Although much of the college sports world will be focused on opening night in college football, Big Ten men’s basketball made headlines Thursday with the release of its 2012-'13 schedule. With conference matchups decided, Wisconsin's complete season schedule is set.
Following a non-conference slate highlighted by matchups with Florida, California, Creighton, Virginia and Marquette, UW will begin the Big Ten slate at home Jan. 3, 2013, against Penn State, a team the Badgers swept in their 2012 season series.
“It's nice to have that first game at home,” UW junior guard Josh Gasser said. “But looking at the Big Ten schedule, there are no easy wins.”
The Badgers’ conference schedule is clearly highlighted by a January 15 road date at Assembly Hall against preseason No. 1 Indiana. After sweeping last season's series (a regular season matchup in Madison and a Big Ten Tournament game in Indianapolis), Wisconsin has taken 10 straight from the Hoosiers dating back to 2007.
“We didn’t play [at Assembly Hall] last year but it's definitely one of the toughest environments to play in,” Gasser said. “It's going to be even tougher this year because they are one of the top teams in the country.”
Some of the marquee home dates include a January 22 game against Michigan State (the first game after students return from the winter break) and a President’s Day weekend matchup with Ohio State. Last season, UW hosted the Spartans January 3, with many students still home for the holidays and most of Badger nation in a daze from the previous night’s Rose Bowl loss.
“Our students are pretty good at coming to games but it’s a lot tougher over break,” Gasser added. “It’s a good thing to have those big games when the students are around.”
With the conference now composed of 12 members, UW will face four schools just once during the 2013 season: Indiana, Northwestern, Michigan and Purdue. The matchups with Michigan and Purdue will be in Madison, with a February 20 date in Evanston complementing the aforementioned trip to Bloomington earlier in the year.
The Badgers will close out the regular season just as they started conference play, visiting the Bryce-Jordan Center for a date with Penn State March 10.
The Big Ten Tournament, moving this year to Chicago’s United Center, will begin Thursday, March 14 and run through Selection Sunday, March 17.
Although national expectations are once again down for this UW program, the Badgers have yet to finish outside the top four in the conference standings during Bo Ryan’s 11-year tenure in Madison. With the schedule pitting the Badgers against the highly-touted teams from Indiana and Michigan just once, it seems unlikely that streak will come to an end, especially with Wisconsin returning four starters from a 2011-'12 team that wound up reaching the Sweet 16 for a second consecutive season.
“It's exciting because every game means something,” UW junior guard Ben Brust said. “We’ve got to bring it every night.”
