D'Amato: State's Division I teams left on the outside looking in at NCAA Tournament
March Madness has gripped much of the nation but in Wisconsin it’s just, well, March.
For the first time since 1998, none of the four Division I men’s basketball teams in the state was invited to the NCAA Tournament. The 68-team field was announced Sunday.
Wisconsin’s streak of 19 consecutive tournament appearances essentially ended when it lost to Michigan State in the Big Ten tournament. That the Badgers were national runners-up three years ago and made it to the Sweet 16 in each of the last two seasons made this year’s stumble even tougher to take.
Marquette, a bubble team with a 19-13 record, was passed over for one of 36 at-large bids by the NCAA selection committee.
UW-Milwaukee (16-17) and UW-Green Bay (13-20) could have gotten in only by winning the Horizon League tournament.
This is a sobering development for college basketball fans in Wisconsin, but it’s not the end of the world.
Wisconsin and Marquette will bounce back, perhaps as soon as next year. Both teams had abnormal seasons, with underclassmen getting substantial playing time and learning on the fly.
THE BRACKET: See all the NCAA tournament matchups | Printable
NIT: Marquette will host Harvard in the first round
WISCONSIN: A state connection to every team in the 2018 NCAA Tournament
REGION CAPSULES: East | Midwest | South | West
BIGGEST SNUBS: Seven teams that had strong case to make NCAA field
COMMITTEE MISTAKES: Five teams that were either underseeded or overseeded
In UW’s case, point guard D’Mitrik Trice (foot) and wing Kobe King (knee) both were lost one-third of the way through the season, leaving the Badgers perilously thin at guard. Freshman Brad Davison had to play major minutes and was phenomenal considering his left shoulder popped out of joint during games more than a half-dozen times; he underwent surgery last Monday.
Redshirt junior Ethan Happ plans to declare for the NBA draft and will attend the combine in Chicago in May if invited. But it’s not likely he’ll be projected as a first-round pick, in which case he would return to Wisconsin for his senior year and try to add a mid-range jumper.
No one at Wisconsin is happy with a 15-18 record – the Badgers’ streak of 11 consecutive 20-victory seasons ended – but there were encouraging signs down the stretch. UW won four of its last six games, including a 57-53 upset of Purdue, which had crushed the Badgers by 28 a month earlier.
That finish should have erased any lingering doubts about Greg Gard. He kept the season from spinning out of control and got the most out of players who would have barely seen the court in a normal year. The man can coach.
Marquette coach Steve Wojciechowski had similar challenges. He had to play sub-6-foot guards Markus Howard and Andrew Rowsey, sacrificing size and length for scoring (the two combined to average 40.5 points).
One of the tradeoffs was that the Golden Eagles were awful on the defensive end; they allowed an average of 85.8 points in their 13 losses.
MU loses only Rowsey and will add Nebraska transfer Ed Morrow Jr. and recruits Joey Hauser and Mormon missionary Brendan Bailey, the son of former NBA player Thurl Bailey. All three are 6-foot-7 or taller and should give the Golden Eagles an inside presence they have sorely lacked.
The MU fan base is growing restless. The 2018-’19 season will be a critical one for Wojciechowski, who has taken Marquette to just one NCAA Tournament in his four years. Previously, the Golden Eagles made the tournament in eight consecutive seasons under Tom Crean and Buzz Williams.
So, while no state team will take its fans on a wild ride this month, the beauty of college basketball is that there’s always next year to bust a bracket.