No. 37 — Barb Franke, Women’s Basketball
While the Wisconsin Badgers basketball program has struggled in big ways lately, that wasn’t the case back in the mid-1990’s and one can thank our pick at No. 37, Barb Franke, for that.
She not only left the school as the record holder for career points by a Badger (1,994), but she made an impact from the moment she stepped on the Madison campus. Franke was named the 1994 Big Ten Rookie of the Year after averaging 11.3 points and 6.9 rebounds per game. She also shot 54.2 percent from the field.
Things only got better from there, with Franke never averaging less than 18.9 points per game again in her career at UW. She was named first-team All-Big Ten in 1996 and was also named twice as an AP Honorable Mention All-American (1995, 1996).
One of the most impressive parts of her game was her consistency, as she started a record 114 consecutive games in her career (out of 114 possible games). That consistency helped Franke lead the Badgers to the NCAA tournament to three NCAA tournament bids.
To put that in perspective — Wisconsin has only made four other NCAA tournament appearances since Franke’s departure.
If there is a more important overall player in Wisconsin’s Women’s Basketball history, she would be one impressive woman.
Franke is currently an AAU coach back in her native Iowa with All Iowa Attack
Full 50 Greatest Badgers List:
No. 50 – Randy Jablonic
No. 49 – Alex Rigsby
No. 48 — Michael Lihrman
No. 47 — Howard “Cub” Buck
No. 46 — Don Davey
No. 45 — Pat O’Dea
No. 44 — Curtis Joseph
No. 43 — Dean Anderson
No. 42 — Ivy Martin
No. 41 — Ron Vander Kelen
No. 40 — Carly Piper
No. 39 — J.J. Watt
No. 38 — Joe Pavelski
What say you about Barb Franke or any other member of the list to date? Join the conversation on Twitter @MTBadgers and use hashtag #GreatestBadgers.
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