ESPN’s Joe Lunardi sees an early exit for Wisconsin basketball in 2024 NCAA Tournament
It’s time to add ESPN ace college basketball bracketologist Joe Lunardi to the group that sees an early exit for Wisconsin basketball in March Madness.
Lunardi gave his full NCAA Tournament preview Tuesday morning, previewing all 68 teams and picking each team’s fate.
His power ranking for the Badgers includes the No. 18 ‘eye test rank,’ No. 16 resume rating and No. 19 overall seed in the tournament.
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The prediction, which Badgers fans are sure to disagree with: a first-round loss to No. 12-seed James Madison.
Here’s Lunardi’s rationale:
“March Madness is a guard-centric tournament and the Badgers have a quartet of quality ones in [A.J.] Storr, [Max] Klesmit, Chucky Hepburn and John Blackwell. But to cure the Badgers’ seven-year itch without a Sweet 16 trip, they must play much stickier defense — especially the aforementioned guards. I see Madison’s maddening March trend continuing with an early defeat against the other (James) Madison.”
We at Badgers Wire aren’t buying into James Madison as the automatic upset pick over the Badgers. Countless college basketball experts and television analysts have picked the Dukes, a curious trend after Wisconsin’s resurgent week at the Big Ten Tournament.
Lunardi’s point may be true, however. Illinois’ 93-point outburst on Wisconsin in the Big Ten Tournament final is worth monitoring as the James Madison game begins. Wisconsin will need to score at the same clip as it did, but also find more success on the defensive end.
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