#SportsTakesWithRosin: The Brilliance of South Dakota

Are you excited for basketball? I know I am! I mean, look at this season -- there's all sorts of possibilities.

We will attack you with so many guards and play at a pace previously unseen in this modern era. Heck, Sam Dekker may be the first first-round draft choice in almost a decade. The Badgers are going to be a top-four team in the Big Ten, and with the split of the Big East, the Big Ten is the pre-eminent college basketball conference in the country.

And it starts Friday. With St. John's. In South Dakota.

I know what you're saying. Isn't having a game in South Dakota kind of dumb? And I'll tell you this: No. It's smart for the Badgers to go and play in the state that brought you Nate Wolters, and I will give you three reasons why.

1. Potential recruiting inefficiency

Sure, the Badgers brought out Joe Krabbenhoft from South Dakota. But they haven't been able to bring out anyone since. And I grant you that often times there isn't anyone in the Dakotas that may be worth looking at. But that being said, if there's a kid that some tape shows would be of good value to the Badgers, you're going to see the Badgers have the inside track. Maybe it means nothing, but it doesn't hurt Wisconsin to take a side trip and get its brand out where few would go.

2. How many people from St. John's are actually going to go?

I assume if any team's ticket allotment isn't going to sell out, it's going to be the Red Storm. Not a knock on Sioux Falls. After all, it's built a state-of-the-art arena and isn't going to be compared to that town in North Dakota Chuck Klosterman portrayed in his first novel. (And I mean South Dakota and North Dakota are two different places, I get that.)

But Badger fans travel. They travel well, and they travel loud. There's a reason this is going to be a home game for the Badgers. And that means it's going to be more likely a win than one of those loss things.

3. It's a small stadium

Remember, this is a home game for the Badgers. But this isn't going to be like when a team plays on Sunday night in Anaheim in the fifth-place game of some random non-conference tournament. The Sanford Sports Pentagon seats 3,200. This is going to be a stadium where the noise won't escape.

This may be merely a de facto home game, but the noise is going to favor the Badgers. In fact, the entire metagame is going to favor the Badgers.

Only question is will the Badgers be able to pull it off on the court.