Notable college basketball analyst snubs Wisconsin from top 25 ranking
Fox college basketball analyst and play-by-play broadcast John Fanta had a notable omission from his newest top 25 ranking. That team: the Wisconsin Badgers.
Fanta dropped the Badgers from the No. 22 slot they previously held in his top 25 from Jan. 26. The downgrade is a reaction to Wisconsin’s 1-1 week — a six-point road loss to Maryland and a road victory over Northwestern.
Related: Updated Big Ten basketball power rankings (Feb. 3): A new No. 1 emerges
Fanta’s newest top 25 includes five Big Ten teams: Purdue at No. 5, Michigan State at No. 12, Maryland at No. 21, Michigan at No. 23 and Illinois at No. 25.
There is an easy argument against his dropping of Wisconsin outside the ranking. The Badgers are a consensus top 25 team in every rating metric: No. 14 in KenPom, No. 23 in ESPN’s BPI and No. 16 in the NET. They will also likely maintain a spot in both the AP and USA TODAY Coaches Polls when both are released on Monday afternoon. A road loss to Maryland (No. 18 in KenPom, No. 15 in the NET) isn’t an indictment on the team’s quality, especially when it was quickly followed by a Quad 1 win over Northwestern.
Nevertheless, Fanta no longer views the Badgers as a top-25 team. Here is his full ranking:
Wisconsin returns to the court on Tuesday at home against Indiana. It then travels to Iowa before a gauntlet three-game stretch against Purdue, Illinois and Oregon. The team still has plenty of opportunities to prove its place near the top of the sport. Of nine remaining games, five are against Quad 1 opponents, three against Quad 2 and just one against a Quad 3 team.
A win against Indiana will be an important step toward returning to a consensus top-25 position.
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