This seems like either first-class trolling or a colossal screw-up by scheduling North Dakota (not State) for an improbable away game and after putting Grant Nelson, a North Dakota State transfer, on your non-con blurb.
Or a thoughtful, considerate bit of scheduling so that Grant Nelson could play a game in front of his hometown fans. (Come to think of it, Digger Phelps often did this when he was at ND.)
The irony of course being that Michigan did in fact punch their ticket and advanced to the S16, while for approximately the millionth year in a row under Greg Gard, Wisconsin was bounced early as a high seed.
But yeah, Bart’s post-slap behavior has been a little hard to forget.