The Big Ten season is officially over for Wisconsin basketball. After a 78-70 loss at #3 Purdue Sunday, the Badgers will now head to Minneapolis for the 2024 Big Ten Tournament.
Wisconsin will be the five seed as they needed to beat Purdue to be one of the four teams to clinch a double bye. Instead, the Badgers get a single bye and will play Thursday afternoon. Here is a look at their tournament draw.
Thursday- Second Round vs Maryland or Rutgers
Maryland and Rutgers will be the first game of the tournament on Wednesday. Wisconsin basketball will get the winner of that game at around 1:30 PM CST Thursday. Both the Terrapins and Scarlet Knights struggled in both conference play and non-conference play. Both will miss the NCAA Tournament unless they win the Big Ten Tournament.
The Badgers just played Rutgers on Thursday and won 78-66. They looked much better on both sides and took that with them to Purdue, Despite the loss, I thought the Badgers fought hard and did some good things.
Wisconsin beat Maryland at home on February 20 by a score of 74-70. They were great from the free throw line late in that game. The Badgers are 2-1 against these two teams.
Friday- Quarterfinal vs Northwestern
Assuming Wisconsin can win Thursday, they know they will play the Northwestern Wildcats at the same time Friday. The Badgers played Northwestern once this year in Madison and won on January 13 by a score of 71-63.
The Wildcats have a razor thin rotation and little to no margin for error. Boo Buie is incredible, but I thought Wisconsin basketball did a nice job on him in the second half that game. If I were to call my shot in this tournament, I would say the Badgers beat Northwestern. I’m just not sure how much longer they can play with the rotation they have and keep asking players to play 35+ minutes. At some point it has to take its toll.
Saturday- Semi Final vs Purdue (Most Likely)
I would be shocked if Purdue did not at least get to the Big Ten Tournament Championship. This is where I think to road ends for Wisconsin basketball. As I mentioned earlier, I thought the Badgers played decent today and hung around with one of the top teams in the country on their home court.
They always say it’s hard to beat a team three times in one season, but I wouldn’t see Wisconsin beating Purdue in the semi finals. It’s still a bad match-up in the paint. Can Wisconsin basketball beat Purdue? The answer is yes. Will they? I think that is a no.
Wisconsin Basketball Overall Tournament Path
Like many others, I would love to had Wisconsin basketball get a double bye and not play until Friday. However, I don’t think this a bad path for the Badgers. They didn’t beat the top two seeds in Purdue and Illinois, but they beat Northwestern pretty good and put a beat down on Nebraska at home too. It would have been a sweep of the Cornhuskers if not for a total collapse by Wisconsin in Lincoln. They way this team played this past week, I like their chances to make a run to the semi finals.
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