Curious as to what the experience might be like, I decided to trek down to the Kohl Center Saturday to see the live broadcast of EPSN's College Game Day presented by State Farm. I have to say that for free admission, it was well worth my time.
The set was neat, the opportunity for some to have their faces on national television was cool, and hearing commentary from the guys - especially Bob Knight - was interesting to experience first-hand. At the end of the day, Wisconsin senior forward Joe Krabbenhoft said, The whole atmosphere around here today was a lot of fun and it's something I'm going to remember for a long time.""
It was a lot of excitement surrounding the game between a No. 25 team and a conference rival whose name was nowhere to be found among voters in either national poll.
Of course, College Game Day was scheduled to be here well before Wisconsin's six-game skid and, I would imagine, considered UW a good site for their broadcast based on the 30-win reputation of the past two seasons. To be completely fair, considering where the Badgers were prior to the Ohio State game, their house was not exactly ""the place to be"" for such an event as College Game Day this season.
Nonetheless, Wisconsin hosted the broadcast. And frankly, in terms of timing and impact, the presence of College Game Day in Wisconsin was enormous. Throughout the show, Wisconsin was incorporated into the discussion.
At one point, in a blind comparison, Wisconsin was matched up with Kentucky and the panel discussed who was more tournament-worthy. Wisconsin was deemed the better team. Knight made reference to Wisconsin as one of the best fundamental basketball teams in the country. According to ESPN, Wisconsin would get the nod come March.
When picks were made for Saturday's big games around the country, each of the four analysts picked Wisconsin to win over Ohio State that night. My guess is that if the College Game Day crew were in any other city Saturday, at least one of them would have picked Ohio State to win, given the team's four-game winning streak at the time. Had the show not been in Madison, I'm not sure the show would have included the Wisconsin/Ohio State game at all.
There is no way the Badgers, as bad of shape they were in and as dire a position they are still in, had done enough at that point to deserve that kind of attention. Face it, they only had a .500 conference record, only six more total wins than losses, and lost all but one game in the month of January.
With the national spotlight on them, however, they were pegged at every opportunity as a force to be reckoned with and a team you can expect to see on your bracket come Selection Sunday.
One might go so far as to say all the hoopla and positive speculation may have fueled the Badgers' momentum later that night. As Krabbenhoft also said, ""It was a very enjoyable day and to cap it off with a game like that, to win in a close, tough game against a great team - an NCAA tournament team - was huge.""
It is entirely possible that the excitement of the morning spilled into the night for the team.
It is incredible what ESPN's College Game Day did for Wisconsin's reputation. Yes, the Badgers are looking much, much better and yes, they have won four straight now with two games being against ranked teams.
But one cannot help thinking that if the Badgers end up in the national rankings in the next week or two, and if they also end up in the NCAA tournament, the presence of five highly renowned basketball pundits in chairs on the Kohl Center floor last Saturday might have played some part in regaining national legitimacy.
Will Wisconsin get a shot to play in the NCAA tournament this year? Send your prediction to Andy at avansistine@wisc.edu.
