Marquette dropped 5 of their last 6 games and struggled without senior point guard Dominic James. But the NCAA selection committee still granted the Golden Eagles a 6-seed and a first round matchup against 11th seeded Utah State in the West Regional in Boise Idaho. They'll tip off against the Aggies around 11:30 Friday morning.
The Wisconsin Badgers are in a different region, but will also open in Boise, Idaho on Friday night around 9pm. The Badgers (19-13) were haneded their worst ever seed to open a tournament at #12. They'll open up against the fifth seeded Florida State Seminoles.
The Badgers won 7 of their last 9 games entering the Big Ten Tournament, but failed once again to hold a late lead and fell to the Ohio State Buckeyes in the Big Ten quarterfinals last Friday.
Wisconsin was a team on the bubble, but the NCAA Selection Committee saw fit to give the Badgers a 12 seed, citing their strength of schedule. Badger coach Bo Ryan also thinks a few Big Ten road victories helped the Badgers in the eyes of the selection committee as well.
Listen / Download – Badger coach Bo Ryan on what got them in :17
Listen / Download – Marquette's Wes Matthews doesn't know much about Utah St. :13