NCAA bracketology roundup: Badgers hold steady, but big games ahead

As the college basketball season heats up, FOX Sports Wisconsin will round up what experts are saying about the chances for Wisconsin to make the NCAA tournament in March. This is the third edition of the 2019 bracket roundup.



Wisconsin continues to solidify its place in this year's NCAA tournament. After a brief slump, the Badgers have upped their defense and have reeled off four consecutive wins entering the weekend.

Bracket Matrix is a site that compiles 99 different brackets (the site has added 13 since we last met), ranging from writers at Sports Illustrated and ESPN to bloggers for SB Nation and everything in between. Wisconsin was, of course, included on all 99 of the brackets, not to mention one from The Athletic, its first offering (and giving us an even 100) but has yet to be added to the Bracket Matrix.

However, despite Wisconsin's recent winning streak, just like last week, the Badgers remain a 6 seed when factoring in the average of the above-mentioned 99 bracket projections and then ranking teams accordingly.

Wisconsin is listed as high as a 3 seed by three predictors: Seed Madness, which has UW as the No. 11 overall team, Bart Torvik's T-Rankings, where the Badgers are the last 3 seed rated, and The Truth's Bracketology (we're fairly certain this is not a Paul Pierce prediction), which has Wisconsin played North Texas State.

The average seed of the Bracket Matrix for Wisconsin is actually 5.22, but that puts them at a 6 seed. Right above the Badgers is Maryland at 5.20. Wisconsin hosts the Terps on Friday night in a game which obviously will affect future bracketologies.

In fact, Wisconsin's next four games are against three top-25 teams (Maryland and top-10 teams Michigan and Michigan State) and tourney-hopeful Minnesota. It's not necessarily make-or-break time for the Badgers, but the next couple of weeks offer ample opportunity to strengthen that tourney resume.

And, by the way, as we type this Wisconsin is No. 13 in the NCAA's NET rankings, the system which replaced RPI this year.

Take a look at which tournament seed 12 big-name brackets have assigned to the Badgers below: