After a miraculous turnaround in the second half of the season under head coach Greg Gard, the Wisconsin men’s basketball team was officially announced as the No. 7 seed in the East region of the NCAA tournament Sunday.
The Badgers, coming off a disappointing 70-58 loss to Nebraska in the second round of the Big Ten tournament, missed a prime opportunity to match up with Maryland and Michigan state and potentially improve their seeding.
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Now, as a No. 7 seed, UW’s first matchup will be in St. Louis against No. 10 Pittsburgh, who finished the season in ninth place in the ACC with a conference record of 9-9 and overall record of 21-11. The Panthers failed to beat a ranked team all season until their home finale against Duke, trouncing the Blue Devils 76-62.
Should the Badgers survive their outing with Pittsburgh, they’ll likely take on a Xavier team that finished in second place in the Big East with a conference record of 14-4 and overall record of 27-5 and were among the nation’s top-ranked teams all season. The Musketeers, however, had a rough end to the season, losing their regular season finale and in the semifinal round of the Big East tournament to Seton Hall.
An upset victory over Xavier would send the Badgers to Philadelphia for the Sweet 16, where they could ultimately run into any combination of No. 1 North Carolina, No. 3 West Virginia, No. 4 Kentucky or even conference rival No. 5 Indiana. Michigan also joins the Badgers and Hoosiers as the third Big Ten team in the region, after they earned a No. 11 seed and will take part in a play-in game against Tulsa.
Despite a disappointing end to their season, Wisconsin has a favorable draw for the first couple rounds of the tournament with Xavier being the lowest ranked team of all four No. 2 seeds in the tournament.
The Badgers’ meeting with Pittsburgh will tip-off Friday at 5:50 p.m. CST in St. Louis.
