One series of games could be very telling for the Badgers in 2025.
The Wisconsin Badgers are getting prepared to start their conference schedule stretch to kick off 2025, beginning with the Iowa Hawkeyes on Friday.
Standing at 10-3 on the year, Wisconsin had a strong early-season stretch that saw them rise as high as No. 11 in the AP Top 25, but a three-game losing stretch to the Michigan Wolverines, Marquette Golden Eagles, and Illinois Fighting Illini saw them fall out of the rankings to end the season.
Now comes the tough part of their year: the conference schedule. The Big Ten is looking like one of the stronger conferences in college basketball this year, with five teams currently in the AP Top 25, while a number of others, including the Badgers, are hovering around that range heading into the new year.
While there are tough matchups littered all across the schedule, there’s a certain period of games that especially stands out and could be a telling marker of how the Badgers season will go in 2025.
Coincidentally, that starts with another game against the Iowa Hawkeyes out in February, although that one is at Carver-Hawkeye Arena on February 8th.
Following that, Wisconsin hits the road to play the No. 20 Purdue Boilermakers before hosting No. 22 Illinois and No. 12 Oregon back-to-back. Then, if you thought things get easier, look again because the Badgers hit the road two games later to face the No. 18 Michigan State Spartans.
Last season, the Badgers peaked earlier in the season, but really faltered in February, leading to a significant drop in their standing both in the AP Top 25 and the Big Ten rankings.
With such a talented conference this year, they can’t afford to have that type of meltdown again in 2025, which is why that stretch of games should definitely be telling of who the Badgers are as a team ahead of the Big Ten Tournament and the NCAA Tournament.
Wisconsin will need to pick up ground in the Big Ten soon though, as they’ve now started 0-2 in the conference, and they’ll get a chance to jumpstart that when they face off against the Hawkeyes on Friday. Tip-off is set for 6:00 p.m. at the Kohl Center.