Game #7 - University of Northern Iowa Panthers
December 1st, 2012 - 7 p.m.
Cedar Falls, Iowa
Considered by many to be the best non-conference series Milwaukee has going, our Panther brothers at UNI embody a lot of what many hope Milwaukee can one day be - rocking new home arena on-campus, national championship level football and membership in an extremely stable conference, the MVC. They even have had more success on the hardwood recently, going to the Sweet 16 just two years ago. Last season, UNI made it to the second round of the NIT before falling to Drexel of the CAA.
2011-12 Record: 20-14, 9-9 MVC
Statsheet RPI: 72
KenPom: 84
Last game with UNI: Kyle Kelm suffered a shoulder injury but Milwaukee was abysmal pretty much all over the court in losing at the McLeod Center, 67-51.
Lead Returnees (Place on team in 2011-12)
PPG: Anthony James, 12.5 ppg (1st)
RPG: Seth Tuttle, 5.6 rpg (1st)
APG: Jake Koch, 2.7 apg (1st)
Biggest Loss - The Panthers only lost one player of consequence off of last year's team, Johnny Moran. The 6'1'' guard averaged 7.5 ppg for UNI and was an above average three-point shooter. Moran had 12 points in last year's match-up with Milwaukee while going 2-for-5 from three.
Big returnees - Who isn't coming back?! Star guard Anthony James averaged 12.5 ppg and 4.3 rpg. CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major All-American Freshman team member (that's a mouthful) Seth Tuttle returns on the block, as does starting off-guards Deon Mitchell and Marc Sonnen. For seemingly the 15th year in a row, UNI will be heavily influenced by the Koch family, as Jake finished up his career in purple and yellow.
Style of play - The Panthers are built very much like your typical Bo Ryan team - they're almost all tall, they're all solid passers, and they all can shoot from the most spots on the floor. Koch may have led the team with only 2.7 assists per game a year ago, but there were three others at 1.7 apg behind him. Anthony James is kind of the wild card, in that he is the real eye-opening athletic player on the team. Everyone else is just solid at shooting - 38.6% 3PT, 72.9% FT. The team's achilles heel tends to be turnovers, and Milwaukee didn't take advantage of that last year, with UNI only coughing it up six times. UNI and MKE ran into each other on a good day for one and a bad day for the other, hopefully we'll see a much more competitive game and a (Milwaukee) Panther victory.
Bottom Line - Just as it is with Davidson, Milwaukee is going to have a real hard game ahead of them against a very tough and experienced opponent. Davidson brought back everyone, and even though UNI lost Moran, they're pretty much in the same boat. Milwaukee won't have the luxury of playing them at home; instead, they're heading head first into the Panther's mouth that is the McLeod Center once again. To win, they're going to have to grit it out and get UNI out of their comfort zone - i.e. they need to run-and-gun Jacobsen's Panthers to the ground and force UNI into those characteristic turnovers missing from last year's game.
Game #8 - University at Buffalo Bulls
December 5th, 2012 - 7 p.m.
Klotsche Center
In a return game from the 2011 Bracketbuster, the Buffalo Bulls visit the Klotsche Center with a team primed to win the MAC East and challenge for a spot in the NCAA Tournament. Milwaukee is home for the first time in over two weeks. Milwaukee didn't even try to put up a fight in the Bracketbuster game as the Panthers were 450 yards through a pipe of human waste on their way to the 2011 Horizon League title (that's a Shawshank reference, people).
2011-12 Record: 20-11, 12-4 MAC East
Statsheet RPI: 79
KenPom: 101
Lead Returnees (Place on team in 2011-12)
PPG: Javon McCrea, 14.7 ppg (2nd)
RPG: Javon McCrea, 6.9 rpg (2nd)
APG: Jarod Oldham, 5.9 apg (1st)
Biggest Loss - Without question, the Bulls will seriously miss Mitchell Watt, their 6'10'', 225 lb. center and star player. Watt led the team in scoring (16.3) and rebounding (7.5) and finished his career as MAC Player of the Year. With Watt moving along, the question is who will step up in the post in his absence? The other huge loss is Zach Filzen on the wing. The 6'3'' shooting guard was third on the team with 12.1 ppg and was a dead-eye from downtown with a 39.9% 3PT shooting stroke.
Big Returnees - Javon McCrea was a stud for Buffalo last year and is the preseason Big Four Player of the Year (for the uninitiated, the Big Four is western New York's stalwart mid-majors Buffalo, Canisius, Niagara, and St. Bonaventure). No word on whether or not he is related to superstar point guard Butch McCrea.
Style of play - The Bulls are the kind of team that like to win with no douibt involved. The Bulls welcome the speedster offense that Milwaukee will employ this season; indeed, the Bulls were 56th in the nation in scoring and 75th in possessions per 40 minutes. Buffalo was 4th in the nation in rebounds per game, but who knows where they'll fall without Watt's 7.5 off the docket. The Bulls are also the type of team that most definitely share the ball around, as their 16.9 assists per game last season were ninth in the nation.
Bottom Line - Without the shooting of Filzen and the post dominance of Watt, opposing defenses (including ours) in the early season will be rocking hard on McCrea. This is a team under Reggie Witherspoon that always seems to be pretty good but not good enough. It was obvious that 2011-12 was Witherspoon's big chance at an NCAA Tournament berth, but the Bulls were ousted by Walter Offutt and Ohio in the MAC Tournament and settled for 20 victories and a CIT appearance. They have finished with 21, 18, 20 and 20 victories in the last four years - solid but not exceptional. Sound familiar?
Game #9 - Northern Illinois University Huskies
December 7th, 2012 - 7 p.m.
Klotsche Center
The Huskies of Northern Illinois make their return appearance to the Klotsche Center after Milwaukee paid them a visit in DeKalb in 2011-12, coming away with a close victory. The Huskies are in year 2 of a huge rebuilding project by Mark Montgomery, the former assistant under Tom Izzo at Michigan State. NIU was just 5-26 a year ago, and they lost Tim Toler, their leading scorer from a year ago.
2011-12 Record: 5-26, 3-13 MAC West
Statsheet RPI: 332
KenPom: 330
Lead Returnees (Place on team in 2011-12)
PPG: Abdel Nader, 10.4 ppg (2nd)
RPG: Aksel Bolin, 5.1 rpg (T-1st)
APG: Aksel Bolin, 1.3 apg (T-3rd)
Biggest Loss - Tim Toler led the Huskies in both scoring (10.8) and rebounding (5.1). The good news for NIU is that they can start fresh, but he was very much one of only a handful of players that could win a game for the Huskies. Toler's departure will likely be filled by Sam Mader.
New faces - While Petey Balls should be a good addition and a very easy target for the Klotsche Krazies (seriously, you can't make up names like this), the real big addition is Sam Mader from Appleton. He is listed to have had scholarship offers from Milwaukee and Green Bay, but those are both false. Northern Illinois was the only school offering Mader a full scholarship in D-I. He's a tall, skinny kid who has some solid skill but will be severely overmatched by Milwaukee's size. In addition to Mader, the Huskies will be bringing in freshmen Daveon Balls, Travon Baker, Darrell Bowie, Mike Davis and Akeem Springs.
Style of play - The Huskies were a much slower team in 2011-12 due to the fact that they didn't have the horses to run well and they were left over from the previous coach. But Montgomery wants to run the fast break offense this season, so the Huskies spent their off-season practice sessions learning how to turn up the tempo.
Bottom Line - Unfortunately for Montgomery, this is the second year of a rebuilding plan that will likely be four years or longer. The Huskies are very, very young and the players they do return will need to step up in a big way if they have any shot of beating Milwaukee on the road or, indeed, most teams on their schedule.