19. Wisconsin (14-3)
After a nice start to the season, these Badgers lost three straight games to start December, albeit against three teams currently in the national rankings. Those tough performances against Michigan, Marquette, and Illinois didn’t define the season, as Wisconsin has looked great in the last month of play. Already owning nice wins over Arizona and Pittsburgh, could they keep that momentum going?
They survived a close call on Tuesday, outlasting Ohio State for a 70-68 victory. John Tonje was perfect from the charity stripe in a 17-point performance as the Badgers did just enough against the Buckeyes late. Saturday’s effort was a more classic win, getting an 84-67 road win out at USC. John Blackwell had 28 points in a prime performance while Max Klesmit added 18 points in the team’s seventh win in a row.
You could certainly say that the Badgers haven’t beaten any truly great teams during this current winning streak, but it’s important that they’re finding ways to win the games they are supposed to win. This team has fantastic potential, even getting a big road win on a day where Tonje was scoreless. There’s plenty more we have to learn from Wisconsin, and we’ll see how they fare at UCLA early next week.