squirrel wrote:Until 1999, Milwaukee was among the worst programs in DI. Period.
Keep in mind that Milwaukee reclassified to Division I in 1990, so it's not like they were one of the worst teams in D-I for 95 years or something. Also, the 1992-93 team was a great team to not make the NCAA Tournament; they were still in the provisional period as a program and were ineligible, but got hosed by the NIT.
Probably the worst decision in hoops history happened when Steve Antrim was replaced by the wrong assistant in 1995 - Bud Haidet hired Ric Cobb instead of Ron Hunter. Imagine how different the programs at Milwaukee, IUPUI and Georgia State would be if Hunter had been offered and taken the job? He did apply for it even though he had just finished his first year at IUPUI. Haidet did pretty well with the Ryan/Pearl hires.
squirrel wrote:As for the two seasons you cite, Milwaukee finished 4th in 2010, behind Wright St and Green Bay as well. So they ran into more than just The Greatest Mid-Major of All-Time (which is openly debatable.)
That's fine. I'm going by the fact that Butler needed every minute to beat us, yet squashed Wright State in a matter of minutes just a couple days later. Of course these are minor details, but let's go with your assumption, that in 2010 we wouldn't have made it. That's still 2003, 2005, 2006, 2011, and 2014 in the NCAA Tournament. That's a demonstrated cycle that takes us dancing.
squirrel wrote:They've had losing Horizon records in 3 of the last 5 years.
Look, its OK to try and sell Milwaukee, they're not at the top of my list, but if we're being honest about history, the program has largely been a trainwreck. Now, they haven't been as terrible as they were in their early DI days, but they have had more teams closer to the bottom of DI than they have RPI 100 teams since Bo Ryan and Bruce Pearl have been out of the picture.
Their performance profile beyond that is the very definition of meh.
Call it what it is: transition. Rob Jeter's teams at the end weren't cutting the mustard in the AD's eyes, so she made the change. But each of those teams has a story.
In 2012-13, the team was completely deflated by having to play in the Klotsche Center. This is like if Bradley moved from Carver Arena to the Renaissance Coliseum on campus, except if the Renaissance Coliseum were built in 1974 and for general student use, not for intercollegiate athletics and certainly not for Division I. The Klotsche Center is a pile of garbage for a D-I men's basketball team. I can think of five high school gyms in Milwaukee that are better than the KC off the top of my head. Imagine coming to play in Kareem's House and instead playing in an intramural gym. I don't blame those kids at all for not having their heads in it. They still opened the season by losing in OT to South Carolina in Frank Martin's first game there and beating a Davidson team that almost upset Marquette in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
In 2014-15, the team was on an APR ban. They had nothing to play for in the Horizon League. They tried getting the players up by scheduling a bunch of high-majors in buy games, but it was impossible to motivate that team when they weren't eligible to go to any postseason, including the HLT. They still won seven of their last nine that year.
This year the team was in transition. It wasn't enough for the AD, so she made the change. LaVall Jordan's program is just getting started, so using the team this year as an indication of what we're going to be for the next 25 is kind of ridiculous. Even still, they were a couple possessions from the NCAA Tournament. And this is despite losing starters to transfer to Minnesota, Wake Forest and UNLV.
Add up Evansville, Drake, Bradley, Illinois State, Indiana State, Loyola and Missouri State - the entire MVC outside of UNI and SIU. Since 2000, they have a total of 5 NCAA Tournaments, with 3 victories in the NCAA Tournament. The most recent NCAA Tournament appearance was 20-14 Indiana State's surprise 2011 MVC Championship.
Milwaukee has four NCAA Tournaments since 2000, with three victories. Our most recent NCAA Tournament appearance was 2014, which was a surprise appearance by a 21-14 team.
We are literally one NCAA Tournament appearance short of having the same exact NCAA Tournament resume since 2000 as seven of the nine MVC members combined, with a more recent NCAA Tournament appearance by three years. And this wasn't cherry-picking - I could have said since 2002, then we'd have a better resume because Indiana State's 2000 and 2001 appearances would have fallen off. But I'm magnanimous.
You use the fact that Milwaukee's NCAA Tournaments are all by former coaches, yet Valpo's last appearance was with Bryce Drew and Murray State last went under Steve Prohm. I'm not saying that we're better than either of those programs - if I were Czar of the MVC, I'd take those two as #10 and #11 - I'm just saying that we're clearly #12, and saying we're not qualified because that tourney success was achieved under previous coaches is disregarding the fact that #10 and #11 are the same way.
We're a perfect geographical fit. If the television market matters, having the city of Milwaukee is a huge deal. If it doesn't, this is still an extremely fertile recruiting ground that MVC schools will be able to more easily access. Our success level in regards to the NCAA Tournament is almost identical to most of the MVC since 2000. We give the MVC the opportunity to grow its brand and set itself up for future growth. We're willing to spend the money to play in the MVC - our MBB expenses for the last reporting year easily eclipsed Murray State, was comfortably higher than Valpo and was very close to UNI and Evansville and within shouting distance of Bradley.
And here's the last thing: we really, really, REALLY want to be there. SLU couldn't care less. Belmont has told you guys to screw off twice now. Milwaukee? We're eager to join up. Just give us a chance.