It’s become one of college basketball’s time-honored traditions at this point. You could set your watch to it.
Wisconsin basketball is slept on in the preseason, consistently ranked as a middling Big Ten team and not expected to make noise at the top of the conference. Then, it hits on a few transfers, wins some big games, and is a contender deep into conference play, usually as a top-25 team in the country. Rise, wash, repeat.
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That appears to be the case once again ahead of the 2026-27 season. As summer workouts get underway for programs across the country, The Big Ten Network’s Andy Katz dropped his offseason Big Ten power rankings. Wisconsin checked in at No. 11.
Katz is one of college basketball’s most prominent national voices; his opinion holds water. But what makes the Badgers’ lowly place in his power rankings even more interesting is that the Wisconsin graduate Katz has a tendency to praise the Badgers – not that the national analyst is a homer, but he clearly has a soft spot in his heart for Wisconsin. Even so, it slots in at a lowly 11th in the conference.
Now, Wisconsin is likely never going to be a preseason top one or two team in the Big Ten with how loaded this conference is and how the top teams finance their rosters. And given how stacked the league looks again for 2026-27, and given the Badgers’ promising yet new-look roster, I certainly don’t expect Wisconsin to be a preseason favorite to win the conference.
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However, it’s hard to envision the Badgers being the 11th-best team in this league. They’re coming off a 5th-place finish in the conference at 14-6 last season and a No. 5 seed in the NCAA Tournament. They lose their two superstar guards in John Blackwell and Nick Boyd, but they’ve replenished their roster with plenty of intriguing talent and could be a more well-rounded team this season, certainly on the defensive end at least.
What’s more, this is just as much about the other teams ranked higher than Wisconsin as it is about the Badgers.
Questionable teams ranked higher than Wisconsin
I understand Iowa head coach Ben McCollum just proved himself to be one of the top coaches in the sport, leading the Hawkeyes to the elite eight his first year in Iowa City. But he loses his superstar NBA-bound point guard Bennett Stirtz, and the Hawkeyes’ have only added two transfers, both of whom hail from the mid-major ranks. There’s some continuity as Iowa is expected to return three starters, but none were especially impressive last season.
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Indiana put more resources into the portal this offseason, landing multiple sought-after, high-major starters. But are we sure Darian DeVries is the man for the job in Bloomington? The Hoosiers were a very mediocre 18-14 last season. I could make similar arguments for teams such as UCLA and Ohio State, both of whom are also ranked higher than Wisconsin on Katz’ list.
Wisconsin doesn’t have the flashiest transfer portal class and it doesn’t sign any nationally-revered freshmen. But it addressed its deficiencies and appears to have put together what looks like a very competitive roster once again.
Time and time again, head coach Greg Gard has proven he can build teams that are greater than the sum of their parts while proving doubters wrong. He’ll have to do it once again in 2026-27.
This article was originally published on www.si.com/college/wisconsin as Early Big Ten Power Rankings Show Wisconsin Basketball Will Have to Prove Itself Once Again.
