Wisconsin came in with the resume, and they left with the trophy. Facing the starry-eyed Illinois Fighting Illini in the finals, who had upset everyone to get to the championship game, the Badgers were looking to methodically dismantle the spirit of the Illini, and that’s exactly what they did.

Hustling for loose balls, hitting big shots when they counted, playing a slow tempo game that they do so well, the Badgers basically blew out the Illini in the second half. As Billy Packer noted, the Illini just “conceded defeat” with about 10 minutes left to go in the game. And can you blame them? While Wisconsin may not be as deep or as offensively talented as North Carolina, Memphis, or Kansas, this team is certainly the class of the Big 10 and should undoubtedly get a 2 seed in the NCAAs.

You have to hand it to the Illini, and while they won’t go anywhere in the postseason, they certainly gave themselves something to build off of with the showing in the tournament. Congratulations, Badgers, you certainly earned it.