In 2007, the Wisconsin Badgers gained a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament. It was then the highest seed ever for the program since the NCAA Tournament began to be seeded in 1979. The 2007 season marked a substantial forward leap for Badger hoops. Wisconsin had never previously been seeded higher than No. 5 in 1999 under Dick Bennett and then in 2003 under Bo Ryan.
A normal seed for Wisconsin in the NCAA Tournament, before the 2007 campaign, was a No. 6 seed. Wisconsin grabbed that particular seed in 2001, 2004 and 2005. The Badgers were a No. 8 seed in 2000 — when they made their Cinderella run to the Final Four — and in 2002. They were a No. 9 seed in 1994, when they snapped a 47-year NCAA Tournament drought, and again in 2006. Wisconsin clearly had problems raising its ceiling, but when the 2007 team got a 2 seed, a new sense of possibility emerged for Wisconsin basketball. When the team got a No. 3 seed in 2008, the Badgers had reinforced the notion that they could compete and succeed at a higher level in the Big Ten and the larger workings of national college basketball.
From 2010 through 2013, it became clear that Wisconsin’s floor had been raised. The Badgers were never worse than a No. 5 seed in those four seasons. Three times they grabbed No. 4 seeds. The days of being a 6 seed or an 8 seed were largely behind the program. It had moved up in the world, but more because its lowest output was better.
Attaining a No. 1 seed — raising the ceiling, not the floor — remained elusive.
Then came the 2014 season in which Wisconsin not only gained a No. 2 seed, but reached the Final Four for the first time under Bo Ryan. It took a long time, but the program had finally translated its remarkably impressive consistency into top-line achievement. When the Dick Bennett team made the Final Four in 2000, Wisconsin was just getting started in terms of establishing its reputation. In 2014, the Badgers had become one of college basketball’s most reliable programs. The Final Four was clearly the next goal.
Mission accomplished.
Wisconsin did, however, fall short at the Final Four against Kentucky.
Entering the 2014-2015 season, there were three big goals still in front of the program, waiting to be claimed:
- Win the national title
- Win a Final Four game, which the 2000 and 2014 teams couldn’t do
- Get a No. 1 seed
We will have more on the 2015 Final Four later in the spring at Badgers Wire. For now, we can appreciate the enormity of the moment when Wisconsin watched its name appear with a “1” next to its spot in the bracket.
The Badgers were going to be a No. 1 seed even if they didn’t beat Michigan State in the Big Ten Tournament final, but the fact that they won that game in overtime spoke to the quality and the resolve of that group, which created an unforgettable experience for Wisconsin fans everywhere.
The Badgers sent a strong message when they beat nationally-ranked Ohio State by 24 in Columbus in early March to close the Big Ten regular season. Wisconsin then won its three Big Ten Tournament games by 11 points or more, and an average of 14 points per game.
The Badgers, who had reached a No. 2 seed in 2007, needed eight years to make that final step up to a No. 1 seed. Nothing is guaranteed in college basketball, which is why the 2015 team’s No. 1 seed is a mountaintop moment which owns a piece of sports immortality in the state of Wisconsin.