MADISON, Wis. -- Wisconsin's game(s) this week have a pretty simple stipulation attached to them: an early exit from the Big Ten Tournament and your NCAA Tournament hopes are likely gone.

Connor Essegian, Chucky Hepburn and Tyler Wahl all shook their head when asked if they follow or pay attention to bracketology or tournament projections. Whether it's a self awareness of their body of work or a natural competitive feeling, the team appears fully aware they need to win multiple games in Chicago.

"In the post-season, if you lose you're done, so we know what we have to do and we're just going to get it done," Hepburn said Tuesday evening when addressing the media.

It felt like Essegian spoke for the whole team when he let out an emphatic sigh of relief after the win over Minnesota. The victory over a team with two conference wins next to its name didn't do much to push Wisconsin toward the right side of the bubble. What the Badgers did avoid, however, was a potentially disastrous Quad 4 loss.

Whether or not the players recognize those implications of the game, it certainly felt like a monkey off their back. Now, the conclusion of the regular season sets the stage for March to truly get underway. A month that UW hopes has a couple more weeks of meaningful games left.

Bracketology this time of the year is far from an exact science. Depending on which site you check, Wisconsin either finds itself part of the last four in, the first out or the next four out. The only true consensus seems to be that the Badgers have to win at least one game in the Big Ten Tournament. They will feel relatively safe if they win multiple post-season games.

"I feel like there's a whole bunch of different answers," Wahl said of what they have to do to secure an at-large bid. "There's different opinions throughout the country so we're just going to go out there and focus on what we have to do and let that outside noise just be noise. We know if we go 1-0 every game and approach it like that, we're going to be just fine."

Wisconsin's win over Ohio State back on Feb. 2 marked a bit of a turning point for the Badgers. A 5-5 record in that stretch combined with a consistent inability to come through in close games likely doesn't say as much, but there have been stretches of good basketball in each game. In the five losses, the difference for UW at the end of regulation was a combined five points.

"I feel like we've been in a lot of close games the last couple of weeks and we've been right there in position, we just haven't been able to finish it out," Wahl said of the team's play going into March. "It was nice to get that win in Minnesota, so I feel like we're trending in the right direction."

Overall it feels like the team has found an identity and is in a good spot with March play ramping up. The starting five will continue to carry the team, but the trio of Jordan Davis, Carter Gilmore and Kamari McGee have been solid stop gaps off the bench. On the offensive end, Gard seems to have found a sweet spot between running actions that have guards as the focal point in tandem with the base sets to get Steven Crowl or Wahl deep position in the paint.

Ohio State's conference record at 5-15 isn't the greatest indication of how the Buckeyes are trending. Chris Holtmann's bunch comes in winners of two of its last three games and still is a talented crew with Justice Sueing and freshman Brice Sensabaugh leading the charge. For Wisconsin, though, its front court will look to run back its performance from Sunday night with OSU down their top big Zed Key for the year.

"We know Ohio State is going to come looking to beat us because we beat them the first time. Second of all, if they lose they're done so we know they are not going to give it to us, so we just have to go in and play the game we know and we should win," Hepburn said.

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