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Big Ten Tournament: Wisconsin Badgers earn No. 2 seed

By Trevor Jossart

Mar 2, 2017; Madison, WI, USA; The Wisconsin Badgers bench including Wisconsin Badgers guard T.J. Schlundt (20) celebrate a Badgers run during the game with the Iowa Hawkeyes at the Kohl Center. Iowa defeated Wisconsin 69-67. Mandatory Credit: Mary Langenfeld-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 2, 2017; Madison, WI, USA; The Wisconsin Badgers bench including Wisconsin Badgers guard T.J. Schlundt (20) celebrate a Badgers run during the game with the Iowa Hawkeyes at the Kohl Center. Iowa defeated Wisconsin 69-67. Mandatory Credit: Mary Langenfeld-USA TODAY Sports /
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The Big Ten Tournament bracket has been finalized.

After their Sunday night win over the Minnesota Golden Gophers, the Wisconsin Badgers earned the No. 2 seed in the Big Ten Tournament, set to begin on Wednesday.

Related Story: Badgers defeat Gophers on Senior Night

The Badgers entered Sunday with the possibility of landing the No. 2, 4, or 5 seed. Prior to their game, Purdue knocked off Northwestern- eliminating their chance of getting the five seed and clinched them the double bye. The victory over the Gophers kept the Badgers at No. 2 and pushed the Gophers to No. 4.

The tournament will kick off on Wednesday with the opening round games. Wisconsin will begin action on Friday as they are the second-to-last game of the day. The Badgers will await the winner of No. 7 Iowa and No. 10 Indiana.

Wisconsin will face one of two very dangerous teams. Iowa is a squad that just beat the Badgers by two points in Madison and are trending upward, winners of four in a row- two of which were on the road at ranked teams. The Hawkeyes ended their season with an 11-point victory over Penn State.

The other possible matchup is Indiana- whom the Badgers defeated twice this year. The old adage “it is hard to defeat a team three teams in one season” will always hold value, especially with a team like the Hoosiers who were once ranked No. 3 in the country and have defeated two probable No. 1 seeds in the NCAA Tournament.

It is never smart to foreshadow, but if the Badgers can get by one of those two teams they will play either, Maryland, Northwestern, Ohio State, or Rutgers. The Badgers went 3-3 against those teams. The plus side of the Badgers’ side of the bracket is that they will not have to face Purdue or Michigan State, two teams who have Wisconsin’s number, until the title game.

Wisconsin will look to do better than last year’s conference tournament performance, when they were upset by Nebraska 70-58 in their first game.

This year’s Big Ten Tournament will take place in Washington D.C. for the first time ever. The Badgers will face the winner of Indiana/Iowa at 6:30 pm ET on Friday.

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