Wisconsin basketball: beating Nebraska gets you no respect in basketball or football

The Wisconsin Badgers (15-10 overall, 8-6 B1G) have now won consecutive games for the first time in a month after going into Lincoln and raining threes on the hapless Nebraska Cornhuskers. Not really a needle-moving win, however, as the Badgers are still not receiving any votes in the AP Poll but one (1) coach thinks that Wisconsin should be ranked.

There was a lot of movement in the polls this week as this crazy season of unpredictability continued unabated. Three teams dropped out of the AP Poll, two new teams moved into the top-10 and the Creighton Blue Jays moved up eight spots! There was similar movement in the Coaches Poll.

The B1G has some new faces in the polls this week and still feature an impressive array of squads receiving votes. Leading the way are the Maryland Terrapins who are ranked No. 7 in both the AP and Coaches polls. Following the Terps are the Penn State Nittany Lions at No. 9/9, the Iowa Hawkeyes at No. 20/20, the Ohio State Buckeyes at No. 25/24 and the Michigan State Spartans at RV/25.

The Spartans are No. 27 in the AP, followed by the Michigan Wolverines, the Illinois Fighting Illini and the Rutgers Scarlet Knights who are all receiving some amount of votes. In the Coaches Poll, Michigan, Illinois, Rutgers and the Wisconsin God Damned Badgers have votes.

In the top-five for both polls there was finally some movement! The Baylor Bears remain No. 1 and the remain followed by the Gonzaga Bulldogs, Kansas Jayhawks and the undefeated San Diego State Aztecs, but they are joined by the Dayton Flyers at No. 5 now, after the Louisville Cardinals dropped two straight games last week.

As far as other, more analytically inclined rankings go here is where Wisconsin is ranked (through 2/17/20):

• KenPom - No. 28
• T-Rank - No. 25
• NET - No. 31

The only ranking here that matters come Selection Sunday is the NET ranking, and that one keeps getting for the Badgers, so I wouldn’t be too worried about Wisconsin getting no love from the media or coaches. The amount of Quad 1 wins that the Badgers have is impressive and they have chances for more before the conference tournament starts.

This is a big week for the Badgers with two home games on the docket. First up is a Tuesday night clash with the Purdue Boilermakers, who destroyed Wisconsin three weeks ago at Mackey Arena, and then a Sunday matinee with Rutgers, who beat the Badgers (sans Micah Potter) at the RAC back in December.

If Wisconsin goes 2-0 this week, you should probably see them back on people’s ballots when next week’s polls come out.