Time to make-it or break-it

There is really only one thing that's certain heading into the month of March on the Wisconsin college basketball front: the Wisconsin Badgers are going to the Big Dance. Marquette and UWM? They might be sitting pretty right now, but the selection committee won't be making their decisions until March 13th...10 days from now. In between now and one of the most exciting Sundays of the year (at least for me), the Warriors and the Panthers need to win some ball games.


My 1st draft of March Madness predictions. What's that, you ask? No, I don't have a life.

Yes...plural...games. Perhaps this wouldn't have been the case for Marquette had they not allowed a Cincinnati Bearcats team to walk into the BC and control the game from the get-go. The Bearcats have an amazing record for a Big East team, don't get me wrong, but they aren't going to be a team that lasts very long in the tourney. Therefore, an 18-12 (9-8) Marquette squad needs to take care of business at Seton Hall on Saturday (for the love of God...please do), which would give them ten victories in the most demanding conference in the nation. Most would say this is enough, but just to be sure, it would be nice to see the Warriors nab a Big East tournament game so they could reach the 20 win plateau and lock themselves in.

The Milwaukee Panthers flat out NEED to win games. Two, to be exact. Should they win two games, they will have won the Horizon League tournament and earned an automatic bid into the NCAA tournament. If you recall my previous blog post, I noted how UWM would have to defeat the conference leader at the time, Cleveland State, on the road and then travel to Youngstown State and eek out a win (my hopes were not high). Who would've thought that last place YSU would poise more of a threat to a conference title and home court advantage in the conference tourney than Norris Cole (stud) and the CSU Vikings? Not I. Low and behold, had a Youngstown State player not missed a point blank put-back-lay-up as time expired in regulation, UWM would not have had the opportunity to pull away in OT to earn that coveted one seed. After watching that video, you have to feel awesome for coach Rob Jeter. Once an assistant under Bo Ryan, Jeter took over in '05 after Pearl scurried over to Tennessee for a chance to coach at a bigger Division I school. With the players Pearl recruited, Jeter was able to lead the Panthers to the round of 32 before falling to the eventual champions, the Florida Gators. Since then, it's been an uphill battle, but notice that each year, UWM's win total has increased. Well...up until this season (at least thus far), but I'm sure Panther fans will take a conference title and a #1 seed over a 20 win season and bowing out in the conference tourney semifinals. It just goes to show that if you give a guy a chance to institute HIS OWN system and recruit HIS OWN players, special things can happen.

Certainly, I could have never seen this coming, but an improbable late season run put the Panthers in their first realistic position to reach March Madness since immediately after the Bruce Pearl era. More than likely, UWM will lace 'em up against Cleveland State yet again on Saturday for a chance to reach the tournament final against, more than likely, the defending runner-up in the NCAA tournament, Butler. Ant Hill, Tone Boyle, Tony Meier, Ja'Rob McCallum...these are names that Wisconsin sports fans should get acclimated with because they will be the reason Milwaukee reaches the tourney...but first they have to get there. Get your popcorn ready.

In other news...Wisconsin heads to Indiana tonight to face the Who-siers and then travel to Columbus where the Buckeyes will more than likely exact their revenge on Bucky. Let's hope not. Or at least, let's hope for a good game and a sweep of Ohio State. They're kind of our bitch...The Bucks continue to fall off the face of the Earth. However, I think I defended them nicely after this douche-rod put up this article on The Sports Jury (scroll down to the comments, I'm the bottom one)...March Madness Manifesto and Brewers' season preview coming soon!

One more note of interest: I received my first assignment for the school newspaper, the Advance-Titan. I'll be covering Men's tennis! Woot! In all honesty, I'm excited to actually get something published as it should definitely help me in the foreseeable future. Thanks for all the support, because this blog was a big reason that I got noticed for the position.

Keep reading y'all!