Wisconsin is a top-four team in the conference at the moment.
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Fresh off a 76-64 victory over the Rutgers Scarlet Knights, the Wisconsin Badgers are currently sitting at fifth in the Big Ten with an 18-5 record, including 8-4 in conference play.
Wisconsin’s latest win came via a strong start, as the Badgers dominated the pace of the game from the jump, getting out to a 26-4 lead early.
With the win, Wisconsin temporarily leaped Maryland for fifth place in the conference, but the UCLA Bruins beat the Michigan State Spartans on Tuesday night, maintaining the No. 4 seed.
Wisconsin has eight games left on their conference schedule, with five potentially serving as Quad 1 games, depending on where the Oregon Ducks finish the season (they’re currently No. 36 in the NET rankings).
Those contests will shape both their potential seeding in the NCAA Tournament and the Big Ten tournament, as the Badgers look to get the double-bye, which means they need a top-four seed in the conference.
At the moment, it seems there’s a top-six in the conference: Purdue, Michigan State, Michigan, Wisconsin, UCLA, and Maryland. Assuming Maryland wins against Ohio State on Thursday, each team will have a conference record of 8-4 or better.
Wisconsin still has to play Purdue and Michigan State, while other tough contests like Illinois and Oregon remain on the docket, so we should get a good read on where the Badgers will land by the time those games finish up.
If the Badgers are to leapfrog Michigan and UCLA to get a top-four seed, it seems they’ll need at least two, if not three victories from those five games, while winning a majority of their remaining contests to finish with around a 13-7 conference record.
Last season, the top four seeds in the conference finished with a 12-8 conference record, but that may need to increase with the four additional teams in the Big Ten this year.
In our second reacts poll of the week, give us your prediction for where the Badgers end up in the poll above, while providing your reasoning in the comments below!