Badger of Honor
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Wisconsin Basketball: Badgers fail to crack top 16 in NCAA Tournament preview

By Trevor Jossart

Feb 5, 2017; Madison, WI, USA; Wisconsin Badgers forward Ethan Happ (L) and guard Khalil Iverson (21) celebrate with forward Nigel Hayes (10) on drawing a foul against the Indiana Hooseries at the Kohl Center. The Badgers won 65-60. Mandatory Credit: Mary Langenfeld-USA TODAY Sports
Feb 5, 2017; Madison, WI, USA; Wisconsin Badgers forward Ethan Happ (L) and guard Khalil Iverson (21) celebrate with forward Nigel Hayes (10) on drawing a foul against the Indiana Hooseries at the Kohl Center. The Badgers won 65-60. Mandatory Credit: Mary Langenfeld-USA TODAY Sports /
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Despite leading a power conference and a 21-3 record, the Badgers are on the outside looking in for the top 16 seeds.

On Saturday, for the first time ever the NCAA Tournament revealed its in-season update of the current top 16 seeds. Seeds 1-4 in each region were revealed as what it would look like if the season ended today.

Thankfully for the Wisconsin Badgers, the season does not end today as the 21-3 first place team from Madison did not crack a top four seed in any region.

The announcement comes as a bit of surprise and clearly an indication that the tournament committee is using the Rating Percentage Index (RPI) as their lead analytic for their decision. The RPI does not factor in components like strength of record, adjusted tempo and other factors of efficiency like other methods that have Wisconsin in the upper echelon in the country.

In a down year in the Big Ten, the Badgers have continued to win, albeit by the slimmest of margins sometimes, while teams ranked in front of them continue to fall.

What makes it hard to comprehend is that Badgers have no bad losses, no great wins either, but they have not hurt themselves yet. They have beaten the likes of Indiana and Marquette on the road, while teams ahead of them like North Carolina and Villanova were not able to do that. Earlier in the season, Wisconsin knocked off a poor Oklahoma team in Madison. West Virginia, another team ranked ahead of the Badgers on Saturday, lost to the Sooners at home- truly a bad loss.

Wisconsin also has a convincing win over Syracuse, who has beaten both Florida State and Virginia this season. And guess what? Both those teams were on the top 16 ballot on Saturday.

It is smart and reasonable to not let this early edition of the bracket bother bother both the team and fans of Wisconsin. If the Badgers continue to win and take home the Big Ten title, they will be there with the rest of the teams when it all said done.

Just keep winning.

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