Wisconsin bracketology update: Week 2
Where do the Badgers stand in the latest NCAA Tournament bracket projections?
We are in the second week of the college basketball regular season. The Wisconsin Badgers are sitting at 3-0 after three comfortable wins against nonconference opponents at home.
While they haven’t played top-end competition yet this year, their schedule is going to ramp up shortly with a game against BYU on the road coming up. They will also face Villanova, Marquette, Providence, and potentially Florida in nonconference matchups this year.
So even though their schedule through the first four games is relatively light, the Badgers still have a good opportunity to boost their resume this season.
It’s early, but here is where the Badgers fall in the latest NCAA Tournament bracket projections.
Wisconsin’s tournament resume
Record: 3-0 overall; 0-0 in Big Ten
Quadrant Wins (projected by Bart Torvik)*
vs. Quadrant 1: 0-0
vs. Quadrant 2: 0-0
vs. Quadrant 3: 0-0
vs. Quadrant 4: 3-0
As I just noted, the start of the schedule is not filled with top-tier talent. The first four opponents on their schedule are teams in Quadrant 4.
However, things start to change in the next couple of weeks.
*College basketball quadrants categorize wins and losses based on the opponent’s NET ranking and the game’s location (home, neutral, or away). Quadrant 1 represents the highest quality wins (e.g., a home game against a top-30 NET team), while Quadrant 4 represents the lowest quality wins. A strong record with multiple Quadrant 1 wins is a key factor for NCAA tournament selection.
Joe Lunardi’s Bracketology - ESPN
ESPN’s Joe Lunardi updates his bracketology projects frequently, giving us a relatively accurate and up-to-date projection on where the Badgers would be in the NCAA Tournament field if it started today.
In his latest projections, updated on Nov. 11th, Lunardi has the Badgers trending upwards as a 6-seed in Portland as a part of the West bracket. If these projections were to come to fruition, the Badgers would take on the 11th-seeded VCU Rams.
Coincidentally, they would take on the winner of No. 3 BYU and No. 14 Utah Valley, potentially giving us a repeat matchup in the second round from last year. It would also be the second time the Badgers and Cougars would meet this season.
The top seeds in the West bracket in this projection are UCONN (1-seed), Kentucky (2-seed), BYU (3-seed), and Gonzaga (4-seed). Not necessarily a favorable bracket or placement for the Badgers.
Bart Torvik tournament projections
Barttorvik.com is a college basketball analytics website, similar to KenPom. NCAA Tournament projections are among the many metrics on the website. As the Badgers play, the metric and projections will be updated.
As of right now, this is where the Badgers stand in those projections.
Projected Record: 19-11 (11-9 in B1G)
Tourney Odds: 84.2%
Auto Bid Odds: 5.6%
Tourney Seed: 6.4
Like Lunardi, the formula at Bart Torvik has Wisconsin hovering around the 6-seed. It also gives the Badgers great odds are making the tournament with an 84.2% chance.
Odds they get in as an automatic qualifier by winning the Big Ten are a lot lower at just 5.6%.
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A #6 us way too low whenthis rate they will be undefeated:)