Open Jim: Will Wisconsin men's basketball make the NCAA Tournament?

Do you think the badger basketball team will make the tournament?

Outside expectations are pretty low for the University of Wisconsin men’s basketball team in 2024-25.

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A poll of 33 media members who cover the Big Ten had the Badgers finishing in a tie for 12th place in the 18-team conference.

Sports Illustrated came out with its projections this week and had Wisconsin in — gulp — 17th place, ahead of only Minnesota.

The computers like the Badgers a little bit more.

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KenPom has Wisconsin finishing in a five-way tie for seventh place in the Big Ten with a 10-10 conference record.

Bart Torvik’s projections have the Badgers also going 10-10 in the conference — and finishing in a seven-way tie for seventh place.

The one thing everybody can agree on is it’s going to be a wild season in the Big Ten. The conference doesn’t seem to have any powerhouse teams this season, but there’s plenty of depth.

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Where does Wisconsin fit in that cluster of parity? It’s hard to say. I don’t remember going into a season being so unsure of a team.

It’d be a lot to ask of John Blackwell to make a Johnny Davis-like jump, but Blackwell showed a lot of promise last season and was arguably the Badgers’ best player in the Big Ten tournament until he got hurt.

If Blackwell can become a go-to player, I like this team a lot better.

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Other questions:

• Can Steven Crowl become a more consistent player in his fifth and final season at Wisconsin?
• How much will the loss of Chucky Hepburn hurt at point guard, where Kamari McGee is the frontrunner to take over as the starter?
• And what kind of production will the Badgers get from transfers John Tonje, Xavier Amos and Camren Hunter? It’s possible none of the three will be in the starting lineup to open the season, but Wisconsin needs at least two of them to be solid contributors.

It’ll be an interesting year for the Badgers. I don’t think they’ll be great. I don’t think they’ll be terrible.

Torvik has Wisconsin as one of his last four teams in the projected 68-team NCAA Tournament field. That sounds about right — a bubble team that will be sweating it out on Selection Sunday.