The Big Ten's 2014 basketball schedule hasn't been released in full, something we can likely expect tomorrow, but earlier today the single games for the upcoming season were released and per Jim Pozlin of the Wisconsin State Journal it will look like this:

UW's single plays for the 2013-14 season are Ohio State (home), Michigan State (home), Nebraska (away) and Penn State (away).

— Jim Polzin (@JimPolzinWSJ) May 14, 2013

For Wisconsin this has to be some great news to say the least. Getting two title contenders in Michigan State and Ohio State at home and just once in the regular season, could it get much better? 

Sure it could, UW gets two teams that aren't likely to be in the mix for anything but a break even record in Nebraska and Penn State on the road. However, Penn State at any point in recent history has to give UW fans some pause for concern. Happy Valley and PSU haven't been that nice to UW as of late. 

The Badgers 2013-14 men's basketball schedule is coming together quite nicely. After making it known earlier this year that UW would participate in the 2013 Cancun Challenge the athletic department announced that Wisconsin will take on St. Jon's to open up the season on Nov. 8th. 

However, this isn't a home or away game, instead the two will face off in Sioux Falls, S.D. at the Stanford Pentagon facility. 

I know what you are thinking... Why the heck is this game doing being played in Sioux Fall, S.D. of all places? 

Well, UW associate head coach Greg Gard gave us all some insight into this game happening. 

“In terms of locale, Wisconsin fans from around the Midwest will have the opportunity to travel to Sioux Falls and watch the game, and it just made sense for us in terms of intelligent travel for our team,” UW associate head coach Greg Gard said in a statement. “We’ve been approached by several broadcasting networks to play a neutral site game around the world and we felt that given the time of when it needed to be played, the location and the opponent that this was a great fit for us.”

The game will played in a 3,250 seat arena on the sprawling 160,000-square foot facility that is the Stanford Pentagon. 

According to the schedule the Badgers will be the home team but will be a neutral court game for competitive purposes. TV and time have yet to be announced for the game.

This will be the fourth meeting between the two teams, with Wisconsin being 3-0 all-time against the Red Storm. The last game between these two was a 2002 NCAA Tournament game, which UW won 80-70. 

It seems as if making lists, checking them twice.... Oh and coming out with ridiculously early preseason polls are all the rage around the interwebs these days. Normally I don't put a lot of stock in these things - especially the one's that come out like hours after the national championship game has been played - however, most have been smart now and have either updated or waited until the NBA draft deadline so we have a reasonable level of roster expectations. 

So, in that veign it's time to look at where the pollsters and bracketologists have the Badgers as we move into the summer dolldrums. 

(This list is meant as a conversation piece, so converstate away in our comments section folks)

Jon Rothstein of CBS: Wisconsin 24th
Sporting News: Wisconsin 11th
BracketologyExpert.com: Wisconsin 20th 
Real GM: Wisconsin 10th 
USA Today Sports: Wisconsin RV 
Dick Vitale's Top 40: Wisconsin 28th 
Jason King of ESPN: Wisconsin on the cusp 
Andy Katz of ESPN: Wisconsin 25th 
CBSSports.com: Wisconsin 12th 

As you can see the rankings are all over the place for UW and really, after reading the polls it's more of a personal preference for some of these guys than an actual analysis of facts, rosters, and the like. Who do you think as the Badgers ranked too high, too low, or just right? Comment away, commenters.

Wisconsin welcomed former assistant coach Tony Bennett and his Virginia Cavaliers back to the Kohl Center and coach Bennett's charges came out with a 60-54 victory in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge. The Badgers will get a chance to avenge that loss this season as the two will meet in the 15th annual Big Ten/ACC Challenge.

The Badgers and Cavaliers will meet on Dec. 4th at John Paul Jones Arena, with the time and ESPN station to be determined at a later date. 

Last season the two conferences were at a stalemate, tying at 6-6, and leaving the Big Ten with the Commissioners Cup as the winner of the 2011 challenge. 

The loss last year dropped the Badgers to 6-8 overall in the challenge, but they are actually one of the most successful teams in the Big Ten as they are second in wins to only Illinois. 

Wisconsin has won games three of the last five seasons in the challenge. 

UW's opponent is coming off an appearance in the 2013 NIT tournament and holds a 5-1 all-time record at home in the challenge. 

Expecting anything but a defensive challenge would be asking a lot from two teams who were ranked amongst the best on that side of the ball. UW was seventh in the nation in scoring defense (55.9ppg) and the Wahoo's were fifth with a nearly identical average (55.7ppg). 

2015 Sun Prairie Point Guard Nick Noskowiak verbally committed to Marquette yesterday after his unofficial visit with the Golden Eagles. Noskowiak, a sophomore at Sun Prairie High School, is widely thought of as a Top-100 player in the Class of 2015. Wisconsin and Bo Ryan were showing serious interest in Noskowiak, but had yet to offer him.

When I asked our friend and recruiting expert Evan Flood from 247 Sports if Wisconsin had a chance to sway Noskowiak's commitment he responded, "Wisconsin won't recruit a committed player. Unless he changes his mind down the road, it's over."

Noskowiak's sudden decision comes as a surprise to me, as top recruits (especially those as young as Noskowiak) usually choose to let their recruitment process go slowly. Noskowiak would have been a great fit for Bo Ryan's system, as he's a very talented player and a smart decision maker.

Bo Ryan being attacked by bloggers, opposing fans, and sports writers with an agenda? It must be the offseason, so let the hits start coming I guess. Normally, it's whatever to us here - I mean, it's become a running joke by now and frankly it's nothing we haven't all heard a thousand times before. 

Normally, that's the case, but every once in a while there's a new angle of attack and well, after thinking we've heard them all before here at MTB we've found a new one. Apparently now Bo Ryan is an evil person attracting and recruiting walk-on's to pad the team GPA and well, we'll let one Joseph Nardone (the article's author) say it best: 

Now, somehow, schools (Not just Wisconsin) are recruiting their walk-ons. These players are generally borderline D-I talent, but add either great depth to the practice team or, more diabolically, are decent enough players but whose grades are so swell, it alters a program’s team grade average — keeping them safe from any potential NCAA sanctions.

Yep, that's a new one if we've ever heard it. If you bother to read the full "article" and we use that term loosely, Nardone attempts to make some sort of point that the NCAA is doing a disservice to players and allowing coaches - notice how Bo Ryan is his only example - to artificially inflate their team GPA's. 

Lady Luck just wasn’t shining on Wisconsin’s side this season. After being defeated by Ohio State in this year’s Big Ten championship game, the Badgers quickly suffered another loss by losing to 12th seeded Ole Miss which caused them to bow out early in the NCAA Tournament. It was surely demoralizing for the players since they were heavily favored to win against their first round opponents. While the whole nation is fascinated with Kevin Ware’s injury, the team is most likely trying to recover from their heartbreaking whipping from Ole Miss. I guess not everyone can be like the Danish (considered to be the happiest country on earth); Wisconsin is probably the complete opposite of Denmark right now. We can only hope for a better result next year.

It may be a disappointing season for Badgers Basketball but their supporters have a lot of things to look forward to with the team’s new players. Nigel Hayes, Vitto Brown, Riley Dearing and Jordan Hill are just some of the names Badgers fans have to watch out for in the next tournament. Also, 4-star recruit Bronson Koenig will be competing against junior Traevon Jackson for the starting point guard position next season as Head Coach Bo Ryan is trying to build around as much talent as he can get for potential NBA player Sam Dekker. Koenig, unlike Jackson, is a natural playmaker and passer (with some fancy passes in his arsenal) which is exactly what the team needs. If Dekker stays for a few more years, along with Jackson and Koenig, Wisconsin will be a force to be reckoned with in NCAA Men’s Basketball. The future looks bright for the Badgers, but right now, they should focus on getting that Ole Miss loss out of their heads. Going out for walks or playing online games like the ones in da.partycasino.com could help the players recover faster. In PartyCasino, there is Blackjack for those who love card games. If you like slot machines, there’s a game called The Sting to fulfill your needs. For the whole casino experience, PartyCasino has European Roulette to complete the list. Hopefully, the Wisconsin Badgers can get back into their winning form (and be happy as the Danes) before the next NCAA season starts.

Bo Ryan has the whole off-season to work with his new players so they can get familiar with the team. Special attention should be given to Sam Dekker and Bronson Koenig as these two will be the foundations for Wisconsin’s champion run in the future. With Treavon Jackson peaking at the right time, we might see the Badgers in the NCAA Finals after a year or two. Right now, they should just focus on rehabilitating and improving. Take your time Badgers, just take your time.