For the second time in as many years, Wisconsin waltzes into the Big Dance as a No. 6 seed with a reasonable expectation to advance to the second round, while first-round opponent and No. 11 seed Northern Iowa would like to cut in.
In last year's tournament however, the Badgers faced off against a dangerous Richmond team that had beaten Big 12 powerhouse Kansas and had also knocked off Colorado and eventual Elite Eight entrant Xavier. Wisconsin fans experienced temporary arachnophobia, as they watched the Badgers fall behind the Spiders 42-29 in the second half before the good guys salvaged the game and the season with a comeback for the ages. Just as they did the year before against Tulsa, UW overcame the 13-point deficit-this time doing so by scoring on their final 20 possessions and sending Richmond packing.
Northern Iowa does not enter the tournament with as strong a r??sum??, though they managed to defeat fellow tournament teams Iowa State and Southern Illinois on their way to a 21-10 record out of the Missouri Valley Conference. The consensus among college basketball analysts, columnists, bracketologists and even self-appointed virtuosos is that the Bobcats were one of the last teams to get into the tournament. They did not win their conference tournament, they do not hail from a major conference, and since Creighton and Southern Illinois have become regulars in the field of 65, nobody was sure that the MVC would have a third representative over the likes of the other bubble teams from major conferences such as Notre Dame, Maryland or DePaul.
Northern Iowa is like Wisconsin in that they too were defending conference tournament champions who were unable to defend the crown. However, the Badgers will not preoccupy themselves with what type of teams the Panthers are-UW is more concerned with playing their own brand of basketball. Head coach Bo Ryan suspects that Northern Iowa is doing the same.
\They're not worried about who they're playing,"" Ryan said. ""Their concern, I'm sure, is making sure they do what they do well-which is what we try to do.""
Coach Ryan said his team is ready and eager to take the court, but understands that being scheduled for a Friday evening tip-off certainly has its upside, in spite of the burgeoning anticipation.
""We get to watch someone Thursday,"" Ryan said. ""I think that is always kind of neat and one of the advantages of playing Friday is at least your players get to see some of the atmosphere. It is good to be able to watch other games so I think that will take some of the edge off the younger guys.""
Senior guard Sharif Chambliss is new to Wisconsin this year but is no rookie to March Madness-he went to the Sweet 16 his freshman year with Penn State. Regardless of tournament experience, though, he said everybody needs time to adjust to the new surroundings.
""We just tried to let our bodies recuperate,"" Chambliss said. ""We're ready to just get settled in our hotel, practice, get used to the environment, and go out there and play on Friday.""
Chambliss and the Badgers will have to shut down a Panther team with tournament experience and four players averaging double digits, with All-Conference guard Ben Jacobson leading the way with 17.8 per game. On paper the Badgers defend the perimeter well enough that they should be able to contain the balanced Bobcat attack, but throw statistics out the window because it's March. As Chambliss said, ""It's a new season."" That season begins Friday at 6:20 p.m. at the Ford Center in Oklahoma City.
