Wisconsin basketball is locked in as the No. 5 seed in the upcoming Big Ten men’s basketball tournament. The current bracket, which is still subject to change pending Sunday’s results, would see the Badgers play the winner of No. 12 Rutgers vs. No. 13 Nebraska.
The story of the Badgers’ seed is what could have been. The team entered Saturday needing a win against 15-15 (5-14 Big Ten) Penn State to clinch the No. 4 seed and a double-bye. Importantly, that would’ve pushed the Badgers’ first tournament game to Friday, allowing valuable time for starters Max Klesmit and Nolan Winter to get healthy.
However, Wisconsin inexplicably lost to Penn State 86-75. That dropped the team to 13-7 in conference play, entering a three-way tie with Purdue and UCLA (due to its blowout win over USC on Saturday). UCLA emerges from those tied teams due to its record against Big Ten teams in order of conference finish — it was the one to defeat first-place Michigan State during the regular season. Wisconsin then slots in at No. 5 due to its head-to-head win over Purdue. The difference between the No. 5 and No. 6 position in the conference tournament is minuscule, as both will matchup against similarly-ranked opponents after the first round of play.
The Badgers are guaranteed to play their first Big Ten Tournament game on Thursday, 25 minutes after the conclusion of No. 8 Oregon vs. No. 9 Indiana, which starts at noon ET, 11 a.m. CT. With a win, the team would move on to play No. 4 UCLA on Friday afternoon.
Wisconsin could use a string of wins in the Big Ten Tournament to finalize its position as a No. 3 seed in the upcoming NCAA Tournament. It also needs to rebuild momentum after a 2-3 finish to the regular season, capped off by a bad loss to the Nittany Lions.
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This article originally appeared on Badgers Wire: Wisconsin basketball Big Ten Tournament final seed and schedule
