Wisconsin is on the short list of National Title contenders according to metrics

Nowadays, metrics measure and track everything. Since 2001, KenPom has been keeping track of what all the NCAA National Championship teams have in common. What sets them apart from the rest of the field before they even play their first NCAA Tournament game? It's really two metrics that almost every champion has had since 2001. In this tournament, there are only eight teams that fit into that criteria, and Wisconsin is one of them.

Only 8 teams fit the criteria for NCAA Tournament National Champion, and Wisconsin is one of them

According to KenPom metrics, one of the top NCAA basketball metric sites, "96% of National Champions since 2001 have had a top-21 KenPom offense pre-tournament. and 91% of National Champions since 2001 have had a top-31 KenPom defense pre-tournament." This means that national champions have both of those things. There are only eight teams right now that have both of those: Houston, Tennessee, Duke, Gonzaga, Iowa State, Florida, Auburn, and Wisconsin.

As you can see from the above social media post, it took a Big Ten Tournament run for Wisconsin and Michigan (or Michigan State) to switch places on these metrics. Wisconsin had such a great tournament (even with a failure at the end) that they moved into the top 21 offense in the country and the top 31 defense.

Wisconsin has a disadvantage, though, from all these other teams; they are going into the NCAA Tournament on only a few days of rest. They played on Sunday, March 16, in the Big Ten Tournament Championship and now have to turn around to play their first-round game on Thursday, March 20, against the Montana Grizzlies. It was a brutal scheduling turn for them, and even head coach Greg Gard said he talked with the Big Ten about making sure their Big Ten championship teams get the Friday start in the NCAA Tournament.

Hopefully, Wisconsin can continue what it brought into the Big Ten Tournament on a few days rest but ready to go nonetheless.