NIT game- Wisconsin 81 Bradley 62

[Da Coach]

Bradley will play a first round NIT game at #3 seed Wisconsin on Tuesday, March 14, at 8:30 pm on ESPN.



Wisconsin finished 17-14 overall, and 9-11 in the Big Ten, tied for 11th place with Nebraska. They were 9-6 at home.
Big Ten Standings- https://bigten.org/standings.aspx?path=mbball

They lost to #13 seed Ohio State in their first game in the Big Ten Tournament.

Wisconsin started the season strong, going 11-2 in their first 13 games with wins over Dayton, USC, Marquette, Maryland and Iowa, among others, and a 2-point loss to Kansas.
Wisconsin schedule/results- https://uwbadgers.com/sports/mens-basketball/schedule
Roster- https://uwbadgers.com/sports/mens-basketball/roster
Stats- https://s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/s...ts_2022-23.pdf

Information about tickets here- https://uwbadgers.com/news/2023/3/12...-2023-nit.aspx

TICKET INFORMATION
Tickets for Tuesday's game between Wisconsin and Bradley will go on sale Monday morning beginning at 10 a.m. CT. Tickets can be ordered online at UWBadgers.com or by phone at 1-800-GO-BADGERS. Tickets are $25 (100 level) and $20 (200/300 Level).

No word yet whether Bradley will have tickets for sale-

https://bradleybraves.com/sports/mens-basketball

Official NIT website-

https://www.ncaa.com/championships/basketball-men/nit

[Da Coach]

• First-round NIT games are March 14-15 at campus sites
• Second-round NIT games are March 18-19 at campus sites
• The quarterfinal NIT games are March 21-22 at campus sites
• The 2023 NIT semifinals are March 28 at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas on ESPN
• The 2023 NIT championship game is March 30 at the Orleans area on ESPN2.

2023 NIT Bracket-

[Da Coach]

Article from BradleyBraves.com-
Bradley set to take part in the 2023 NIT
https://bradleybraves.com/news/2023/...-2023-nit.aspx



From Bradley Ticket Office-
Bradley Fans! The BU Ticket Office has a limited number of tickets available & will begin fielding requests at 8am tomorrow. Tickets will be determined based on priority points system.
https://twitter.com/BradleyBraves/st...12197646090242

As noted above, Wisconsin is selling tickets through their ticket office. -

TICKET INFORMATION
Tickets for Tuesday's game between Wisconsin and Bradley will go on sale Monday morning beginning at 10 a.m. CT. Tickets can be ordered online at UWBadgers.com or by phone at 1-800-GO-BADGERS. Tickets are $25 (100 level) and $20 (200/300 Level).

Tickets available online starting at 10:00 am Monday, March 13-
https://uwbadgers.evenue.net/cgi-bin...ller=&appCode=

Tickets also to be available by phone- 1-800-462-2343 ticket office open 8:30 am to 4:30 pm Monday through Friday

[BradleyBiz]

So now Wisconsin is apparently a 2 seed instead of a 3 seed. That is kind of crazy to have seeds change after a selection show and the bracket is published. They flipped the other 2 and 3 seeds in each pod too. Very strange "mistake" to make after the fact. So I guess we are a "7 seed" now. Now that's some serious disrespect there...

[KillerB]

One Wisconsin view of the match-up:

https://badgersballknower.substack.com/p/mnit-the-badgers-are-the-3-seed-in?utm_source=twitter&sd=pf

[bigjimmy]

Wisconsin is a pretty good defensive team as they hold teams to 63.8 points a game and cause 12 turnovers although they are 424th in rebounding with 31.2 a game. They do struggle on offense as they average just 64.9 points a game and shoot just 67% from the FT line. They have a mostly 7 man rotation with 4 guys who average between 11.5 and 12 points a game. 6' 2" point guard Chucky Hepburn is their leading scorer and leads in assists, steals and is their best 3 point shooter at 42%. 7 footer Steven Crowl leads in rebounding in 6.9. This is not a usual Wisconsin team as they don't have their usual tall guys who can shoot from 3. They are pretty physical on defense so how respond to that will be key in this game. I would hope the guys have had a good, spirited week of practice and are recharged and ready to go. Wisconsin averages over 15,000 per home games so with them struggling, lost 12 of their last 18, and not being in the NCAA tournament for only the 2nd time in this century hopefully a lot of them won't show up. I don't believe it will take an extraordinary effort to win this game. If we're able to establish ourselves on offense (Make our 3's, be strong with the ball, second chance points) and we play defense like we normally do I like our chances. This isn't the tournament we all wanted to be in but as long as we're hear let's go GET ER DONE!

[yoda]

they are 424th in rebounding

424th? That's bad

[pfunk880]

I think Bradley was absolutely deserving of an NIT home game. That being said, if we had to go on the road, this was the matchup I was hoping for, both for selfish reasons (I live in WI and will be going to the game), and because I think it's a good matchup for BU for a number of reasons.

I grew up rooting for the Badgers before going to Bradley, and they are still my second favorite team. I watched (suffered through?) most of their games this year, so I can provide a little bit of a scouting report. For starters, while Bradley's been playing their best basketball over the last few months, Wisconsin left their best play back in 2022. They haven't won back to back games since early January, and finished the year losing 12 of 18. Despite this, they hung around in the last four in for weeks, with the bottom finally dropping out after an ugly loss to Ohio State in the Big Ten tournament. Seven of these losses were close games where they had the lead in the final few minutes. Poor late game execution (shot selection and free throw shooting) did them repeatedly.

Wisconsin consistently played to the level of their competition. In the same week, they took Purdue down to the wire and then almost lost to bottom-feeder Minnesota. They did have some injury issues early in conference play but are fully healthy now.

Like Bradley, Wisconsin really doesn't have a player who can consistently create his own shot late in a possession or in crunch time. Like the Braves, UW also doesn't shoot free throws well. Bradley has the size to match up with Wisconsin on the interior. So, Wisconsin really doesn't have something they excel at that exploits a weakness of Bradley.

I think the teams are pretty evenly matched. Wisconsin gets the advantage of home court, but I think the late tip and the fact that students are on spring break will negate that some. I think Bradley's also going to be the more motivated team, while the Badgers fit the classic archetype of power conference team that just missed the big dance and really doesn't want to be in the NIT. In a game they had to have in the Big Ten tournament against 13th-place Ohio State, they came out flat, falling behind 14-6 to open the game and eventually 47-20 five minutes into the second half before mounting a late rally. If they couldn't be ready to play for that one, with their bubble status in the balance, I can't imagine their motivation being higher for the first round of the NIT.

I'm predicting the Braves win this one and move on to the second round. Go Braves!

[FanSince82]

Just got 2 tix in sec 120 row d from rhe WI site. Look like good seats at BU end. Go Braves!

[houstonbrave]

Would hope Demarion Burch and Davion Hannah would be in attendance.

[pfunk880]

Would hope Demarion Burch and Davion Hannah would be in attendance.

Davion's going to be there:

https://twitter.com/Evan_Flood/status/1635114475576754183

[basketball nut]

I would love to have the committee explain how Wisconsin with a lower RPI and NET then BU get the home game especially going 6-12 in their last 18 games.
I know it's all about the money but that isn't how it's suppose to work.
Honestly Wisconsin doesn't deserve to even be in the NIT.
Just my opinion.

[Stryker]

I would love to have the committee explain how Wisconsin with a lower RPI and NET then BU get the home game especially going 6-12 in their last 18 games.
I know it's all about the money but that isn't how it's suppose to work.
Honestly Wisconsin doesn't deserve to even be in the NIT.
Just my opinion.

I agree 100%. Wisconsin had like 1 good win all year and really faded down the stretch. All we can say is hopefully BU goes to Madison and shows them who the better team is.

[houstonbrave]

PJ Star article
says Ville has been cleared and will play.

[Tommy]

I would love to have the committee explain how Wisconsin with a lower RPI and NET then BU get the home game especially going 6-12 in their last 18 games.
I know it's all about the money but that isn't how it's suppose to work.
Honestly Wisconsin doesn't deserve to even be in the NIT.
Just my opinion.

Great post. Couldn’t have said it better BN!