After a one-year absence, the University of Wisconsin is back in the NCAA Tournament field. Better yet, the Badgers are surging into the field of 68.
Playing the eighth-toughest schedule in the country, and earning five Quad-1 wins, another nine in Quad-2, and no losses outside Quad-2, Wisconsin was awarded a No.5 seed in the South Region, earning a Friday trip to Brooklyn to play No.12-seed James Madison in the NCAA Tournament first round.
The game will tip at approximately 9:40 pm ET and will be on CBS with Ian Eagle, Bill Raftery and Grant Hill on the call.
The winner will play the winner of No.4 Duke and No.13 Vermont on Sunday. The winners will advance to the Regional Semifinals in Dallas. Those games will be played on Friday, March 29.
Beginning the season with a 79-76 victory at No.4 Michigan State, the Dukes (31-3) won the Sun Belt Conference Tournament to push their winning streak to 13 games.
The Badgers’ season has been full of peaks and valleys. Wisconsin started the season 16-4 and rose to No.6 in the country, boosted by victories over No.3 Marquette, a sweep of Michigan State, and winning the Ft. Myers Tip-Off. While beginning February in a tie for first place, inconsistent offense and shoddy defense contributed to the Badgers losing eight of their final 11 regular-season games and falling to fifth in the league.
“You're always trying to instill belief in them because they get so many negative shots from the outside world, that you constantly are countering that,” head coach Greg Gard said. “We've talked all year, actually since September, believe, earn, and finish. You have to see it first. You have to dream about it. This group has big goals. Then you've got to go do the work. You've got to earn it, and you've got to finish it.
“I think this group has always had strong belief in themselves, but they're 18 to 22 years old that are going through a lot of things sometimes, some adversity for the first time. Sometimes you've got to prop them up. But at the same time, you hold them accountable and push them through and help them fight through it. Then you get to this point in time, and hopefully that maturity and those experiences start to pay off.”
Getting players back from injury at the beginning of March and starting to regain its form on both ends of the floor, Wisconsin blew past Maryland in the Big Ten Tournament second round, overcame the absence of point guard Chucky Hepburn to knock off Northwestern in the tournament quarterfinal, and knocked off regular-season champion Purdue in overtime to advance to its first conference tournament final in seven seasons.
UW had an 82-81 lead with 3:53 remaining in the Big Ten title game but missed its final four shots and fell, 93-87, to second-seeded Illinois.
The victory over Purdue jumped Wisconsin to No.18 in the NCAA NET rankings.
“You're going to have ups and downs in the season, and it's going to be what do you do to make up for that?” guard Max Klesmit said. “How are you going to handle yourself when things go bad, and how are you going to handle yourself when things go well?
"All 18 dudes in the locker room are even keeled. Nobody gets too high or too low on themselves. Everyone knows we've got trust in one another. And I think that just shows on the floor. The best player we've got on our team, his ability to give the ball up and just trust someone else in the late game, speaks volumes. It screams "team," not just "me." So having that and building off of that, it's going to be good for us.”
The Badgers are 40-25 (.615) in 26 previous appearances in the NCAA Tournament, having now appeared in 23 of the last 25 NCAA Tournaments. UW has won at least one game in four of its five appearances under Gard but is searching for its first regional semifinal appearance since 2017.
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