Wisconsin fans were riding quite the high after dismantling Illinois, and the press clippings were coming ferociously about how great the Badgers are. There was even excitement about how Wisconsin could run the table and walk away with the Big Ten title. However, the Oregon loss was a collapse at home. Wisconsin was cruising and up by 15 into the second half, and then it all unraveled. Oregon tied it up and took it to overtime, where they completed the comeback.
Wisconsin fans are ready to declare the sky is falling
It's hard to watch your favorite team choke away a game like that. It was ugly, frustrating, and even embarrassing. Badger fans were ready to pack it up and call it a season after that one. Many declared the weekend was ruined; some even said insane things like they'd be okay if John Blackwell didn't come back next year. Insane. The sky is truly falling. However, bracketologists don't see that loss in the same light.
It helps that bracketologists are not fans of the team and can see the loss objectively. For whatever reason, Oregon is a quad-1 killer of a program. They stink a lot throughout the season, but they have nine quad-1 wins, which is tied for the second most in the NCAA. They have knocked off Texas A&M, Alabama, Maryland, and now Wisconsin.
Bracketologists are a lot more ho-hum about Wisconsin's loss to Oregon
We here at Badger of Honor asked JBR Bracketology, one of the experts in the arena, about the loss, and he said that they only dropped two spots on his list from 7 overall seed to 9 overall seed. This does move them down a seed line, but they were already barely hanging onto the 2-seed. They could easily earn that back with a 4-0 finish or a strong run in the Big Ten tournament.
Other bracketologists still have them in the 2-seed line, though most have put them as one of the top 3-seeds. Therefore, the sky didn't fall on the Wisconsin Badgers. The game sucked, it was terrible, it was ugly and frustrating, but Wisconsin is still a really good team, and the people that can remain objective see that clearly.