Wisconsin head coach Kelly Sheffield is preparing for one of the toughest weeks of Big Ten play. On Wednesday, the Badgers face No. 6 Minnesota and then take on No. 16 Purdue on Saturday.

But for Sheffield, it doesn’t so much matter which teams he has on the docket. No matter what, he knows better than to walk into the arena with anything but his A-game.

“We’ve got a team that can match up with anybody,” Sheffield said of his No. 5-ranked Badgers. “That doesn’t mean squat by the time the match gets here.”

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Sheffield -- who before he came to Madison was the head coach at Dayton and Albany and an assistant at Clemson, Virginia, and Houston -- said in other conferences, top teams can get away with bringing their B-minus game on most nights. In fact, he said, you could train right through most of the conference season.

But not so in the Big Ten. 

“I don’t care who you are, in the Big Ten, you bring your B-minus game and just about everybody else in the league, if they’ve got their A game, they’re beating you,” Sheffield said. “It’s what makes it really, really special, the teams that are able to win a Big Ten championship, because it’s just so hard to be good game-in, game-out, playing at that elite level.”

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Wisconsin has lost only one match so far this season -- a four-set defeat at the hands of Baylor in Waco in which Yossiana Pressley put away 32 kills, even hitting over the Badger block of 6-8 middle Dana Rettke and 6-3 opposite Madison Duello. 

Wisconsin’s nine wins includes a four-setter over then-No. 2 Texas, a sweep of then-No. 21 Marquette, and straight-set conference victories over Ohio State and Rutgers. 

On paper, the Badgers have been good since the start, but Sheffield has seen plenty of improvement since the first serve of the season. 

“We’re better defensively than what we were coming out of the gates, and I think we're better out-of-system,” he said, “whether that is setting or attacking out-of-system, getting quality swings when we’re not in rhythm.”

The Badgers have also made some improvements in comparison to last year, when they went 22-10 and lost to Stanford in the NCAA tournament round of 16. For one, setter Sydney Hilley is now a sophomore, and Sheffield says she’s better defensively, behind the service line, and at the net blocking. 

“She has a better understanding of where to put a ball in relation to the defense on the other side of the net, whether that’s seeing the block or understanding what a team is trying to do to slow your offense down and how to counter that,” Sheffield said, “rather than just repeating to a hitter or not repeating to a hitter or going to a hot hitter or just making really good sets. I think there is a better understanding of how to put people in good positions, and that’s just experience.”

First Team All-American and reigning AVCA National and Big Ten Freshman of the Year Rettke leads Wisconsin with 114 kills, hitting .396, and ranks as the top blocker in NCAA Division I with 1.81 blocks per set.

Certainly having Molly Haggerty, who spent the 2017 season in recovery from back surgery, back in the lineup has also been helpful, not only from a statistical standpoint -- Haggerty is the fourth-highest offensive contributor with 86 kills -- but also as a team leader. 

“She’s the kid that will fight and gets everybody else fighting,” Sheffield said. “She’s got some swagger to her and some confidence, and she’s one of those people that you’re around that you’re like, ‘All right, I’ll go down that dark alley with you. I feel a little bit tougher about myself being with you.’” 

Up to #️⃣5️⃣ in this week’s rankings! pic.twitter.com/RbEJCabcRf

— Wisconsin Volleyball (@BadgerVB) September 24, 2018

This week, the Badgers will need to channel all that swagger from Haggerty, get as many blocks as possible from Rettke, and execute on plenty of strategic setting choices from Hilley when they face Minnesota and Purdue. 

The Badgers got to see the Gophers in action over opening weekend when Minnesota hosted the Big Ten/ACC Challenge and both Big Ten teams faced off against North Carolina and Florida State.

“I left there thinking, man, this is the best team Hugh has ever had,” Sheffield said. “I just thought they upgraded in every position from last year. They put [Adanna] Rollins in on the outside and she’s hitting incredibly well, passing well, six rotations, kind of doing it all. They don’t make a whole lot of errors. You’ve got to beat them. They don’t help you out.”

Indeed, Minnesota has only lost twice, falling to Oregon and Stanford in back-to-back matches at the Big Ten/Pac-12 Challenge in Palo Alto. Over the weekend, the Gophers put on a clinic and swept then-No. 4 Penn State. Averaging 14.82 kills per set, Minnesota ranks third in NCAA DI.

Things won’t get much easier on Saturday night when the Badgers travel to West Lafayette. Purdue’s 6-4 opposite Sherridan Atkinson leads the conference with 4.40 kills per set and is “as physical as anybody in the league,” according to Sheffield. 

“They go to [Atkinson] an awful lot in a variety of different situations,” Sheffield continued. “She’s taken over that [Danielle] Cuttino role. What I saw a little bit of in the Illinois match, I thought Blake Mohler has really kind of taken her game to another level, playing with a lot of strength and guts. They’ve got a nice setter, they’ve got some tough kids in the back court that are handling the ball. They’ve got some really nice pieces.”

Taking a wider view, Sheffield highlighted the unique place the Big Ten conference finds itself in as a whole. During the 2017 season, you had a number of senior-laden teams. Michigan State graduated its entire starting lineup. Penn State lost five All-American starters. National champ Nebraska had seniors in the starting setter, middle, outside, and defensive specialist position.

This year, however, the conference is much more youthful, with a lot of underclassmen earning starting spots and making big impacts. 

“This is a really young conference right now, with a lot of young, talented players, and there hasn’t been a drop off as far as relation to the rest of the country,” Sheffield said. “What I think you’re going to see is teams really get stronger because there is so much learning, because these teams are just young, but they’re led by experienced setters.”

To illustrate Sheffiled’s point, consider this: Penn State, Illinois, Minnesota, and Ohio State all have senior setters. Michigan’s setter is junior Mackenzie Welsh who is going on her third season as the Wolverine’s starter.

“You’re just going to see these teams continue to get stronger as the season goes on, which is going to make it really nasty as we move forward,” Sheffield said.

And with seven teams already ranked in top-20, that’s a pretty scary thought.

Tune in right here on FloVolleyball.tv, Saturday at 6 PM CT to watch Wisconsin take on Purdue.