E-mail
Print
Battlin’ with the best
Panthers’ non-conference schedule toughest on the Horizon
By Steve Manske
The schedule could be an advantage come conference time, when games are close and hard-fought, night in and night out.
The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee men’s basketball non-conference schedule ranks right up there with a few other Horizon League schools.
The Panthers open their season on the road in a preseason tournament at Iowa St. The Panthers will face Loyola-Marymount of the West Coast Conference, which includes teams like Gonzaga, San Diego and St. Mary’s. The Panthers will also square-off against UC-Davis and Iowa St.
Competing in a tournament hosted by a Big 12 school shows the Panthers are up for an earlier season challenge. The game against the Cyclones will be a nice tune-up facing the other power conference opponents the Panthers have in their non- conference schedule.
The Panthers have a pair of two in-state power conference road games against Marquette on Nov. 22 and Wisconsin on Nov. 29. Both opponents should be playing in the NCAA Tournament in March and both could possibly be ranked in the top 25 throughout the season.
The Panthers have one other key non-conference game that they will host at the U.S. Cellular Arena. The Panthers will face-off with the Bradley Braves of the Missouri Valley Conference in a return game of the Bracket Buster last season in Peoria, Ill. that the Panthers loss. This year game will be held on Dec. 20.
There’s only a few other teams in the Horizon League that have a handful of games against quality opponents. One of those teams is the Detroit Titans, who play road games against a trio of Purdue, Illinois and DePaul. Playing two Big 10 schools and a Big East school is a respectable schedule.
Another team that has a fairly challenging non-conference schedule like the Panthers is Valparaiso. The Crusaders play a road game against a top 10 team from the Big 10 in Purdue. The Crusaders also have a pair of tough road games at San Diego and the No. 1 team in the college basketball preseason rankings, the North Carolina Tar Heels.
The only other team that has a challenging non-conference schedule is Butler, with road games at Drake, Bradley, Ohio St. and Xavier. Along with a home game against Big Ten school Northwestern.
After looking at the Panthers non-conference schedule and comparing with these other Horizon League schools you notice the Panthers arguably play the most challenging schedule of the teams in their league. The schedule could be an advantage come conference time when games are close and hard fought night in and night out. Having a good mix of veterans and young players should help the Panthers to mature much faster than last year. With the help of this schedule, coming into the most important time of the year, which is conference play, will decide which schools from the Horizon League will be represented in the NCAA Tournament come March.
Enjoy the tough non-conference schedule and look for the Panthers to surprise the Horizon League and be in the hunt for a conference title come season’s end.
> Comments