If you weren’t reading the shirts, you might think you were in Madison for a Badger basketball game.

But we weren’t in Madison. We weren’t even in Green Bay. We were in Peoria, Ill., for the ESPN Bracket Buster game between the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and Bradley University.

Throughout the week, several Milwaukee Panther fans coordinated a caravan of cars to attend the game on Saturday, Feb. 23. If you have never traveled for a college basketball game, I highly recommend it; you get to experience the atmosphere of another university as well as use it to bond with the other fans you travel with.

We had too many people for a car or two, so we rented vans from Enterprise – I highly recommend you never set foot in their office. I would go into detail, but journalism requires some restraint, and I couldn’t write under 2,000 words on the subject.

First off, if you are 6’6” or taller, be sure to call shotgun. My knees were so ridiculously cramped that I limped for a good five minutes after I stepped out of the car.

The driving itself was a trip. We met people such as Phyllis the Toll Booth Operator, and we passed Illinois staples such as a creepy old man giving away “free ice cream” in the middle of February.

The mountainous scenery of Illinois provided a break from the monotony of Milwaukee. Just kidding – I wondered whether or not kids in Illinois had ever been sledding.

By the time we found our parking spot a block from the arena three hours before the game, Peoria was beginning to rock.

Alumni, students and casual fans decked in red and white were pouring into the neighborhood around the arena; we felt outnumbered the moment we stepped into the sports bar Hoops. Everywhere we looked, we saw everything that UWM can be. Students mingling with alumni, history of the team splashed all over the walls, Bradley the brand of everything you see.

I’ll make another recommendation – stop in Hoops if you find yourself in Peoria and hankerin’ for pizza. The atmosphere is great, the food is better, and none of the fans are spitting vitriol. Everyone was happy to see us, and that was all the way into the arena.

Every time I mention the fact that we couldn’t average 10,000 fans if we were in the tournament every year, I get the same answer: “It helps to have the arena on-campus; students walk right over to games.” Thanks for reminding me.

Speaking of the student section, I’ve seen many in my day, and Bradley’s is just as good as any. The only advantage University of Wisconsin has over them is all the traditions and songs written just for them; otherwise they are identical.

As far as the student section leaders go, I could have been more impressed: “Keep shooting, Paulsen!” screamed one just before Paige swished a three and left the kid looking like he just got rickrolled.

The teams were matched up pretty evenly, but you could tell the extensive roster depletion had an effect on how Milwaukee could play – they straight up lost their legs. But it’s not the game I’m here to talk about; it’s the fans, the experience; every red-clad fan in the building standing until the first shot is made, every student clapping and singing along to the fight song.

Kurt Smet and I got to our seats before the rest, so instead of sitting in the nose-bleeds with everyone else, we sneaked down and sat in the complimentary ticket seats that weren’t taken: directly behind the UWM bench. By the end of the game, I had a pretty good idea of what a great mid-major fan base was all about.

On one hand, it was a brutal reminder that UWM doesn’t have the fan support it deserves, despite our best efforts. On the other hand, I had thought this kind of fan base only existed at schools like Madison and Marquette; Bradley is at our level, the mid-major level. With some cultivation, can-do attitude and eventually an on-campus arena, we could reach the fan support that Bradley has – and that is enviable.

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