Sports
Who won the year in Wisconsin sports? Vote in our poll to determine Wisconsin sports person of 2024.
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When you think about Wisconsin sports in 2024, who do you picture? Who won the year? Now is your chance to tell us.
Vote in our polls below to determine the Wisconsin sports personality who had the biggest and best year.
Who won the year in Wisconsin sports?
He’s bound to appear on any list like this one.
Though injury kept the Milwaukee Bucks superstar on the shelf in the playoffs last year and led to Milwaukee’s early ouster, he still finished first team All-NBA for a sixth consecutive year, and he’s off to perhaps an even better start in 2024-25, averaging 32.7 points per game to lead the league through Dec. 21 (with temporarily the highest scoring mark of his career). All the whole, he’s shooting better than he ever has before (61.3%) and still grabbing 11.6 rebounds per game and handing out six assists. The transcendent talent just turned 30 and remains the bedrock of the Milwaukee sports architecture. He was named MVP of the league’s NBA Emirates Cup in-season tournament as the Bucks won the title.
Kenny Bednarek, track and field
The Rice Lake native took home the silver medal at the 200 meters in the 2024 Paris Olympics, procuring his second career Olympic silver in the discipline. Bednarek also reached the Olympics in the 100 meters for the first time, taking seventh in Paris.
The fifth-place finisher in the MVP voting, Contreras started the all-star game at catcher and has a real case as the best at his position in baseball, with a Silver Slugger for the second consecutive year. The 26-year-old posted an .831 OPS for the Milwaukee Brewers with 23 homers and 92 RBIs, further cementing the trade that brought him to Milwaukee as one of the great steals in franchise history.
Sarah Franklin, Wisconsin Badgers volleyball
The 6-4 outside hitter was named the Big Ten Player of the Year for a second consecutive year, becoming the first player in program history to win the award twice. The Florida native registered 4.40 kills and 2.33 digs per set, helping Wisconsin to a 23-6 mark in the regular season and again a ranking among the top teams in the nation. The Badgers finished the year in the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament.
Kam Jones, Marquette men’s basketball
Establishing himself as perhaps the best guard in the country, Jones and Marquette have raced out to a 9-1 start in 2024, good for the No. 6 spot in the top-25 rankings. Jones is up over 20 points and 6.4 assists per game after averaging 17.2 points per game last year for a Marquette team that reached the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2013.
The 45-year-old head coach kept the success churning, recording a playoff victory over Mike McCarthy and the Dallas Cowboys as the cherry on top to a better-than-expected 2023 season. But his magnum opus might have come in early 2024, when he orchestrated three wins while relying prominently on backup quarterback Malik Willis in the stead of injured Jordan Love. The Packers, out to a 11-4 start, have locked up a playoff berth.
Jordan Love, Green Bay Packers
Love began the year in the best way, with a dominating performance in Dallas for a playoff victory, in which he flirted with a perfect passer rating. Though he didn’t fare as well in the divisional round game against San Francisco, a heartbreaking loss, and he started the year struggling to round into health following a Week 1 injury, Love again has the Packers with Super Bowl aspirations.
Pat Murphy, Milwaukee Brewers
Elevated from bench coach to the head spot after Craig Counsell’s departure, Murphy became the first Brewers representative to win Manager of the Year, leading a Brewers team to an impressive 93 wins despite preseason uncertainty about whether the team could even finish .500. Milwaukee did it without their two ace pitchers from the year before and while missing stars Christian Yelich and Devin Williams for most of the season.
Casey O’Brien, Wisconsin women’s hockey
A finalist for the Patty Kazmaier Award in 2023-2024, the USCHO National Player of the Year became the first Badgers player to record 50 assists in a season, leading the NCAA with 50. After a run to the national-championship game last year, she’s back and leading the team in scoring as Wisconsin holds the No. 1 ranking in the country.