Wisconsin basketball: who are the perfect options for a Madison MTE?

While reporting that the Wisconsin Badgers would not be participating in the Fort Myers Tip-Off this season, CBS Sports’ Matt Norlander mentioned that UW might be looking into hosting their very own multi-team event (MTE) in Madison. The Iowa Hawkeyes already have a four-team MTE on the books and it would be pretty cool to see the Badgers follow suit.

Now, more often than not there are not super high-profile matchups that take place in these events. For instance, Iowa’s original three opponents in their MTE were Southern, South Dakota, and NC Central. Not exactly a murderer’s row. But we here at B5Q are not bound by any sort of athletic department looking for winnable games to boost win totals for an NCAA Tournament resume.

We are only bound by the limits of our imagination which, to be clear, we don’t have. Which teams would be the best/most enjoyable/most watchable to include in a Madison MTE? Let’s take a look!

Virginia Cavaliers

• While it might be fun, in some sense, to have an all-Wisconsin MTE with teams like Marquette, UW-Milwaukee and UW-Green Bay, those teams don’t really move the needle nationally. The closest team, spiritually, to the state of Wisconsin is obviously UVa. Their coach used to coach in the state, their best player is from Stevens Point and they play defense like their scholarships depend on it. The Cavs are a consensus preseason top-10 team and would add a big time name to the MTE.

Richmond Spiders

• If you can remember all the way back to the beginning of last season, the Badgers collapsed over the last 10 minutes of their game with Richmond and lost by 10 in Brooklyn. This year, it’s time for revenge. Much like Wisconsin, the Spiders return all five senior starters from a team that very likely would have made the NCAA Tournament last season. They should be the best team in the Atlantic 10 this year and a team that is ranked in the lower portion of the polls for most of the year.

Photo by Rich Graessle/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

Northern Iowa Panthers

• The top team in the Missouri Valley Conference who boasts a top coach, Ben Jacobson, that is sometimes called for to replace Greg Gard (#FireGard) and can shoot the lights out from three, UNI would be a fun team to include in the event. They return MVC player of the year AJ Green, a 6-foot-4 PG, and have an exciting freshman class coming in.

Also considered: Oregon, because the Badgers and Ducks should always be playing in a tournament; Temple, because I’ve always like the Owls; Xavier, because the Badgers always seem to play exciting games against the Musketeers