Wisconsin men’s basketball received a No. 3 seed and were ranked 11th overall in the NCAA Bracket Preview Show on Saturday, where the Division I Men’s Basketball Committee revealed its top 16 teams one month before the field of 68 will be set for March Madness.
No. 9 Iowa State, No. 10 Kentucky and No. 12 Arizona joined the Badgers as the other teams seeded at the three-line.
The Selection Committee placed Wisconsin into the South region, which also contained No. 1 Auburn as the one seed, No. 6 Texas A&M as the two seed and No. 13 Texas Tech as the four seed.
With the reveal only showing where teams currently stand, the official bracket will look much different in a month after the rest of the season plays out.
Chosen as the 11th-ranked team overall, the Badgers outplaced their ranking of No. 16 in last week’s AP Poll, signifying that the selection committee might have a more favorable view of the team than the media.
While expectations coming into the season were not this high for the Badgers, the team still has to work to solidify their position as top-three seed in the actual bracket for the tournament in March.
With their most recent win at No. 7 Purdue coming after the top 16 release, it can only be assumed that the Badgers may have climbed even higher in the committee’s rankings.
Six games remain in their regular season, and Wisconsin will need to continue to stack wins to ensure their high seedline in the NCAA Tournament.
The Badgers still have two home matchups against Illinois and Oregon this coming week and will face a road test at Michigan State in early March, showing that the team will be tested to close out their regular season.
The Badgers must keep their focus on their upcoming slate of games rather than their future matchups in the postseason. But they are sitting in a great spot, one that many might not have envisioned heading into the season.
