Ohhh, the horror. Wisconsin a 12 seed? Wow. But as anyone can attest, if there’s any place to be in the NCAA tournament as an underdog,

Bo Ryan and Trevon Hughes

it’s the 12 seed–as the history tells us that the 12 seed is actually very successful in terms of upsets. And the Badgers are playing good ball, despite getting beat in their opening round game of the Big 10 tournament.

The first round match up is against Florida State, a basketball team that was able to make it to the ACC Final after upsetting North Carolina who was sans Ty Lawson. They lost to Duke, but in the process, the 25-9 Seminoles were able to garner the 5 seed–but while this is a good seed, some think it should have been higher. Still, this is no cakewalk for the Seminoles, as the tournament-tested Badgers will bring their best Bo Ryan game to Boise in what should be an awesome game overall.

The Seminoles are talented and tall, but not rugged at all. They have streaky shooters and are not all that great defensively, but Wisconsin is not exactly an offensive juggernaut. The key to this game will be if Florida State can hold on to the basketball, as their guards have had a tendency to be sloppy at times. And with Wisconsin continuing to be a solid defensive team, they may be the Achilles heel for the upstart Seminoles.

If the Badgers can make it past the Seminoles, they’ll likely face Xavier in the second round, the 4 seed. The X-men won the regular season title in the Atlantic 10, but the conference overall was not as strong as it normally has been in the past, and overall the only big wins the Musketeers got was over Memphis and LSU. Other than that, Xavier really doesn’t have much to impress me. Still, this is a very athletic who can score in chunks and provide match up issues with the Badgers if they can control the tempo.

Predicted Outlook: The Badgers can certainly beat the Seminoles if they are on their game and Xavier as well. Asking more than that is probably too muchm but if they make it to the Sweet Sixteen, that will be a huge coup for Big Ten fans.