Reader M. C. writes: Always a good day when the Badgers lose!
John: I tend to root for all BigTenTeams during the non-conference season. Here’s why: Let’s say we split our pair of BigTen games with Wisconsin, or Ohio State, Purdue or Illinois. That would tend to pull our national ranking (up or down) toward theirs, and the national rankings of all BigTenTeams, at the start of the BigTen season, are based on how they do, especially against power conference teams, during the non-conference season. Let’s say our Gophers finish the BigTen season 17 & 3, our national ranking, and our seeding for the NCAA Tournament, will depend largely on how many BigTenTeams were ranked how high at the end of the season, which depends heavily on how high BigTenTeams were ranked to start with. (BigTenTeams opened the 2022 season ranked #1, #3, #5, and #7, so that pretty good.)
But I understand rooting against those Stinkin’ Sconies – so knock yourself out.