The Wisconsin Badgers are excited about their ability to start over in the Big Ten Tournament at Madison Square Garden in New York today.
The Badgers fell to Big Ten regular season champion Michigan State on Sunday but played well. They enter the tournament having won 4 of their last 6 games.
UW (14-17) is the 9th seed and will open up against 8th seeded Maryland (19-12) at 11 a.m. The winner gets a date with the Spartans at 11 a.m. on Friday.
The Badgers lost their only meeting with the Terrapins, 68-63 on Feb. 4 in College Park.
The Badgers weren’t a good basketball team early on. They were adjusting to injuries and their young lineup needed to gain valuable experience. Players they were counting on to produce weren’t producing. But things have come together in the final few weeks and the players believe they can make a playoff run.
It will take four straight wins to earn a spot in the NCAA Tournament Field for the 20th straight season. Without it, the 19-year string of NCAA Tournament appearances will come to an end.
The odds of UW winning four straight games aren’t very good. But the players believe there’s a chance and that just wouldn’t be the case a couple of months ago.