Selection Sunday has come and gone. The debate is over. Your team is either in or out. It’s time for the games to begin.

During the past week you’ve read more facts and figures than a math major. When the NCAA men’s basketball committee discussed what teams should fill the final tournament openings, it would have been easier for them to give a team the ax than to allow it in the tourney. Some say the UW-Madison Badgers should’ve been one of those teams not allowed into the tourney – I disagree.

A week ago, the Badgers were ranked No. 23 in the nation before losing to Michigan State and beating a Recker-less Iowa club. Somehow, they began the following week two spots higher in the national poll at No. 21.

The Badgers’ sub-par performance in their 64-52 loss against Indiana on Friday was the last chance they were given to establish any momentum going into this year’s national tournament.

However, a stifling defense and a pace slower than that of the 60-and-older league at the YMCA make the Badgers a legit team that nobody wants to play.

They can change an opposing team’s entire game plan and make a very athletic team look flat-out ugly. But as seen on Friday, the Badgers can look pretty ugly themselves, and I’m not talking about the facial profile of senior Mark Vershaw. The Badgers went more than 14 minutes without a basket.

Senior guard Mike Kelley has been the best perimeter defender in the college game for the last two years, but the team’s limited offensive firepower is usually its Achilles’ heel.

My guess is they’ll grab a No. 6 seed at best. They have just as good a chance to make the final four this year as they did last year. March is a good month for miracles. Go Bucky.