Milwaukee has two major division 1 college teams, and one (UWM) is enjoying a fine season, while the other (Marquette) is not. Yes, Marquette most recently beat a talented DePaul team at the Bradley Center to keep what is a slim to none chance of being an at-large team invited to the NCAA Tournament. But the Golden Eagles basically have to run the table on the regular season AND make a deep CUSA tournament run to have any shot whatsoever of making the dance. My bet is that they are an NIT team for the second straight year. MU has not shown that it can consistently beat a decent team that has more than one scorer. Before anyone gets too excited about the DePaul win, wait and see what happens against Cincinnati. Remember this team couldn't beat TCU and struggled mightily against Southern Mississippi.
UWM on the other hand is currently in the middle of what might be its best season to date. However, something tells me that the Panthers will still have to win the Horizon League tournament to get into the NCAA tournament. It is just the life of a mid-major team. The odds are stacked greatly against you. But the Panthers seemed poised to win the league tourney this time around after dropping a tough loss to UIC on their home court in the title game last year. This Panthers team is not so reliant on one person (Dylan Page) as they were last year. They have several options. While Ed McCants has been their leading scorer nearly all season, his average to below average shooting percentage could haunt them. But if he stops taking a handful of bad shots every game and heats up a little bit, they will certainly be too formidable for any other Horizon team to beat them at home. They have lost one home game this season (vs. Detroit, Jan. 3) but other than that, have been perfect. Something else to keep in mind is that the U.S. Cellular Arena is where UWM has been playing all of its home games the last two seasons, and while for a general regular season home game there are typically between 3,000-6,000 spectators in attendance, for the league tournament, it just about sells out at it's capacity of 12,000. While last season, that didn't matter against UIC, look to the year before that when Butler lost to Milwaukee big time in what was one of the greatest college atmosphere's I've ever witnessed a game at.
Additionally, last season, UWM backed into the league tournament, this year they have currently wrapped up the top seed in the tourney and are winners of 15 of their last 16 games. But nonetheless, it should be an interesting and exciting tournament once again.
My last thoughts on the Horizon League tournament at this time is that the one lower seeded team that no one wants to see on their radar is certainly Loyola. The Ramblers are drastically improved since the season began and have already thumped UWGB (the second seeded team) twice this season.
As this is my first post as a new member to this site, I'm sure JG and I will be doing our best to keep everyone posted on the happenings of UWM and the Horizon League tournament because it's championship game is on March 8, and both of us will most likely be in attendance.
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