The Wisconsin Badgers earned a No. 5 seed in the 2026 NCAA Tournament on Selection Sunday, drawing the No. 12 High Point Panthers in the first round.
As the No. 20 overall seed in the Bracket, Wisconsin was sent to the West Region and will play in the Portland regional alongside High Point, No. 4 Arkansas, and No. 13 Hawai’i on Thursday. The Badgers tip off at 12:50 p.m. CT on TBS.
Wisconsin enters the tournament as one of the hottest teams in the country, riding a five-game win streak before losing
by three to the Michigan Wolverines in the Big Ten Tournament semifinals without starting center Nolan Winter.
In that stretch, the Badgers beat the Washington Huskies (2x), Purdue Boilermakers (on the road), Illinois Fighting Illini, and Maryland Terrapins, with three of those coming without Winter.
The Badgers are expected to have Winter back for the first round, adding a key piece back in the rotation, and opened as 12.5-point favorites against High Point, although that has since dropped to 9.5.
Should Wisconsin advance, they could face another one of the hottest teams in the country in the second round: the Arkansas Razorbacks. Arkansas has won six of their last seven games and just won the SEC Championship Game on Sunday, so they’ll have a quick turnaround to play on Thursday against Hawai’i.
That matchup would be a battle between two star guard tandems, with the winner moving on to the Sweet Sixteen. For Wisconsin, that has been a goal they last achieved in 2017, and this season might be their best chance to do it since.
But, they are currently seen as slight underdogs to accomplish that goal. FanDuel Sportsbook has the Badgers at +110 favorites to make the Sweet Sixteen, giving them the 19th best odds of any team and the lowest of all No. 5 seeds. In turn, they have Arkansas as a -120 favorite to make the Sweet Sixteen, so the odds between the two are fairly close.
Should they reach there, the Badgers would likely face the No. 1 seed Arizona Wildcats, who were the No. 2 overall seed in the field and have the third-best odds to win the National Title at +390.
If there was a year for the Badgers to make a run, it would be this year. But they’ve got some good competition in the way of doing so.
