Wisconsin basketball rockets up both KenPom and ESPN BPI after win over Appalachian State
Wisconsin basketball improved to 3-0 on the 2024-25 season with a blowout win over Appalachian State on Sunday.
The win was powered by transfer wing John Tonje, a common sentence in the season’s early stages. He finished with 17 points on 8-of-14 shooting, plus seven rebounds, five assists and two steals. Senior center Steven Crowl also had his best outing of the young season, adding 17 points on 7-of-12 shooting.
Wisconsin is off to a strong start. Though the opponents are far from the class of the sport, the Badgers are taking clear steps forward with every contest. That improvement, mixed with decisive winning, should be enough to create optimism surrounding the team’s rest-of-season outlook.
For more on that outlook, here is where Greg Gard’s group stands in KenPom and ESPN’s Basketball Power Index after the win over Appalachian State:
KenPom: No. 40 overall (up nine spots) — No. 37 offense, No. 55 defense
ESPN BPI: No. 29 overall (up 10 spots) — 13.1 rating, 18.8 – 11.2 projected record, 6.7% chance to win Big Ten Conference
Those trend lines are just from the decisive victory over Appalachian State. The movement has the team now ranked No. 5 in the Big Ten by BPI and No. 10 by KenPom.
The latter may be a bit more reserved on the Badgers’ quality after only three games. Regardless, it’s worthwhile noting that our updated Big Ten basketball power rankings aren’t the only measure that is upgrading Wisconsin after the first week of the season.
The Badgers are back on the Kohl Center court for a premier matchup against No. 10 Arizona on Friday. A win would only continue the team’s current upward trajectory.
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