Wisconsin Basketball to Partake in ‘Tropical’ In-Season Tournament—Where Could the Badgers Be Headed?

Wisconsin basketball’s Big Ten schedule for the 2026-27 season is already locked in.

As is tradition with college basketball scheduling, the Badgers know their conference opponents first before the out-of-conference slate comes together.

The Big Ten schedule release often carries very little intrigue. Wisconsin knows it’s going to play every team in the league; it’s just a matter of who it plays twice and who it gets at home.

The out-of-conference game releases, however, are far more interesting. Recently, the Badgers have scheduled a healthy mix of buy games and high-major clashes. Tilts with Auburn and Villanova, as well as the annual Marquette game, are already in the works for next season.

Wisconsin will also participate in an in-season tournament during the 2026-27 campaign, as it has in recent seasons. Last year, the Badgers traveled to San Diego for the Randy Children’s Invitational and went 1-1, toppling Providence before falling at the hands of TCU.

Badgers’ general manager Marc VandeWettering, appearing on Brian Butch’s “Butchie’s Den” podcast, dropped hints about the 2026-27 tournament Wisconsin will play in.

“We’re returning somewhere tropical, so you can pack your swim trunks. A new tournament that we haven’t been to previously, but a similar island that we’ve been to in the past. I’ll say that,” he said.

Where could the Badgers be headed?

VandeWettering revealed plenty of information in just two sentences. There’s a handful of tropical locations in college basketball in-season tournaments (most of which occur on Feast Week), but it’s a new tournament on a familiar island for the Badgers. What could that be?

The key is that Wisconsin hasn’t been to this tournament previously, but it has been to the place — specifically the island — where it’s taking place.

That helps the process of elimination tremendously. We also have to examine the 2026-27 in-season tournaments that are already confirmed to see where Wisconsin could be headed.

Based on the available information, here’s the four tournaments we can narrow it down to (several of which have been confirmed but have yet to lock down dates and locations.)

The key here is that Wisconsin has already played in some of the bigger tropical tournaments including the Battle 4 Atlantis (’22-23, ’18-19) and the Maui Invitational (’21-22, ’16-17). We can rule those out.

But given VandeWettering’s clues, that doesn’t rule out Hawaii or The Bahamas. What’s more, both of those places track with the general managers “similar island” comments, as both places are technically archipelagos; Wisconsin may technically play on a new island (Nassau vs. Paradise Island, Maui vs. O’ahu).

Thus, we can be pretty certain that the Badgers are either headed to The Bahamas or Hawaii. The teams for the Bahamas Championship and the Hawaii Holiday Tournament are still un-announced, while Wisconsin could feasibly be the fourth and final team at the Rainbow Classic (featuring Hawaii, Portland and Cal State Fullerton) or the Hawaii Thanksgiving tournament (featuring Hawaii, Fresno State and Sacramento State).

Given the lower caliber of the other teams in the two Hawaii tournaments, it would make sense that the Badgers are part of the entirely un-announced field for the Bahamas Championship.

With June creeping closer, a big month for schedule construction on college basketball, this tournament could get announced sooner rather than later.