Wisconsin may have just picked up a season-changing win.
Depending on how you look at it, perhaps it would be better to suggest that victory over Tennessee in Knoxville was the season-changing win, as that game clearly gave Wisconsin a big confidence boost in terms of its ability to win on the road that was palpable throughout last night’s matchup. However, that win didn’t come against a fierce Big Ten rival ranked within the nation’s Top 5.
As mentioned previously, though it wasn’t a pretty victory by any means, it won’t do any less to send this team’s confidence soaring as it dives headfirst into Big Ten play, within which the Badgers will need to pick up several more big wins to beef up their NCAA Tournament prospects.
That being said, this was a critical resume-building victory in its own right that has Wisconsin’s Big Dance fortunes trending up again. As Andy Katz mentioned after the game, the Badgers’ upset of the Buckeyes is the type of performance that gets the selection committee’s attention. Bucky now has four nice wins, both at home (Marquette and Indiana) and on the road (Tennessee and Ohio State), and it will have more than its fair share of additional opportunities to enhance that resume in conference play.