Wisconsin Infuriates College Basketball Fans With April Fool’s Joke About Villain Returning For 6th Year

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  • Brad Davison’s college career is over, or so we thought.
  • Wisconsin announced that he is returning for a sixth year on Friday, but it also happened to come on April Fool’s Day.
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Brad Davison was one of college basketball’s biggest villains over the last five years. The Wisconsin guard has been a strongly-disliked heel in the NCAA since he arrived in Madison and continuously infuriated non-Badger fans.

He has been called a dirty player on multiple occasions after some very questionable incidents.

And he was always amongst the “loudest” players on the collegiate level.

Everywhere Davison went, a visceral reaction typically followed.

Needless to say, Davison was not well-liked. But there is no denying that he can hoop.

And there is no denying that he is a tough player.

No matter what people think of him, Davison doesn’t really care.

Davison has been at the forefront of college basketball as one of the sport’s biggest villains over the last four years, but his career was supposed to a close with a loss in the NCAA Tournament. However, on Friday morning, Wisconsin announced that he was returning for a sixth season.

The post looked very, very real.

Here is how Wisconsin’s official announcement on Davison returning for year six read:

MADISON, Wis. – Wisconsin men’s basketball guard Brad Davison has been granted a sixth year of eligibility from the NCAA and will return to Wisconsin for the 2022-23 season. Davison was awarded a medical hardship for his 2017-18 season that was marred by a reoccurring shoulder injury.

“I’ve said all along that it’s been my dream to be a college basketball player and compete at the University of Wisconsin and I’m grateful for the opportunity to have one more season in the red and white,” Davison said. “I also want to thank Coach Gard for welcoming me back again and again and again and can’t wait to get start a new chapter with my teammates and staff.”

Davison, a native of Maple Grove, Minnesota, is scheduled to earn his master’s degree in May and will immediately start pursuing his doctorate from the University of Wisconsin.

“We’re thrilled to be able to have Brad on our roster for another season,” head coach Greg Gard said. “Brad has always said he wants to squeeze every drop out of the college experience and I guess he wasn’t kidding. We’ve never had a player go through three Senior Days.”

Davison will enter his sixth season ranked sixth in school history with 1,827 career points and already holds the UW records for career games played (160), starts (156) and minutes (5,147). A second-team All-Big Ten selection this season, Davison is one of just four players in Wisconsin history to record 1,500 points, 500 rebounds and 300 assists, joining Michael Finley, Nigel Hayes and Ethan Happ.

In response to the announcement, some college basketball fans were very upset. Others had jokes.

It was Wisconsin and Davison who got the last laugh.

The whole thing was an April Fool’s joke. Davison will not be returning for a sixth year.

The Badgers knew that the fake announcement — which looks very real — would get a rise out of basketball fans and it did. Much of the college basketball world bought the prank hook, line and sinker.

Ultimately, it was all a big joke. Davison took to twitter and addressed the prank.

Don’t worry, Davison is gone. You may rest easy.