Buck up, Badgers fans -- you've still got hockey

Wisconsin's NCAA tournament dreams aren't dead yet.

The men's basketball team was embarrassed by Cornell, 87-69, in a Second Round game Sunday afternoon in Jacksonville, Fla.

But, the hockey team is just getting started.

The Badgers (25-10-4) received an at-large bid and a No. 1 seed in the 16-team field for the NCAA hockey tournament and will face Vermont on Friday in St. Paul. The game will be broadcast on ESPNU beginning at 8 p.m.

In the other semifinal, St. Cloud State (23-13-5), which beat the Badgers in the WCHA Final Five last week, faced Northern Michigan (20-12-8).

The winners meet at 8 p.m. Saturday for a berth in the Frozen Four, which runs April 8-10 at Ford Field in Detroit.

The UW wrestling team wrapped up a successful weekend by finishing fourth at the NCAA wrestling championships in Omaha, Neb. Sophomore Andrew Howe defeated Penn State's Dan Vallimont, 9-3, to win the title at 165 pounds.

Howe is the 13th different NCAA champ in school history and the first since Donny Pritzlaff in 2000-01.

"I wasn't going to let this one get away from me," said Howe, who was a runner-up in last year's final. "I've been telling myself that for a whole year now. I've been thinking about that loss (in last year's finals) every single day for that entire year and I didn't want to go another year thinking the same thing."

Howe finishes his sophomore season as an All-American, as well as an NCAA and Big Ten champion. He compiled a 37-0 overall record, including four victories by pin, two by technical fall and 13 by major decision.

The undefeated sophomore is just the fourth Badger to go undefeated in a single season, joining Matt Demaray (42-0 in 1990-91), Andy Rein (40-0 in 1979-80) and Lee Kemp (39-0 in 1975-76).

As a team, Wisconsin finished in fourth place with 70.5 points to tie for the best finish in school history and the best under current head coach Barry Davis, who was named 2010 NWCA Coach of the Year.