OKLAHOMA CITY ? The Wisconsin Badgers have heard all season how much better they might be if Devin Harris had stuck around for his senior year or if his expected replacement, Boo Wade, had played more than one nonconference game.

Well, even if they had those guys, they couldn’t be any better off than they are now: among the last 16 teams playing for the NCAA championship.

Mike Wilkinson had 23 points and nine rebounds, and Zach Morley contributed 15 points and eight rebounds, sending the Badgers into the regional semifinals next weekend in Syracuse with a 71-62 second-round victory Sunday over tournament upstart Bucknell.

“It’s pretty good to be in the Sweet 16 after all this team’s been through,” Wisconsin coach Bo Ryan said. “People kept saying what we could’ve been and should’ve been. Well, we’re going to Syracuse. It’s not Disneyland, but, hey, it’s Syracuse.”

While the sixth-seeded Badgers (24-8) turn their attention to Friday night’s game against 10th-seeded North Carolina State, the Bison will be heading back to their Pennsylvania campus with heads held high.

Bucknell (23-10) gave the Patriot League its first NCAA Tournament victory with a stunner against preseason No. 1 Kansas University in the first round, then played the Big Ten’s third-place team tough deep into the second half Sunday. That’s pretty impressive for a program that just started handing out scholarships last year and has only five players getting free rides.

Wisconsin forced the Bison off the three-point line, taking away their best weapon against the Jayhawks, yet Bucknell still rallied from an early 13-point deficit and led 47-46 with 9:09 left. Even after trailing by 12 with 1:41 left, the Bison got within six with 36 seconds to play, only to see Tucker and Wilkinson seal their victory with free throws.

“I was very proud to be part of that game,” Bucknell coach Pat Flannery said. “There’s nothing I could take negative from this, whatsoever.”

Wisconsin's Mike Wilkinson (54) and Kammron Taylor applaud during the final minutes of the Badgers' 71-62 victory over Bucknell on Sunday in Oklahoma City.

Although Bucknell couldn’t become the third No. 14 seed to reach the round of 16, Flannery has no regrets. That’s why he emptied his bench with 41 seconds left, trailing by just eight.

“I just didn’t want any of those kids to leave here and not get on the floor,” said Flannery, who quickly changed gears when his team got within six.