You have probably heard the question, “If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?”
In Big Ten basketball, one can ask the question, “If a team beats Nebraska or Northwestern on the road, is it a road win worth noting or caring about?”
Nebraska has been so bad this season that Wisconsin’s easy win in Lincoln on Feb. 15 didn’t strike anyone in college basketball as remotely noteworthy. That game would have been a big story only if Nebraska had pulled the upset. Wisconsin winning on the road was a routine, fully expected occurrence. Given that the Big Ten has featured such jarring differences between home-court basketball and road-court basketball this season, Nebraska and Northwestern stand out as exceptions to this rule. Everyone should be torching the Huskers and Wildcats in Lincoln and Evanston. Wisconsin merely did what it was supposed to do, and nothing more.
Therefore, when we consider Wisconsin’s surge the past few weeks — dating back to a strong win over Ohio State on Feb. 9 — one can say that while the four-game winning streak has technically included a road win at Nebraska, it has essentially not owned a road win — at least not an impressive one.
Wisconsin’s last truly impressive road win was January 11 at Penn State. It has been a month and a half since UW picked up what could be called a QUALITY road victory. The Badgers have, to their great credit, maximized this recent favorable stretch of games — almost all of them at home, Nebraska being the one road game over the past two and a half weeks. Now, though, they have to go to Ann Arbor.
The battle lines are clear, and the subtext attached to this game is quite compelling: If Wisconsin can take its white-hot offense into a road building against a good team playing great defense, and deal a defeat to Michigan, the Badgers will significantly change the way they are perceived in the Big Ten. They would not only take a huge step toward a double bye at the Big Ten Tournament; they would begin to generate discussion as a Sweet 16 team which can make a run in March.
Wisconsin has had a lot of home-cooked meals in recent weeks. Now it is time for this team and this offense to show what it can do against a good opponent — not Nebraska — on the road.