Wisconsin basketball (21-6, 11-5 Big Ten) remained at No. 11 in the latest AP Top 25 Poll on Monday.
The new poll arrives following UW’s 1-1 week on the hardwood, which included a 21-point blowout win against an injury and illness-plagued Illinois team on Tuesday and meltdown loss to the Oregon Ducks on Saturday.
While the first victory suggested Wisconsin move further up the AP Poll, the ensuing loss to Oregon erased that possibility. While the Ducks do boast the No. 32 position in the NCAA NET rankings, the loss was hard to reconcile. Wisconsin practically handed Dana Altman’s squad the game with late turnovers and sloppy play.
Outside of the AP Poll, Wisconsin has endured a small drop in several national rating metrics. The Badgers now rank No. 9 in KenPom, No. 13 in the NCAA NET and No. 12 in the USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll — all relatively small changes in where the crew stood before the Feb. 22 defeat.
Wisconsin is still one of five Big Ten teams in the latest AP Top 25. The Michigan State Spartans leapfrogged Greg Gard’s team for the No. 8 position after their big win at Michigan. The Badgers still sit ahead of Michigan (No. 15), Maryland (No. 16) and Purdue (No. 20). Both Oregon and UCLA, teams responsible for handing Wisconsin a pair of losses this season, landed in the ‘receiving votes’ section alongside Illinois. The Ducks registered 20 votes, the Bruins accumulated 14 and the Fighting Illini earned just three.
Michigan State’s huge road win over the Michigan Wolverines made it the highest mover in this week’s poll, joining former Badger Chucky Hepburn’s Louisville Cardinals, who pocketed wins over Notre Dame and Florida State this past week.
Purdue, who fell to Wisconsin on Feb. 15, dropped seven spots after a road loss to Indiana on Sunday. The Boilermakers, alongside Marquette and Texas A&M (both down five spots), experienced the largest downward shift.
All six of the teams Wisconsin has lost to this season either made it into the AP Top 25 or ‘receiving votes’ section, a testament to how well the Badgers have played this season. The program’s Feb. 25 test against Washington at home will likely vault the team to its 22nd win of the season. It precedes a road trip to East Lansing for a pivotal battle against the Spartans on March 2.
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