Varsity is the free Official Digital Magazine of Wisconsin Athletics, covering Badgers football, basketball, hockey and more each week.
Issue link: http://catalog.e-digitaleditions.com/i/242551
30 // VARSITY January 16, 2014 DAVID STLUKA A long snapper on the football team made one. So did a midfielder on the soccer team, a defenseman on the hockey team and an infielder on the softball team. Ben Brust didn't make one. "I'm kind of mad at myself," Brust lamented, "that I didn't make one for 'Make Bo Pay."' All told, there were 59 half-court shots that were made during the 2013 Shooting Down Cancer event (better known among UW students as "Make Bo Pay") in mid-October at the Kohl Center. Despite having some memorable history with such shots, Brust didn't make his on that day. While he didn't contribute to the cause, the overall numbers did add up for a second consecutive year. Wisconsin basketball coach Bo Ryan and his wife Kelly once again wrote out a sizeable check to the American Cancer Society. This year's donation was $66,130 ― up from last year's $41,279. Their pledge included $1 for every student that showed up during the four hours, $10 for every made free throw and $1,000 for every made half-court shot, also up from the year before (39). "I didn't make one this year or last year," Brust pointed out, "so I'm a little upset about that." Well, actually, Brust did make a fairly meaningful half-court shot last year at the Kohl Center. Maybe he didn't make Bo pay, but he made Beilein pay, Michigan coach John Beilein. Brust's half-court swish at the end of regulation set up the Badgers for a dramatic 65-62 overtime victory over the Wolverines that triggered a courtstorming, an orderly one, by UW students. With Michigan returning to the Kohl Center on Saturday ― less than a month shy of the one-year anniversary of the "shot" (Feb. 9, 2013) ― Brust was asked how many times he has seen the video. "I don't know, I really don't know," he said. "It's got to be over 100. Is that a lot?" It's not that Brust can't resist watching the video; it's just that he can't avoid seeing the video. It's seemingly everywhere, including its use in a promotional television campaign for Badger basketball. "It was a special moment that I will remember forever, but I'm focused on what this team needs to do this year," he pleaded. "There's no reason to go out of my way to watch it. I'm sure I will one day." Brust, a senior from Hawthorne Woods, Ill., reiterated, "I think the time to look back on it will be when I'm out of here. Right now, with the 2014 season that we have, I'm focused on this year." And yet, in spite of Wisconsin's historic 16-1 start to the season, Brust runs into well-intentioned people that want to talk about just one thing: the halfcourt shot against Michigan. "I can't tell you how many times that has happened," Brust said with a sigh. "A lot of people ask if I thought it was going in. I tell them, 'Yeah, as soon as I let it go.' "I thought to myself, 'That's going to go in and we're going into overtime.' I thought what Matt Lepay (the play-by-play voice of the Badgers) was thinking." Lepay's words perfectly framed the picture and captured the essence of the shot. "He'll hoist one up … He hit it … Ben Brust for 3 … Let's play five more minutes in Madison!"