Dave Begal tears into Milwaukee Panther basketball

[IWB]

On the question of whether or not Jeter is a good coach, here is my opinion. Jeter can coach, but I see one problem. I will use the UW vs MU example.

Bo Ryan's players are not a good fit for Buzz Williams' system.
Buzz Williams' players are not a good fit for Bo Ryan's system.

Rob Jeter repeatedly recruits athletic, run up and down type players, but plays a slowed down methodical offense. He needs to either change the type of player he recruits, or change the system he uses.

Just an opinion.

[TheSultan]

More common are the mid-majors who come up and go down depending on one particular good coach. East Tennessee has done pretty well under Murry Bartow, so he'll probably get hired somewhere else. Not sure about Belmont. Long Beach is doing quite well under Don Monson. This is their first successful run since Seth Greenberg coached them in the 90's, which was their first successful run since Tark the Shark coached them in the 70's. Very few programs do it on a sustained basis. If UWM wanted to, it would have to make a commitment, stick to it, and spend significant money. Build a new practice facility. Get serious about an on-campus arena. A few things like that. And I have to question whether it is worth it. Do they get more bang for their buck doing that, or pouring their money into their engineering school? Even if they could have the long-term success of the likes of VCU or Davidson (and they have nowhere near the tradition or resources of Davidson) would it be worth it? I think it makes sense for a school like Loyola to jump at a chance to join the MVC. They can use the publicity. They can potentially recruit some local players, garner some local interest, and perhaps attract some more students. But UWM? Where is the payoff? They are going to get students anyway, and mostly the same type of students, regardless of athletics. Take a look at the MAC teams. Several of them are similar in attendance and enrollment to UWM. Yes, it is exciting on campus when Western Michigan wins, but they'll still be there if they lose. So where is the payoff? It seems to me that UWM might well create as much excitement and get as much coverage with a really competitive D-3 team, like Whitewater in football.

I think what you are touching on is something that I have tried to articulate. Any program can make a decent run in basketball if they hire the right coach. However to sustain over the long term they need money and facilities. That is why Marquette has been so successful...the only coach since Al not to make the NCAA tournament was Bob Dukiet - and then his successor got them to the S16 just a few years later. These resources carry you through the bad times - you can make coaching changes quicker and have a lot more to offer a quality candidate.

I have mixed thoughts on the whole D1 v. D3 thing. D3 isn't going to do much for them. Stevens Point is one of the best D3 programs in the country basketball wise and they are completely struggling with enrollment, fundraising, etc. It really does nothing for them. Now football has helped Whitewater, but football is different. It just is. It's once a week. You have tailgating. It's a more popular sport.

To me UWM either should go all in an athletics or just drop it entirely.

[MayorBeluga]

However to sustain over the long term they need money and facilities. That is why Marquette has been so successful...the only coach since Al not to make the NCAA tournament was Bob Dukiet - and then his successor got them to the S16 just a few years later. These resources carry you through the bad times - you can make coaching changes quicker and have a lot more to offer a quality candidate.

Big Rick did not make the NCAA tournament in his three seasons as head coach. OK, that's nit-picking (or would that be NIT-picking?). Otherwise, the premise stands. It takes a university wide commitment to sustain success. Thankfully Marquette has had that over the decades, starting with donors and fans who pressure the administration.

[TheSultan]

Big Rick did not make the NCAA tournament in his three seasons as head coach. OK, that's nit-picking (or would that be NIT-picking?). Otherwise, the premise stands. It takes a university wide commitment to sustain success. Thankfully Marquette has had that over the decades, starting with donors and fans who pressure the administration.

Ha. Thanks. I actually thought about looking it up before posting because I wasn't quite sure. I was too lazy to do so.

[IWB]

Big difference, the Tourney was 48 teams in Rick's first year.

Just kidding for those that take everything so literally.

[ge1974]

Big Rick did not make the NCAA tournament in his three seasons as head coach. OK, that's nit-picking (or would that be NIT-picking?). Otherwise, the premise stands. It takes a university wide commitment to sustain success. Thankfully Marquette has had that over the decades, starting with donors and fans who pressure the administration.

Mr. Mayor is correct, although I would say MU did need a larger commitment to basketball than they had in the mid 80's-early 90's. We had to get out of the Midwest Collegiate Conference and we did so by going to the Great Midwest, then on to C-USA. However, one of the reasons Kevin O'Neill left MU for Tenn. was "lack of facilities" at MU. The Old Gym was charming but young recruits were not looking for "charming".

Thanks to the many donors and commitment from the university The AL McGuire center is a state of the art facility and a big feather in MU's cap for recruitng, as is the Big East conference. The players dorm was another great selling point and hopefully, that situation will be rectified in the near future with different school leadership.

[MU/Panther]

UWGB has a GREAT facility on campus. They designed it after the McGuire Center, with the mindset to add just a little more to every aspect. However, the men's team can't play there. It is either that they were in a long term contract with the Resch Center or is it that the Horizon requires a certain amount of seating? I can't remember why, maybe MU/Panther knows.

In my opinion, even though the Resch Center is cool as it is a great facility and across the street from Lambeau, they should play on campus.

The Horizon League rule is that you need 5,000 seats. The rule really can't be used to strong because Loyola upgraded their arena and it went under 5,000. Oakland who joined the HL this year, their arena seats under 5,000.

Rob Demovsky has said about Green Bay, that weekend should be at the Resch Center and during the week games on campus.

[IWB]

Rob Demovsky shouldn't be able to talk about Green Bay hoops any longer, nor should Jason Wilde.

[TheSultan]

Rob Demovsky shouldn't be able to talk about Green Bay hoops any longer, nor should Jason Wilde.

Wilde never did. Demovsky has moved on to ESPN, and I'm pretty sure he only covers the Packers.

But that doesn't mean that his opinion about their arena situation is wrong.

[IWB]

Wilde never did? Wrong.

On ESPN radio in Milwaukee the day after Demovsky's Wardle article Wilde was on with Drew Olson. Wilde went off on Wardle, saying things like, "He should never be allowed to coach again"......"He shouldn't even be allowed to coach a YMCA team"....."I don't want him anywhere near my kids".... and so on and so on. It was clear listening to it, that Olson pretty much did the old 'walk back out of the room backwards' because it was that uncomfortable.