Wisconsin Basketball: Piecing together the 2017-18 schedule

Slowly but surely, the 2017-18 Wisconsin men’s basketball schedule is becoming more clear.

There are stills several months until the official unveiling of the 2017-18 college basketball schedule. Usually released sometime in August, the Wisconsin Badgers have already started to learn some of their opponents for next year.

While it isn’t a lot, the team knows a couple non-conference slots have been filled, as well as their destination for their out-of-conference tournament.

First announced, is the CBE Hall of Fame Classic, which will be played November 21-22. There is no tournament schedule released just yet, so no definite team on the schedule can be made out, but the Badgers will play either UCLA, Creighton, or Baylor first. Wisconsin was defeated at Creighton this past year in the second of the year in Omaha by double digits as part of the Gavitt Games.

Speaking of the Gavitt Games, the Badgers will participate in this year’s matchups for the second straight year- welcoming to Madison the Xavier Musketeers. Of course we all remember the thrilling NCAA Tournament game between the Badgers and Musketeer two seasons ago where Bronson Koenig hit the spectacular buzzer-beating three pointer in the corner to propel Wisconsin into the Sweet 16. The Musketeers just recently learned that leading scored Trevon Bluiett will be returning to school, making the Badgers’ task early in the season all that more difficult.

Related Story: Badgers to host Musketeers

Two more for sure games on the schedule will be Marquette, who is annual rivalry game played every year. This year’s meeting will be in Madison. The Badgers took care of business last December in Milwaukee.

Wisconsin will also welcome to Madison the Yale Bulldogs as part of their non-conference portion. Yale is two years out of knocking Baylor out of the Round of 64 and nearly defeating Duke in the second round. This game will likely be played in November sometime.

A recent post by SB Nation’s Big Ten Powerhouse blog also states the Badgers will play two PAC 12 road games at Washington and Utah. These games have not been confirmed by any other outlet. Also listed is Weber State.

To recap:

Confirmed

November

• Hall of Fame Classic
  • Baylor
  • Creighton
  • UCLA
• vs. Yale
• vs. Xavier

December

• vs. Marquette

Unconfirmed

December

• at Washington
• at Utah

The Badgers will also get an ACC team on their schedule in late November as part of the ACC/Big Ten Challenge. Wisconsin faced Syracuse the last two seasons as part of a home and home agreement, meaning the Badgers will matchup with a new ACC team this year.