Wisconsin Basketball: 2024-25 season preview for the Badgers

Non-conference schedule preview

Last year, Wisconsin had a NCSOS ranked 44th-strongest in the country, according to KenPom. This year’s non-conference schedule, although far from abysmal, won’t see the types of gaudy numbers from an SOS standpoint.

Highlighting the Badgers’ non-conference slate is a home game versus Arizona, who was recently ranked 12th in Busting Brackets’ latest preseason top-25 power rankings as part of a return game from its home-and-home series. 

Bucky will also take a trip out to West Virginia to take part in the Greenbrier Tip-Off, facing a sneaky-good UCF squad followed by the winner/loser of LSU/Pittsburgh -- all opportunities to grab a quality, resume-boosting win that may even land on fringe Q1 territory come March.

To wrap up its non-conference slate, Wisconsin will travel east down I-90 to visit Marquette as part of its annual rivalry series and will take on Butler in Bainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, IN on Dec. 14 Despite the game being played in Indianapolis, it will be a neutral site matchup.

It’s not the most grueling non-conference slate Greg Gard has assembled. Chicago State, Detroit Mercy, UT-Rio Grande Valley and Holy Cross are KenPom sub-300-level programs. Montana State, however, made strides last season under first-year head coach Matt Logie after catching fire in its conference tournament and can present a sneaky challenge and so can Appalachian State, who won 27 games under Dustin Kerns last season and will be tested after losing a hefty core of its 2023-24 roster.