Success begets success. And after resurrecting this Milwaukee Panthers Basketball program over the past three seasons (including three consecutive 20-win seasons, a Horizon League Semifinal and Championship appearance, bringing us to the cusp of an NCAA berth in '23-'24 and making '24-'25 our most anticipated season in over a decade)- Coach Lundy deserves this extension.
Our previous two coaches before him did not bring the kind of success that is needed to raise the profile of these Panthers.
The coach before them (Rob Jeter) had some success in spurts, but it wasn't enough to further build up or even maintain the kind of fanfare Bruce Pearl created that launched 100,000 Panther fans from 2003-2006.
We haven't gotten to the promised land under Lundy yet. And some of his tactical decisions have been deservedly questioned by an oftentimes-overly-rabid fan base that excels at arm-chair point guarding.
But like him or love him, Lundy is the best leader for our team right now and gives us our best shot at not just a continuance of winning 20+ games and competing for a conference championship but maybe winning 25 games and an NCAA Tourney game or 2 in the next few seasons.
We will continue playing home games (and God-willing eventually some Horizon League Semifinal and Championship games?) at Panther Arena at least through 2028-2029 season. With some continued success and good scheduling, we could be looking at a lot of fun at Major Goolsby's and great basketball in that building in these next 5 years or for as long as we are able to retain Lundy as our basketball coach.
Keep your eyes on the Panthers. Who knows? If interest ticks up enough, if/when Lundy takes us back to the Dance, perhaps some big-pocket Milwaukee grads will allow us to hold on to him, bucking the traditional trend of mid-major coaches who experience March Madness success and quickly bounce to a P5, sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worse.
go panthers.
remember the little things. 🏆🏀
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