2014 NCAA Tournament: Wisconsin Badgers By The Numbers

Brian Spurlock-USA TODAY Sports

The opening round of 64 is almost here on the eve to the start of the 2014 NCAA Tournament.

The Wisconsin Badgers men’s basketball team won’t be walking down the red carpet as they take the court at the BMO Harris Bradley Center in Milwaukee, Thursday.

UW is at .500 in the Beer City, going 8-8 overall with most of those challenges coming against in-state rival, Marquette (6-7).

In the NCAA tournament, Wisconsin has played at the Bradley center just one other year, going 1-1 in 2004 when they opened up with a win against Richmond (76-64) before falling to Pittsburgh (59-55) one game short of the Sweet 16.

Wisconsin has done well away from the Kohl Center this season, going 12-4 on the road (4-1 at nuetral sites). Since Bo Ryan took the job at Wisconsin, the Badgers have been the best true road team in the league, registering 75 wins while posting a .517 win percentage in league play, on the road.

Looking as a whole at the 2014 tournament field, UW has one of the better records, going 9-4 overall against teams competing for a National championship. Teams with more wins are Iowa State, Kansas and Arizona with 12 each, then Baylor (11) and Oklahoma (10).

Three of those teams (Baylor, Oklahoma and Arizona) are in the West region with Wisconsin.

Wisconsin is the only team in the nation with wins over two No. 1 seeds (Florida, Virginia).

Thursday’s match-up with American (20-12) is the first for the program, though UW is 5-0 all-time against teams out of the Patriot League.