University of Wisconsin’s men’s basketball team’s streak of 19 consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances ended last Friday with their elimination from the Big Ten Tournament against the No. 1 seed Michigan State Spartans.
Though for many fans and players, this was an unsatisfactory result, for much of the season, no one would have believed the Badgers could compete with top competition like Michigan State.
Entering the year, the main storyline for Wisconsin was how Ethan Happ would play with an unproven roster following the departure of several key seniors on the team. Nigel Hayes, Bronson Koenig, Zak Showalter and Vitto Brown all graduated in 2017 after receiving heavy minutes through the Badgers Sweet 16 run.