One player that most all Panther fans wanted to return has decided to test the waters elsewhere. This one hurts a bit, but Dixon may find a program more to his liking and Milwaukee may find a PG that suits this program better.
Dixon averaged 9 points and 1.6 assists for the Panthers and made some critical shots against some big-time opponents.
It's never-ending recruitment these days. You have to recruit guys to arrive and then recruit them to stay as well. The turnover is dizzying and admittedly makes being a fan a little more frustrating and less exciting (where there is no loyalty, there is very little to plan for and even less to confidently look forward to) but any roster stability that we do retain will be that much more important.
Blame NIL? I dunno 🤷. I blame the elimination of the transfer 1-season sit-out rule just as much if not more than NIL...
More departures and arrivals expected as we get closer to "official" portal season. To be truthful however, in this day and age of NCAA DI Hoops, it is virtually always Portal SZN. Season-round. Year-round.
With the proliferation of social media (DMs with offers of cash are now routine- sadly also are DMs from disgruntled gamblers attacking coaches and players...😞) and email communication and texting and calling players directly on their cell phones (versus back in the day when coaches always called the coaches and parents of the players on a landline family/home phone and made visits directly to recruits' homes to pitch the program) it has never been easier to get in someone's ear to convince them to back out of a commitment or leave for what are (always) perceived as greener pastures.
And the green of the pastures isn't always a more successful team or role- it is the green of the almighty dollar which is now the primary ammunition in the arms race that is early 21st Century DI men's basketball.
Stay tuned. I think things will pan out pretty well, in the end... 👊👀
And by all means please, donate to the team if you have the means; our future really does depend on it: https://give.uwmfoundation.org/campaigns/56011/donations/new
go panthers.
press on. 🏆🏀
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