Wisconsin Milwaukee

[mdlnet13]

This team is one of the most underrated teams in the NCAA. If they win the Horizon Tourney and get to the NCAA Tournament, Watch out. I think they should be picked even if they dont win the Horizon Tournament. Their defense is phenomenal, and they know how to win games.

[beareezyfaneezy]

They have a heck of a coach as well.

[mdlnet13]

When did i say that? That was on February 5th. Oh yes.

[mdlnet13]

My bad it was January 29th

[WSR]

Damn you were right, nice.

[Fan]

When did i say that? That was on February 5th. Oh yes.
I was clapping a whooooping loudly for your comments and their timing !!!

Did you hear me ?


Way to stick your neck out and be right !!

[mdlnet13]

Thank you, but the jobs not done yet, we still need to beat Illinois.

[rogstew2]

I was clapping a whooooping loudly for your comments and their timing !!!

Did you hear me ?


Way to stick your neck out and be right !!
Bruce Pearl needs to beat the university he tuened in for recruiting violations.

This, after he beat the team he was the mascot for.

[Cat in the Hat]

As much as I hate to admit this, but I have to say I'm not very optimistic about the Panthers' chances at getting past Illinois. I will be rooting like crazy for them and will be thoroughly amazed if they do emerge victorious. On a positive note I know for damn sure the Panthers will give the Illini one hell of a run for their money.

[BangOnMeDrumAllDay]

Thread poachers.:p

[da_daubs]

As much as I hate to admit this, but I have to say I'm not very optimistic about the Panthers' chances at getting past Illinois. I will be rooting like crazy for them and will be thoroughly amazed if they do emerge victorious. On a positive note I know for damn sure the Panthers will give the Illini one hell of a run for their money.
Illinois plays a 3-guard rotation, usually, from what I've heard. Being they're pretty quick, as a team, the Panther press shouldn't be as successful.

We'll see what happens when the game's played, though.

[STLCARDSFAN1]

i'd love to see them beat illinios tomorrow. hell my bracket already blows, so i am cheering for all the underdogs.

[Fan]

This should be a fun game tonight !!!



SAY WHAT YOU ILL

By BRIAN LEWIS


http://www.nypost.com/photos/sports03242005119.jpg


WHY IS THIS MAN SMILING?: Bruce Pearl led Wisconsin-Milwaukee to the Sweet 16 with upset victories over Alabama and Boston College.


ROSEMONT, Ill. - Bruce Pearl - the man who blew the whistle on Illinois 16 years ago - actually claims that the cheers his Wisconsin-Milwaukee team will get from Arizona and Oklahoma State fans will even out the vitriol spewed by the Illini faithful still bitter over the probation he cost their club.

Right.

One can only wonder if the UWM athletic department would spring for some Kevlar. The crowd at Allstate Arena cheering top-ranked Illinois and jeering Illini Public Enemy No. 1 could border on the maniacal in today's 7:27 p.m. Chicago Region tilt.

Log on to Illinois' message boards and Pearl has been nicknamed Satan, likened to a child-molester and referred to as excrement - and worse. This Sweet 16 tilt between Illinois (34-1) and 12th-seeded UWM (26-5) won't lack for drama.

"I'm not looking forward to playing Illinois, but at some point this was going to happen. It was something that was going to come," Pearl said. "Will there be a little more noise because I'm coaching? Sure. But there's some fans of OSU and Arizona - you think they want to play the Fighting Illini, or the Panthers of Milwaukee?"

As an Iowa assistant 16 years ago, Pearl taped a phone conversation with recruit Deon Thomas, a conversation that implied Thomas was given $80,000 and a Chevy Blazer to sign with the Illini.

The NCAA eventually gave Illinois two years probation, banned it from postseason play in '92, and restricted the off-campus recruiting of assistant Jimmy Collins - who said his family was threatened, and after taking the Chicago-Illinois job in the Horizon League, has refused to shake Pearl's hand.

"It's a tough situation. Two coaches involved, it's their livelihood; maybe one got a little too far," said Illinois' Bruce Weber, a UWM grad who was a Purdue assistant at the time. "I don't think it was good for either of them, to be honest. But it's history."

Pearl himself was clearly blacklisted, spending nine years at Division II Southern Indiana before getting a D-I job, albeit at mid-major UWM.

"Maybe my career would've gone in a different direction ... and maybe I wouldn't have been ready for it. There's nothing like experience," philosophized Pearl, who acknowledges it may have cost him a job or three.

"Let's say you have two good coaches, both good people but I have this baggage? Sure. For some. Others might look at it (as) this guy clearly tries to do it the right way. I haven't had one coach in 16 years who said I did something wrong."

He's done everything right at UWM, a winner of 11 straight with Ed McCants leading a 3-point barrage (nine a game) and a 1-2-1-1 fullcourt press. Illinois averages just 11 turnovers playing with three lead guards in Deron Williams, Dee Brown and Luther Head, but UWM has to press.

"We didn't back down against BC and we can't back down against Illinois," Pearl said. "BC hit us in the mouth and we just spit out a tooth and some blood and got back in the game."

As far as the players, they're using the Illini fans as motivation.

"We're a family, 20 of us against the world it seems. I read one of the articles and it got me because people are talking bad about a family member, so we're taking it personally,'' forward Adrian Tigert said.

"It just magnifies the situation. I think (it's) going to pull us together tighter and just fuel us that much more.''



http://www.nypost.com/sports/43133.htm


Seems to me the Illinios fans should have directed SOME of their anger toward those who corrupted their basketball program 15-20 years ago ...

[Fan]

I have a committment that will keep me from seeing at least the first half ....

So I just wanna say GO PANTHERS !!