2016 NCAA Tournament: Wisconsin Badgers Outlook in Final Stretch of Regular Season
Selection Sunday is just three short weeks away as teams, especially those on or close to the bubble like the Wisconsin Badgers, are looking for a few more shots to bolster their NCAA tournament resumes. With just five regular season games remaining and a Big Ten tournament on the horizon, there’s still some work left for the Badgers to ensure a ticket to the big dance.
Wisconsin Badgers
First thing first, Wisconsin needs to beat the teams they are supposed to. Of the remaining five games, the Badgers will face three unranked opponents starting with Illinois coming to the Kohl Center on Sunday evening. They will also host Michigan on February 28th and travel to Minnesota March 2nd. Winning these three games will be key to keeping Bucky in the tournament rather than sitting on the bubble and leaving their fate in the hands of the selection committee.
For you math majors out there, that leaves two ranked opponents for the Badgers remaining on the regular season schedule and both games will be on the road. The first will be a date with the Iowa Hawkeyes, the fourth ranked team in the country. A win here and it all but assures the Badgers a spot in the big dance. But a close loss certainly will not hurt their chances. What could possibly derail their shot is if they get run out of Carver-Hawkeye Arena and have another poor showing like they did against Michigan State earlier this week.
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Their tilt at Purdue will either be a game to save their tournament lives or to help their seeding situation depending on how the previous four game go for the Badgers. Either way a win for Wisconsin, especially coupled with a win at Iowa, would do wonders for an NCAA tournament resume that has seen a few ups and downs.
Looking even farther ahead, a strong showing in the Big Ten tournament will also look good to the committee. I’m not saying they have to win the whole thing, but making some noise and getting far in the conference tournament will certainly add another star on their resume.
QUALITY WINS (RPI 1-50 according to ESPN)
at Maryland (12)
Michigan State (17)
Indiana (35)
at Syracuse (39)
BAD LOSSES (RPI 150 and over)
UW-Milwaukee (153)
Western Illinois (255)
Finally, two of the most well-know bracketologists out there have the Badgers in the tournament at this point. Joe Lunardi of ESPN last updated his bracket Thursday morning, prior to Wisconsin’s loss at Michigan State. At that point, he had Bucky as the No. 9 seed going up against No. 8 Colorado. Jerry Palm of CBS has a more recent, updated version of his bracket. Palm’s latest bracket was updated Friday morning and has Wisconsin as an 11 seed in the East. However, that would have the Badgers playing one of four play-in games against Tulsa. In fact he has Wisconsin as one of the last four in the tournament along with Michigan, George Washington and Tulsa.
Either way you look at it, as of now, Wisconsin is in the tournament but sitting on the bubble. And they will continue to sit on the bubble unless they are able to score an upset on the road to finish out the regular season. One thing they cannot afford is to lose to another team that has an RPI over 100.
There’s still plenty of work to do, but as long as the Badgers beat the three teams they are supposed to and score and upset on the road, they should be able to punch a ticket to the big dance. A deep run in the Big Ten tournament certainly wouldn’t hurt either.