of Oct. 4th. PSU and OSU finished 1st and 2nd last season in the Big Ten. 

Ron Dayne, you don't need to say anything more to Badger fans. To most he's the pinnacle of excellence in Wisconsin football. On Tuesday his legacy was cemented for all-time as he was announced as a member of the College Football Hall of Fame. 

Dayne, the 1999 Heisman Trophy winner (the 2nd in UW history), is still the all-time leading rusher in FBS history with  6,397 yards rushing and racked up 63 touchdowns for his collegiate career. He was a three time all-American for UW as well. 

That 6,397 yards total doesn't include the over 700 yards Dayne racked up in bowl games for his career. In total Dayne rushed for 7,125 yards on 1,220 carries with 73 touchdowns as a Badger.

His rushing totals by year: 

Freshman: 2,109yds
Sophomore: 1,457yds
Junior: 1,525yds
Senior: 2,034yds