Wisconsin Badgers March Madness Hub: Schedule, Seed, Opponent and Path to Final Four

Wisconsin basketball learned its fate on Selection Sunday, and now eagerly awaits as the NCAA Tournament draws nearer.

Below, we'll keep track of everything you need to know about the Badgers' path through March Madness:

Complete NCAA Tournament Bracket

March Madness Bracket — The 2026 NCAA Tournament Bracket | NCAA.com

Schedule

Round of 64 (Thursday, March 19): #5 Wisconsin vs. # 12 High Point, Thursday, 3/19 12:50 p.m. CT (10:50 a.m. local)

*Round of 32 (Saturday, March 21): Wisconsin would Winner of #4 Arkansas/ #13 Hawaii

*Sweet 16 (Thursday, March 26): Wisconsin would face remaining team of #1 Arizona, #16 Long Island, #8 Villanova and #9 Utah State

*Applicable only if Wisconsin advances

Wisconsin vs. High Point: Round of 64

Wisconsin's matchup with High Point isn't a glaring problem for the Badgers, but it's also certainly not the easiest 12-seed it could've drawn (McNeese State looked mightily appealing before the bracket dropped).

High Point is a red hot team that boasts the nation's longest active winning streak at 14 games, and it deploys an efficient offense manned by experienced upperclassmen. It also has yet to beat a team ranked higher than 155 on KemPom, where the Badgers check in at No. 22.

For more on High Point, check out our initial four things to know about the Panthers.

Top Seeds in the West Region

1. Arizona 2. Purdue 3. Gonzaga 4. Arkansas 5. Wisconsin

The West region perhaps isn't as stacked as some other areas of the bracket, most notably the East — which features Duke, UConn, Michigan State, Kansas and St. John's — but this is no walk in the park either.

Arizona is an extremely strong No. 1 seed; the Wildcats earned the second overall seed in the entire tournament and boast a sterling 32-2 record, having rolled through a perilous Big 12 Conference, losing only to Kansas and Texas Tech.

The Badgers are quite familiar with Purdue and have already beaten the Boilermakers in Mackey Area this season; they also wouldn't see Purdue until a potential Elite Eight matchup.

Gonzaga, meanwhile, has a somewhat inflated record as per usual in a weaker West Coast Conference, but the Zags have already beaten five NCAA Tournament teams and boast sparkling metrics, as is tradition.

Then, of course, there's the Arkansas Razorbacks, Wisconsin's most-likely Round of 32 matchup. The Hogs are exactly the kind of team the Badgers would've liked to avoid on the road to the Sweet 16: red-hot, having just won the SEC Tournament, explosive offensively, ranking No. 6 nationally in adjusted offensive efficiency, and with a star freshman point guard in Darius Acuff. Oh, and they're coached by legendary skipper John Calipari.

Wisconsin's Potential Path to a Final Four

A strong finish to the season helped the Badgers push all the way to a five seed, their third five seed in eight tournament runs under head coach Greg Gard. However, they'll look to avoid a similar fate; Wisconsin was a first-round exit in both instances (losing to James Madison in 2024, Oregon in 2019).

The Badgers' path to the elusive Sweet 16, a milestone they've achieved only once under Gard, is once again treacherous, as Wisconsin would likely have to best Arkansas in the Round of 32 to make the second weekend of the Tournament.

Arkansas is dangerous for all the reasons laid out above and then some, but you'd really hate to run into a legendary coach and his star freshman point guard, and their team that just went on a run to win the SEC Tournament, before the second weekend. But that's what the Badgers are staring down the barrel of currently unless No. 13 Hawaii can pull off some first-round magic.

If Wisconsin was to get to that coveted Sweet 16, it would likely run into the buzzsaw of No. 1 Arizona. The Wildcats are certainly a tough draw as one of the better No. 1 seeds. Still, if I'm the Badgers, I'd rather face Arizona as opposed to Duke or Michigan. Florida would've been nice too, but remember the Badgers beat an (admittedly very different) Arizona team in the 2024-2025 regular season.