The last time both Marquette and the University of Wisconsin made the NCAA Tournament in the same year was 1997. Should Wisconsin defeat Michigan at the Kohl Center Wednesday night to finish the regular season at 18-11 overall and 11-5 in the Big Ten, the next time will undoubtedly be in two weeks.

This idea would have been stunning or just stupid had you floated its possibility the last time the Badgers played the Wolverines back on Feb. 2 in Ann Arbor. The 64-53 blowout loss to one of the worst teams in the conference (though Crisler Arena is to the Badgers what the Silverdome was to the Packers) evened UW's conference record at 5-5. Logicians and anyone paying attention will note the team hasn't lost since.

"You've got to be in these type of situations," coach Bo Ryan said after the humbling defeat. "Sometimes you've got to burn your hand and let the skin heal and don't get burned again."

The scab is still visible, but the pain is now gone. 

The season has featured its share of bad losses (Weber State, Penn State, Michigan), but each has had a corresponding big win on the road (Michigan State, Indiana, Minnesota). Ryan's team has defined resilience and skin grafts.

Bo Ryan's Badgers could be the state's second entry in the NCAA Tournament

But how? The Badgers have already locked up their best conference record since 1961-62, and they've done so despite losing (besides Kirk Penney and Travon Davis) every major contributor to the 2000 Final Four and 2001 NCAA groups (Andy Kowske, Mark Vershaw, Maurice Linton, Mike Kelley, Roy Boone, Jon Bryant, Duany Duany). And they've done so despite a 3-6 start and heartbreaking non-conference losses to Georgia Tech and Temple (in double-overtime at the Kohl Center, that venue's only loss this season). 

It's difficult to pinpoint exactly why the Badgers have been successful, but Ryan certainly is a major factor. Though it's easy to forget, Ryan had his share of success before hitting Madison, something we were reminded of when he picked up his 400th career victory against Iowa last week. In fact, in Dick Bennett's wake, Ryan is solidifying the idea that the University of Wisconsin college system is a pretty decent coaching incubator (and UWM's Bruce Pearl, who wasn't spawned by it, is the latest to prosper in its fertile soil).

Of course, Ryan doesn't make any shots. The team has something to do with this dream February, too, especially junior guard Kirk Penney. Penney has evolved from an error-prone freshman gunner to a multi-threat offensive force, scoring more than 20 points seven times and dropping 33 and 30-point efforts on Marquette and Minnesota, respectively, two of the season's signature wins. 

Penney has help, too, specifically from his four starting mates: Charlie Wills brings clutch shooting and hustle; Devin Harris provides athleticism and scoring punch; Dave Mader has quietly become proficient in the middle; and Travon Davis has honed his driving and passing ability to everyone's benefit. 

In fact, those five starters have taken the floor at tip-off of every game this season. "Pen, Wil, Mad, Har, Dav" the UW media notes list out 28 consecutive times, and no five syllables could be sweeter. With a short, seven-man rotation (Mike Wilkinson and Freddie Owens see the only quality minutes off the bench), the consistency and health of the starters has been paramount. There have been bad games by everyone at times, but no major slumps -- and, more importantly, no ACLs, high ankle sprains or soft tissue mishaps. {INSERT_RELATED}

Wednesday's game will make it 29 straight five-man starts, and next Friday at the Big Ten Tournament in Indianapolis, the potential No. 1-seeded Badgers could make it 30.

Yes, it's true -- this team expected to finish anywhere from ninth to 11th in the Big Ten could still win the Big Ten title. It might be shared with Indiana and Ohio State -- and UW would win a tiebreaker with those teams by virtue of a season sweep -- or even with IU, OSU and Illinois, but I don't think Ryan would mind.

Notes: 

Odds on, local hoops fan will once again have two local teams in the NCAA Tournament, though hopefully the end results will be better than the aforementioned '97 season. Both teams dropped ugly games in the first round of the Tournament -- UW lost to Texas, 71-58, and, more memorably, Marquette fell to a white-hot Austin Croshere and Providence, 81-59. 

Better tidings came back in '94, when UW, MU and Dick Bennett's UW-GB team all made the dance and all won first-round games (UW over Cincy, UW-GB over Jason Kidd and Cal, and MU over SW Louisiana). Of course, Marquette went on to knock off Kentucky in the second round for their most recent Sweet 16 trip, where they fell to Duke and Grant Hill. 

Pearl's UWM team could make it another threesome this year by somehow getting past Butler and Detroit in the Horizon League Tournament.