Jordan Longseth

Is Wisconsin good? Walk on Fan’s February 17th Bracket Update

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1 Seeds:

Auburn (2-0), Duke (2-0), Florida (2-0), Houston (2-0)

2 Seeds:

Alabama (1-1), Tennessee (1-1), Wisconsin (1-0), Texas Tech (2-0)

How about that Wisconsin offense? Pretty damn good right? Wisconsin proved they belong at the top of the Big Ten with a trouncing at Purdue without their best bench player. Unfortunately, the best in the Big Ten is still worse than the top four SEC teams. As a whole, the SEC might be .500 in conference play, but an upper echelon has separated themselves from the pack. Auburn is hands down the best basketball team in the country while Florida, Alabama, and Tennessee are fighting for second. Duke had a rebound week much to my chagrin. And I am still high on Houston after an impressive win at Arizona. I expect them to win out while the SEC will stack a couple of losses, pushing Houston up from the 8 the NCAA Basketball Committee put them at.

** As a side note, I am nervous about Wisconsin going into this week. Greg Gard has had teams this well-regarded before, only to collapse at the end of the season. Please god let this team be different **

3 Seeds:

Texas

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Wisco Wednesday: Breaking Down Wisconsin’s High-Flying Offense

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Before the 2024/25 basketball season, what word would you use to describe Wisconsin Basketball?

Gritty? Tough? Controlling? Simple? Slow? Anything that describes a dominant defense and a slow-paced offense that runs the swing offense to perfection would work. Dick Bennet, Bo Ryan, and Greg Gard made Wisconsin a defensive powerhouse that could reliably win games as long as they scored 60 points. And that’s what they did. Since the 1995/96 season, Wisconsin has averaged 64.7 points a game. That includes Dick Bennet’s 2000 Final Four team that averaged 59.9 points a game. Wisconsin’s best offense during that time frame was last year at 74.7 points a game. Wisconsin’s second-best offense was Bo Ryan’s first Final Four team at 73.5 points a game. This year’s team? 81 points a game. A far cry from Bo Ryan’s 300th win, a 48 – 38 slugfest against Virginia. 

Why the change?

Why is this team scoring a historic amount? Simple, Greg Gard had to change things up to not lose his job. After multiple seasons where Wisconsin stalled out and ran simple offenses that were easily exploitable, Gard modernized his offense to be highly efficient. According to Ken Pom’s offensive efficiency rating, Wisconsin has …

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Welcome to Chaos: Walk On Fan’s First Bracket for 2025

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1 Seeds:

Auburn, Houston, Florida, Tennessee

2 Seeds:

Duke, Purdue, Alabama, St. Johns

All right, this is the first article I’m writing. Ever. It was supposed to be easy. Then Auburn and Duke lost. Am I biased in dropping Duke to a 2 line? Probably, but the ACC is severely underperforming while the SEC has too many contenders to count. Nothing pains me more than having 3 SEC teams in the top 4, but until they’re proven otherwise, they stay there. Houston is the only team I can currently see competing with the SEC. My one hot take here is I believe Pitino and St John’s will not lose another game before tourney season.

3 Seeds:

Texas Tech, Kansas, Illinois, Texas A&M

4 Seeds:

 Arizona, Mich State, Wisconsin, Iowa St

Now back to some more chaos. Kansas lost a terrible game while both Texas teams were uninspiring in the past week. Out of this grouping, the Big Ten reigns supreme. I hate putting Arizona higher than Wisconsin, but they keep winning in a tough conference. As an aside, I’ll give my full opinion on Wisconsin on Wednesday. 

5 Seeds:

Maryland, Gonzaga, Louisville, Kentucky

6 Seeds:

Michigan, Ole Miss, Marquette, Clemson

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