2008 NCAA Tournament Preview: Wisconsin Badgers

The Big Ten may be the most underrated conference in all of college basketball this season. Four teams from the conference end the season ranked in the top 25. Of all the Big Ten schools, none were better this season than the Wisconsin Badgers. Last year, I made the mistake of picking Wisconsin to win it all. I won't be doing that again in 2008. In this preview, I'll examine whether or not I'm making a mistake.

For a team winning both the regular season conference title and conference tournament championship, Wisconsin has not received the attention given to other conference champs. They were also given somewhat of a raw deal in the NCAA Tournament as a No. 3 seed. The Badgers will be looking to quiet all the doubters, including the person writing this preview.

The Wisconsin Badgers won the Big Ten tournament by defeating Illinois in the tournament championship game, 61-48. The Badgers also won the regular season conference title, going 16-2 in Big Ten play. The Big Ten was somewhat of a surprise this season as five teams finished with at least 20 overall victories. Wisconsin winning the conference wasn't a surprise to anybody.

The Badgers had a few games against tournament teams during pre-conference play. In November, they defeated Georgia by 19 before getting creamed by Duke in the very next game. They were then defeated by Marquette, 81-76, on December 8. They were somewhat vindicated near the end of 2007, though, when they defeated Texas on the road.

The only Big Ten team to beat Wisconsin during the regular season was Purdue (24-8, 15-3), who did so on two separate occasions. They defeated both Indiana and Michigan St. twice during the season. The Badgers did have an easy road in the conference tournament, facing Michigan in the first round and a streaking yet not so talented Illinois team in the final.