The NCAA tournament selection committee sent Wisconsin a postseason ticket to Washington, D.C., Sunday afternoon, handing the Badgers the eighth seed in the East Region.
The Badgers were a No. 8 seed in 2000 when they went to the Final Four, but as co-Big Ten champions, some projected the team anywhere from the fifth to the seventh seed. Wisconsin’s first-game exit from the conference tournament likely influenced the committee.
“I don’t think we’re too concerned on what seed we got, just as long as we have another chance to play and another chance to go over there and do our best,” Kirk Penney said. “Eight, nine, ten — we’re going to be playing a tough team no matter what, and it really doesn’t make a difference to us.”
Wisconsin will face ninth-seeded St. John’s Friday in its first-round matchup at a time yet to be determined.
Senior point guard Travon Davis said he knew very little about the Red Storm, which finished 10-7 in the Big East after losing in the second round of its conference tournament, but was confident UW’s coaching staff would be quick to provide tape.
Bo Ryan admitted he had seen the Red Storm on television during the regular season.
“They’re athletic,” Ryan said. “[Red Storm coach Mike Jarvis] does a pretty good job. They’ve had a good year, especially at home.”
Ryan went on to compare St. John’s to Iowa — the team that upset the Badgers Friday in the Big Tens — in terms of the quality of depth on the bench. The Red Storm rotates up to 11 players, while the Badgers have used as few as seven.
If Wisconsin wins, it would probably face No. 1-seed Maryland, which will find out its opponent when Siena and Alcorn State battle in the play-in game Tuesday.
The other top seeds, Duke, Kansas and Cincinnati were no surprise, but the committee gave sixth-ranked Gonzaga a No. 6 seed in the West Region and failed to grant bids to other mid-major successes Ball State and Butler, favoring larger-conference bubbles like Boston College and Utah.
No Big Ten team was seeded higher than fourth. Illinois and Ohio State, the tournament winners, are No. 4 seeds in the Midwest and West, respectively. The other regular-season co-champion, Indiana, is a five in the South.
Michigan State, rounding out the league’s berths, will play in the Badgers’ region as a No. 10 seed.
