A great man named Howard Beale once proclaimed ""I'm as mad as hell, and I'm not going to take it anymore!""
Now Howard probably was not talking about the UW men's basketball team in the movie ""Network,"" but he might as well have been.
Once again, Wisconsin is getting slighted by almost every sports analyst in sight (except for ESPN.com's Pat Forde, who had a great article on UW last week). Somehow, after the Badgers lost to a ranked Indiana team last Wednesday at one of the toughest places to play in the country, Wisconsin fell to No. 4 in the polls. I had no problem with this initially, until I saw the team directly ahead of us.
Incredibly enough, ""The"" Ohio State University has passed UW in the rankings. For those who don't follow college basketball closely, here are the facts. The Buckeyes have three losses, Wisconsin has two. In the one battle between the two teams, the Badgers came out on top. Wisconsin has a higher RPI (basically the same as strength of schedule in college football). The Badgers are 8-2 against teams in the RPI top-50 and are the only team in the nation to beat two top-five ranked teams. Ohio State has three quality losses, but it's difficult to find a real quality win on its schedule, and close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades. Is that enough? Should I keep going?
The real reason the Buckeyes passed the Badgers is because of a) everyone's man-crush on freshman center Greg Oden and b) preseason expectations. Take North Carolina, for instance. Wisconsin dropped two spots after losing to a very good team on the road. The Tar Heels somehow only dropped two spots after losing to N.C. State—the ACC's eighth place team—because they're North Carolina, and we're Wisconsin. Even Florida is a suspect No. 1, as the Gators play in a weak conference, have only one quality win against Ohio State and lost to Florida State, who I recall being soundly defeated by some little team out of Madison.
Even Alando Tucker, a media darling two weeks ago, has apparently fallen out of favor with the analysts in Bristol. In a player of the year poll on ESPN.com, Tucker was auspiciously absent, even though the only real discussions had included him, Kevin Durant and Greg Oden just a week before. I have nothing against Tyler Hansbrough or Joakim Noah, but Tucker should be in that poll.
I realize I'm a little bit biased, but let's look at past history. In 2003-'04, the Badgers had a little player named Devin Harris who led them to a 24-6 record in the regular season, including a beatdown of Illinois in the Big Ten Championship. But because the voters were in love with the Illini, who had Dee Brown, Luther Head and Deron Williams, Illinois got a No. 4 seed in the NCAA tournament. What did the Badgers get? They got a No. 6 seed and the right to play one of the best teams in the country (Pittsburgh) in the second round, who they lost to! Trust me, whoever runs the seeding for this season's March Madness will find some way to shaft Wisconsin out of a No. 1 seed. I will be overjoyed if I'm wrong, but I'll believe it when I see it.
Now I'm not going to encourage you to stick your head out the window and start yelling like Howard did, because let's face it, it's too dang cold outside. But if you're in Connecticut and driving past ESPN's headquarters, just roll down your window and let them have a piece of your mind.
Zach can be contacted at zlkukkonen@dailycardinal.com
