There's a strong chance that Wisconsin can play the opening NCAA Tournament weekend at the Milwaukee pod site, which is hosted by Marquette University in the Fiserv Forum. This would be incredible for Wisconsin fans, as it is only an hour away from Madison, and many Badger fans reside in or around Milwaukee. The stadium would be full of red that opening weekend, chanting, "Let's' Go, Badgers!"
How does Wisconsin get into the Milwaukee pod site?
It's a tad confusing how it all works out, but the NCAA selection committee works to place teams as close to their university as possible, with priority going to the highest seeds. According to the NCAA page on how it all works out, it says this about regional sites:
"Teams will remain in or as close to their areas of natural interest as possible, as determined by mileage from campus to the venue. A team moved out of its natural area will be placed in the next closest region to the extent possible. If two teams from the same natural region are in contention for the same bracket position, the team ranked higher in the seed list shall remain in its natural region."NCAA.com
For Wisconsin, this means the higher they are on the seeding, the bigger priority they get on a regional basis. However, they may only be competing with Iowa State right now for a spot in Milwaukee.
Four teams with Milwaukee their closest pod site:
— JBR Bracketology (@JBRBracketology) February 21, 2025
Wisconsin, Purdue, Iowa State, Michigan State
Wisconsin must finish top 2 on seed list within this group of four teams in order to be assigned to the Milwaukee pod site, otherwise would be more likely to end up in Cleveland or…
The NCAA originally had the calculations that Michigan State would also compete for the Milwaukee site, but with an update recently, the Spartans have been changed to Cleveland. That means that Milwaukee becomes even more likely for Wisconsin.
I confirmed with the NCAA that Cleveland is MSU’s closest site. If you input it opposite (aka Fiserv to MSU and not the other way around), or just try MSU to Marquette, it gives the right distance. It’s a glitch on their site.
— Aaron Marner (@A_Mar32) February 25, 2025
This means that the chances of Wisconsin being in Milwaukee are very high if they are on either the 2-seed or 3-seed line. They have to be ahead of Iowa State and at least one of either Michigan or Michigan State (if the Cleveland site fills and Michigan State is ahead of Wisconsin, they will get placed in Milwaukee before Wisconsin has a chance). Therefore, just finishing ahead in the seeding for the tournament of two of those three almost guarantees it.
Cannot stress enough how important the Milwaukee pod sight is for the Badgers.
— Cole Amundson (@playformarch) February 21, 2025
It was a *literal* sea of red in the 2022 NCAA Tournament. https://t.co/oCTwU4N6tr pic.twitter.com/lp2qklDBkc