After finally climbing into the top-25 rankings by defeating Michigan State, the Badgers quickly relinquished that honor by falling to Ohio State the next game. Still, since that loss, Wisconsin is 2-1, and after several top-25 teams stumbled this week, it seemed the Badgers might have a chance to sneak back up into the rankings. Apparently not.
In last week's poll, Wisconsin was the first team out, receiving 47 votes, and looked like a prime candidate to jump up this week. While the Oregon loss threw a bit of a wrench into those plans, most every other team at the back end of the rankings also struggled.
Tennessee lost twice, including to unranked Missouri, and yet dropped just one spot to No. 23. Vanderbilt has been on an epic slide, and has lost three of their last four, yet somehow climbed up one spot to No. 24. So what's the deal?
Wisconsin drops even further from the promised land in odd AP Poll
Wisconsin dropped to the fifth team out this week, receiving just 27 votes, so it would seem that the Badgers were actually no where close to a promotion. The Oregon loss was a tough blow, but several teams at the back of the rankings also had their fair share of trouble. So did Wisconsin do enough to jump up? Maybe not. But other teams certainly did enough to get sent down, and for some reason were spared.
Even St. Louis, who like Wisconsin suffered a bad, double-digit loss to an inferior team hung on at No. 25. So it seems very obvious the AP voters felt they had the right teams in the rankings and were hesitant to drop anyone out.
Luckily for Wisconsin, they still have a very strong NET rating and are currently slated to make a No. 7 seed in the NCAA Tournament. Still, it would be nice to see that little number next to the 'motion W' on broadcasts.