Wisconsin, Big Ten champions!

Wisconsin's men's basketball team won the Big Ten season championship this afternoon, with an easy victory over Northwestern, the league's last place team. They won the title outright. Only two losses, both to Purdue, marred their conference record.

When I attended UW, back in the dark ages, being regular season champions would have given them an automatic berth in the NCAA tournament (not that they ever had a competitive team back then). But about 10 years ago a post-season conference tournament was added, so now they'll have to win three more games, on three consecutive days, to get in automatically.

Not that they have to worry about getting in, anyway--they're ranked tenth in the nation, having won 26 of their 30 games. So even if they should lose in the Big Ten tournament (perish the thought), they will certainly be picked for an at-large berth. But winning the conference tournament on top of the regular season championship might get them a #2 seed in the "Big Dance," as the NCAA tournament is called.

Unlike last year, the Badgers are all healthy, so I'm hoping for a much better post-season (they lost in the second round of the NCAA tournament, with their center, Brian Butch, out with an injured elbow). Friday is the Badgers' first game, which I can watch from the comfort of my own home. ESPN will be carrying it, so I won't have to go to the bar to watch it, also unlike last year.