NIT Milwaukee vs. Rice

[pnthr30]

Any word on if the game going to be on TV?

[Hack]

Not going to be on ESPN. If anything, it will be on WMLW.

[dtk]

What size crowd do you guys expect there to be at the game on Wednesday. I'm thinking the best we can expect is 4000-5000; hopefully I'm wrong and its more. Any word on how student seats have been selling so far in the dorms and what not?

From the Marquette board it looks they are having a tough a time selling tickets themselves. They haven't even given out their 1000 free student seats yet. FYI their students are back in class this week too.

[uwmfootball]

The tickets are 10 bucks and will be at Sandburg too, along with the ticket office. They will be selling tickets at Bruce's show as well. I am guessing 5500. Any more than that will be pretty impressive, (it is St. Patty's Day !) ;D

[beanocook]

uwmfootball said:

The tickets are 10 bucks and will be at Sandburg too, along with the ticket office. They will be selling tickets at Bruce's show as well. I am guessing 5500. Any more than that will be pretty impressive, (it is St. Patty's Day !) ;D

3,000 would be good..remember, with the NIT you have to announce ACTUAL attendance. Therein lies the difference from the regular season.

[fan]

not that it applies to me but does the NIT allow beer sales?

[dtk]

the bradley center was selling beer for the marquette game last night, so i don't see why we wouldn't

[pnthr30]

dtk said:

the bradley center was selling beer for the marquette game last night, so i don't see why we wouldn't

You actually went to the MU game? haha just messing with you. How loud did it get? I know their crowd wasn't nearly as big as usual, but it looked like there was a decent amount of students there, at least there were a lot of yellow shirts under one of the baskets.

[dtk]

one of my friends that goes to school there hooked me up with a free ticket, thats the only reason i went

there were entire sections open in the lower level even, and nobody to speak of in the upper level. the fans that were there were fairly lively.

I think they had about 1000 students, I guess the freebies finally ran out a little before gametime

[uwmfan]

The Cell should be selling beer tomorrow night. The only reason they didn't v. UIC was to avoid international incident. Not that a few fans didn't partake of the libations elsewhere prior to the game!

Not hearing a lot of talk on attendance elsewhere, but I'm hoping we get 4,000. St. Patty's day may be a blessing or a curse as attendance goes! Maybe there's the promotion....all the green beer you can drink!

[johnjaymilwaukee]

Panthers preparing for first trip to NIT
Local following key to hosting opener[/color]

By DAN MANOYAN
[e-mail]

Posted: March 14, 2004

UW-Milwaukee coach Bruce Pearl admits he was a bit surprised that his Panthers would be awarded a home game with Rice University in the first round of the National Invitation Tournament.

But it was a very pleasant surprise.

"I'll be honest, I was a little surprised," Pearl said. "It was all about us drawing 10,200 for Illinois-Chicago and 8,700 for UW-Green Bay.

"It's all about the U.S. Cellular Arena and a perception that that our program has a following. That's why you get a home game."


DAN MANOYAN's pregame coverage continues at:

www.jsonline.com/sports/coll/mar04/214710.asp

Journal Sentinel Inc.



Pearl isn't taking opening foe lightly
Coach asserts Rice similar to Detroit[/color]

By DAN MANOYAN
[e-mail]

Posted: March 15, 2004

Maybe it's just because Detroit is fresh in his memory bank, but when UW-Milwaukee coach Bruce Pearl looks at film of the Rice basketball team, he definitely remembers the Titans.

"They remind me of Detroit in our league . . . only better," said Pearl, whose UWM squad ousted Detroit from the Horizon League tournament on Feb. 6. "They have an excellent post game, some guys who can score in the blocks."

Rice (22-10) visits the U.S. Cellular Arena at 7 p.m. Wednesday for an opening round National Invitation Tournament game with the Panthers (19-10).


DAN MANOYAN's pregame coverage continues at:

www.jsonline.com/sports/coll/mar04/214843.asp

From the March 16, 2004 editions of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel



UWM's Kadima hoping for a happy ending in the NIT

By DAN MANOYAN
[e-mail]

Posted: March 17, 2004

The players Kalombo Kadima came in with at UW-Milwaukee - Clay Tucker, Ronnie Jones and Jason Frederick - are all gone now.

So is any hope of Kadima ever playing in an NCAA tournament game.

Kadima, a fifth-year senior, is in his final playing days with the Panthers and he'd like to make a few memories before the party is over.

His time at UWM has been up, but just as often it has been down. It has never been dull, however.


DAN MANOYAN's background coverage continues at:

www.jsonline.com/sports/coll/mar04/215170.asp

From the March 17, 2004 editions of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel