My have the times changed amongst the media and pollsters. Wisconsin was long the little engine that could, and did, in college basketball. All its ever done under Bo Ryan is make the NCAA tournament every single year, never finish lower than fourth in the Big Ten regular season standings and last season his team made it to the Final Four.
Apparently, that last little bit was all that was needed for the media to realize what all Badger fans already knew — Wisconsin Badger basketball is pretty damn good.
So good, that it is a unanimous pick by the Big Ten beat writers to win the conference in 2014-15.
The Wisconsin State Journal’s Jim Polzin released the results of the poll, which grabbed 27 writers from around the conference to come up with the poll. The results are as follows:
1. UW (378 points) … all 27 first-place votes
2. Ohio State (322) … voted as high as second and as low as fifth
3. Michigan State (305) … voted as high as second and as low as seventh
4. Nebraska (299) … voted as high as second and as low as seventh
5. Michigan (286) … voted as high as second and as low as seventh
6. Minnesota (226) … voted as high as third and as low as 11th
7. Iowa (214) … voted as high as fourth and as low as 11th
8. Illinois (196) … voted as high as fourth and as low as 11th
9. Indiana (163) … vote as high as sixth and as low as 12th
10. Maryland (162) … voted as high as fourth and as low as 11th
11. Purdue (95) … voted anywhere between ninth and 13th
12. Penn State (84) … voted anywhere between ninth and 13th
13. Northwestern (78) … voted anywhere between 10th and 13th
14. Rutgers (27) … all last-place votes
When’s the last time the Badgers got that kind of respect, huh? I mean, sure Jay Williams was all over the Badger bandwagon last season, calling UW a Final Four team in early November.
However, most of the time Badger basketball success has been seen as a fluke. Not this time around, as the Badgers are the clearcut favorite according to the writers.
For some teams, this level of new expectation would be a major concern. Knowing Bo Ryan though, he’ll make sure his guys aren’t buying the press clippings and we’re damn sure Ryan isn’t going to care what a bunch of writers think in the least.
Now it’s about showing it on the court, and the biggest opportunity will come at the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament during Thanksgiving Weekend. So, stay tuned Badger fans, it could be an interesting year in the national spotlight for Bo Ryan and his crew.
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