If you heard a team had just recorded a fourth win over an opponent ranked in the top 11 of the NET, and that three of those victories came on the road, you’d probably assume that team is in contention to be a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament.
If so, you’d be wrong.
And that’s because the team that just recorded a fourth win over an opponent ranked in the top 11 of the NET is Wisconsin, a Big Ten program that isn’t even currently ranked in the Associated Press Top 25 poll. That’ll change Monday, though, thanks to Saturday’s 97-93 victory at Purdue that pushed the Badgers’ record to 24-9. And if you’re wondering why Wisconsin was unranked in the AP poll this week despite having three wins over top-11 teams in the NET even before Greg Gard’s team took the trip to Purdue, the answer is in that previous sentence.
Wisconsin has nine losses.
Only one falls outside of the first two quadrants. That’s always better than the alternative. But six of the nine losses are to teams ranked 30th-or-lower in the NET, and that’s among the reasons the Badgers were as low as 77th in the NET at one point this season. They’re back inside the top 30 now. And the Badgers are also up to No. 23 in Sunday morning’s updated CBS Sports Top 25 And 1 daily college basketball rankings, where Duke remains No. 1 for the 15th consecutive day.
Wisconsin will either be the No. 3 seed, No. 4 seed or No. 5 seed in this week’s Big Ten Tournament depending on what happens in Sunday’s Big Ten games. If you’re curious, here’s Sunday’s Big Ten schedule:
You can watch Michigan State-Michigan on CBS or via Paramount+. I’ll be doing a 30-minute pregame show on CBS Sports HQ that will start at 4 pm ET. Shortly after the conclusion of Michigan State-Michigan, the Eye On College Basketball Podcast with me and Matt Norlander will go live on YouTube.
Bracketology: Top storylines, questions, seeding scenarios with a week until NCAA Tournament selection show
David Cobb
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