Fans can always find reasons to complain about a conference schedule, especially in a tough basketball conference like the Big Ten. There are landmines all over the place, and Wisconsin usually can't avoid stepping on them because of the scheduling of the Big Ten. Whether it's having two games against Purdue, having to play a marquee matchup at home when the students are on break, a crappy West Coast road trip, or something else.
Big Ten scheduling hasn't always been kind to Wisconsin, but this year, there are five reasons to really like the Badger basketball schedule. Here they are:
1. Away schedule is decent
Wisconsin has a decent road schedule, avoiding Mackey and the Crisler Center. It starts with Northwestern on the road and features Maryland, Rutgers, Minnesota, and Ohio State. That's not a bad draw. The tough road tests will be Iowa, Illinois, the LA Schools (USC and UCLA, and Michigan State before the Big Ten Tournament.
You simply can't avoid all the tough programs in the Big Ten schedule, but it's a decent draw as far as road games go for Wisconsin.
2. Purdue, Nebraska, and Michigan are both at home
Alluded to this a little above, but Wisconsin is missing three of the toughest venues to play at in the Big Ten. There are no road games at Purdue, Nebraska, or Michigan. That's going to be helpful for a Greg Gard team that feels like a bit of a wildcard... then again, aren't they all?
3. The double teams are teams Wisconsin has owned
The Big Ten always gives every school three teams they have to play twice (both home and away). Wisconsin this year got Minnesota (an obvious one), Illinois, and Iowa. In the last few years, Wisconsin has had a pretty good run against all three of them. Obviously, this year is going to look different, but look at what Wisconsin has done with these teams.
Illinois: 3 straight wins
Iowa: 3 straight wins and 7 of the last 8
Minnesota: 11 straight wins and 20 of the last 22.
Sure, Illinois has a decent track record before those three straight, but three straight is three straight. If you had to take three teams to double up in the Big Ten, it's nice that it's three teams that we have a hot streak against.
4. The games over break are tolerable
Often Wisconsin fans will look at Christmas break and wonder which games will be scheduled. The atmosphere is different when students are on break, and that's true for every school. Wisconsin ended up with only three games at home during this time: Illinois, Minnesota, and Penn State. It's not ideal, but it's tolerable.
5. Good West Coast trip
Only having to cross into the Pacific Time Zone once and not swinging through all four West Coast schools is ideal. The Badgers only have to take on the Los Angeles schools (USC and UCLA) away. This happens when Wisconsin students are on break, so that's an ideal time.
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