Wisconsin Basketball: Big Ten Tournament outlook for the Badgers
By Jacob Heid
The 2021-22 Wisconsin basketball team’s regular season has come to an end on Sunday afternoon. Wisconsin finishes their play at the Kohl Center with a loss to the Nebraska Cornhuskers, falling 74-73. One big storyline from the game is the status of Wisconsin superstar Johnny Davis. The sophomore went down early in the second half on a hard foul from Trey McGowen, which led to a flagrant two foul and an ejection. As more news comes out on the situation, updates will be here. Now onto Big Ten Tournament talk.
With Big Ten regular-season games wrapping up today, where does Wisconsin sit heading into the Big Ten Tournament? There are two scenarios for the Badgers: One gives them the regular-season title while keeping the number one seed. The other drops them to the two seed while having a share of the Big Ten regular-season title with Illinois. More explanation of both scenarios is below.
Scenario #1- Illinois Loses to Iowa on Sunday Night
Illinois narrowly sits behind the Wisconsin basketball team in the conference standings. If the Badgers would’ve won Sunday’s game against the Cornhuskers, the battle on Sunday night between Illinois and Iowa would not matter; in terms of the one seed. For Wisconsin to retain the one seed in Indianapolis, Illinois has to lose to the Hawkeyes this evening.
Iowa is playing some of the best basketball in the Big Ten as of late. Keegan Murray is a legitimate threat for Big Ten Player of the Year and maybe even National Player of the Year. Wisconsin fans should be glued to the last Big Ten regular-season game this year. It’s happening tonight at 6:30 CST.
Scenario #2- Illinois Wins at Home Versus Iowa
Simply put, if Illinois beats Iowa tonight, they take the one seed into the Big Ten Tournament. Wisconsin is 15-5 in Big Ten play, while Illinois sits at 14-5. If Illinois were to win tonight, the Fighting Illini holds the tiebreaker against the Badgers because of their win against Wisconsin earlier in the year. The above result would drop Wisconsin to the two-seed in the Big Ten Tournament.
To be honest: the Nebraska loss hurts big time. The Badgers have no control of their destiny after the loss on Sunday in the Kohl Center. Even with the loss, Wisconsin locks up a double-bye in the conference tournament, not playing until the quarterfinals on Friday, March 11th. It’s safe to say that all Wisconsin Badger basketball fans are rooting for the Iowa Hawkeyes tonight.