Where Wisconsin is in bracket projections, Big Ten standings after USC loss

Wisconsin men’s basketball‘s recent 73-71 loss to USC hurt in a way that its other five losses did not.

The Jan. 25 loss to the Trojans counted as a Quad 2 loss on the Badgers’ NCAA tournament résumé, marking the first time UW fell in a non-Quad 1 game this season. Even with that setback, though, Wisconsin remains a projected NCAA tournament team and sits in the top half of the Big Ten standings.

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Here is a closer look at Wisconsin’s current outlook in the Big Ten standings and March Madness projections:

Where is Wisconsin basketball in latest Big Ten standings?

Wisconsin is tied for sixth in the Big Ten with UCLA. The Badgers would have the tiebreaker over the Bruins after defeating them Jan. 6 at the Kohl Center.

The Badgers still are the only team to topple Michigan in 2025-26. UW’s Big Ten losses are to teams that are tied for first (Nebraska), fifth (Purdue) and 11th (USC) in the standings. Its next two games are against teams that are 13th (Minnesota) and eighth (Ohio State) in the conference.

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Here are the full Big Ten standings:

Where is Wisconsin in latest NET rankings?

Wisconsin is No. 42 in the NCAA’s NET rankings following the Jan. 27 slate of games. That is down three spots from a week earlier. The Badgers’ NET ranking is ninth-best among Big Ten teams.

Here is Wisconsin’s record in 2025-26 by NCAA quadrant, which organizes the quality of a win or loss on a team’s résumé:

Wisconsin will have plenty of opportunities to boost its postseason résumé in the next several weeks. Here is a breakdown of UW’s remaining games in the regular season by quadrant:

• Quad 1: at Indiana, at Illinois, vs. Michigan State, at Ohio State, vs. Iowa, at Washington, at Purdue

• Quad 2: vs. Ohio State, at Oregon

• Quad 3: vs. Minnesota, vs. Maryland

Wisconsin Badgers basketball March Madness predictions: Where Badgers are projected to go in NCAA tournament bracket

Wisconsin fell to a No. 10 seed in Joe Lunardi’s ESPN bracketology projections on Jan. 27. The Badgers are one of Lunardi’s last four teams with a bye. UW would hypothetically face seventh-seeded Kentucky in the first round in St. Louis, with second-seeded Iowa State being the likely second-round matchup.

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USA TODAY’s Jan. 27 bracketology has Wisconsin as a No. 9 seed in Philadelphia. The Badgers would hypothetically play Saint Mary’s in the first round and likely top-seeded Connecticut in the second round. The college basketball analytics site Bart Torvik lists Wisconsin as a No. 9 seed in its latest Teamcast projections.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Wisconsin Badgers’ bracketology projections, résumé after USC loss