Preview: Milwaukee

Horizon League play is set to start, besides the first game that was a Crusaders victory at Butler, on Thursday. Milwaukee will be at the ARC, and Valpo will be looking to get a very solid win to open the conference slate. Milwaukee is ahead of Valpo in the standings, but that is due to Valpo only playing one conference game so far and Milwaukee getting two. Still, the Panthers should be one of the top teams in the Horizon this year, and a victory for Valpo will not be easy.

Last time out: Valpo is coming off of a 97-88 loss to IUPUI. The game was very frustrating from a fan's perspective, as there was a lot of lackluster play from Valpo and questionable officiating. Valpo had 33 total fouls called on them, whereas IUPUI had only 19. This translated into 48 attempted free throws for the Jaguars vs. Valpo's 24. Despite the big foul margin, the Crusaders still had their struggles and dug themselves into a hole early on. When IUPUI is going to shoot 15-24 in the first half, it will be rather difficult to keep up. Perhaps the lone bright spot of the game was in the first 8 minutes of the 2nd half, which saw a 28-11 run to tie the game at 54-54. This includes three three-pointers from Will Bogan. The Jaguars responded a little later on with a run of their own, and Valpo never threatened again.

Game Preview: Valpo has played very well at home this year, with the only loss being to Oakland. That game was a crushing 82-80 defeat at the hands of a buzzer beater. I don't want to remind the fans about it. So far Milwaukee is only 3-3 on the road this year, but those 3 losses are to good teams (Michigan State, Marquette, and Northern Iowa). I like Valpo's chances in this contest, since all teams have had a little bit of team to recharge and prepare themselves for the 2nd half of the season. 6 out of Valpo's 8 wins this year have come from scoring 70+ plus points, so I think we are seeing a team that is more offensively oriented. A couple of keys to the game will rebounding (which is something that will be always be important), containing Kaylon Williams, and shooting well. As far rebounding is concerned, UWM is out-rebounding their opponents on average by about 37-33 per game. Valpo averages about 35 per game, and Broekhoff leads the way with his 9 per game average. Kaylon Williams is the star point guard for the Panthers, and his averages include about 12 points per game, and nearly 6 assists per game. Erik Buggs will most likely draw the assignment on him, and the Crusaders will NEED him to stay out of foul trouble and sticking on Williams. And for shooting, Valpo's average is pretty good at almost 48%. But the three point shooting is a not-so-great 32%. I think we need to see Broekhoff (hopefully he will be at full strength), Bogan, and Boggs step up and hit several three pointers for the Crusaders to have a good chance.

Prediction - I will go the optimistic route and say Valpo takes it 76-70.


UWM notables:
- UWM may be a mid-major, but the student population is enormous! They have around 30,500 students. Valpo has around 4,000 or slightly above.

-Apparently UWM is a very strong school for politically related things, as they have produced two heads of state and one head of a college. That is Golda Meier, the fourth Prime Minister of Israel; Alberto Fujimori, the 90th President of Peru; and Larry N. Vanderhoeff, the chancellor of the University of California, Davis. Others include Alan Kulwicki, a former Nascar driver now in the International Motor Sports Hall of Fame. Frank Caliendo, a very good impressionist and comedian is also an alumni.

- A new campus tradition started in 2008 is the Pantherfest, which is to kick off the academic year. It's basically a festival held at the Summerfest grounds downtown Milwaukee. Some past performers have been Lupe Fiasco, Dashboard Confessional, Kid Cudi, O.A.R., and Common. That is not cheap entertainment.