BadgerBlitz - A Closer Look at Wisconsin Basketball's Nonconference Opponents (2024)

MADISON, Wis. – Five high-major opponents are a part of Wisconsin basketball’s 11-game nonconference schedule released by the program Thursday, one that includes two teams projected to be in the

In addition to its usual in-state rivalry game against Marquette, the Badgers will host Arizona in early November and play three games at two neutral sites, two of which will come at the inaugural Greenbrier Classic in West Virginia. It’s a challenge test for head coach Greg Gard entering his tenth season with a new-look roster, as a pair of seniors Steven Crowl and Max Klesmit look to blend with three new additions from the transfer portal, veteran reserves, and inexperienced freshmen.

BadgerBlitz.com takes a closer look at the opponents.

November 4 | Madison, Wis.

2023-24 season: The Crusaders finished 10-23 and were ninth in the 10-team Patriot League, having a conference record of 6-12. Caleb Kenney had a standout junior season in being named the Patriot League Defensive Player of the Year. He averaged 11.9 points, 6.5 rebounds, and 2.2 blocked shots per game for the Crusaders while connecting on 57.6 percent of his field goal attempts (174 of 302).

Last season’s NET Ranking: 350 out of 362

Series: First Meeting

Things to Know: Head coach Dave Paulsen is entering his second season with the program after winning four conference titles in seven seasons with league-rival Bucknell. Since winning 20 games in 2014, Holy Cross has had 10 straight losing seasons, including five straight of winning 10 or fewer games.

November 7 | Madison, Wis.

2023-24 season: Despite finishing fifth in the Big Sky regular season, the Bobcats (17-18) knocked off in-state rival Montana to win the league’s automatic berth for a third consecutive season. The Bobcats were eliminated by Grambling State, in overtime, during the NCAA Tournament First Four.

Last season’s NET Ranking: 208

Series: First Meeting

Things to Know: Montana State defeated Cal in Berkeley last season for the Cats' first road win over a Power Five opponent since 2011. The Bobcats return three starters, three role players, and added eight newcomers to the roster but must replace leading scorer and rebounder Robert Ford III. Entering his second season, Matt Logie has a career win percentage of .794 that ranks eighth among all active men's college basketball coaches.

November 10 | Madison, Wis.

2023-24 season: The Mountaineers won their first conference title since 1979 after posting a program-best 16-2 record in the Sun Belt. They were one of 13 teams in the country to post at least 16 conference wins. Two of those wins came against James Madison, which upset Wisconsin in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Beaten on a buzzer-beater in the Sun Belt Tournament semifinals, App State and its 27 wins weren’t selected for the NCAA Tournament and the Mountaineers lost at Wake Forest in the first round of the NIT.

Last season’s NET Ranking: 72

Series: First Meeting

Things to Know: App State must replace its top three scorers from last year’s roster. The Mountaineers have posted five consecutive seasons with a winning percentage of .500 or better for the first time since 1987-92.

November 15 | Madison, Wis.

2023-24 season: Arizona finished 23-9 and won the final regular season title in the Pac-12. The Wildcats secured a No. 2 seed in the 2024 NCAA Tournament. Guard Caleb Love became the 10th Wildcat in program history to earn Pac-12 Player of the Year, as he averaged 18.0 ppg and was a third-team All-American.

Last season’s NET Ranking: 4

Series: This will be the first meeting in Madison. UW leads the series 5-3.

Things to Know: Even though two-time All-Pac-12 center Oumar Ballo transferred to Indiana, the Wildcats will be talented in returning four of the top eight scorers (including Love) and have reinforcements coming in Anthony Dell'Orso (20.2 ppg at Campbell) and Trey Townsend (17.3 pts, 8.1 rebounds, 3.1 assists, and 1.3 steals at Oakland) and signed sought-after recruits Carter Bryant and Joson Sanon as the program transitions to the Big 12.

Much like Wisconsin, Arizona has dealt with a recent lack of tournament success. After getting bounced by sixth-seeded Clemson in Los Angeles in March, the Wildcats haven’t won an NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 game since 2015 (before losing to UW two days later). Arizona has been bounced by three double-digit seeds in the first round over that stretch.

Nov.18 | Madison, Wis.

2023-24 season: Never winning more than two consecutive games, the Vaqueros lost their final 14 games to finish last in the WAC, 6-25 overall and 1-13 away from home. After going 29-65 over three years, head coach Matt Figger and the program “mutually agreed to part ways” in March.

NCAA NET Ranking: 331

Series: First Meeting

Things to Watch: In April, Kahil Fennell was hired as the program’s new head coach. Spending the last two seasons as an assistant at BYU, Fennell helped lead BYU to 23 wins this past season, their first in the Big 12, including four wins over ranked teams. UTRGV is moving to the Southland Conference.

Nov.22 | White Sulphur Springs, WV

2023-24 season: The Knights completed their first season in the Big 12 with signature wins over ranked conference rivals Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas Tech. However, UCF was undone by losing nine games by eight points or less, finishing 17-16 (7-11 Big 12) and losing in the opening round of the NIT.

NCAA NET Ranking: 61

Series: First Meeting

Things to Watch: Johnny Dawkins has won 60 percent of his games in his eight seasons as head coach, the second-highest in UCF history, and has won early season tournaments in consecutive seasons. Like many schools, UCF had a roster shakeup with four players entering the portal and bringing in six new ones, including guards Jordan Ivy-Curry (17.1 ppg at UTSA) and Keyshawn Hall (16.6 ppg at George Mason). Two players who didn’t leave were guards Jaylen Sellars and Darius Johnson, who were UCF’s top two scorers as juniors at 15.9 points and 15.2 points per game, respectively.

TBD | White Sulphur Springs, WV

2023-24 season: After winning two conference games a year ago, the Tigers finished 17-16 overall and in a tie for seventh in the SEC with a 9-9 record, far better than their predicted 13th-place finish in the preseason. LSU was selected to the NIT where the Tigers lost to North Texas (the same program that knocked UW out of the 2023 NIT semifinals) in the first round.

NCAA NET Ranking: 94

Series: Wisconsin leads 4-0. The schools haven’t played since the 2000 Sweet 16.

Things to Watch: LSU lost four players to graduation, two to the transfer portal, and one to the NBA draft but reloaded with three impressive pickups from the portal.

Senior Cam Carter started 70 games the last two seasons with Kansas State and averaged 14.6 points, 5.0 rebounds, 2.6 assists and 1.4 steals a season ago with 59 threes. He shot 84 percent at the free throw line (100-of-119) and averaged 35.5 minutes per game.

Senior guard Jordan Sears comes from UT-Martin, where he was a first-team All-Ohio Valley selection in 2023 and 2024. Not only did he average 21.6 ppg last season (ninth-best in the nation), Sears was the only active Division I men’s basketball player to record at least 650 points, 140 rebounds, 140 assists, and 75 three-pointers this season.

Former Richmond guard Dji Bailey averaged 10.2 points per game, 4.4 rebounds, 2.2 assists, and 1.7 steals per game last year, and his 59.4 percent field goal percentage was the best in the A-10 and sixth highest in a season in Richmond program history.

TBD | White Sulphur Springs, WV

2023-24 season: After starting 1-5 in ACC play, the Panthers won 12 of their last 16 games to secure consecutive 20-win seasons for the first time since 2012-14. Even though the Panthers finished fourth in the ACC (12-8) and registered ranked wins at Duke and Virginia, Pitt was not selected to the NCAA Tournament largely due to a nonconference strength of schedule ranked No.343. Pitt declined a bid to the NIT.

NCAA NET Ranking: 40

Series: Wisconsin leads 12-7 and won the last meeting in the first round of the 2016 NCAA Tournament.

Things to Watch: The Panthers lost leading scorer Blake Hinson and star freshman guard Bub Carrington to the NBA Draft. Starting center Federiko Federiko and reserve forward William Jeffress entered the transfer portal, but Pitt added Florida State forward Cameron Corhen (9.4 ppg) and Houston guard Damian Dunn (6.4 ppg).

Nov.30 | Madison, Wis.

2023-24 season: The only independent Division-1 program made headlines when it knocked off inter-city rival Northwestern in mid-December. Following a six-game losing streak, which started with an 80-53 loss at Wisconsin, Chicago State won four straight and five out of eight to finish the regular season. Finishing 13-19 after a brief run in the CBI, the Cougars registered their most wins since 2013-14.

NCAA NET Ranking: 296

Series: Wisconsin leads 4-0

Things to Watch: After Gerald Gillion left to take the head coaching job at Long Island, CSU elevated assistant Scott Spinelli to the head coaching position. The Badgers have scheduled the Cougars four times since 2016.

December 7 | Milwaukee

2023-24 season: After sweeping the Big East titles in 2022-23, Marquette finished 27-10 overall and was second in the conference, four games behind national champion Connecticut. After losing to the Huskers in the Big East Tournament final, Marquette earned a No.2 seed in the NCAA Tournament for the second straight season. The Golden Eagles advanced to their first Sweet 16 since 2013 but lost to 11th-seeded N.C. State in the regional semifinals.

NCAA NET Ranking: 14

Series: Wisconsin leads 71-59. The Badgers have won the last three matchups.

Things to Watch: Marquette needs to replace key pieces Tyler Kolek and Oso Ighodaro but the Golden Eagles were one of the few teams nationally who didn’t lose any players to the portal. Shaka Smart’s club got a big boost when Kam Jones returned to school instead of the NBA Draft, as Jones averaged 17.2 points per game last season while shooting 50 percent overall and 41 percent from three. Forward David Joplin (10.8 ppg) and guard Stewie Mitchell (1.9 spg) will have bigger roles.

December 14 | Indianapolis

2023-24 season: The Bulldogs started by winning 10 of their first 12 games and were 16-8 in mid-February. A five-game losing streak damaged Butler’s NCAA Tournament chances and the Bulldogs’ postseason was one-and-done, losing in the NIT first round to Minnesota.

NCAA NET Ranking: 68

Series: Wisconsin leads 17-14. Butler won the only neutral site meeting in the last matchup in the 2011 Sweet Sixteen.

Things to Watch: The game will be the second game of a doubleheader at Gainbridge Fieldhouse as part of the 2024 Indy Classic (Purdue vs. Texas A&M is the opening game). The Bulldogs are the only Big East team to return its top two scorers, led by 6-6 guard Pierre Brooks II (14.8 points, 40.6% 3-pointers) and 6-7 wing Jahmyl Telfort (13.9 points, 4.9 rebounds, and 3.0 assists). The Bulldogs also added Big Ten athletes Jamie Kaiser Jr. (Maryland) and Patrick McCaffery (Iowa) from the portal. The Bulldogs are coached by Thad Matta, who had a 12-16 record vs UW in 13 seasons at Ohio State.

December 22 | Madison, Wis.

2023-24 season: The Titans opened the season on a 26-game losing streak (27 dating back to the previous season) to set a new Horizon League record for futility. When the Titans finally won, beating IUPUI on Valentine’s Day, a lone fan “stormed” the court before retreating. Detroit Mercy lost its final five games to finish the season 1-31, the worst record in Division-1.

NCAA NET Ranking: 356

Series: Wisconsin leads 3-0.

Things to Watch: After leading the team in scoring (20.8), assists (2.7), and steals (1.5), senior guard Jayden Stone has transferred to West Virginia. After the school and former Indiana head coach Mike Davis agreed to “mutually” part ways after six seasons, the Titans hired Michigan State assistant coach Mark Montgomery to lead the program. Montgomery has signed four high school players and added six transfers to the roster since taking over, including Wausau native Peter Fuchs Jr.

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