I Was Wrong About Wisconsin

It was November 7th, 2021. The rest of the Pardon My Take crew and I were settling in to record a new episode of the podcast, which understandably so, was a football-heavy show. But with college basketball around the corner, I figured I'd do my best Joe Lunardi impression and try out "Barstool Bench Mob Bracketology." I brought that up on PMT, and Mr. Cat asked me where I had his Wisconsin Badgers in my initial bracket. The answer I had was not one he was looking for:

Greg Gard and the Badgers were picked to finish 10th in the Big Ten preseason poll. The team had lost a handful of seniors, and Wisconsin was coming off some issues off the court, too. All of the above gave me enough confidence to have them just on the wrong side of the bubble entering the season (PS: I wasn't alone, but we don't have to talk about that!). So, we left Hoboken that night with my boss feeling a little disrespected. But hey, you know what makes sports great? You get the opportunity to settle a lot of these debates on the court. And it didn't take long for me to start looking like a fool:

November 24th: Wisconsin wins the Maui Invitational (three wins in three days)

December 8th: Wisconsin erases a 22-point deficit to beat Indiana at home

January 3rd: Wisconsin stuns No. 3 Purdue on the road at Mackey Arena

March 1st: Wisconsin sweeps Purdue to win the B1G Regular Season Title

Speaking of last night, calling it a crazy scene would be the understatement of all understatements. Mr. Cat is a legend in Madison, Wisconsin. There is simply no other way to put it. From pumping the crowd up on the Jumbotron before tip-off, to leading the student section throughout the game, and shooting t-shirts into the seats from center court, it was so cool to experience that game with him.

No matter how last night's game went, my preseason prediction was wrong. Not just wrong, but WRONG wrong. I addressed that head-on entering the Kohl Center:

With 1.5 seconds left in the game, Wisconsin's Chucky Hepburn banked in a three that would be the eventual game-winner for the Badgers. As the student section continued to inch closer to the court, a storm was inevitable. This is when Hank gave me one very important task:

Follow Big Cat through the storm at all costs.

Through some elbows to the head, zero room to move, and hundreds of sweaty folks surrounding us, we ended the night with one of the best traditions in college sports: the court storm (led by Mr. Cat).

Wisconsin is a B1G Champion. Wisconsin is much better than I (and A LOT of other people) thought. Congratulations, Badger Nation.

I was wrong about Wisconsin.