NCAA Basketball: Buy or sell each Big Ten team in 2024 NCAA Tournament?

Wisconsin Badgers

After making a run to the Big Ten Championship game, the Wisconsin Badgers earned a five seed out of the South with a matchup against a familiar name in the college basketball scene this year -- the 31-3 James Madison Dukes.

It has been an up-and-down year for Greg Gard’s group, reaching as high as sixth in the AP-Top 25 in late January to losing eight of their final 11 regular-season games before going on a run in the Big Ten conference tournament, notably knocking off Purdue in an OT thriller before falling to Illinois in the championship.

Despite the high volume of losses, the Badgers still put together a strong resume thanks to a high volume of quality wins, hence the reasoning for their five seed.

To summarize, Wisconsin may have gotten a strong seed but by no means did they get a favorable draw.

James Madison steam-rolled through the Sun Belt this year and present an interesting dilemma for the Badgers -- they drive to the rim and Wisconsin has struggled to effectively defend at the rim all year.

Buy or Sell the Badgers?

Given the up-and-down nature of the Badgers’ season, it's hard to buy into this team to put together a run in the NCAA Tournament.

They seem to have found their groove after a strong performance in the Big Ten Tournament but their reward for that is a unnerving matchup against James Madison followed by a likely matchup against Duke -- a team that matches up well against the Badgers.

It will be a tough feat to make a run, but on the other hand, anything is possible -- especially in March. Despite that, it’s smart to sell the Badgers entering March Madness.