BY ANDY BAGGOT
UWBadgers.com Insider
MADISON, Wis. — Since your NCAA men's basketball tournament bracket is likely toast, you'll need something else to get you ready for the Wisconsin's landmark appearance in the Sweet 16.
How about this: The Badgers are the only team in the nation to have advanced to the Sweet 16 in five of the last six seasons.
How about this: UW has won 15 national tournament games since 2011. The only school with more is Kentucky, with 20.
In the spirit of the moment, here are 16 items of interest about the Badgers as they gear up to face Notre Dame in the East Regional semifinals Friday in Philadelphia:
One: For 14 consecutive years the UW men's basketball team has played in the NCAA tournament and the Badgers football team has qualified for a postseason bowl. That's the longest all-time streak in major-college athletic history. Texas previously did it 12 years in a row. The next longest current streak is nine years by Michigan State.
Two: A victory over Notre Dame would put Wisconsin in the NCAA Elite Eight for the third-straight season. Since the national tournament expanded to 64 teams in 1985, the only Big Ten Conference schools to have similar runs are Michigan from 1992 to '94 and Michigan State from 1999 to 2000.
Three: The Badgers are in the midst of their 18th-straight national tournament appearance. That's the fifth-longest streak in NCAA history and second-longest among Big Ten schools. North Carolina and Kansas have made it 27 consecutive years. Duke has done it 21 times in a row, while Michigan State has advanced 19 straight times.
Four: UW is trying to reach the Final Four for the third-straight year. Eleven schools have accomplished that feat overall — most recently UCLA from 2006 to '08 — with Ohio State (1944, '45, '46 and 1960, '61, '62) and Michigan State (1999, 2000, '01) doing it out of the Big Ten.
Five: The Badgers are seeded seventh and will face sixth-seeded Notre Dame. They are 2-1 as a No. 7 seed and 2-0 vs. No. 6 seeds since 1979.
Six: During the regular season UW was 11-6 vs. teams that qualified for the NCAA tournament. It is 3-3 vs. the Sweet 16 field (1-1 vs. Indiana and Maryland; 0-1 vs. Oklahoma; 1-0 vs. Syracuse).
Seven: Two games into the NCAA tournament, the Badgers have had multiple leading scorers (redshirt freshman center Ethan Happ and junior guard Bronson Koenig). That's a distinct carryover from the regular season when five different players paced UW in scoring (Happ, Koenig, junior forward Vitto Brown, junior forward Nigel Hayes and junior guard Zak Showalter).
Eight: When you ponder the future remember that the current Badgers have the youngest roster in at least 15 years. No team in the Big Ten has more freshmen on its roster than Wisconsin (eight).
Nine: Over the last 15 years there are only three NCAA freshmen to score 400-plus points, have 60-plus steals and 30-plus blocked shots. One is Happ. The others are Kevin Durant of Texas in 2006-07 and DuJuan Blair of Pitt in 2007-08.
Ten: Since 2001-02, only eight schools have a better overall winning percentage than Wisconsin (357-125, .741). That would be Duke (.826), Kansas (.822), Gonzaga (.816), Memphis (.772), Kentucky (.769), Pittsburgh (.749), Syracuse (.745) and Louisville (.745).
Eleven: Over the last five seasons the Badgers are 138-5 (.965) when leading or tied with five minutes left in regulation. They are 21-1 (.955) this season.
Twelve: Prior to this season, Brown never attempted a 3-point field goal. Over the last 12 games he's 26-for-52 (.500) from beyond the arc and has connected multiple times in each of the last six outings.
Thirteen: In the 12 games prior to coach Bo Ryan stepping down, UW reserves averaged 5.3 points per game. Since Greg Gard began calling the shots as coach his bench is averaging 10.3 points per outing.
Fourteen: Wisconsin has won its last 10 NCAA tournament games played in March and is 38-7 (.844) overall in February/March over the last three seasons. Only Stephen F. Austin (36-4, .900) and Villanova (38-6, .864) have better records nationally during that time.
Fifteen: The UW-Notre Dame game will be televised live on TBS. The Badgers are 5-1 on that network.
Sixteen: Wisconsin has trailed at the half in 6 of its last 12 NCAA tournament games — including Pitt and Xavier last week — and come back to win all six.
