3 ranked college basketball teams on upset alert this week, Feb. 12-18

No. 20 Wisconsin (At Iowa 2/17)

There's never a good time to go on a four-game losing streak in college basketball but having one at the beginning of February is a bad sign for Wisconsin. Things have gone off the rails of late for the Badgers, who peaked at No. 6 in the AP Top 25 two weeks ago, only to drop four straight to fall all the way to No. 20.

A tight loss to Purdue at home is in there, so it isn't all bad, but getting swept on a two-game road trip by underachieving Michigan and Rutgers is not a good sign for a team with designs on getting to the second weekend of March Madness. Defense has been a problem for Wisconsin, which has surrendered at least 72 points in all four of their losses, and that's a hard way for a slow-paced Badgers team to live.

Saturday sees Wisconsin hit the road for a dangerous game against Iowa, which enters the week with the 18th-highest-scoring offense in the nation. The Hawkeyes average 84.2 points per game and have four players averaging at least 10 per game, which is a good formula to attack a struggling Wisconsin defense.

If the Badgers intend to continue playing slow they will need to hit more shots to beat Iowa, which should take advantage of their opportunities against Wisconsin. There is some get-right potential here for Wisconsin since Iowa's defense isn't very good but they will need to step up their play to avoid another loss that will hurt their seeding in March.