• Weekend Wrap-up

    Well, Spring Break is over and everyone from grade school kids to college students are now back in school. So, what happened this weekend? We'll start with.....


    Milwaukee Panthers


    Jimmy Lemke had some serious information about the future of the UWM Athletic Program over the weekend on the Inside PantherU premium message boards. This could be a critical week for Panther Athletic program, will the findings of the Athletic Department review be released? Will there be changes at the top? Those questions should be answered shortly.

    Also on the PantherU premium side, head coach Rob Jeter hosted a few visitors over the weekend, well, 2-3 anyway, one held off in order to study for exams. Will Jeter be able to fill the losses of Williams, Allen and Meier with some Juco help? It could be the answer Panther fans are looking for.

    While on the subject of Milwaukee Basketball, former Panther Ricky Franklin was named this week's Portuguese MVP after leading his team to the biggest first round upset in the Portuguese playoffs, knocking off Ovarense 65-63. Ricky had 14 points in the game, while Ovarense was led by International Man of Mystery, Austen Powers who had 18.



    Marquette Golden Eagles

    Former Marquette players meet up playing pro ball in Italy, as Travis Diener of Banco di Sard defeated Jerel McNeal of Fabi Shoes. Travis hit the buzzer beater to win it 79-77....


    Marquette Assistant Coach Tony Benford is one of the two finalists for the SMU head job, the other finalist is longtime former coach, Larry Brown. The Dallas Morning news reports that the job is Brown's to lose, and that he would bring along UNC Wilmington coach Buzz Peterson as the head coach in waiting. This is very shortsighted on the Mustangs' part. Brown hasn't coached a college team in 24 years, longer than any SMU player, or any recruit has been alive, and Peterson has coached at 6 different schools over the last 12 years and hasn't exactly been successful. I understand that they want to make a huge hiring splash as they head into the Big East, but this team needs to build for the long haul, and with Brown being 71 and Peterson being well, himself, Benford would have been the better choice to build a competitive program.

    Buzz Williams met with the mother of ASU transfer Trent Lockett last week, and followed that visit up by meeting with the standout guard in Minneapolis this weekend. Expected to graduate this spring, Lockett will be immediately eligible to play wherever he goes, and potential destinations include Marquette, Iowa State and Gonzaga. While Marquette may be the leader at this point, Lockett's mother has been diagnosed with cancer, and her well being will take precedent over any other matters including his transfer decision, so it may be a while before we know his decision.

    Hoop Doctors has updated their 1st round NBA Mock Draft, and have Jae Crowder going at #29 overall to the Golden State Warriors.


    Preps

    I had the opportunity to attend the Maximum Exposure Invitational at Nicolet High School on Saturday evening. While I was not there in time to see the girls game (was at my daughter's grade school track meet at UWM) I did get there in time to see the underclassmen and seniors games. JB from Midwest Ballers really knows how to put an event together, and the talent was certainly there. In the underclassmen game it looked as if Messmer's Jonathan Carson was a man among boys. Carson controlled the boards and actaully wore himself out battling underneath. While he very well may have a college basketball future, he also looks like a prototypical D1 linebacker, so college football coaches may want to keep tabs on him as well.

    The seniors game had more talent than expected, and while it was an up and down street ball type of game, there was no question that there is some talent in this state. The fact that several of these kids do not have college destinations yet is surprising. Some of the players that stood out to me were Arroyo Edwards from Rufus King and Chris Jones from Bradley Tech. I look forward to the videos JB puts together and will post them as soon as they are available.

    High school players from all over Wisconsin will be headed to Minneapolis next weekend as NY2LA takes their AAU show on the road and invades the Twin Cities with their Spring Extravaganza, a tourney featuring 17U, 16U & 15U teams from around the country.



    Milwaukee Bucks

    The Bucks started off the weekend on a high note sticking it to the Piston in Detroit 113-97, but crashed back down to earth on Saturday, losing to the Indiana Pacers at home 105-99. The loss to Indiana hurts the Bucks' playoff chances as will every loss from here on out. If the playoffs started today, the Bucks would be out. With a record of 29-31 and only six games remaining, the Bucks are chasing the Knicks (31-29) and the 76ers, (31-28). If there is a home court advantage in the NBA, the Bucks do have a slight advantage. Three of their six remaining games are at home, where the Knicks only have two of six at home and Philly only one of seven at home.

    What would Bucks fans rather have? A playoff appearance or a lottery pick? Tough call.

    A look at local players around the NBA..... Local players had some big games over the weekend, high points goes to former Madison Memorial and Marquette star Wesley Matthews of the Trailblazers, Wes put up 31 in a 104-103 loss to Sacramento yesterday. Marquette's Dwyane Wade had 28 in Miami's 98-83 win over the Knicks yesterday, former Tosa East and Wisconsin Badger Devin Harris put up 20 points for Utah in a 103-98 loss to Memphis on Saturday, and it was great to see Randolph's Greg Stiemsma in the starting lineup for the Celtics over the weekend.

    Player Team Local tie-in Day MIN FG 3PT FT Oreb Dreb REB AST STL BLK TO PF +/- PTS W/L
    Caron Butler LA Clippers Racine Park HS Sat 19 1-5 0-2 0-0 0 4 4 0 0 0 1 1 +10 2 W
    Jimmy Butler Chicago Bulls Marquette Sun 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 -1 0 W
    Devin Harris Utah Jazz Wisconsin/Tosa East Sat 36 7-16 2-5 4-6 0 1 1 6 1 0 4 2 +2 20 L
    Lazar Hayward OKC Thunder Marquette Sat DNP
    Carl Landry New Orleans Wincent High School IR IR
    Jon Leuer Milwaukee Bucks Wisconsin Sat Out
    Wesley Matthews Portland Marquette/JM Memorial Sun 38 10-16 8-10 3-3 1 2 3 3 1 1 4 2 -2 31 L
    Steve Novak New York Knicks Marquette/Brown Deer HS Sun 22 2-5 2-5 0-0 0 1 1 0 0 0 1 2 +4 6 L
    Greg Stiemsma Boston Celtics Wisconsin/Randolph HS Sun 28 4-4 0-0 0-0 2 3 5 1 4 6 1 4 +6 8 W
    Dwyane Wade Miami Heat Marquette Sun 38 10-18 0-2 8-8 2 7 9 4 0 1 6 3 +11 28 W


    Off topic....

    The Onion lets us know that every team in North America, in every sport, is panicking right about now. Also from The Onion, here is the latest from Doc & Kenny, they believe that that Kentucky Wildcats should be taken #1 overall in the NBA Draft, our video of the day....


    Photo of the Day: I usually shoot for a comical picture here, but anytime you see players in a foreign country meeting up on the court, it is pretty cool. I lifted this picture of Travis Diener and Jerel McNeal off of Facebook....