It’s been a long time coming, but Wisconsin Basketball is ranked 6th this week, their highest position in the AP Poll since the 2020-21 season, where they had a preseason ranking of seven and climbed as high as fourth in the nation. Sadly, that was one of the teams that failed to advance past the first round of the NCAA tournament.
Crazy weekend in college basketball
One of the aspects that I love about college basketball is the volatility of it. So many cliches apply but I think the most appropriate is “Expect the unexpected.”
Last week epitomized that statement perfectly. While the top five teams remained unchanged, teams sixth through eleventh all dropped at least one game, with Auburn and Oklahoma going 0-2.
Interestingly enough, Duke was ranked 12th last week, and while they did win both games, they struggled against Clemson on Saturday, winning 72-71 on a pair of Tyrese Proctor free throws with one second left in the game. In the eyes of the pollsters, this warranted dropping them a spot behind the Badgers, who won both of their games with ease.
Wisconsin Basketball is rolling
Wisconsin seems to have taken the road upset at Penn State in stride. Three days after that loss, they came home and dismantled Indiana 91-79. This game was the first of three historic victories since the Penn State setback, as it marked the first time in Greg Gard’s tenure as head coach that Wisconsin scored 90 points in conference play. You have to go back to February 3rd, 2015 when the Badgers beat, ironically, Indiana 92-78 in Bo Ryan’s final season as head coach.
Two games later came the second monumental win, a 61-59 thriller at Minnesota. This win saw Coach Gard become the 6th-fastest Big Ten head coach to reach 100 victories, establishing himself with some all-time iconic coaches in college basketball.
Three days after that, Gard vaulted over another hurdle, this one a long-standing obstacle in the road to the Badgers’ success. With their 81-66 dissection of Michigan State, Gard beat the Spartans twice during the regular season for the first time in his head coaching history. During the magical 2015 season, they defeated Sparty once during the regular season and then again to win their last Big Ten conference tournament.
Wisconsin Basketball’s future
While there is a third of the season remaining (with two games against Purdue), it’s never too early to start thinking about seeding for the Big Dance. Barring a colossal collapse that would most likely cost Gard his job, UW is going to get back to the NCAA tournament after a brief absence last year.
All of the accolades and lofty rankings are nice, but eventually, Badger fans want to see a deep run in the tournament, something that hasn’t happened since Gard’s first year at the helm.
Statistically speaking, from an advanced analytics standpoint, this is the strongest Badger team, offensively speaking, in the Greg Gard era. According to Kenpom.com, they are 4th in the nation in Adjusted Offensive Efficiency, and no worse than 92nd in eight different advanced analytical stats. In true Greg Gard fashion, they are among the slowest teams when it comes to average length of possession.
Last year seemed like such a letdown after the Badgers’ fugazi 11-2 start, but they banded together and made a deep run in the NIT. Many times teams use that as a springboard for a successful next season and it appears that is exactly what Wisconsin is doing.
In a season that is devoid of a truly dominant team, this could be Wisconsin’s year to surprise a lot of people. With all of the firsts that are occurring for Coach Gard this season, why not add his first national championship appearance….or more?
