It’s nearly impossible to be seated anywhere close to the Wisconsin student section and not notice them: four grinning, bustling bombshells with headbands and red t-shirts always bearing some clever remark.
For every Badgers home game, they’ve sat front row left, near TV cameras and photographers who ask them to pose for pictures during media timeouts — they’re always happy to oblige.
Meet the “Front Row Girls,” perhaps the most well known quartet of student fans in America. Last year, they were featured in ESPN’s “The Season,” appeared in “ESPN the Magazine” with NBA lottery pick Devin Harris (then the Badgers’ point guard) and have given numerous interviews for local papers.
Nearly impossible to miss — unless you’re Wisconsin guard Kammron Taylor, whose name was inscribed on the front and back of the Front Row Girls’ t-shirts.
“KAM ROCKS!” was written in white letters on the front, and “TAYLOR MADE” on the back.
“I didn’t know anything about that,” Taylor said. When told what was on their shirts, he half-grinned. “Oh. I didn’t see that.”
Instead, the sophomore focused on his game and poured in a game-high 18 points in 39 minutes, adding five assists and four rebounds. It was Taylor’s second consecutive start filling in for injured forward Alando Tucker, the team’s leading scorer.
“Kammron Taylor is a talent, he’s really hard to defend,” Northwestern coach Bill Carmody said.
Before the start of the game, Taylor was out on the court before any of his teammates, working on his ball handling and shooting.
“I’ve been doing it for the whole year, pretty much,” he said.
Wednesday, it paid off.
Taylor did most of his damage in the first half, scoring 13 points and going 3 for 4 from 3-point range. His first 3-pointer, coming at the 5:41 mark, gave the Badgers a 34-21 lead, but more importantly, Taylor said it gave him the confidence to look for his shot.
In the final two and a half minutes, with the Wildcats trying to stay close, Taylor buried two 3s, the last two Badgers field goals of the half. His 3-pointer with five seconds to go — splashing through the net from the right arc — gave Wisconsin a 42-26 lead and all the momentum going into halftime.
“I think anybody watching the game would have to say that Kam had a big influence on the outcome of the game,” Wisconsin coach Bo Ryan said. “Defensively, I thought he did a pretty good job, and (he had) a five-to-two assist ratio, so that’s a pretty good all-around game.”
Taylor’s teammates said he provided a spark.
“He’s put together a bunch of big games here, and we expect that from him,” freshman forward/center Brian Butch said. “He’s been out there, he’s been working hard in practice and… now all you guys get to see what type of player he is.”
But the productive game notwithstanding, did Taylor wish he had noticed the Front Row Girls — seniors Ashley Cullen, Kelsey Jordan, Kristin Robinson and sophomore Rachel Taylor?
“Nah,” he said. “I don’t try to pay attention to what goes on in the crowd.”
But they certainly paid attention to him. As did everyone else.
Reach Anthony Tao at [email protected].
