The Milwaukee Panthers announced the '23-'24 Men's Basketball schedule this week and while it leaves a lot to be desired, it really isn't much different than other recent schedules.
The Horizon League schedule is unchanged as always with us playing each conference member twice- one home and one away for a total of 20 league contests.
The non-conference schedule (as-always) is where things can get interesting, exciting, or "meh".
The non-con highlights: at Providence (11/11), at Colorado (11/14)
The so-so: vs. Southern Miss (11/25), vs. Chattanooga (12/22), vs. Stetson++ in the Sunshine Slam MTE
The yawn: vs. UW-Stout, vs. Luther
Does it always have to be like this for us in the modern age of college hoops?
I've been told that gone are the days of drawing a high-major foe to the Arena because of the proliferation of early and mid-season MTE tournaments and NCAA-Sabermetrics focused on piling up easy wins, not being challenged outside of the conference comfort zone. Perhaps gone also is our fan base's long-held belief that we are only a couple great tournament runs from moving on up to a high mid-major conference (MVC, A10) and being a household name in our own backyard.
I just don't buy that the perception of Milwaukee Panther Basketball is going to be the same or worse than it is today, in 10 years; just as the Milwaukee Panthers of today, don't have to deal with the intentional dumbing down of the team name and lack of university financial support as did the Milwaukee Panthers of yesteryears.
Here is the non-con slate, "color-coded" by me 😅
Major Horizon League conference slippage
The Horizon has been brighter..
In terms of conference RPI rankings, the Horizon League has plummeted since the heydays of Butler, Valpo, Milwaukee (12th of 33 in '10-'11 and '12-'13 all the way down to 25th of 33 conferences this past season (see- https://www.teamrankings.com/ncaa-basketball/rpi-ranking/rpi-rating-by-conf?date=2011-04-05).
I think people forget how close we were then as a conference, and how close we are now, as a team and program. We. Are. Right. On. The. Cusp.
Panther fan #1 Jimmy Lemke points out that urban areas like Milwaukee may be positioned to do a lot better with recruiting and roster stability in the NIL era than say, Youngstown, OH or Moon Township, PA. (much bigger pool of commercial and private sponsors in bigger cities- remember that the NIL era has only just begun...).
And need I remind us all that we have BJ Freeman and a roster that runs ocean deep? The reminders of this team's abundant talent will pour in fast and furious- hopefully and especially against Providence and Colorado.
All we can do is watch, and cheer them on to the best of all possible outcomes.
R.I.P. Rob Yanders, Jr. (1979-2023) who taught the next generations, worked closely with our coaches and brought some great talent from his Elite Yanders Law AAU teams to the Milwaukee campus.
Comments