The Wisconsin Badgers earned a No. 5 seed in the NCAA Tournament on Sunday, and they’ll take on the No. 12 High Point Panthers in the first round, marking a battle between two high-powered offenses.

Wisconsin was placed in the West Region as the No. 20 overall seed in the field, and their region includes quite a few talented teams, led by the No. 1 Arizona Wildcats.

The Badgers are hoping to get out of the first weekend of the tournament for the first time since 2017, but they do have quite the path to do so.

With the West Region completely revealed, let’s take a look at the entire picture and evaluate Wisconsin’s path.

No. 1 Arizona vs. No. 16 LIU

No. 8 Villanova vs. No. 9 Utah State

No. 5 Wisconsin vs. No. 12 High Point

No. 4 Arkansas vs. No. 13 Hawai’i

No. 6 BYU vs. No. 11 Texas/NC State

No. 3 Gonzaga vs. No. 14 Kennesaw State

No. 7 Miami vs. No. 10 Missouri

No. 2 Purdue vs. No. 15 Queens

Wisconsin doesn’t have an easy path to success here in the tournament.

In the No. 5 vs. No. 12 matchup, the Badgers will take on High Point’s elite offense that rode waves last season and has carried on to this year.

Now, Wisconsin should be a comfortable favorite still and they possess one of the best offenses in the country, but this could be the type of game that goes in a shootout.

After that, though, comes the Arkansas Razorbacks, who jumped to the No. 4 seed line after winning the SEC Tournament. This should be an extremely exciting matchups between two teams with elite backcourts that have been hot heading into the tournament. Perhaps the rigorous schedule (3 games in three days, then potentially two more the week after) works in Wisconsin’s favor, since it’s a Thursday/Saturday draw.

Arkansas also isn’t a bad matchup with size. They’re a smaller team that’s more reliant on their guards, athleticism, and spacing. The depth is similar on both sides as well, with a slight edge to the Razorbacks. But Arkansas has Darius Acuff Jr., who has just been sensational as a freshman, leading the way.

Should Wisconsin find a way through both of those potential matchups, they’d have a likely date with the No. 1 Arizona Wildcats, who are one of the favorites to win the NCAA Tournament.

Of the No. 1 seeds, this was going to be one of, but likely the, hardest matchup for Wisconsin. Arizona’s got depth, size, young talent, and high quality players across the board. They’re just elite and complete on both sides of the ball.

Still, as we’ve seen this year and especially lately, you can never count the Badgers out of a game. Wisconsin has won games in different ways: they can shoot their way to a win, they can work the paint and get to the line, they can dominate in transition, and more.

Just this week, we saw Wisconsin beat a bigger Illinois team in the paint and on the glass, while relying more on its shooting in the Michigan and Washington games.

Looking down the bracket, the Badgers could see Purdue again if the two sides are able to make it that far, which would make for a tantalizing matchup. Gonzaga could also be a difficult matchup with their frontcourt, while it wouldn’t be surprising if BYU’s offense carries them to the Elite 8 either. But before that, Wisconsin must overcome the challenge of making the second weekend for the first time since 2017.

The path to a Sweet Sixteen appearance is there for the Badgers. They’ve got advantages against a High Point team that also scores well, but has some defensive woes. And they match up well against Arkansas in comparison to other five seeds.

But, as we’ve seen the last few years, anything can happen in March.