When Kobe King quit Wisconsin's team late last month, it was reasonable to assume the Badgers' season might go the wrong direction. Greg Gard's team was already shaky -- just 12-8 overall, 5-4 in the Big Ten. Would losing a key player, the team's second-leading scorer, really help things?
Surprisingly, the answer appears to be ... yes.
The Badgers won again Thursday, this time 81-74 at Michigan, and are now 6-2 since King quit. They had three Quadrant 1 victories when King quit after a 70-51 loss to Purdue in which he missed all five shots he took; now the Badgers have eight Quadrant 1 wins. They'll take a five-game winning streak into Sunday's game with Minnesota.
"Sixty days ago, this wouldn't have been possible," Gard told reporters after his team shot 53.7% from the field against Michigan. "[Sixty days ago], we weren't ready to come into this environment, against a good team, and be able to finish out a game on the road. It just shows the maturity, and shows the leadership, in the locker room that we have with our older guys."
Wisconsin is No. 26 in Friday morning's updated CBS Sports Top 25 And 1 daily college basketball rankings. The Badgers are one of seven Big Ten teams in the Top 25 And 1. The others are No. 8 Maryland, No. 15 Penn State, No. 19 Michigan State, No. 21 Iowa, No. 22 Michigan and No. 23 Ohio State.
Top 25 And 1 rankings
Rk | Teams | Chg | Rcrd | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  | Udoka Azubuike finished with 19 points and 16 rebounds in Monday's 83-58 victory over Oklahoma State. The Jayhawks will take a 13-game winning streak into Saturday's game at Kansas State. | -- | 0-0 |
| 2 |  | Matthew Mayer got 19 points off the bench in Tuesday's 85-66 victory over Kansas State. The Bears' lone loss is a single-digit loss to top-ranked Kansas. | -- | 0-0 |
| 3 |  | Filip Petrusev finished with 21 points and nine rebounds in Thursday's 94-59 victory over San Diego. The Zags are 8-2 in Quadrant 1/Quadrant 2 opportunities with zero losses outside of the first quadrant. | -- | 0-0 |
| 4 |  | Obi Toppin finished with 19 points and seven rebounds in Tuesday's 62-55 victory at George Mason. Both of the Flyers' losses are OT losses to schools also ranked in the Top 25 And 1 -- namely Kansas and Colorado. | -- | 0-0 |
| 5 |  | Malachi Flynn finished with 17 points, six rebounds and four assists in Tuesday's 66-60 victory over Colorado State.The Aztecs' lone loss is a Quadrant 3 loss at home to UNLV. | -- | 0-0 |
| 6 |  | Marcus Zegarowski made seven 3-pointers and finished with 25 points in Sunday's 81-59 victory over Butler. The Bluejays are 9-1 in their past 10 games with the lone loss in that stretch coming at Providence. | -- | 0-0 |
| 7 |  | Trent Forrest finished with 16 points, five rebounds and three assists in Monday's 82-67 victory over Louisville. The Seminoles will take a four-game winning streak into Saturday's game at Clemson. | -- | 0-0 |
| 8 |  | Darryl Morsell made the game-winning 3-pointer and finished with 13 points in Wednesday's 74-73 victory at Minnesota. The Terrapins are atop the Big Ten standings with a two-game lead over the closest competition. | -- | 0-0 |
| 9 |  | Immanuel Quickley made eight 3-pointers and finished with 30 points and five rebounds in Tuesday's 69-60 victory at Texas A&M. The Wildcats are 11-1 in their past 12 games with the lone loss in that stretch coming at Auburn. | -- | 0-0 |
| 10 |  | Myles Powell finished with 18 points, five rebounds and four assists in Sunday's 81-65 victory over St. John's. Seton Hall is 4-2 in its past six games with wins over Villanova and Butler. | -- | 0-0 |
| 11 |  | Saddiq Bey made four 3-pointers and finished with 23 points in Wednesday's 71-60 victory over St. John's. The Wildcats are one of just six teams with zero losses outside of the first quadrant. | -- | 0-0 |
| 12 |  | Austin Wiley finished with 15 points and 11 rebounds in Tuesday's 67-58 victory over Ole Miss. The Tigers have only lost twice this season with Isaac Okoro in the lineup. | -- | 0-0 |
| 13 |  | Jordan Nwora missed 10 of the 14 shots he attempted in Monday's 82-67 loss at Florida State. Louisville is alone at third in the ACC standings with a 14-4 league record. | -- | 0-0 |
| 14 |  | The Blue Devils allowed Wake Forest to shoot 51.5% from the field in Tuesday's 113-101 double-overtime loss on the road. Duke is 1-2 in its past three games with multiple losses to sub-50 NET teams. | -- | 0-0 |
| 15 |  | Myles Dread made the game-winning 3-pointer in the final seconds and finished with 11 points in Wednesday's 65-64 victory over Rutgers. The Nittany Lions will enter the weekend tied for second in the Big Ten standings. | -- | 0-0 |
| 16 |  | Payton Pritchard made five 3-pointers and finished with 23 points in Thursday's 69-54 victory over Oregon State. The Ducks' resume features seven Quadrant 1 victories and just two losses outside of the first quadrant. | -- | 0-0 |
| 17 |  | Yoeli Childs finished with 28 points and 10 rebounds in Saturday's 91-78 victory over Gonzaga. The Cougars are 15-2 with Childs in the lineup. | -- | 0-0 |
| 18 |  | Aaron Thompson missed 10 of the 11 shots he attempted in Sunday's 81-59 loss at Creighton. The Bulldogs will take a three-game losing streak into Saturday's game at DePaul. | 1 | 0-0 |
| 19 |  | Cassius Winston finished with 20 points, nine assists and five rebounds in Tuesday's 78-70 victory over Iowa. The Spartans have six Quadrant 1 wins and only one loss outside of the first quadrant. | 2 | 0-0 |
| 20 |  | Markus Howard made five 3-pointers and finished with 30 points in Wednesday's 93-72 victory over Georgetown. The Golden Eagles are 12-9 in Quadrant 1/Quadrant 2 opportunities with just one loss coming outside of the first quadrant. | 2 | 0-0 |
| 21 |  | The Hawkeyes missed 21 of the 27 3-pointers they attempted in Tuesday's 78-70 loss at Michigan State. Iowa is 4-4 in its past eight games with two losses in that stretch coming to unranked teams. | 2 | 0-0 |
| 22 |  | The Wolverines allowed Wisconsin to shoot 51.7% from the field in Thursday's 81-74 loss to the Badgers. Michigan is 13-5 with Isaiah Livers in the lineup, just 5-5 without him. | 4 | 0-0 |
| 23 |  | Kaleb Wesson finished with 16 points and 18 rebounds in Thursday's 75-54 victory at Nebraska. The Buckeyes are 4-1. in their past five games with the lone loss in that stretch coming at Iowa. | NR | 0-0 |
| 24 |  | The Mountaineers allowed Texas to shoot 52.4% from the field in Monday's 67-57 loss at UT. West Virginia is 1-5 in its past six games. | -- | 0-0 |
| 25 |  | DeJon Jarreau missed 11 of the 15 shots he attempted in Saturday's 60-59 loss at Memphis. The Cougars are 4-3 in their past seven games with all three losses in that stretch coming to unranked opponents. | -- | 0-0 |
| 26 |  | D'Mitrik Trice made five 3-pointers and finished with 28 points in Thursday's 81-74 victory at Michigan. The Badgers will take a five-game winning streak into Sunday's game with Minnesota. | NR | 0-0 |
IN: Ohio State, Wisconsin
OUT: Colorado, Arizona State
