Wisconsin basketball is days away from being a top-5 team in the nation

Wisconsin basketball has yet to take the court since its dominant 81-66 win over Michigan State on Friday night. At the time the Badgers

Wisconsin basketball has yet to take the court since its dominant 81-66 win over Michigan State on Friday night. At the time the Badgers were the No. 13 team in the nation and were finishing up a 2-0 week with the win over Michigan State and one on the road at Minnesota. The next AP Poll release moved the Badgers seven spots up to No. 6 in the nation.

So today, February 1, 2024, Greg Gard’s team is 16-4 (8-1 Big Ten), in first place in the tough Big Ten race and now ranked No. 6 in the AP Poll. Well, the team is about to rise without having played a game yet this week.

That is thanks to a crazy Tuesday night across the college basketball world. Big upsets headlined the night including South Carolina winning on the road at No. 5 Tennessee and Georgia Tech with a home upset over No. 3 North Carolina.

That means No. 1 will be UConn which continues to win, No. 2 should be Purdue if it doesn’t lose at Wisconsin on Sunday and No. 3 may be Houston who was ranked No. 4. There could be two open spots in the top five of the AP Poll. The potential rise would be Wisconsin’s first week spent in that category since Week 2 of the 2020-21 season, and the second instance since the 2014-2015 team spent almost the entire year in the top five.

Wisconsin will need to keep pace and defeat Nebraska on the road later tonight before turning around for a pivotal home matchup Sunday afternoon against Purdue. A 2-0 week would ensure a top-5 rating in the next AP Poll, while a 1-1 week with a tight loss to Purdue might also accomplish that feat.

Nevertheless, Wisconsin is in a prime position entering the final month-plus of the regular season.