Despite a herculean effort in the second half, Wisconsin fell to Michigan 68-65 in the Big Ten Tournament. The Badgers were without star forward Nolan Winter for the entirety of the tournament, but he had some great news for fans after the Michigan loss.
"I'll be ready to go next week," he told reporters postgame. "Obviously wanted to be out there this week. I woke this morning feeling a lot better than I had in previous days...but at the end of the day just wanted what was best for the team."
Nolan Winter might be the missing puzzle piece to a deep tournament run
Austin Rapp had a career day filling in for Winter against the Wolverines, notching 18 points and six rebounds on 6-for-10 shooting beyond the arc. His 15 straight points for the Badgers brought them back to life in the second half, but ultimately it wasn't enough as Wisconsin was sent home on a buzzer beater three.
Now, with Winter back, Wisconsin enters the NCAA Tournament at near full strength. Guard Jack Janicki's status will be up in the air, but it seems that Winter may have even been able to go today had the Badgers desperately needed him. Still, it's hard to enter the Big Dance with any more momentum than the Badgers will have after a strong Big Ten Tournament run and getting back a key starter.
At this point, the five-seed seems like the most probable option for Wisconsin, meaning they'll have to play in the dreaded 5-12 matchup. Ghost stories aside, it's a nice seeding for a team that was nearly looking at an 8 or 9-seed just three weeks ago after dropping to 19-9 with a loss to lowly Oregon. Instead, they won three straight to finish the regular season and then blew past Washington and Illinois in the Big Ten Tourney.