Badgers outside the Top 50 in first NET rankings

The NCAA released its first NET rankings of the season, which rank teams based on strength of victory, sorting wins by quads. Essentially, teams are rewarded for quality wins and punished for bad losses.

Well, the first rankings were not kind to the Badgers, who have racked up a Quad 1 loss and a Quad 2 loss to start the season.

Wisconsin was ranked at No. 69, as they are 0-1 in Quad 1 games, 0-1 in Quad 2 games, 1-0 in Quad 3 games, and 4-0 in Quad 4 games.

BYU, which slotted in at No. 13, was the Quad 1 loss. TCU ended up being a Quad 2 loss because they’re at No. 54. For that to be a Quad 1 loss at the end of the year, Wisconsin needs the Horned Frogs to be in the Top 50. Providence was a Quad 3 win since they’re ranked at No. 127 currently. If they’re in the Top 100 at the end of the year, that’ll be a Quad 2 win. And the four other games were all Quad 4 wins.

Of course, the first rankings don’t mean much, as the Badgers haven’t played many Quad 1 or Quad 2 opponents, but that is soon to change. Wisconsin hosts Northwestern and Marquette this week. Northwestern is a Quad 2 opponent at the moment, so that would not only be a nice Big Ten win but also a good resume booster.

The rankings will be much more important during the Big Ten season, where Wisconsin is sure to face several top-notch opponents.

But, for now, they’re at No. 69.