Wisconsin plays Penn State on the second Saturday of January. In most years, this would be a game in which Wisconsin is the safe NCAA Tournament team and Penn State is trying to improve its shaky resume.
This isn’t most years.
Both teams need this game, to be sure, but if you had to pick a team which needed this game more, it’s Wisconsin. The Badgers’ win over Marquette is valuable, as is their win at Ohio State. However, their win at Tennessee won’t mean too much since the Vols were without Lamonte Turner and are likely to fall to the bottom of the SEC without him. The win at home against Indiana might have more value later in the season, but the Hoosiers look very unconvincing right now. It is not easy to think that Indiana will make the NCAA Tournament in its current state.
Wisconsin’s resume doesn’t have a lot of meat on the bone. The Badgers don’t have to crush the Big Ten to make the NCAA tourney, but they do have to collect several wins against good teams in the league. In other words, they can’t just sweep Nebraska and Minnesota and beat Northwestern and think they have it made. No, Wisconsin will have to grab a number of wins against the likely NCAA Tournament teams in the conference. This season, that currently includes Penn State. True, PSU could falter, but right now, a win over the Nittany Lions would rate as a solid result which boosts a resume.
The good news for Wisconsin is that Penn State is now a value-bearing opponent on an NCAA resume. The bad news is that in this 2019-2020 season, Penn State — along with Rutgers and Illinois — isn’t a pushover anymore. Penn State shows that Wisconsin’s status as an upper-tier Big Ten team can’t be taken for granted this season. Wisconsin owned a long winning streak over Illinois… until Illinois improved. Wisconsin has a long winning streak over Penn State… but Penn State has improved.
There are more obstacles in Wisconsin’s path this season. Yes, this means that Wisconsin has more chances to polish its portfolio, but if the Badgers don’t convert enough of these chances, their NCAA hopes will take a hit… and teams such as Penn State and Rutgers will earn their dance card.
In a normal college basketball season, Wisconsin would be heavily favored and widely expected to beat Penn State in State College on Saturday. Again, this isn’t a normal season. This isn’t “most years.” It is up to Wisconsin to find a “most years” identity to this year, 2020, which is defined by uncertainty and weirdness in the present moment.