Like a Hurricane: Panthers Battered and Beaten Down by Wright State, Lose 68-44

The beat goes on with the unpredictability of your Milwaukee Panthers. While we came out with some impressive offensive intensity/accuracy (if not defensive poise/fortitude) in the first half at the Nutter Center... it would not at all carry into the second frame.

We went into the visitors locker room down 40-29- a disappointing, but very manageable margin to overcome. We ended up looking like the D-III team "Northwood" that the Raiders battered 75-55 earlier this season. Ultimately we fell- and fell hard (68-44).

We are not an early season "prep-game" team- we are better than this. I don't really know how many times I can say that, but I find myself saying it yet again (it's the truth- for analogy, if the 2010 Packers were to lose this coming Sunday and miss the playoffs- can you really say, they are a "bad" and untalented team? Hell no- they are an extremely talented bunch that couldn't close the deal in (now 6- hopefully not 7) games)..

Though I admit this analogy falls apart when you consider that the Pack has at least lost by a score or less in each of their losses... We haven't been so fortunate to make our losses nearly as close.

Tony Meier provided our lead in scoring (15pts) and Cooper Land of the Raiders had a career night with 21 points. The first half was shaping up to be a showdown between Meier and Land, but in the end the Panther side of this equation was just a sideshow to the Wright State faithful (and don't call me a traitor or a hater- it hurts bad to type that).

Wright State shot the lights out (56.5% FG, 61.1% 3pt), and we shot ourselves in the foot (36% FG, 24% 3pt, 40% FT). All else being around even.. it was shooting that once again downed our Panther ship. When oh when will we figure out how to consistently shoot over 40%?

It's not some sort of complex riddle- we have lost every time we've shot less than that magic number (including all blowouts- look it up). When we shoot over 40%- we win (or we at least provide entertainment for the people who buy our tickets or spend time following our team).

As one of the biggest defenders of this program since 2006, I'll admit, it is becoming harder and harder to find the silver lining. We cannot keep giving the impression that we are not fighters. We are fighters, but we keep melting down at the first sign of trouble.

But a loss like this on the road certainly cannot be attributed to lack of fan support (or to that end, "home court advantage"- the Great Recession had US Cell attendance figures in the normally well-packed Nutter Center tonight (or it appeared that way to me at least))..

I don't mean to be a downer- but sometimes tough love is the only way to get the message through: what we are doing right now is working less than 50% of the time. This is not the way would-be champions play.

Though in the depths of despair, with the '10-'11 Panthers Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde approach to the season, it would not surprise me one bit if this team makes some (maybe very) big splash wins before the season is over. The sad but true fact is- time is running out on this season. The chance to make this a successful (ie. "winning") campaign are dwindling with every loss, but seem increasingly dimmer with every blowout .

Let's enumerate- @ Portland (80-60), CSU (82-59), @ UW (61-40), @ DePaul (61-47), @ Wright State (68-44). Those aren't very encouraging results. It's important to note that last year's team, while equally criticized for not being the "next Milwaukee Panthers Big Dance team" at least were competitive in their losses (only bona-fide blowouts were @ Marquette (71-51) and vs. Detroit (81-65)).

It's tough, but all we can do is hope the team trudges on and can somehow alchemize the less-than-average season we've had so far... We've got some gold deep down in this roster, but for whatever reason it has yet to manifest itself for more than a few 5 or 10 minute stretches in games.

Of course our game at South Dakota State is an exception- that was the kind of team we expected we'd have this season.. but our mind-boggling shooting stats that game are unlikely to ever be duplicated again this season.

When we are down in games and start experiencing adversity, we have to find ways to win. But in order to put ourselves in a position to do so, we have to be at least within 10 points in the final 5 minutes which, in nearly all of the blowout losses listed above- we weren't.

Some of us will always love this team- even if we were to go 6-25 this season. But, Milwaukee Panthers- many, many borderline fans wanna love you, but they keep getting blown away (and not in a good way... but rather a Neil Young "Like a Hurricane" kinda way).

Rick Costello Named New Director of Milwaukee Athletics

MPTracks and Panther fans everywhere give a very warm welcome to Mr. Rick Costello, who has been named the new UWM AD replacing interim AD Charlie Gross who had been filling in after George Koonce's abrupt departure.

 Panther fans- meet your new AD, Rick Costello

Costello's public presentation which helped secure him the job can be heard over at PantherU.com: http://pantheru.wordpress.com/2010/12/17/rick-costellos-presentation/. Personally, I liked all three of the final candidates and found them to all have the qualifications necessary for this high position, but Costello seems to have the most experience that an athletics program and school like ours needs. His experience and expertise in many areas neatly fit with UWM's culture and the need to address our major needs:

• Huge fundraising experience, experience building facilities (new 7,000 seat East Side Arena circa 2014?)

• Has balanced multiple multi-million dollar budgets (budgets much larger than our own)

• Holds a Master of Business Administration degree- something that a department who has long been a lo$ing business might benefit from.

• Experience turning around a D-I bottom feeder's image (South Florida)

• Experience in an urban university setting (Costello will be leaving his current job as Rutgers Deputy AD)

• And..... (most important to us basketball fans..) he knows and loves the game of college basketball. Or he at least liked it enough to be the assistant coach on two teams (Lehigh and Cabrini College).

The university spent lots of money getting a defined "M" logo and upgrading Pounce, yet has done next to nothing to promote these very nice looking image advancements...

He will need to recognize that everything in UWM's AD starts with and is driven by the men's basketball program. That is in no way a diss to the women's team who almost upset Michigan State earlier this season, or to the men's or women's soccer teams (Sarah Hagen is among the top 11 players in the entire country) or the Volleyball team who dominated the Horizon League last season or Baseball who reached the NCAA Tourney last spring.

But if we are being honest, we must recognize that men's basketball is what can turn everything around. It can support the entire department (alternatively it can be a huge drain on the department, which some protest it currently is without any non-League post-season appearances since 2006). That one program will ultimately drive our successful future, or drive us into a ditch.

Support for all sports is important, but making sure the men's basketball team is successful and maximizing fan support behind it are paramount to repairing this university's image in the world of collegiate athletics.

In addition to making sure this basketball school has a good basketball program and fan experience at basketball games, serious thought should be given to harnessing some of our unique strengths to motivate the sickeningly huge yet apathetic alumni base and fan base we have right here in the Greater Milwaukee Area (ie. making soccer games a bigger event and leveraging the advantage Milwaukee Panther Baseball has being the only D-I program in the state- and good to boot!).

Costello certainly has his work cut out for him, that is the only sure thing at this point. But he sounds very confident and very realistic about our challenges and opportunities. I would love to see him hit the ground running.

For example- he could start with a relatively easy-win by implementing a branding/image standards document and sternly but graciously requesting that media outlets and merchandisers follow it. Yes, I am talking to YOU, JOURNAL-SENTINEL SPORTS, the stubborn and lonely home of "UW-Milwaukee Panthers" coverage..

Tom Enlund (JS Panther Hoops beat reporter) is an awesome writer and you are handicapping him with a cut-off-your-nose-to-spite-your-face "policy" of refusing to acknowledge the fact that our teams are called the Milwaukee Panthers and not the "UW-Milwaukee Panthers".

The Milwaukee Panthers deserve respect at the very least from our hometown newspaper, and with Costello's help, they may get it. And while we are on easy-wins, let's consider giving the public a little more visibility into progress being made with the Master Plan. They deserve more than fancy Power-Points and enticing JS blog posts about the "Master Plan". Where is it at? What is the schedule? Has any kind of progress been made since it was announced over a year ago?

Though we play UW (doesn't that make them the UW-Madison Badgers, JS?) and MU, their commitment to Athletics is worlds apart from ours... let's hope Costello can convince the UWM Academic brass that ultimately- Athletics can only help the academic mission of being a great Midwestern urban university.

But right now, like many Panthers, I am just happy to see we now have an AD in place again and can start building our future.

GO PANTHERS!!!!

Milwaukee Panthers Mid-Term Grade Report

In college, us students get graded every semester, the college basketball season spans two entire semesters. So as the first full semester of UWM Fall 2010 academics has completed and final grades are out, I thought I'd throw out some thoughts on where I think we are at as a team- at the near-'10-'11 "Mid-Term" point in our season.

Fortunately these grades do not matter. It's the real grades in the classroom that count. But I would imagine it's a lot easier to focus on studying Economics, History, Communications, Sociology, etc. during the grueling grind of a college athletics schedule when you are acing it on the basketball court as well as in the classroom. I know full well that it isn't easy, but I also know we have several big advantages that haven't yet fully "panned" out yet.

We shouldn't be average. We're Contenders. We are Milwaukee.

I don't mean to be harsh, I mean to be realistic. We are a lot better than this first 40 some % of our season. So far, I'd say (without any sort of "Mid-Major" curve) these are the mid-term grades for our Panthers:

Offense: C
Defense: C
Overall: C

The two words, "consistently inconsistent" explain this wash of a result in our fist 13 contests. Let's hope they don't define our season.

We haven't been terrible (excepting more than a few painful stretches), but we haven't been all that great either. While we've seen moments of offensive fury (all game at Niagara, late vs Marquette, Ant's 30 points vs. YSU, all day vs. SDSU, late vs. Bowling Green)- overall, we have been an average offensive team so far.

Milwaukee is currently averaging 67 points a game with shooting percentages of .428 from the field, .351 from 3pt and .609 from the free throw line. Not exactly numbers that jump off the stat sheet. But we've got some shooters and we have a lot of games to improve these numbers.

Ant Hill leads the team with 13 points per (which is 1.3 behind the League's next lowest team scoring leader*- Goeff McCammom of Loyola). We do spread the scoring around a lot with seven players averaging 5 points or more per game (but I think that has more to do with inconsistency that a conscious effort to spread the scoring around).

The bottom line is- no matter who has the ball or who has the open look- we've gotta score a whole lot more. No question about it.

And maybe a big reason for our inability to get into long stretches of offensive rhythm is our 14 turnovers per game average. We have constantly been rattled out of our element when teams play us man or put on a full court press after a scoring possession. It's hard to find the omnipotent Mo' when we keep coughing up the rock- 7 times each half.

I wish some newly departed fans were brave and bold enough to have seen beyond a 6-7 start.

Our Defense gets equally low marks. We have no one averaging even a single block per game and only Kaylon Williams is averaging an entire steal per game (1.0). As a team, we average 209th or lower in every major statistical category (out of 347 D-I teams). When you look at some of what we [haven't] done, it appears that we are actually somewhat fortunate to have 6 wins and be very much alive at this point in the season.

But those flashes of greatness are etched into my brain. I can't get them out, and I know I am not alone in that sentiment about this season and this Panther squad. I refuse to cave in and go along with the naysayers who claim the hype behind this and last year's team was unwarranted and that we are a program not on the rise but on the decline.

 Though non-con was up and down, Pounce may be about to Pounce on the Horizon League..

I wouldn't judge so fast.

So far, I think everyone would agree the season has gone pretty average. Most Panther fans (me, the most of which) had much higher expectations for this season. It would have been nice to have gotten a few more wins and to have avoided blowouts like we had vs. Portland and CSU, but the record is what it is. No use moping when 17 games remain.

Maybe Christmas Break was just the thing this team needed to snap out of it and remember that they are contenders and not just in this Horizon League race to vie for a middle of the pack finish- we have too much talent to settle for less than what we realistically can get.

The low point of the '10-'11  Milwaukee Panther Basketball season (let's hope).

These Panthers may yet have some fight in them to take control of their season. Nearly every sport is all about momentum. That's 99% of winning. It doesn't matter what happened before. If you have more momentum than your opponent you will win regardless of your conference, or past record at the venue or against the team, or coach's name, or record coming into the game, or whatever.

College Hoops is no different- it's all about the scoring/defensive stop/winning streak. Once we figure that out, and find consistency, it'll most definitely be Game Over for our Horizon League foes. The question remains though- will we figure that out?

Bruce Panther, can you just become the Incredible Hulk and stay that way 'till April/May?

GO PANTHERS!!!!


*What we desperately need to make the big come-back happen is for a team leader or leaders to emerge. Between Ant, Tone, Kaylon, Tony, Ja'rob, Lonnie, etc.- will one or more or all step up and answer the call?

Panthers Relinquish Lead, Battle Back to Fend Off Falcons, 72-69

Your Milwaukee Panthers came storming out of the gates this Saturday evening against the Bowling Green Falcons. Despite Anthony Hill's conspicuous absence, we still seemed to have a great shot at not only winning this game, but winning it big. We quickly stretched the shutout lead to 10-0, before things slowly... began... to crumble (kinda like DePaul).

After a couple of Falcon runs brought Bowling Green within a couple of possessions, we seemed to lose control of the wheel in this one... We ended up heading into the locker room down 36-35 and the spirits of Panther fans were on edge.

The second half saw the Panthers let Bowling Green's lead stretch to 11 points before they began to strike back. With about 14 minutes left, your Milwaukee Panthers began to take the game back. Tone Boyle (22pts, 7-14 from 3pt) and Tony Meier (20pts, 5ast) dominated and kept inching us closer.. and then we had it. "It" being momentum- it carried us through to the end and thanks to a clutch free throw by Ryan Haggerty, we closed the game out with a relieving if not comfortable winning final margin.

Milwaukee (6-7, 1-1) put up some encouraging numbers offensively- 48% FG, 40% 3PT and 71% FT. It's surprising that we gave up as many points as we did as our D seemed more intense than I personally have ever seen them play this season. Let's hope the intensity eventually translate into some serious defensive success. The turnover battle (we lost 12-8) is probably the main factor to explain why this one was so unexpectedly close (Milwuakee was a 10.5pt favorite).

The Panthers resume Horizon League play after Christmas when they will go on the road to play Wright State (Dec. 30th) and then Detroit on New Year's Day. This team remains an enigma in many ways. They have proven they can play against good competition, but they have had nights (like tonight at times) that make you wonder how they can let lesser teams even get in the game against them.

Many things tonight were encouraging- Kaylon (7pts, 7rbs, 6ast, and onlt 2 turnovers) ran the point well. Tone poured it on as mentioned. I wish Ant would have been out there, but hopefully he'll be back after break. Tony Meier continues to assert himself- and folks who have prematurely given up on this season should remember Tony is still just a Junior..

So we are a single game under .500. We can get back to an even slate with a win on the road against a good Wright State (7-5, 0-1) team. We must control conference. League play is our last remaining hope to dominate and get to a significant winning record. And conference play will largely determine how well we can do (or how far we can go) in the Horizon League Tournament in March of next year...

Let's go. We've lost some time, but we can still turn the season around. Don't give up on this team. They may just find their rhythm- there are certainly challenges (UIC just beat #14 Illinois, CSU, and a teak named Butler..), but we can win games. We proved tonight for the first time this season, that yes, this team can come back from a deficit.

We need more of the fight that was clearly evident in the final 10 minutes. We need that kind of passion every game. The guys who can give us that will play- and we will win a LOT of games with a go hard 24/7 attitude. Until then.... we will tread water around .500 and remain on the outside of the Horizon League looking in.


GO PANTHERS!!!!

Everyone Get's a Mulligan, right?

ROSEMONT, Ill. -- Tony Freeland scored 14 points and Cleveland Melvin added 11 as DePaul defeated Milwaukee 61-47 on Tuesday night.

DePaul (4-6) trailed by as many as nine in the first half, but came back to take the lead for good on a 10-0 run.

Trailing 23-19 late in the first half, Mike Stovall had a jumper for DePaul and made a pair of free throws to tie the game at 23. Melvin's basket gave DePaul a 25-23 lead, its first of the game, and his jumper capped the run to give the Blue Demons a 29-23 lead.

Anthony Hill and Ja'Rob McCallum led the Panthers (5-7) with 10 points each. Milwaukee committed 20 turnovers.


Milwaukee (5-7) vs. Bowling Green (2-8)
Saturday, Dec. 18th, 7pm
US Cellular Arena, Milwaukee, WI


GO PANTHERS!!!!

Law of Averages Comes to the Rescue

It finally happened. Your Milwaukee Panthers shot lights-out- from everywhere on the court- from opening tip to final buzzer. We played a complete game, and earned a well deserved road win and momentum as the team makes it's way back to the Midwest.

The Panthers (5-6, 1-1) ran out to an eight point lead early on three three pointers and but for a brief lull here and there in the late 1st half, pressed the advantage on all through the game. Panther three pointer after Panther three pointer (we nailed 14-23 for 60.9% from 3pt range) drowned out the Jackrabbit crowd of 2,000 or so at the Frost Center in Billings, SD and we dribbled out 30 seconds of clock to seal the deal, 82-70.

After the stinging defeats at the hands of Cleveland State and Wisconsin, a dominating performance like this was very refreshing and could be the beginning of a turnaround for Milwaukee. We had stars(!) galore last night.

1st among all stars of the game was Tony Meier. Meier tallied 19pts (7-11 fg, 5-7 3pt), 7 rebounds, and an assist, a steal and a block a piece. It is unreal how consistent Tony has been and how he seems to be getting better as the critics of the team and the coaches and the program get louder. Last night it looked like everyone else was following suit...

Ja'Rob McCallum scored 16 points and drilled every single one of his four 3pt attempts. Kaylon Williams, night and day from his game against the Badgers, scored 14 points, grabbed 6 rebounds, dished 7 assists, and scooped a pair of steals (which accounted for a third of of SDSU's 6 turnovers!). Tone Boyle scored 12 points and had 3 rebounds. Ant scored 9 to go along with 4 rebounds and 4 assists. Lonnie Boga had 9 points and 4 rebounds, and like McCallum, Boga also connected on every single one of his (3) 3pt attempts.

The story of the game is as easy as the overall team shooting totals and averages: 27-43fg (62.8%),  14-23 3pt (60.9%), 14-18ft (77.8%). The only explanation of these numbers is that the team shot the ball out of their minds last night. The field goal and three point totals are going to be hard to replicate, but if we can shoot within 12% of these, we can put ourselves in the driver's seat of a lot of games left on the schedule.

Griffan Callahan led all Jackrabbit scorers with 20 points. South Dakota didn't play terrible (they posted only 6 turnovers to our 15). We just shot the net on fire. We won't see a shooting performance like this every night.... but this may be a sign of a sharp reversal in our shooting trend. If true, that is very encouraging sign. The main thing this team has lacked in every single loss but 1 (Marquette)- has been shooting. Fix the shooting problem and this team will succeed.

A game like last night's may have been the perfect opportunity for us to finally "get rhythm". I watched the game online and visually but for a rash of turnovers, we seemed to be very fluid on both ends of the court. There was no confusion- everyone knew where everyone else (teammate and opponent) was on the court- and we opened up high percentage (wide-open) shots on almost every possession. The turnovers are costly though- they almost allowed SDSU to creep back into the game in the second half.

Our next contest is against DePaul of the Big East. DePaul is 3-6 against a fairly ho-hum schedule, and this (like any other on the schedule) is most definitely a winnable game. But the Blue Demons are a big team, and will be looking at us as easy fish food before their contests against the likes of West Virginia, Syracuse, and Pittsburgh when their Big East schedule begins.

We cannot make mistakes. And we can't count on shooting 60%+ in every statistical category (though it would be nice to see a repeat of last night's supreme marksmanship from the Panthers). DePaul plays in the All-State Arena just 2hr drive from Milwaukee and surrounding suburbs. If you live within driving distance, consider making the trip. The team can use all the support we can give them to help turn this season around and back into high-gear.

The last time we played in the All-State Arena was in March 24th, 2005. We lost in the third round  (Sweet 16) of the NCAA Tournament, 77-63, to eventual NCAA Runner-up, Illinois. Seems like ages ago, I know. But maybe some of the magic we left in that building that night can be recaptured with our return and help us pull out the win.


GO PANTHERS!!!!

Milwaukee Goes to Madison and Gets Effectively Badger'd, 61-40

15 points. That is all your Milwaukee Panthers could muster against the stingy Wisconsin defense in the first half of a lop-sided 61-41 loss at the Kohl Center on UW-Madison's campus Wednesday night.

Jeter and the end of the bench express the increasing frustration Panther fans feel right now

We did manage to shoot an impressive 3-7 (42.9%) from 3pt land... but we couldn't get off enough outside shots to make it matter. And, considering our overall field goal percentage continued to be unbelievably low for the second straight game (30.8%), our perimeter shooting would have likely cooled down even if we did get more shots from the great beyond.

This game was frustrating to say the least. My breakdown of this game is meant to reflect the effort we saw from the Panthers in this game. Haphazard, sloppy, unprepared, on-the-fly, careless. I won't ever give up on this team or any Panther team (the 14-17 trial-by-fire and redemptive season of '07-'08 was a thing of beauty despite the losing record).

But it gets very difficult when in at least two games now, we have made so many preventable mistakes that it appears to outsiders as though we never practice and did not fly across the world to play in Europe before the season even started. You see, it's not that we lost to UW (or CSU, or WMU, or FAU or Portland), it's how we lost. It's as if when we get down by 10 or more points- that's it! Game over. Phone in the score to Vegas, we cannot overcome a double-digit deficit...

We have players on this team (Ant, Tony, and Tone) who played in the game against UC Davis in Ames, IA in 2008 in which we overcame a 26 point deficit! Us fans just can't understand how this team seems to wave the white flag at the first sign of trouble. Win or lose, we merely want our team to show a little fight out there for UWM!

John Leuer is certainly making his case for 1st Team All-Big Ten

Bo Ryan did play two of his starting 5 (Jordan Taylor and Jon Leuer) for most of the game..., but let's be honest. If Jeter was Tom Crean Bo probably could have (and possibly would have) tried to whip us a new one (ie. 30+ point loss). After keeping within about 10 until the 12 minute mark, and then getting blasted into a 19 point halftime hole, we played UW about even in the second half (UW outscored us just 27-25 in the final 20 minutes).

And we had our bright spots- Ja'Rob McCallum scored 12 points on 6-12 from the field. Tony Meier (who seems to be the only consistently solid Panther player thus far), scored 10 points in limited minutes (foul trouble) and connected on both of his three point attempts. Our defense contained Madison as well as anybody has this season, but it's small consolation what with the continuing cold shooting woes...

Jordan Taylor drives past Jerard Ajami

Everyone who knows anything about college hoops knows Wisconsin's D is always very disciplined, and very effective at preventing teams from getting good shots. But we have seen this kind of in-your-face man-to-man defense this season- as recently as last Saturday against Cleveland State- and we seem to completely shut down when we face it. If we continue to get flustered by someone actually guarding and not playing a zone, we will be in for a long, long season....

But let us get over the venting. The season isn't a lost cause, but it will be very soon if we don't man up. This point in the season is where we sink or swim. The shooting woes (both from the field and from the free throw line) are surprising seeing as how we have a lot of guys who are known solid shooters.

I believe once we get over that psychological hurdle (it will happen- it's a matter of when), things will fall into place pretty nicely for this group. It's just a shame that we have lost at least 2 games (FAU and WMU) that we very well could have won if our field goal and/or free throw shooting was 10-15% better.

Alas, I don't think anyone (except me after a few beers) had dreams of Milwaukee sweeping the Portland tourney, beating Marquette and Wisconsin and nearly all of our non-con foes, en route to a stellar Horizon League season to put less pressure on our Horizon League Tourney and ensure our first-ever "at-large" bid to the Big Dance. It just ain't gonna happen!

UW (and at least 10 homer ref no-calls) completely shut Ant down Wednesday night

Butler, coming off an NCAA National Championship Game loss, might not even qualify for an at-large this season for crying out loud! All eyes are on the conference tournament in March 2011. The road back to legitimacy (for UWM and all the other Horizon League schools not named Butler University) runs through the location of the Horizon League Championship Game.

That's the only way. After the main slate of non-con games are over (we still have a late-season Bracketbuster match-up against a team to be announced), we must focus, like a laser beam, on the conference season.

So let's get over our ourselves a little bit. We aren't Kentucky fans and we shouldn't pretend to be. We shouldn't expect to win every single game. And enough with all the hand-wringing and self-pity. This program doesn't owe us sh**.

If you donate to the program, that's great and your support is immensely appreciated (I am a sometime very low-level donor myself). And we all hope for great seasons and want this program to get better even faster. But if you feel entitled to some unrealistic level of success year in and year out because of that check- it's not a donation.

I consider myself lucky to have gone to school at UWM during some great runs and witness the kind of transformation this program underwent in a few short years. I still feel equally as privileged to see it's rebuilding get closer to completion. That is laughable to say now, I know... but please wait until conference commences before you begin singing the "omg, season is already over" swan song.

We've been down this road many times before and the team has proven us wrong more than once.

Mike Bruesewitz with another uncalled foul on Anthony Hill.

Ant gave and then got the business from the refs Wednesday night.

Are we disappointed in the season so far? Heck yeah- what do you think the team and coaches are yucking it up and "content" with 4-6 and 3 blowout losses? I sure hope they are all weathering this storm and coming together to find a leader or leaders to bring the season back on track.

All of the fan bitching and moaning, and any of the team's bitching and moaning, while providing some anger management in the immediate aftermath of a devastating loss, does absolutely nothing but turn fans against fans and turn teammates against each other. We can't have any of that- there are at least 20 regular season games to play yet- including 16 of the 18 Horizon League games.

Bo happily dispatched us again, but there were no hard feelings. Next year?

We face off against a 7-1 South Dakota State squad of the Summit League Saturday night. The Jackrabbits knocked off Iowa earlier in the season, and cannot be taken lightly. After the three (let's please keep it at that number and move on) embarrassing performances we've put in thus far in the '10-'11 season, no game can be overlooked. We need as many 100% effort games as possible to erase those memories.

We can fume and we can mock or we can help do something about it. We'll have to wait until Bowling Green comes to town to show our support in person at the Cell (although you can also show support at the DePaul game just 2 hours away in Chicago). The South Dakota State and Bowling Green games will be broadcast by WISN 1130 with the incomparable Bill Johnson calling the games as usual.

Yeah, we hit a rough patch in the first 1/3 of the season. And yeah, the team has looked more than a little lackluster in some of the losses. But despite the scores, 6 losses are still just 6 losses (after tonight, Butler is 4-4). Losses happen- in basketball, in our jobs, in life.

In all sports, the will to continue fighting despite a less than fortunate situation separates the short-term flame-outs from the long-term Champions. In life it can determine much more serious and important consequences.

The late Jimmy Valvano's V Foundation motto "Don't give up. Don't ever give up" may be cliche these days. But it's cliche for a reason. Those are some of the last words ever publicly spoken by the truest, most gold-hearted college hoops fan and coach that ever lived.

Don't give up.

GO PANTHERS!!!!

Phoning It In at Home: Panthers Annihilated By Vikings, 82-59

Cleveland State (10-0, 2-0) most definitely got the revenge they were looking for. CSU came storming out of the visitors locker-room and onto our home floor like they had a score to settle. Your Milwaukee Panthers (4-5, 1-1) brought a pen knife to a gunfight and paid the price.

Jeremy Montgomery poured in 20 points on 5-7 from 3pt. Norris Cole (14pts, 5rbs, 9ast), early nighties flat-top and all, played everything like you would expect form a pre-season 1st Team All Conference player. He ran circles around our defense all night.

UWM phone home. UWM phone home.

Cleveland State's defense was literally too close for comfort. They must have been 2 feet closer to us than we were to them on D (their 30 personal fouls to our 10 is clear evidence of this huge difference in defensive styles). Milwaukee has to figure out how to not shut down when a team defends like that.

The tape is out there on this game. I'm sure we'll see a lot more teams guard us super close and press us out of our comfort zone. We must learn how to break the pressure (full court and 1/2 court) that flustered our entire game plan last night.

Tony Meier's collegiate best 20 points was overshadowed by such a half-baked effort by the team as a whole. Despite having already seen our epic collapses against Portland and Western Michigan I think most fans were trying to ignore those as "early season slip-ups" and thought the contrast between us and CSU was not that stark. Last night is only a game, but it was certainly not an encouraging loss (like Marquette).

The story of last night's version of our season's recurring nightmare is as follows:

CSU:::::::::: 30-47 (64%) FG ... 13-22 (64%) 3pt 

UWM::::::: 16-64 (30%) FG...  5-20 (25%) 3pt

CSU Starting Backcourt:::::: 47 points (16-22 FG, 10-14 3pt, 5-5 ft), 10 boards, 11 assists, 8 turnovers
UWM Starting Backcourt:::::::: 4 points (1-14 FG, 0-6 3pt, 2-3 ft), 5 boards, 4 assists, 6 turnovers

We play the Wisconsin Badgers in Madison at the Kohl Center this Wednesday night. Bo Ryan might show mercy on us, but I wouldn't count on Bo letting us get any closer than 15-20 if we play like we did last night.

But with this baffling Bruce Banner/The Incredible Hulk persona our team has taken on, we may just break out the (Incredible Hulk) alter-ego and go hard for the win. Like that '10-'11 team we had faith would make a run at another Horizon League title, you know?

Consistency is in high demand from this rabid and loyal fan base. I know I speak for a lot of people when I say I have always and will always love watching this team- win or lose. But when we come unprepared or quit just minutes into the game and in turn get completely blown out, it sends the message that maybe the more casual Panther fans (and trust me... we are talking several thousands in this metro area) don't have a reason to care about UWM. Whenever we have to go down, we should go down fighting.

Bruce Banner contemplates his next move... where is the Hulk when you need him?!

To be fair, we did win the second half of Saturday night's beat down 38-36. But it mattered little after the unfathomable mine shaft of a hole we dug ourselves into in the first first 10-15 minutes.

We aren't this bad of a team, I still believe we can be as good as we want to be. 5 losses have made the challenge of reaching our potential harder, but there is still time left. At least 22 more games are left for us to correct course.

We cannot pick and choose our nights to go all out though. Every single game becomes historical record... and strongly influences our future chances (post-season bids, scheduling opportunities, Horizon League Torney seeding, etc.). I don't want to see us lose a single game in the Horizon League Tourney in March, do you?

I also know we may be headed for a bad loss against UW, but I am holding out hope for The Incredible Hulk version of your Milwaukee Panthers to show up and make it a game, if not something much more incredible...


GO PATHERS!!!!

Panthers Subdue Penguins 76-67, Begin Horizon League Play 1-0

Anthony Hill put on a show last night at the Cell. Hill posted his second double-double of the season as he amassed an incredible- 30 points (career high), 12 rebounds (6 offensive) and 2 key blocks to lead Milwaukee (4-4, 1-0) over Youngstown State (4-2, 0-1).

To put this stat line in perspective, by overall comparison, only 11 other D-I players have had games of at least 30 points and 10 rebounds this season. Ant's moves in the post were absolutely fluid and reminiscent of some of his best games last season.

Ant and Tony rejoicing one of the many UWM successes last night.

The Panthers seemed to toy with their Penguin prey for much of the night. After going up by 10 twice early in the game, we allowed YSU to come storming back by way of 3's by Madison-native Devonte Maymon (16pts) and their most impressive player and senior leader, Vytas Sulskis (18pts, 6rbs). The Panthers kept a small cushion of a lead for most of the game, but it was way too close for comfort.

Tony Meier (4pts, 8rbs, 6ast) was everywhere and contributed heavily to this W. Tone Boyle (9pts, 5rbs) had a solid game. Tone would have likely scored a lot more if our offense wasn't on cruise control in the post with Ant's breakout performance! We shot just 10 three pointers(!)- and Tone shot just 2 (making 1, we made 4 as a team).

#2, Kaylon Williams, pushing a turnover gift up the court.

After some tense moments in the final minutes, Milwaukee prevailed 76-67 thanks to some very clutch free throws (4) by Kaylon Williams (14pts, 8rbs, 4ast, 2stl). I said it after last game and I feel obligated to say it again (because Kaylon has been good, but quietly good up until now)- Kaylon is emerging as our true floor general and the rare true PG this program has been lacking since Chris Hill graduated.

Even better things are to come once he fully acclimates himself to our style and figures out exactly what makes opponents (esp. Horizon opponents) tick and how to manage our possessions in every possible kind of game situation.

And it's worth emphasizing- Anthony Hill is a beast. Period, point, blank. Most Panther fans already knew that as we saw Ant (along with Ricky Franklin and James Earyrs) emerge as one of the three cogs that got last year's 20-14 Panther Machine in full motion. They won 7 of their final 9 contests and came within minutes of reaching the Horizon League Championship game. Let's hope that Ant's much earlier ascension to the Horizon League Elite stage this season will translate into a few more wins or at least a deeper run in the post-season.

Doing his best Pounce impersonation, Meier goes for the ball against an unsuspecting Penguin

Our free throws continue to be a major issue with this team. Had we shot just a little better from the line (18-32 for 56%), this one would have been in hand and stayed in hand well before the closing minutes. I'm sure these guys practice FT's every day and it's just a little different in a game. I'm confident our FT % will go up and they will get a lot better as the season moves on. We can only get better in that department..

So we beat YSU, but struggled at times.. However, most observers would agree that this isn't your father's Youngstown State. Jerry Slocum is changing the way they do things over there. It may not be long before Youngstown is no longer the whipping boy of the Horizon League. And when our only conference team who seems to be perennially terrible is on it's way up, that is a very good thing for the league and it's overall competitiveness relative to the MVC, C-USA, CAA, etc.

Next up on Milwaukee's plate is the undefeated Cleveland State Vikings (9-0, 1-0). CSU came to the state yesterday and started their 2-game trip out right, defeating Green Bay. Gary Waters hadn't won in Wisconsin in his tenure at CSU... until last night. You know he's gunning for us now to erase both of those losing streaks (@UWGB and @UWM). We are going to have to bring it against Waters and the Vikings.

Tonight was yet another reminder of just how good our #1 power forward is...

Versatile Viking guard Norris Cole (avg. 22 pts./game) is arguably the best player in the Horizon League thus far in this young season. We've gotta have an answer for him, as well as guards Jeremy Montgomery and Trevon Harmon.

Kind of shockingly, each member of their starting backcourt is currently averaging double digits in scoring. It will be incumbent on Tone, Kaylon, Lonnie, Ja'Rob, Ajami and whoever else is guarding those guys to lock them down and not let them get open looks. They don't seem to have a huge post presence so perhaps we can exploit that with Ant, Tony, Kyle, and Ryan. We can't make a lot of mistakes against this CSU team.

And we definitely can't be plagued by bad shooting- free throws or otherwise. As I keep on saying... these Panthers have the talent to match up against virtually anyone in D-I. It's all in the execution though... If we execute, this and many other upcoming games will become victories.

If people in Milwaukee are looking for something economical and fun to do Saturday night- they'd do themselves a solid by taking in this huge contest which kicks off at 7pm in Milwaukee's U.S. Cellular Arena. The Milwaukee Panthers provide the best sports value in the history of D-I sports (but I still waste all my money at Major Goolsby's before and after games to negate the savings!).

Here's to holding out hope for a much-needed winning streak. We need to pile up wins like Ant piled up points and rebounds last night- aggressively, continuously and with a vengeance.

GO PANTHERS!!!!