Busting Brackets
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Big Ten Basketball: Preseason power rankings for 2019-20 season

By Adam Childs

CHICAGO, ILLINOIS - MARCH 17: Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany presents head coach Tom Izzo the championship trophy after the Michigan State Spartans beat the Michigan Wolverines 65-60 in the championship game of the Big Ten Basketball Tournament at the United Center on March 17, 2019 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Dylan Buell/Getty Images)
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS - MARCH 17: Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany presents head coach Tom Izzo the championship trophy after the Michigan State Spartans beat the Michigan Wolverines 65-60 in the championship game of the Big Ten Basketball Tournament at the United Center on March 17, 2019 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Dylan Buell/Getty Images) /
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MADISON, WISCONSIN – DECEMBER 22: D’Mitrik Trice #0 of the Wisconsin Badgers handles the ball during a game against the Grambling State Tigers at Kohl Center on December 22, 2018 in Madison, Wisconsin. (Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images)
MADISON, WISCONSIN – DECEMBER 22: D’Mitrik Trice #0 of the Wisconsin Badgers handles the ball during a game against the Grambling State Tigers at Kohl Center on December 22, 2018 in Madison, Wisconsin. (Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images) /

7. Wisconsin

Life without Ethan Happ is here for the Badgers and it is a huge hole they must fill. Happ was all-everything for Wisconsin and could single-handedly win games for the Badgers. He was almost impossible to stop by anyone in the Big Ten and the Badgers could feed off of that. How they respond to not having him will go a long way in how good they can be in the Big Ten.

They are a fringe NCAA tournament team right now, but could very easily slip out altogether. The things we do know is they are probably going to be a team that frustrates a lot of opponents. And that all starts with public enemy number one Brad Davison. Davison is a guy that gets under a lot of players skin in the way he plays. Many consider him dirty, while the Wisconsin faithful will call him scrappy. He draws a lot of charges and plays hard and that can frustrate many.

The Badgers will also need D’Mitrik Trice to step up and be the leader of the team. He has shown that he can score but he will need to pick up some of the slack that the absence of Happ will create. If he can become their go-to guy they could vault into the top five of the conference.

The Badgers are going to play great defense and a slow game, but they must shoot the ball better than they did last year. At times they got in deep slumps and it cost them games. It sounds obvious in shooting better will win more games, but this is paramount for the Badgers. If they can shoot from outside better it will extend the defenses and open up the inside. If Wisconsin does not do that it will be a long year.

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