“It’s the most wonderful time of the year.” No, Andy Williams was not referring to the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Tournament in his cult classic.
With seniors Bronson Koenig, Nigel Hayes, Vitto Brown and Zak Showalter playing in their last NCAA Tournament for Wisconsin, the team will have some extra motivation to make a deep run this March. However, for that to be possible, there are some facets of play that Greg Gard’s team needs to emphasize in the immediate future.
After a head-scratching 2016 NCAA Tournament slate wherein nine supposed underdog teams were projected to be favorites in the first round, the selection committee likely heard the complaints of The Daily Cardinal.
With some calling to expand college football’s four-team playoff, I say why not go whole hog and play an exact replica of this year’s March Madness bracket on the gridiron. I’ll be deciding these games by examining the 2016 resumes of the teams in the tournament, and close calls are my personal opinion. With none of the four College Football Playoff teams in this tournament field, it’s wide open for the taking.
“My head’s in the game, but my heart’s in the song” sings fictional basketball phenom Troy Bolton.
If you are looking for calm, levelheaded rationalizations as to why Wisconsin maybe deserved to be a No. 8 seed, then you have come to the wrong place.
How far will Wisconsin go? Zach Rastall: Round of 32 Wisconsin’s play in the Big Ten Tournament inspired renewed hope that they could make a little run in the NCAA Tournament, only to have that optimism promptly squashed into tiny bits by the selection committee.
March Madness is here, and the Daily Cardinal Sports Desk is bringing you endless coverage of the NCAA Tournament. We've got predictions, breakdowns, previews and more. Anything you could ever hope for from a tournament preview package is all inside.
Vitto Brown almost never wears his two Final Four rings. He knows where they are—in a mural of his athletic achievements at his house in Bowling Green, Ohio—but the rings, for now, are just museum relics on display for visitors of the Brown house to marvel at. Over the past two years, Brown—who still uses his 2014 Final Four backpack—has come to fully appreciate UW’s 2014 and 2015 deep tournament runs.
Happ goes off at the Garden: Under the bright lights of Madison Square Garden, redshirt sophomore Ethan Happ walked onto one of the most hallowed floors in all of basketball and took center stage, delivering his best performance of the season. In Wisconsin’s 61-54 overtime victory over Rutgers, Happ carried the load on both ends, torching the Scarlet Knights for a career-high 32 points while also anchoring the defense with two blocks. On a night when scoring woes nearly cost Wisconsin the game, it was up to Happ to keep his team alive.
While the UW sixth-man carousel continues to spin, freshman guard D’Mitrik Trice remains the lone constant.
Vitto Brown burst onto the scene last year in his junior season when he lept from 6.4 minutes per game to more than 25.
Quiet leader: Though his shooting development hasn’t been what fans had hoped, the importance of Nigel Hayes to the Badgers’ success is unquestionable.
MIDWEST No. 1 seed: Kansas Jayhawks For the seventh time in the last 11 NCAA Tournaments, the Jayhawks earned a No. 1 seed in the Big Dance.
WASHINGTON — Less than an hour after losing to Michigan in the Big Ten Championship game, No. 24 Wisconsin (12-6 Big Ten, 25-9 overall) learned it would be playing Virginia Tech (10-8 ACC, 22-10 overall) in Buffalo on Thursday. While many bracketologists projected the Badgers to be either 5-seed, 6-seed or 7-seed in the NCAA tournament, Wisconsin is instead an 8-seed and if they advance past Virginia Tech they would very likely face the tournament’s number one overall seed, Villanova. “It is what it is,” senior forward Nigel Hayes said.
WASHINGTON — All season, the Wisconsin senior class talked about wanting to close their careers with a Big Ten Tournament crown.
WASHINGTON — It was a long night on the offensive end for the No. 24 Badgers (12-6 Big Ten, 25-9 overall) Sunday at the Verizon Center as they couldn’t string enough successful possessions together to knock off Michigan (10-8, 24-11) 71-56 and claim the Big Ten Tournament crown. Wisconsin fell behind early, 30-20, but clawed back into the game to close the half.
After battling all season to put themselves in a position to earn a bid to the NCAA Tournament, the Badgers deflated in front of the Kohl Center crowd, falling 3-1 and virtually ending their chance at an at-large berth.
WASHINGTON — On multiple occasions this season, redshirt sophomore Ethan Happ has had to run extra sprints in front of teammates at the end of a Wisconsin practice.
WASHINGTON — The Badgers ended the Big Ten regular season playing the hottest team in the conference.
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Solutions by The State News
