Five Things to Know: Badgers set for the Big Ten Tournament

MADISON, Wis. — The Wisconsin men’s tennis team is beginning postseason play this week when it travels to Bloomington, Indiana, for the 2023 Big Ten Men’s Tennis Tournament. The Badgers earned the No. 6 seed and will play No. 3 seed Northwestern at 3 p.m. CT on Thursday afternoon. All matches will be streamed live on B1G+.

Here are five things you should know before Thursday’s tournament match:

1. Regular Season Summary: The Badgers finished the 2023 regular season with a 11-10 record. In conference play, they ended the season in sixth place in the standings at 4-5, correlating to a No. 6 seed in the tournament. Wisconsin was dominant at Nielsen Tennis Stadium, ending with a 9-2 home record, while it struggled a bit on the road going 1-8 in away matches and 1-0 in neutral matches. 

2. Big Ten Tournament Central: After last weekend’s matches, the tournament bracket is set! Rankings didn’t shake up very much with Ohio State (1) and Michigan (2) taking the top-two seeds. Northwestern (3) and Illinois (4) followed with Nebraska (5) and the Badgers coming in at No. 6. Michigan State, Penn State, Indiana, and Purdue finished it off in that order. The Big Ten Tournament begins on Wednesday in Bloomington but the Badgers will play their first match on Thursday. For all live stats and streaming information, as well as the bracket and tournament information, you can visit the Big Ten Conference’s Tournament Central. 

3. Know the Opponent: The Northwestern Wildcats earned the No. 3 seed in this year’s tournament with a 19-8 overall record and a 7-2 record in conference play. The Wildcats’ two Big Ten losses came at the hands of Ohio State and Michigan. Wisconsin traveled to Northwestern on April 16 and ended up coming home with a 4-1 loss, including losing the doubles point. Head Coach Danny Westerman said in a press conference this week that their match against the Wildcat’s this season was one of their strongest singles performances of the season and if they played like that and are able to secure the doubles point unlike last time, they have a real shot at moving to the next round. 

4. Follow the Action: Live updates on the Badgers can be found on Twitter (@BadgerMTennis) and Instagram (@wisconsintennis), while live scoring/streaming will be linked from the men’s tennis schedule page on UWBadgers.com.

5. Coming Up: The…