Wisconsin basketball (17-5, 7-4 Big Ten) has lost some momentum after its red-hot start to the calendar year.
The Badgers started 2025 with a 7-0 stretch in conference play, highlighted by decisive victories over Iowa, Rutgers, Minnesota, and USC. Since then, however, they have gone just 2-2, with road losses to UCLA and Maryland.
Related: Updated Big Ten basketball power rankings (Feb. 3): A new No. 1 emerges
That up-and-down stretch has coincided with a gauntlet of road games: six in eight matchups, to be exact. Wisconsin split the first two at USC and UCLA, returned home for a win over Nebraska, then split the next two at Maryland and Northwestern. The team is now back home vs. Indiana before another pair of road games at Iowa and Purdue.
While the Badgers are just 2-2 in their last four, most of those games have been against Quad 1 opponents. That means the wins are highlighted along with the best on the team’s resume, while the losses don’t have much of a negative impact on its standing.
Wisconsin is up to No. 17 in the NET after its recent win over Northwestern, led by a 6-5 record vs. Quad 1 opponents, 4-0 vs. Quad 2 and 7-0 vs. everybody else. That standing enforces the narrative surrounding the Badgers’ recent close road losses: they aren’t an indictment on the team’s quality.
ESPN bracketology backs up that sentiment. The Badgers remain squarely on the No. 4-seed line in ESPN’s Joe Lunardi’s latest update. They share the line with Memphis (NET No. 41), Texas Tech (No. 8) and Michigan State (No. 20).
Wisconsin has plenty of opportunities to jump seed lines over the next few weeks. It has Quad 1 games remaining against Iowa, Purdue, Illinois, Oregon and Michigan State, plus Quad 2 contests against Indiana, Minnesota and Penn State.
The Badgers remain a clear top-16 team in the nation according to ESPN’s bracket projection (No. 14), the NET (No. 17) and KenPom (No. 15). The team’s No. 21 AP Poll ranking, however, still has yet to directly line up. Wisconsin will look to continue its charge up the national rankings when it hosts Indiana on Tuesday. Another winning streak could bring a No. 3 or No. 2 seed into play.
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This article originally appeared on Badgers Wire: Wisconsin basketball ESPN bracket projection Indiana game preview
