The start of the basketball season is finally upon us, to the thrill of many. Wisconsin opens up against Campbell this evening in the Kohl Center. The Badgers have seven games this month, and there will be a lot at stake at the start of their schedule. However, it's a mixed bag of games, but let's break down the order of importance for the Badgers. Games that can help them the most.
In basketball, you play enough games and against strong enough competition (hopefully) that you can have good losses. While you don't want to lose any games, that's unrealistic. Every game matters, and no opponents should be overlooked. Three games are weighted strongly than the other four in Wisconsin's November schedule.
The Badgers have four Quad-4 games to start the season (parentheses indicate NET rankings): Campbell (220), Northern Illinois (351), Ball State (276), and SIU-Edwardsville (221). All of those should be easy wins. Dropping one of those would be a disaster. So those aren't the games that matter unless disaster strikes.
Wisconsin has three big matchups at the end of the month of November
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Nov. 20 - At BYU (26)
Nov. 27 - Providence (100) on a neutral court
Nov. 28 - Either TCU (78) or Florida (4)
There is only one team in that window with a lower NET ranking than Wisconsin (14) or Florida (4). However, that matchup may not happen, as it's in the Rady Children’s Invitational tournament. It depends on how the matches go on the first day. If Wisconsin beats Providence and Florida beats TCU, they will play each other. If they both lose, then they will also play each other. If one loses and the other wins, they will not play each other; instead, Wisconsin will play TCU.
All three games listed above are the games that matter the most in November. Ranking them in terms of top teams, it's Florida, BYU, and Providence, or maybe it's BYU, TCU, and Providence.
However, in terms of importance, I think Wisconsin wants that BYU game the most. The Cougars knocked the Badgers out of the NCAA Tournament last year, and revenge is sweet.