With Experience in Question, Milwaukee Picked to Finish Sixth in Horizon League

John Parker — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 11:21:19 -0400

The Milwaukee Panthers, who will begin the 2008 season with nine new players, are projected to finish sixth in the Horizon League, according to a poll of Horizon League voters.

Cleveland State, who finished second in the league last season and return four of five starters, is the pick to win the conference, while last year's third place finisher, Wright State, is picked to finish second in the conference. UIC, Green Bay and Butler round out the top five.

The Panthers will be a guard dominated team, as sophomore Deonte Roberts, senior Ricky Franklin, junior Kaylan Anderson, senior Deion James, and junior Charlie Swiggett all saw significant playing time last season and figure to have impacts this season.

Preseason All-Conference pick Avery Smith in 2007 will join them. Smith was dismissed from the team before the start of the year, but has worked his way back onto the team for the coming season. Additionally, the team hopes sharp shooting junior college transfer Tone Boyle will be able to spread out opposing defenses.

Milwaukee's success this season will depend heavily on how quickly the new forwards adjust to Division I. UWM's only returning forwards are sophomore Anthony Hill and junior Jason Averkamp since 2007 starters Paige Paulsen and Marcus Skinner graduated and freshmen Tim Flowers and Kevin Johnson were kicked off of the team.

Junior college transfers James Eayrs, a deceptively quick 6'7" 340 pound forward with range out to the three point line, and athletic, defensive minded forward Burleigh Porte, are likely to be the two players who will provide them with the most help. Freshmen Ryan Haggerty, Tony Meier, and Riley Walker will provide additional depth.

Despite what the preseason pollsters have to say, many close to the program are much more optimistic about the season, and for good reason.

In 2007, the preseason polls projected the Panthers to finish in fourth. However, that was before Smith, Flowers, Johnson, and leading scorer and rebounder Torre Johnson were kicked off of the team, and guard Roman Gentry opted to transfer to South Dakota for personal reasons.

At that point, finishing the season looked like it was going to be difficult enough for UWM, but the remaining players battled, and managed to meet expectations, finishing the season in a tie for fourth place. It was a conference season that gave most Panther fans a great deal of confidence in their coaching staff.

Given the uncertainty surrounding the front court, the questions about how Smith will play after a year away from D-I competition, plus the fact that the chemistry that the team finished out the year with last season will have to be rebuilt with ten players who were not on last year's roster, sixth seems about right.

The potential is there to finish higher if the team can recapture last season's chemistry.

Mayo or Beasley? Lets Not Get Ahead of Ourselves!

John Parker — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 21:22:43 -0400

I'm taking this year's tourney one game at a time.

I live in Madison, and it seems as if everybody is talking about the Badgers playing against either USC or Kansas State.

Do people really have memories that short?

It has only been a year since UW came off of one of their best regular seasons ever, only to squeak past a 15 seed, then lose to a seventh-seeded UNLV in the second round.

Before you start trying to figure out which future NBA lottery pick is in our way, lets pay a little bit of attention to Cal-State Fullerton.

While they don't have the size to match up with the Badgers, they can shoot the lights out. If their shots are dropping—like they were for most of the Big West championship—it could be a nightmare for the Badgers.

However, aside from Jon Leuer, every single rotation player this season was there for the nightmare finish last year. I hope (and think) that this year's group will come out hungry to avenge last year's disappointing tournament.

I think that the Badgers will treat Thursday's game the same way that they treated the Michigan State game after fouling out Sparty's entire front court and pound it down low all game.

If the Titans aren't getting the outside shot going, I don't see the game going in their favor, as they really don't have anybody who can match up with Brian Butch down low.

Alright, I can't help myself. If the Badgers don't come out flat, they should be able to handle the Titans.

In the second round, the Badgers would then play the winner of the USC-Kansas State game. In other words, UW would take on one of the best freshmen in the country and a future lottery pick either way, either Michael Beasley from KSU or USC's O.J. Mayo.

Here's how I think the Badgers ought to game plan for either situation.

UW wins and draws USC.

The key to winning the game against USC will be dictating the pace of the game. If the game is played at an uptempo pace, it favors the Trojans. If the Badgers can keep banging away at the Trojans I think they can wear them down and win the game.

With that said, I don't think an uptempo pace would necessarily have the horrible effects that national pundits seem to think it would.

The Badgers are extremely well conditioned. This isn't the 2000 Dick Bennett team; these guys are mostly four and five star recruits. If the Badgers are forced to run, I think they'll manage. However, as I'm sure you've heard by now, it's easier to slow a team down than to speed them up. This plays into the Badgers' hands in a big way.

UW wins and draws Kansas State.

My best advice regarding Michael Beasley would be to do everything short of ignoring him. Beasley's going to get his points. There's really nothing that can be done about that.

I think the best plan would be to have Marcus Landry defend Beasley, and just make sure to get a hand in his face. Don't waste a double-team. Worry about Bill Walker and the rest of the team. It's definitely possible to stop Walker from getting his points, and when that happens, the Wildcats usually lose.

Theoretically speaking, the tournament is designed on the idea that the higher seeds will advance. I know it's about as premature as you can get, but I just have to wonder how a UW-Georgetown game would turn out.

Both teams play a slow-paced game. However, they go about it very differently. Roy Hibbert rarely wanders too far from the basket. Brian Butch has been known to shoot several three-pointers in a night. It'd be very interesting to see these two matched up against one another.

If you have any questions or comments either leave a comment here, or e-mail me at parkerj@uwm.edu

Bleacher Report - Articles by John Parker

With Experience in Question, Milwaukee Picked to Finish Sixth in Horizon League

Mayo or Beasley? Lets Not Get Ahead of Ourselves!