MADISON, Wis. – Based on all the paperwork he had in front of him in the hours leading up to the NCAA Tournament selection show, Wisconsin head coach Greg Gard knew his team was a long shot for one of the tournament’s 38 at-large bids.

Therefore, the Badgers not receiving a bid for the second time in four tournaments and for only the second time since 1998 was far from a surprise.

“We had plenty of opportunities to better our position, in terms of the NCAA Tournament,” Gard told reporters Sunday night, “and we were not able to do that.”

Either way, the Badgers spent the weekend practicing and preparing for the next opportunity, which officially came Sunday night in the form of the program’s first appearance in the NIT in 27 years.

Wisconsin (17-14) was slotted as a No.2 seed in one of the four regions of the NIT bracket, opening competition with a game against Bradley (25-9) Tuesday night at the Kohl Center. The game will tip at 8:30 p.m. and be televised by ESPN.

The winner will face either No.3 Liberty or No.4 Florida in a second-round game this weekend. Oregon is the No.1 seed in the region.

The 32-team NIT starts with first-round games Tuesday and Wednesday. The first three rounds are at campus sites before the semifinals and championship game take place in Las Vegas.

UW has been in the NIT four times and never has advanced past the second round. It has a 3-4 overall record, with all the games played at the UW Field House. The Badgers' most recent appearance was in 1996, when they defeated Manhattan 55-42 and lost to Illinois State 77-62.

Gard revealed he had to decide before the Badgers played in the Big Ten Tournament whether Wisconsin would accept a bid to the NIT. Before the bracket was released, Dayton and North Carolina (the AP preseason No.1 team) announced they would decline any postseason bids outside the NCAA Field.

The Wisconsin staff felt that it was important not to take any opportunities away from the players.

“My staff and I felt this was important to give our guys another chance,” Gard said. “To continue to grow through the season, use this as an opportunity. There are some really good teams, as we thought there would be. To continue to grow this year, you always look at propelling you forward, specifically when you got the vast majority of your team returning the following year, this definitely could be advantageous.”

Xavier (the 2022 NIT winner) is the No.12 overall seed in this year’s tournament while Memphis (the 2021 winner) earned a No.9 seed in last year’s NCAA Tournament and advanced to the second round.

“Each year is a different journey, and right now we’re still in this year’s journey,” Gard said. “Hopefully we can play deep into this, and it can help us. If it doesn’t work out that way, we’ll find a way for it to help us next year. They understand what we wanted to do. We wanted to be in the NCAA Tournament. It doesn’t happen, so you move on to next.”

For a team that played 19 games decided by five points or less (11-8 record), the Badgers were likely going to be tested by whoever they matched up against. The regular season winners of the Missouri Valley, the Braves (25-9, 16-4) lost to Drake in the conference finals last Sunday. They earned an automatic bid into the NIT by virtue of winning the regular-season conference title.

Rienk Mast, a 6-9 junior forward from The Netherlands averages 13.8 points and 7.9 rebounds a game, while fellow forward Malevy Leons is the only player in NCAA Div.-I basketball to reach 50 blocks, 50 steals, and 200 rebounds this season. The Braves finished at 72 in the NCAA NET rankings (eight spots ahead of UW), going 0-5 in Quad-1 games, 4-2 in Quad-2, 6-2 in Quad-3, and 14-0 in Quad-4.

The Braves have won the NIT four times (1957, 60, 64, 82) and are 2-3 all-time against Wisconsin, last playing in 2011 in the Chicago Invitational Challenge.

“We’re in this thing to try to win,” Gard said. “We wouldn’t be in it if we didn’t think we could try and go win it. We’re not doing this as a recreational activity.”

_________________________________________________

*Chat about this article in The Badgers' Den

*Check out our videos, interviews, and Q&As on our YouTube channel

*Subscribe and listen to the BadgerBlitz.com podcast (as seen on Apple, Google, Spotify and wherever you listen to podcasts)

*Follow us on Twitter: @McNamaraRivals, @TheBadgerNation, @RaulV45, @pete_brey12, @seamus_rohrer

*Like us on Facebook