Wisconsin Basketball: Badgers can blow up bracket with upset over Baylor
The Wisconsin basketball team has a huge chance to make waves in the NCAA Tournament on Sunday and save face for what’s been a disappointing team full of seniors. They take on the number one seeded Baylor Bears in the early afternoon and have a legit chance of pulling an upset.
The Badgers struggled through a loaded Big Ten Conference schedule, finishing .500 in the conference and just 17-12 on the season. That was a huge step backward following an extremely promising 2019-20 season that looked like the team was headed for a deep tournament run before covid prematurely shut everything down. Especially for a team that basically returned everyone.
The rocky regular season led Wisconsin to a nine-seed in the NCAA tournament and a first-round date with another big-time program going through a down year–the North Carolina Tar Heels. However, Wisconsin led for 37 minutes of the game and played some of their best basketball of the season. They did everything they needed to including boxing out against an elite rebounding team, playing solid defense, and, most importantly, knocking down shots.
The Wisconsin Basketball program can really blow up the South Region in the NCAA tournament if they find a way to upset Baylor today.
Wisconsin has struggled to knock down shots consistently all season long and have been prone to long scoring droughts that have completely taken them out of games. That’s life for a team full of jump shooters where nobody can create their own looks at the basket on a regular basis. Hopefully, they saved their best for last and can continue their hot shooting against Baylor.
Speaking of Baylor and the South Region, the Badgers could send it into shambles with an upset victory today. The South has already seen 13th seeded North Texas and 15th seeded Oral Roberts pull off upsets. If Wisconsin finds a way, that will be three of the region’s top four seeds out before the Sweet 16, and a wide-open door to the Final Four.
Don’t get me wrong, that door would still be very difficult to walk through as there are some very good teams in the bracket after this round. However, Baylor is clearly the lead dog and Wisconsin has a legit chance to pull an upset. We’ve seen them hang with top teams all year long and fail to make the necessary plays late in the game to come away with the victory. Maybe this time will be different and this Badgers’ squad has some magic reserved for a final tourney push.