Greg Gard’s first two seasons at Wisconsin haven’t always been smooth, but they’ve always lasted past the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament.
A year after Bronson Koenig’s buzzer-beating 3-pointer sent No. 7 seed Wisconsin to the Sweet Sixteen, Nigel Hayes assured another spot in the tournament’s second weekend, scoring the go-ahead bucket with 11 seconds remaining as the Badgers upset the No. 1 overall seed Villanova, the reigning national champions, 65-62, in the second round of the 2017 NCAA Tournament.
For Wisconsin, its the program’s fourth straight appearance in the Sweet Sixteen, and but it looks like its first based off the locker room celebration.
On, #Wisconsin!#Sweet16 pic.twitter.com/mbpeAI2Y6t
— NCAA March Madness (@MarchMadnessMBB) March 18, 2017
Despite reaching the Big 10 Tournament championship game, Wisconsin had struggled down the stretch, losing five of its last seven regular season games. However, this roster is made up of several key players who have played on college’s biggest stage. Once again they came up in the clutch.
Wisconsin is on play the winner of No. 5 seed Virginia and No. 4 seed Florida.