Wisconsin men’s basketball: Badgers hold tight in latest Bracketology release

Despite the blowout loss at the hands of the Michigan Wolverines earlier this week the Badgers appear to be in a strong spot as we head closer and closer to March. As it stands now, Wisconsin is a 3-seed in Joe Lunardi’s January 15th Bracketology release.

In the updated bracket, the Badgers are listed as a 3-seed where they would be taking on the 14th seeded Siena Saints out of the Metro Athletic Conference. The winner of that 3/14 matchup would take on the winner of the 6/11 bout between UCLA and Drake.

With the entire tournament happening in Indianapolis this year we don’t have the traditional East, West, Midwest and South brackets. Instead, we have the much more prestigious names of Region 1, Region 2, Region 3 and Region 4. Regardless of the name, the top seed in each bracket is an important team to watch out for. As it sits right now the Badgers are currently in Region 4 with top-seeded Villanova, which would traditionally be your East bracket.

Given that the other top seeds are Baylor, Gonzaga, and the team that just blew your doors off in Michigan, it feels like a pretty solid spot. The 2-seed in Region 4 in Texas and the 4-seed is Clemson so right now that feels like a pretty solid bracket to be a part of. Avoiding Gonzaga looks to be everyone’s goal at this juncture.

In addition to Wisconsin, the Big Ten is sitting pretty solid in the latest release as 10 teams from the conference are currently slated in the tournament, three more than the next closest conference in the Big 12. Leading the way for the conference is the Michigan Wolverines who currently reside as the top seed in Region 3. The Iowa Hawkeyes currently also sit as a 2-seed in Region 3.

After that is of course Wisconsin on the 3-seed line along with the Illinois Fighting Illini. Ohio State is up next sitting on the 5-seed line, while Minnesota lines up on the 7-seed line. Rutgers also joins the pack as they line up as an 8-seed. To round out the group the conference has three 10-seeds with Michigan State, Purdue, and Indiana all lining up there.

In terms of seeding this year, a top-four seed appears to be pretty favorable if you’re looking to make a run and avoid an upset. If you fall below that to the five or six lines you are going to face with some teams that really can do some damage as a lower seed. In the latest release, some of the 12-seeds like St. Bonaventure and Winthrop are teams you want to avoid.

The 11-seed gets even tougher as you have Duke, Boise State, Drake, and Oklahoma in the play-in game against North Carolina. As a 6-seed you don’t really expect to see those types of teams across from you. Hey, that’s college basketball. It’s been a wacky season already and we are just starting to get to the good part.