BY ANDY BAGGOT
UWBadgers.com Insider

Julie Pospíšilová is closing in on a personal milestone she never thought was doable, a first-of-its-kind achievement worthy of prominence in the Wisconsin women's basketball record book.

A 6-foot senior guard from Prague, Czech Republic, Pospíšilová is on the verge of scoring her 1,000th point. She has 971 going into the weekend as the Badgers prepare for No. 6 Indiana.

Pospíšilová would be the 28th member of the 1,000-point club at UW going back to 1981, but the first to be born outside the U.S. That latter detail made her smile, but it doesn't change the fact she didn't see it coming.

"I guess it is a big deal,'' Pospíšilová said after a recent practice, "but at the same time I never thought I would reach 1,000 points.''

Why not?

"Well, coming here I wasn't really a big scorer,'' she said.



Pospíšilová was a teenage standout in the Czech Republic – she won two gold medals playing for her national team in the European Championships – whose all-around game caught the eyes of U.S. college coaches while she was part of a student exchange program at Downers Grove (Ill.) North High School.

Former UW coach Jonathan Tsipis brought Pospíšilová to Madison where she put up modest scoring numbers – 5.1 points per game as a freshman and 8.9 as a sophomore – before a coaching change was made.

Enter Marisa Moseley, the former Boston University coach whose system had room for a multi-faceted talent like Pospíšilová. To wit, Pospíšilová took more shots as a junior (381) than she did during her first two seasons combined (376) while leading the Badgers in scoring with a 14.1 average.

In less than two seasons under Moseley – 35 games to date – Pospíšilová has scored in double figures 36 times compared to 10 as a freshman and sophomore. She currently paces the Badgers in scoring, rebounds, assists and steals and is vying to become the 11th player in program history to lead UW in scoring in consecutive seasons.



Moseley said Pospíšilová has a high IQ for the game and is "someone who can see things that I'm seeing and understands the whys behind them.'' That shows up in the fact that Pospíšilová has eye-opening single-game career highs of 32 points, nine assists, nine rebounds, six steals and four blocked shots.

"She's done some really wonderful things during our time together,'' Moseley said.

Pospíšilová believes her play on the defensive end has improved under Moseley and she is "more comfortable with the ball in my hands and seeing the floor.''

Where Moseley would like to get more out of Pospíšilová is in the area of leadership.    

"We've tried to push her a little bit to be more vocal, to step outside her comfort zone and be a leader not just by example, but also verbally,'' Moseley said of her captain. "I think sometimes it's a challenge for her, especially in the moment with the language difference.''



Czech is the primary language in the Czech Republic. Pospíšilová enrolled in English as a second language, giving way to a measured, thoughtful tone. She's a two-time Academic All-Big Ten honoree who majors in finance and international business. She's one of nine UW players to come to the Badgers from another country.

"She can't always get out what she wants to say sometimes,'' Moseley said. "I think she's worked really hard at it. It's really impressive when you think about that. When you think about how beautifully she speaks the language and how well she's done academically, it's a testament to her and how she's wired.''

In addition to embracing a new language and culture, Pospíšilová has had to learn a new playing system and craft new relationships with the coaches all while being a self-described introvert.
"It's sometimes hard to get to know me,'' she noted.

"She's a pretty guarded person,'' Moseley confirmed.

Moseley was asked if she knew what made Pospíšilová tick.

"I'm not sure,'' the second-year coach said. "I'm still trying to figure that out. That's been one of the challenges of she and I just having two years together.

"I know she's a competitor and wants to win. I'm trying to figure out what buttons to push to get the best out of her knowing that she doesn't really respond to the intense side of me.''



Another hurdle for Pospíšilová is that her college career has revolved around a struggling program. The Badgers are 30-70 overall during her time in Madison, 11-50 in league play.

Pospíšilová said she would trade her pending milestone for a taste of success.

"For sure,'' she said. "I wish I could play in the NCAA tournament.''

There is a bright side to the rebuild, though.

"Even though we are not having the best season, we are definitely building a good foundation for the future,'' Pospíšilová said. "In a couple years, when the team gets in the NCAAs, I'm going to be proud of the mark I left here.''

Moseley echoed that sentiment.

"We talk about that quite a bit,'' she said. "It might not be that this is the group that sees that (breakthrough), but this group absolutely seems like the architects behind that and they are the cornerstone of that build.

"Building anything is not easy. There are supply issues. There are worker issues. There are time delays. There are all these things when you're building a building.

"We're building this program and it doesn't always happen exactly the way you want it. But you have to have those foundational pieces in order to be able to build up. We are in that foundational period. We are laying all those groundwork bricks. If we don't have someone like Julie, if we don't have someone like Brook (Schramek), if we don't have Maty Wilke coming here and seeing the vision, then you're unable to have the breakthrough. Otherwise it's mush, it's quicksand. All of a sudden it really falls apart. We want that really strong foundation.''     

Pospíšilová, the youngest of three children, is looking forward to seeing her parents, Pavlina and Martin, for Senior Day in late February. Her siblings, Adela and David, visited last season. Pospíšilová said her parents catch all the Wisconsin games on BTN Plus.

Pospíšilová acknowledged that she thought about transferring after the coaching change was made, but she chose to stay because of the relationships she'd built within the team.



"This is a good foundation for my future,'' she said, noting that 20 years from now her most enduring memory will be of her family inside the UW locker room.

"My team is my second family and I can always rely on them no matter what,'' she said.

When Pospíšilová looks back, she'll also be proud to remember the milestone she's chasing.

"It's really cool that I'm going to leave this mark here after I'm done,'' she said.