This is a Wisconsin basketball season from bizarro world. A program that for so long was built around its defensive identity has lost it. The Badgers team that was ranked as high as No. 6 in the AP Poll this season is nowhere to be found. What happened to the team that was once a dark-horse Final Four contender?
At this point, making the case for Wisconsin as a Final Four hopeful feels foolish, but the highs of the season’s first three months, although they feel far away now, did not happen accidentally. In the pair of games Wisconsin has won of late, it showed flashes of its ability to be a team much better than the one fans saw most of the last four weeks.