A couple items of news on the Badger basketball team's '13-14 schedule.
1) They will open the season against St. Johns in Sioux Falls, SD. Apparently there is a new sports complex there called "THE PENTAGON!!!" built with money from a health care organization run by Joe Krabbenhoft's dad. Small world.
2) The Big Ten conference season match-ups have been released. Wisconsin's four single-game opponents are MSU, OSU, @PSU and @Nebraska.
3) Going back a bit, the "bracket" for the Badgers' Cancun tournament have been released as well. They will play St. Louis in the first game, and then the winner of West Virginia vs. Old Dominion. As with last year's matchup against Creighton in the pre-season "tournament," the SLU / Wisconsin game is clearly the championship game.
On the game against St. Johns, I like it. This will be in place of a home game for Wisconsin, so it takes the place of a terrible game against the Little Sisters of the Poor. St. John's hasn't been great under Steve Lavin, but they're decent. They'll be a top-150 team, which means this will likely be good for the RPI.
I like the Badgers' Big Ten schedule. I prefer to have the tough games at home and the cream puffs on the road in those no-return-game matchups because it increases the chances of going 4-0 in that slate. Last season the Badgers were set to go 4-0 after winning at Indiana, at Northwestern, and home against Michigan, but they laid an egg against Purdue at home. I like the Badgers' chances to go 4-0 next year, and would be very surprised if they don't go 3-1. (Though PSU figures to be somewhat tougher next year.)
I like the OSU and MSU matchups only once. It may not help any when it comes to RPI and strength of schedule come seeding time, but it should help the chances of winning the regular season title. With the defections to the NBA it looks like this is MSUs title to lose, but I won't ever underestimate Bo.
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