As we stand here in the middle of May, we are starting to hear the first announcements of the NCAA Basketball schedule. With this limited information, we can now start to shape the forthcoming season for the Wisconsin Badgers. Coming off a disappointing loss to the Ole Miss Rebels in the second round of the NCAA Tournament in March, players, coaches and fans alike are anxious to see how their season may play out this time around. So far here is what we can tell you.

Coach Bo Ryan will take his Badgers to South Dakota to open the season against St Johns, marking the first Division 1 game to be held in the newly built Sanford Pentagon facility in Sioux Falls. We also know that the Badgers will play the Ohio State Buckeyes and Michigan State Spartans just once this year, with both games coming at home at Kohl Centre. Not only that, the Badgers will play the not so daunting Nebraska Huskers and Penn State Nittany Lions away in single play. A perfect outcome for what could make all the difference in the increasingly tough Big-Ten Conference.

More details of the non-conference match-ups will be released at a laterdate, but it is currently believed that the Sam Dekker led Badgers will face seven of ESPN’s pre-season Top-25 teams. A game at home to the Florida Gators has already been announced, and there will presumably be a match-up against long-time rivals Marquette University. With the team finishing just two games behind the Indiana Hoosiers, the eventual Big-Ten regular season champions in conference play, the Badgers seem to have the schedule and returning team that may see it improve on the fifth-place finish it achieved last season.

As the schedule announcements start to leak out more frequently, you will of course be the first to know. Depending on more favourable match-ups throughout the year for the Badgers, and adverse announcements for the Big-Ten’s elite teams, this may just be the year that the University of Wisconsin sends a basketball team to the Final Four for the first time since 2000. As always, Go Badgers!

Sam Dekker, the ESPN number 17 ranked college recruit from 2012, is preparing for his sophomore season for the University of Wisconsin Badgers. After a solid freshman year averaging 9.6 points per game along with 3.4 rebounds and a .478% from the field, Dekker is raring to go to fill his potential for real. Measuring at 6-7 and 220lbs, the Wisconsin native has all the tools to make a successful career in the college game, but what do we really know and think about Sam himself?

Well the guy is a bit of a stud. Attending Sheboygan Area Lutheran High School in Sheboygan, WI, Dekker amassed 2,629 points in his four years which was good for the fourth-leading scorer in Wisconsin high-school history. Not bad eh? If that’s not enough, Dekker quite literally earned the title of ‘Wisconsin Mr Basketball’ in 2012, which is awarded to the best high-school player in the state each year by the Wisconsin Basketball Coaches’ Association.

Badgers’ basketball coach, Bo Ryan, holds him in high regard too. He was quoted as calling Dekker as one of the four best freshman he has coached in his twelve-year tenure in Madison. The others being Josh Gasser, Alando Tucker and current NBA starter Devin Harris of the Atlanta Hawks. That’s not a bad group to be a part of and the future certainly looks promising for the soon-to-be sophomore. However, his failure to have a stand-out season, like many of his Big-Ten peers, may prove to be a blessing in disguise. Let me tell you why.

Despite having the tools to be a top talent in any team, ‘Mr Wisconsin’ was hardly surrounded by players of the same ability in the 2012-13 season. The 2013 recruiting class sees the Badgers welcome in 6-7 power-forward Nigel Hayes who, is by no means the next LeBron, has the skills and toughness to give Ryan and the Badgers a solid scoring punch besides of Dekker. The average numbers by Dekker this season mean his decision to return to Kohl Centre for another year was inevitable, and the pairing of Dekker and Hayes may prove to be the magic formula Coach Ryan has been looking for in his quest for the Final Four.

The remainder of the team is made up of some nice parts that will complement the duo of Dekker and Hayes, and Ryan and the Badgers may have their best chance in many years of advancing deep into the end of season NCAA Tournament and maybe even to the Final Four in years. With that though comes raised stakes and expectations, but after a full season of college ball under his belt, Sam Dekker is set to up and become the leader that the Badgers so desperately need. Go Badgers!

The 2012-13 season certainly had its ups and downs for the Wisconsin Badgers. After two wins a piece against the number one ranked Indiana Hoosiers and NCAA runners-up Michigan Wolverines in the regular season and Big-Ten tournament respectively, the season ultimately ended in big failure with a dismal loss against the Marshall Henderson led Ole Miss Rebels in just the second round. This marked the first time the Badgers had left the tournament without a win since 2006, when they lost to the Arizona Wildcats. Another season with similar end results is sure to heap the pressure on the front office and twelfth-year veteran coach Bo Ryan.

The Badgers will look to improve on their ‘so-so’ 9-4 record mustered in non-conference play in 2012, with disappointing losses to the Virginia Cavaliers and Creighton Blue Jays halting the momentum the team needed entering conference-play in January. Wins over many of the Big-Ten elite teams made up for that, but in order to climb the Big-Ten standings the Badgers must cut out the losses to lesser quality teams. The Big-Ten had eight teams in the end of season NCAA tournament, which was the most out of any conference in the country. The team ranked fifth out of that group behind Indiana, Ohio State, Michigan and the Spartans of Michigan State.

Bo Ryan’s team find themselves in a bit of a predicament. They have proved over the last few seasons that they belong in post-season play, but now need to prove that they are among the best in the Big-Ten. Arguably the deepest division in terms of quality and big-time talent, playing the Hoosiers and Wolverines among others twice a year is a fantastic way of getting ready to take on the nation’s best. If they can improve on their modest 12-6 Big-Ten record, then that will automatically card them a higher seed in the tournament and a supposed easier route to a highly-prized Final Four appearance. You would have thought this year they could have got out of the first round with their number five seed, but that was not the case.

With all that said their 23-12 overall record including tournament play was by no means a bad one. Ultimately though, your season’s grade depends on your performance in the tournament. The Badgers of Wisconsin will be back at Kohl Centre nice and early this season for another shot at a Final Four appearance. The season proves to be another exciting one and we will be there every step of the way. Go Badgers!