Wisconsin Basketball Closing in on NCAA Tournament Bid

It’s been an up and down season, but the Wisconsin Basketball team is getting close to securing their trip to the NCAA Tournament.

If asked to sum up this season so far for the Wisconsin Basketball team in a word or two, I think I’d have to go with “roller coaster” because there have been plenty of highs but also quite a few lows as well.

This is a Badger team that earlier in the season lost three of four games and then followed that up by winning six of their next seven. They’ve been absolutely bullied by Michigan State and Purdue on the road, but then turned around and beat each of those teams at the Kohl Center.

We’ve seen some excellent road wins against Ohio State and Penn State as well as a brutal loss to Iowa and a game in Minnesota where they just looked unprepared. And oh yeah, did I mention that one of their best players in Kobe King decided to enter the transfer portal mid-season?

So yeah, it’s been a roller coaster ride, to say the least.

However, despite all of the negativity from the outside, along with the ups and downs that this season has provided, we are now entering the final week of February and the Wisconsin Basketball team is close to locking up an NCAA Tournament bid.

At this moment, the Badgers have seven quad-one wins, which is tied for the eighth-most in the country and only three behind Baylor and Kansas who lead the nation with 10. On top of that, they have a net rating of 29, four top-25 wins, and their 9-6 record in Big Ten play has them tied for fourth overall and they have the third-fewest losses of any team.

So needless to say that even with some ugly performances this year and a team that overall struggles to hit shots consistently, that is still quite an impressive resume. In typical Badger fashion, behind rock-solid defense, they just find ways to win.

Of course, credit needs to be given to Greg Gard and his players for putting themselves in this position. Since Micah Potter’s debut, he has provided a huge boost off the bench and the team is 11-5 since he joined them back in late December.

Meanwhile, we’ve seen excellent performances from Brad Davison against Nebraska as he tied the school record for most three-pointers hit in a game. Aleem Ford had a career night against Purdue, and overall D’Mitrik Trice has been playing very well over the last few weeks.

Not to mention that Nate Reuvers is giving them 13.5 points and nearly five rebounds per game, while Brevin Pritzl continues to make big plays as well. Whether it’s grabbing a key offensive rebound as he did against Purdue or just knocking down a big three-pointer, he’s finding ways to make an impact.

As of now, the Badgers aren’t quite a lock to make the NCAA Tournament but in Joe Lunardi’s most recent tournament prediction, he has Wisconsin as seven seed, while Jerry Palm has them as an eight seed. And this is the ballpark that many analysts have Wisconsin projected.

With all things considered, they have put themselves in a great situation entering these final weeks of the regular season as a few more wins should secure their spot in March Madness. Which I think is something that many would have doubted, even a few weeks ago.