MADISON, Wis. – The University of Wisconsin men’s basketball team saw its Big Ten celebration cut short with the sudden cancelation of the 2020 college basketball postseason. Seven months later, the Badgers were given another chance to celebrate.

Winning the final eight games to clinch a share of the Big Ten title, the returning Badgers players received their well earned Big Ten championship rings following Monday’s preseason practice.

Picked to finish outside the top five by the reporters who cover the conference, leery about how the program would replace All-American Ethan Happ and two other seniors, the Badgers were sitting in seventh place in the Big Ten at the midpoint of the season and trying to figure out how to move forward without its leading scorer in conference games.

UW (21-10) went 9-1 without Kobe King to finish 14-6 in the league, including winning their final eight games from Feb.9 to Saturday’s 60-56 victory over Indiana. The victory over the Hoosiers involved the Badgers erasing a nine-point deficit in the second half.

Wisconsin did the bulk of its work down the stretch with only eight scholarship players, none of who were named to the conference’s first team. During the final eight games, six different players led the team in scoring, part of the reason Wisconsin became the first Big Ten regular season champion in league history to not feature a first- or second-team all-conference selection, a distinction that dates to 1948 (73 seasons).

“We don’t have a star,” head coach Greg Gard said, previously. “It’s a team full of stars.”

The Badgers – closing the season ranked No.17 in the Associated Press poll – are the slated favorite to win the Big Ten this season in large part to having a starting lineup comprised of seniors: point guard D’Mitrik Trice (9.6 ppg with a 2.4-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio), guard Brad Davison (10 ppg, 4.3 ppg), forward Aleem Ford (9.7 points and 5.5 rebounds over the final 10 games), forward Nate Reuvers (team-best 13.1 ppg and 56 blocks) and forward Micah Potter (10.3 ppg and team-high 6.3 rpg).

Wisconsin has also fortified its roster by signing a six-member recruiting class that ranks the highest in the internet era, highlighted by Rivals.com four-star forward prospects Ben Carlson and Jonathan Davis.

Wisconsin is expected to return 78.5 percent of its scoring, 83.5 percent of its rebounds and 77.5 percent of its minutes.