Bracketology Report: Badgers holding in favorable positions

We are already halfway through February and before you know it March Madness will be here in full force. The Wisconsin Badgers have had a great season thus far and will look to continue to make a push toward a top seed come March. Last time out the Badgers fell to the Rutgers Scarlet Knights after another poor shooting performance and some uncharacteristic mistakes on defense and at the free-throw line.

Despite that loss, the Badgers are holding strong in terms of seeding. According to ESPN’s Joe Lunardi the Badgers are currently sitting as a 3-seed where they would take on 14-seeded Northern Iowa. However, Lunardi’s latest update came before the end result of Wisconsin’s contest Saturday so it’s fair to assume that the Badgers could fall in his Wednesday update back down to the 4-seed line.

Other projections include Sunday’s loss and still have the Badgers on a 3-seed line, so maybe their resume is strong enough at this time given their recent win at Michigan State., and the fact that they have the most quad one wins in the country. According to CBS writer Jerry Palm, the Badgers are a 3-seed in his latest update and are projected to take on Liberty in the first round. The winner of that contest would take on the winner of the 6/11 game between Davidson and LSU.

SB Nation also has a site dedicated to bracketology, called Blogging the Bracket. In their latest release (February 11th) the Badgers are listed as a 2-seed where they would take on 15-seed Cleveland State. That update also does not include the Badger's recent loss, so it's very possible Wisconsin could drop there as well.

Overall, if you take the average of these three projections Wisconsin comes out on the 3-seed line, and with that, they’d still be in line to play in Milwaukee those first two rounds. Who they might play is a toss-up, but if you did bump Wisconsin down to the 3-seed Milwaukee spot in SB Nations bracket they’d face off with Northern Iowa. To me, it seems like the Panthers could be a name to keep an eye on with multiple projections have them in Wisconsin's general area.

The Badgers will look to get back in the win column on Tuesday as they hit the road to take on Indiana. Wisconsin has a favorable schedule the rest of the way, but they’ll still need to pick up some wins to hold in that favorable 3-seed slot.