The Florida Gators and Wisconsin Badgers have been here before. Not in the 2017 NCAA Tournament, and not in the Sweet Sixteen and pitted against each other (9:59 p.m., TNT or March Madness Live), but they’ve been here before.
For Wisconsin, that “been here before” is really more like “been here and beyond” before. Seniors abound on Greg Gard’s team, and they advanced deep into the NCAA Tournament when Wisconsin was Bo Ryan’s team. Vitto Brown, Nigel Hayes, Bronson Koenig, and Zak Showalter were freshman role players when Sam Dekker, Josh Gasser, and Frank Kaminsky carried the Badgers to the Final Four in 2014, and more integral parts of the Wisconsin rotation — especially Hayes and Koenig — when Wisconsin made the NCAA Tournament final in 2015.