The Wisconsin Badgers have been playing basketball for 127 seasons and have collected 1,747 wins in total. That's a lot of wins over the course of their history, especially when those early seasons didn't feature many games. In fact, in the very first season, in 1898-1899, Wisconsin went 0-3. Similar to the football program (read about the first win for football here), they started rough before the dominance began.
That first win didn't come until the second season in 1900, when they played two total games and went 1-1 on the season under the coaching of James Elsom. He finished his Wisconsin coaching career going 25-14 overall.
That first win for the Badgers came on February 15, and the only record that Wisconsin has publicized about it says this: "The Wisconsin men's basketball team defeats Wayland Academy, 25-15, for the first victory in school history."
The Wisconsin Badgers defeated Wayland Academy for their very first victory in school history
The problem with that first victory is that it was against a high school, which still counts as the first win but is a little less impressive. They would also go on to beat them again in 1901, which was their second win in school history (also a two-game season). It wasn't until 1902, when the Badgers actually played more than just a few games, that they saw some sustained winning.
In 1902, they played a 10-game schedule and went 7-3. The Badgers actually started the season 3-0 with wins over the Lewis Institute, the Armour Institute, and Wisconsin-Milwaukee before losing to Yale.
The Wisconsin Badgers wouldn't see a losing season until 1918-1919, in which they went 5-11 in year two of being in the Big Ten. It was a fluke as they went the next five seasons, only losing a few games each season.
The Badgers are closing in on 1800 wins but it's always interesting to go back and look at the first.