Despite falling in the first round of the 2012 Big Ten
Tournament and witnessing its own bubble nearly burst following Illinois' upset
win over Penn State in the tournament's semifinals, Wisconsin is still alive
and kicking in its quest for its third berth in the NCAA Tournament in the last
four years.
The official announcement of the 64-team field will not
occur until Monday at 3:30 p.m. (CT), but that gives us two days to project and
form our own opinions on the chances that Bucky will see at least one more game
this season.
The RPI rankings are one of the biggest indicators of a
potential NCAA Tournament team. A team's strength of schedule, combined with
its overall record, cannot make or break a team's chances, but are huge in the
grand scheme of things. In theory, teams in the RPI top-40 are in the comfort
zone, while Nos. 41-64 are sweating as they keep an eye out for upsets come
conference tournament time. There are exactly 24 AQ (automatic qualifier) bids in the tournament, which go to each conference's tournament champion.
When looking at the latest RPI rankings, which were released
Oct. 29, Wisconsin was in the top-40, falling to No. 36 after its loss to Iowa
on Oct. 27. The Badgers' 2012 schedule featured matches against six teams in
the current RPI top-25, which included games against four of those seven teams
on the road. UW also suffered one-goal losses to a pair of RPI top-five squads
in UCLA (8/31) and Penn State (9/16).
According to former MLS star and U.S. National Team member
turned women's soccer blogger, Chris Henderson, this past week's conference
tournament did not hurt UW as much as we thought. Following multiple losses for
various bubble teams and squads poised to steal AQ bids, it
looks like Wisconsin's season is still intact -- but nothing is for certain
until the NCAA Tournament selection committee says it is.
The selection committee will make its announcement on the
field of 64 on Monday, Nov. 5, at 3:30 p.m. (CT). The selection show can be
viewed live on NCAA.com.
