via
@BraydonRoberts5
WHO: Wisconsin Badgers (8-18 overall, 3-11 Big Ten)
WHEN: Wednesday, February 15th, 6:31pm
WHERE: Carver-Hawkeye Arena (Iowa City, Iowa)
TV: None
ONLINE: Big Ten Plus ($)
RADIO: Hawkeye Radio Network | Sirius/XM 109 or 196
The top of the Big Ten is better than it has been in a long time. Indiana is a favorite to reach the Final Four.
Iowa and
Maryland both have a chance if they play well and get the right matchups.
Michigan and
Ohio State have a good shot of making the Sweet Sixteen, and could be dark horses to go further, particularly if the Buckeyes ever get healthy.
But the bottom five teams in the conference just aren’t competitive in the majority of their games. Iowa saw that firsthand recently in
its blowout of Rutgers. It will likely see the same thing Wednesday night against
Wisconsin.
In 2020-2021, Wisconsin went 5-19 overall and 2-18 in conference. The Badgers were bad enough that they moved on from coach
Jonathan Tsipis and brought in
Marisa Mosley to replace him. Wisconsin wasn’t good in 2021-2022 — finishing 8-21 overall and 5-13 in conference — but it was better than the prior year. If Wisconsin took another step forward this year, the program could gain some real momentum.
Unfortunately for Badger fans, this year hasn’t been a step forward. The Badgers sit 8-18 overall and 3-11 in the Big Ten. Without a couple wins to close the season, they will actually finish worse in the Big Ten this year compared to last.
Shauna Green’s turnaround of
Illinois in a single season also makes Mosley’s position at Wisconsin more difficult. Until recently, coaches have usually gotten 4-5 years to show substantial improvement within a program. With the transfer portal and Green’s recent example, it’s more common to start questioning coaches much sooner when their teams aren’t progressing.
Mosley isn’t on the hot seat yet. Wisconsin has been bad for most of the last 20 years, and Mosley’s results so far are basically the same as what Tsipis did before her. But it is fair to start wanting to see signs that Mosley
can lead a turnaround, or if her ceiling at Wisconsin is still the bottom half of the conference.
MORE HERE:
https://iowa.rivals.com/news/preview-no-7-iowa-wbb-vs-wisconsin
