As the No. 7 seed in this week’s Big Ten Tournament, the University of Wisconsin women’s basketball team looks forward to the challenge that lies ahead in Indianapolis.
UW will face No. 10 seed Northwestern in Thursday’s opening round at the Conseco Fieldhouse, a rematch of a Jan. 4 Wildcat victory in Evanston, Ill., by a margin of 49-46.
The game Thursday will be the first of the tournament, something that excites Wisconsin head coach Lisa Stone.
“I like, certainly, our first round opponent,” Stone said. “We’ve only played Northwestern once and they beat us. … I like the fact that we’re playing the first game on the first day. I like that a lot.”
Wisconsin will look to avenge its early January loss to Northwestern in a game featuring two teams that have changed a bit since they last met.
Over its last 15 games, including the loss to Northwestern, Wisconsin has gone 4-11, including a 0-8 mark on the road. Prior to the loss at NU, the Badgers owned a 12-2 mark overall and 2-1 record in Big Ten play.
The Wildcats, on the other hand, have improved steadily this season — despite the team’s 7-22 mark — under the guidance of head coach Joe McKeown in his first year with the program and 23rd overall.
Wide -open Big Ten field gives Badgers hope
Stone and the Badgers are excited about the tournament because it appears to be much more open than in past years, giving them a better shot at making a deep run.
Although top-seeded No. 12 Ohio State is the heavy favorite for the title, many of the other teams match up quite comparably to one another.
For example, if Wisconsin were to advance to the quarterfinals, they would face the No. 2 seed in Michigan State, a team they defeated a week ago in the Kohl Center. Following that round would be a matchup with Purdue, Indiana or Michigan.
In six games against the Boilermakers, Hoosiers and Wolverines this season the Badgers are just 2-4, but three of the four losses came down to the final minutes of the game.
“We’ve competed with every one of them in the conference, every single team,” Stone said. “We’ve had some nail-biters certainly, some 3-point shots go in at the buzzer and force overtime. … We’ve played with the best — even (against) Ohio State here at home we were right in the game and had them down five in the first half.”
The reason for the wide-open nature of the tournament, according to Stone, is an increase in the quality of the league’s second-tier teams. In past years, teams like Purdue and Penn State have been dominant, but with the lower half of the conference improving, any one team has more difficulty controlling the conference.
“What I think has changed is the bottom’s gotten better, and that’s helped all of us,” Stone said of the conference. “The parity within the league is probably at it’s best, (and) this Big Ten Tournament … in my opinion is probably the most wide-open.”
Wisconsin needs Big Ten Tournament title to reach NCAA tournament
Going into the Big Ten regular season, the Badgers looked like one of the top teams in the conference after winning 10 consecutive games following a season-opening loss at South Dakota State.
With the season over, however, Wisconsin now is on the outside looking in, in terms of Big Ten teams headed to the NCAA Tournament. In the latest ESPN projection of the NCAA field, six Big Ten teams are expected to receive tournament bids, with the Badgers not among them.
That being the case, the Badgers have one goal in mind: win the Big Ten Tournament.
“We know what we’ve got ahead of us,” Stone said. “We are focused only on Northwestern and to play another day, to keep on going. We know what we have to do to get into the NCAA Tournament; we’re going to have to win that tournament.
“The setting’s right,” Stone continued. “The bracket’s right for us, and we’re working hard, practicing hard (and) playing pretty good basketball.”
