College Basketball: Digital Big Ten Preview, #8 Wisconsin

Let's continue our digital minded journey through the Big Ten Conference, from less best to best. We know these programs are out there, waiting for potential recruits to click in. And we'll see who gets it and who doesn't. Thus far, our tour has shown us #11 Northwestern, #10 Michigan, and #9 Ohio State.

Here we go.

#8: Wisconsin

The Digital Scouting Report

Strengths: I like their video guide and to have the NCAA tourney in pictures is simple but powerful.

Weaknesses: It's very difficult to find a way to follow the Badgers

Full Scouting Report:

As I entered into the Wisconsin site, here, I was pretty optimistic. I mean I had them #2 in my Pre-looking at anything preview. I guess I did that because Wisconsin seems to be a solid program year in, year out.

Much like the Wisconsin Hoops program though, the good stuff on this website isn't flashy, but it is powerful. (Side note - how fitting is it that there's a giant Culver's image on the Wisconsin home page?)

OK, you need to scroll down the home page (I've done that for you in the image below). You'll notice a very random collection of icons -- and the good stuff starts right beneath the opportunity to buy tickets to the Trans-Siberian Orchestra... Isn't it always that way?

Clicking in on that Facebook and Twitter icon takes you to the page shown below - a directory of places to follow the Badgers. There are quite a few Twitter feeds, a Facebook site, and a mobile site. This might be the first time I've come across a mobile athletics site - nice.

If you click on that Twitter icon, it takes you here, to the UW Badgers.com Twitter page, which is a general athletics site.

Similarly, the Facebook icon takes you here, to a general Facebook site. Both serve as mechanisms to keep fans updated on athletics news and scores. Nothing fancy, but they use these effectively.

The Men's Basketball Twitter page, referenced in the directory is shown below (and accessible here). It's a standard site with updates but not original content, and 500 followers. Sites like this are ok, but I always expect more access from a program than this.

OK, back to those home page icons we referenced earlier. Way down in the bottom right you see a promotion for the UW Badgers Video Guide. (Direct link here). The Guide takes you first here, to a general image of campus and an intro by AD Barry Alvarez.

Fortunately, you are able to click by sport and select basketball-only content. The playlist that results is great, from a tour of the Locker Room by the players to highlights to strength and conditioning programs. I just wish you could bring these videos with you... or subscribe to get more of them. I don't think there's any way I'm going to just remember to get back here.

Inspired by this, it's time to visit the Men's Basketball page (here). Similar to the overall home page, at first glance you don't see anything updated or dynamic.

But scroll down and you'll see this collection of icons, just below the main image. We've got a few ways to follow the program.

The Men's Basketball Blog is a solid idea, you can check it out here. I know it's the "offseason", but as you can gather, this is a great idea that isn't very updated. Here's to hoping things are more up-to-date in the season...

This area of the site also drives you to sign up for email updates, or to access the video, Twitter, and Facebook content we've broken down earlier -- just another way in to the content.

Finally, the Men's Basketball site offers a collection of links, one of which is the "NCAA Tournament in Pictures." This is a simple yet powerful idea - bring the excitement of last year' run to the fans right here. Cool.

That's a wrap for today. Wisconsin has a bunch of potential, but thus far hasn't really found a way to make the site feel alive or you to feel connected to them.

Check back tomorrow - we'll keep rolling!

Andy