Although much of the college sports world will be focused on
opening night in college football, Big Ten men’s basketball made headlines
Thursday with the release of its 2012-2013 schedule. With conference matchups
now set, the complete season schedule for Wisconsin is known.
Following a much improved non-conference slate highlighted
by matchups with Florida, California, Creighton, Virginia, and Marquette, UW
will begin the Big Ten slate at home on January 3rd, 2013 against Penn State, a
team the Badgers swept in their 2012 season series.
“Its nice to have that first game at home,” UW junior guard Josh Gasser said. “But looking at the Big Ten schedule, there are no easy wins.”
The Badgers’ conference schedule is clearly highlighted by a
January 15th road date at Assembly Hall against national No. 1
Indiana. After winning both matchups last season (regular season in Madison and
Big Ten Tournament in Indianapolis), Wisconsin has now taken 10 straight from
the Hoosiers dating back to 2007.
“We didn’t play {at Assembly Hall} last year but its
definitely one of the toughest environments to play in,” Gasser said. “Its
going to be even tougher this year because they are one of the top teams in the
country.”
Some of the marquee home dates include a January 22nd
game against Michigan State (the first game after students return from the
winter break) and a President’s Day weekend matchup with Ohio State. Last
season, UW faced the Spartans on January 3rd, with most students
still home for the holidays and most of Badger nation still in a daze from the
previous night’s Rose Bowl loss.
“Our students are pretty good at coming to games but it’s a
lot tougher over break,” Gasser added. “It’s a good thing to have those big
games when the students are around.”
With the conference now composed of 12 members, UW will face
four schools just once during the 2013 season: Indiana, Northwestern, Michigan,
and Purdue. The matchups with Michigan and Purdue will be in Madison, with a
February 20th date in Evanston complementing the aforementioned trip
to Bloomington earlier in the year.
The Badgers will close out the regular season just as they
started conference play, visiting the Bryce-Jordan Center for a date with Penn
State on March 10th.
The Big Ten Tournament, moving this year to Chicago’s United
Center, will begin Thursday, March 14th and run through Selection
Sunday, March 17th.
Although national expectations are once again down for this
UW program, the Badgers have yet to finish outside the top 4 in the conference
standings during Bo Ryan’s 11-year tenure in Madison. With the schedule pitting
the Badgers against the highly touted teams from Indiana and Michigan just
once, it seems unlikely that streak will come to an end, especially with
Wisconsin returning four starters from a 2011-2012 team that wound up reaching
the Sweet 16 for a 2nd consecutive season.
“Its exciting because every game means something,” UW junior
guard Ben Brust said. “We’ve got to bring it every night.”
