CHICAGO—With their thrilling Big Ten Tournament Championship, No. 6 Wisconsin earned its first NCAA Tournament 1-seed in program history, and enters a region that’s going to carry a whole lot of deja vu.
The Badgers (16-2 Big Ten, 31-3 overall) will be the top seed in the West Region, and have Arizona, Baylor and North Carolina as the rest of the region’s top four seeds.
The Badgers’ first game will come against No. 16 seed Coastal Carolina, the Big South champions and holders of a 24-9 record. No. 1 seed has ever lost to a No. 16 seed in the NCAA tournament, but that doesn’t mean the Badgers were given a bye thanks to their placement.
“You got to be confident, but you have to respect them,” junior forward Sam Dekker said after seeing the bracket. “They’re in the tournament for a reason. We’re not looking for any upsets, so we got to scout them like any other team and be ready for them. They’re going to bring a fight and we have to match it.”
After that, the Badgers would either encounter a Round of 32 rematch with Oregon or Oklahoma State, both strong but very beatable teams. The meat of the region would hit in the Sweet 16, possibly against No. 4 seed North Carolina. The Tar Heels feature a deep frontcourt that could give the Wisconsin forwards trouble on offense. That’s also not to mention their biggest weakness, free throws, wouldn’t be exploited as much by the Badgers, who allow fewer free throw attempts than any team in the country. That’s just one possible opponent though. The Badgers aren’t guaranteed to make it that far and neither is UNC. The NCAA Tournament isn’t exactly known for being predictable and the Badgers know that as well as anybody, considering they went down in the first round two years ago.
“Any time it’s one and done, you’re going to get everyone’s best shot,” said redshirt senior guard Josh Gasser. “This weekend, we showed our toughness, we showed the resiliency we had. We know we’re going to be a team everyone’s looking to take out.”
For good measure, Ole Miss, the team that upset the Badgers two years ago, is in the West region too as a No. 11 seed in the play-in game.
However, if the top two seeds of the region make it to the Elite Eight, college basketball will be in for one of the most enticing rematches of the season.
BREAKING: Raise your hand if you're a No. 1 seed in #MarchMadness @BadgerMBB to play Coastal Carolina in West region. pic.twitter.com/zVAYJVAbOk
— The Daily Cardinal (@dailycardinal) March 15, 2015
No one will forget Wisconsin’s last matchup with Arizona anytime soon, a 64-63 overtime thriller in the Elite Eight that vaulted the Badgers to the first Final Four in Bo Ryan’s career. The roles will be flipped however, with UW as the No. 1 seed and the Wildcats the No. 2.
Since that intense game, Arizona has held serve as arguably the best in the west. The Wildcats added star freshman guard and future lottery pick Stanley Johnson and kept the majority of their talented front- court together. Like Wisconsin, they won their conference’s regular season and tournament titles in the Pac-12 and finished with a 31-3 record.
“It’s a new year, new teams,” said redshirt senior forward Duje Dukan. “I’ve watched Arizona, they’re a very good team. They could easily have been a 1-seed. Winning their tournament, winning their regular season. If we do end up facing them again, we’ll be excited.”
March Madness is here. Wisconsin is better positioned to make a deep tournament run from the outset than any time in living memory, the first 1-seed in program history. There’s no way a return trip to the Final Four isn’t on this team’s list of goals, and they’ve got the likely National Player of the Year, Frank Kaminsky, to help carry them there.
But that’s just the Wisconsin outlook. For the next three weeks, we’ll see live streams in lectures and upsets across the country. It’s time to buckle up for the most demented postsea- son in sports.
