BLACKSBURG, Va. -- Guess again if you think anybody connected with the University of Wisconsin men's basketball team is feeling sorry for themselves because the Badgers are on the road again for a Big Ten/ACC Challenge game.

The Badgers certainly got skewered by Big Ten Conference officials, who scheduled them to play talented Virginia Tech here Monday night for their sixth road contest in the 10-year history of the Challenge. No other Big Ten team has played more Challenge games on the road.

To make matters far worse, the Badgers are playing the only Challenge game on Monday night despite the fact they played Saturday and were off the mainland last week at the Paradise Jam tournament at St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands. UW coach Bo Ryan said that Big Ten officials knew all that when they OK'd the date.

The obvious Monday game should be Virginia at Minnesota, which will be played Tuesday. The Gophers played Saturday, earning a 90-76 victory over North Dakota State. But the quick turnaround wouldn't be as big a deal for them because they aren't traveling. Virginia, meantime, played and lost 73-70 Friday night at Syracuse and would have had an extra day to prepare.

Another possible Monday game could have been Duke-Purdue. Both teams played last Friday, but that is one of the Challenge's marquee matchups, so ESPN, which sponsors the Challenge, wanted it Tuesday. But why not have a marquee game to kick off the Challenge?

Not many Big Ten teams are facing a more daunting Challenge challenge this week than the Badgers, who were stung in this event by Duke 82-58 at Cameron Indoor Stadium last year. The ACC's Hokies certainly aren't complaining about the scheduling. After getting off to a shaky start with weak wins over Elon, Gardner-Webb and Mount St. Mary's, they've had a week to fix what ails them and prepare for the Badgers on their home floor.

Ryan was upset last April when he learned the Badgers were playing a Challenge game on the road for a second straight year. He was upset again this fall when he learned the game was approved to be played on a Monday night.

But it's not bothering him anymore. Ryan won't let anything wreck his focus on preparing the Badgers (5-1) for the Hokies (4-2). "All that doesn't enter my mind," said Ryan of the Challenge scheduling. "We just play."

That is the attitude all the Badgers are taking to this difficult test for the team and its conference. The Badgers are 3-6 overall in Challenge games, and the Big Ten is 0-9 in the series.

"I think the bottom line is the Big Ten has to play better. We have to play better during that stretch of the season, and we haven't done that," said associate head coach Greg Gard. "That's on us to make sure we're taking care of business on our end. All we can control is what Wisconsin does.

"Nobody is going to feel sorry for us," Gard added. "We just have to do it like we'll have to do it in March. It'll prepare us and make us tougher for what we see down the stretch."