While the dust is still settling on the 2024 baseball season, it’s basketball season in Milwaukee and it remains one of the best times in history to be a fan of the sport in the Cream City. The NBA season is already well underway for Giannis and the Bucks and college basketball eases its way into your consciousness this week as well.
For the 23rd time in program history, but just the second time in the last decade, the Marquette men’s basketball team opens the season in the top 25 in the Associated Press poll. This year they’re #18 in the country and facing a major challenge in trying to track down two-time defending national champion UConn in the Big East. However, they’re returning players who accounted for nearly 75% of the minutes on a team that won 27 games and advanced to the Sweet 16 last season. One of those returning players is senior guard Kam Jones, a member of the Preseason All-Big East team and an All-American contender.
Marquette isn’t the only Milwaukee team on a recent run of success, however: UW-Milwaukee won 20 games last season for the 12th time in program history and the second consecutive season. They took a bit of a step back after nearly winning the Horizon League regular season two years ago, but still made a late run to get within a game of qualifying for the program’s first NCAA Tournament since 2013. They’re expected to make another run at a conference championship this season, as they tied for first place in the league’s preseason poll. They’ll miss star wing BJ Freeman, who transferred to Arizona State, but made one of the Horizon’s best additions on the transfer portal by bringing in former Queens guard AJ McKee.
They’ll also play more basketball in Milwaukee during the non-conference season this year than they did a year ago: Last fall, Marquette and Milwaukee combined to host 11 games in the city before starting conference play, but this year with the addition of Milwaukee’s Cream City Challenge, it’s up to 13. Here are the teams that will visit Milwaukee to play a game this month and next, ranked:
T12. Lakeland University at Milwaukee on November 4 and North Central College (IL) at Milwaukee on December 22
For the second consecutive season, Milwaukee’s non-conference schedule includes a pair of teams from lower NCAA levels—this time both Division 3 programs. They’re certainly not the only program to do this (83 Division 1 teams are playing a lower level opponent on Monday night alone), but it does dampen the excitement for a new season a bit. Last season, Milwaukee beat their two non-D1 opponents (UW-Stout and Luther) by an average of 24 points and two years ago, they beat three non-D1s by an average of 53.
This year’s games are likely to be closer to the latter: Lakeland went 6-19 last season and North Central went 10-17. The last Division 3 school to beat a D-1 program in a regular season (non-exhibition) game was in 2022, and it’s unlikely to happen again here.
11. Stonehill at Marquette on November 27
The other 11 teams coming to Milwaukee this non-conference season are all Division 1 schools, although some have been for longer than others. Easton, Massachusetts’ Stonehill College is in just their third season at this level after moving up from Division 2, and the transition has been hit or miss for the basketball team: They posted a winning record in their first year in the Northeast Conference two years ago, but went just 4-27 last year, including 2-14 in conference play. Ken Pomeroy has them opening the season as the 358th rated team among 364 Division 1 programs, and has them projected to finish last in the nation’s lowest rated conference.
10. Western Carolina at Marquette on November 30
The weekend around Thanksgiving will be quite the feast for Marquette basketball, as they play their weakest non-conference opponent right before the holiday and their second weakest right after. The Catamounts are actually coming off what might have been the best season in program history last year, as they went 22-10 overall and 11-7 in the Southern Conference (a very good mid-major league). Head coach Justin Gray jumped to Coastal Carolina following the season, however, and players who accounted for over 90% of their minutes last season also departed.
That’s the challenge facing new head coach Tim Craft, who moves into this job after never posting a losing season in conference play across 11 years with Gardner Webb. Craft is the only man ever to take Gardner Webb to an NCAA Tournament and maybe he’ll get there eventually with Western Carolina too, but he’ll need to rebuild the program first, and games at Wake Forest, Florida State, Marquette, and Tennessee this season will likely showcase just how far he has to go.
9. Stony Brook at Marquette on November 4
The first Division 1 team to visit Milwaukee this season will come on Monday night when Marquette welcomes in a Stony Brook team that is unlikely to challenge them for long. Stony Brook has had some proud moments in recent history: They went to the NCAA Tournament in 2016 under now-Rutgers coach Steve Pikiell, and last season’s 10-8 conference record was their best since moving up from the America East Conference to the Coastal Athletic Association earlier this decade. Big man Keenan Fitzmorris has since left the program to transfer to Northwestern, however, and last season’s team had seven seniors on it. This year’s team figures to need a step back before they move forward, and the league’s coaches picked them to finish ninth in the CAA in their preseason poll.
8. Central Michigan at Marquette on November 11
College basketball’s transfer portal era has not been kind to Mid American Conference (MAC) basketball, which has seen a pretty steep decline in relevance over recent years. Central Michigan, however, was that conference’s biggest surprise last season. They had posted a losing record in conference play in 10 of the last 14 seasons before going 12-6 last year. Like most of the teams on this list, they’re rebuilding on the fly after players accounting for nearly 70% of last season’s minutes left the program. MAC coaches picked them to finish eighth in the 12-member league, although they did put senior guard Anthony Pritchard on the preseason all-conference team.
Central Michigan edged out Stony Brook on this list because their height is going to create an unusual challenge for teams. There are 11 players on their roster with listed at 6’6” or taller, including three 6’10” or taller. In reality, though, we’ll have a pretty good idea how they compare to Stony Brook by mid-November: After coming to Marquette on Monday, Stony Brook plays at Central on Thursday.
7. Portland State at Milwaukee on November 22; 6. Saint Thomas at Milwaukee on November 24; 5. Wofford at Milwaukee on November 23
The inaugural Cream City Challenge is a three-day, round robin event where Milwaukee will host a pretty solid collection of mid-major teams, an impressive coup for the program. The action starts the Friday night before Thanksgiving with the Panthers hosting Portland State, continues with a game against Wofford on Saturday, and wraps up with Saint Thomas on Sunday. It would’ve been cleaner if they’d lined up in order on this countdown but journalistic integrity has to count for something, right?
Portland State has held their own but not excelled for a run of several years now in the Big Sky Conference, a league which has been roughly parallel to the Horizon League for much of that time. They don’t return a lot of talent from last year’s team, but they will bring an interesting style challenge: They play one of the most up-tempo offenses in the nation, which might be a challenge to maintain across three games in three days in Milwaukee and probably isn’t an ideal matchup for Milwaukee when they’ve still got two games to play.
Saint Thomas is playing at the Division 1 level for just the fourth season, but they’re one of the biggest success stories among the current crop of teams making that transition. Most casual fans probably don’t watch a lot of Summit League basketball, but they might recognize some of the teams (Oral Roberts made a Sweet 16 run in 2021, South Dakota State was one of the nation’s top mid-majors in 2022). This season, it’s possible Saint Thomas is the best team in that conference. They’ll also draw some local interest with there being five Wisconsin natives on the roster, headlined by senior guard and Brookfield alum Ben Nau.
On paper, Wofford is the best group in the four-team field. The Terriers are one of the better programs in the SoCon, one of the nation’s best mid-major conferences and they return nearly everyone from last season. They’ve got a pair of preseason all-conference players in big man Kyler Filewich and scoring guard Corey Tripp. And last season, they were very good at taking their time on offense to look for a high percentage shot. They’re exactly the kind of team built to succeed in a “three games in three days” environment.
4. Akron at Milwaukee on December 15
Milwaukee’s last game on this list is an excellent measuring stick for the program. Akron is a perennial contender in the MAC, a league they’ve represented in the NCAA Tournament in two of the last three seasons. They’re going to have a lot to replace after losing almost 75% of last season’s minutes, but four of the five players they added on the transfer portal played for power conference schools last season (two at West Virginia, one each from North Carolina and Ohio State) and the fifth is guard Isaiah Gray, who might have been the best of the bunch last season at Cornell.
It doesn’t seem right that a school whose nickname is the “Zips” should play a relatively methodical style, but they’ll try to slow Milwaukee down on offense and make them work for quality shots. Akron will also be road-tested by the time they get to Milwaukee, as this is their third of four true non-conference away games against quality opponents.
3. George Mason at Marquette on November 8
After Monday’s openerm the difficulty quickly ramps up for Marquette, as they’ll face a possible contender in the Atlantic 10 in their second game of the season. Casual fans might remember George Mason from their Final Four run in 2006, but they’ve torn down and rebuilt several times since then, most recently under alum and former Nigerian Olympic team member Tony Skinn.
There are 15 teams in the current iteration of the A-10, so competition is fierce for preseason awards. The Patriots have a member of the preseason all-conference second team in guard Darius Maddox. He scored 14 points per game for George Mason last season after spending the first three years of his collegiate career at Virginia Tech. The conference’s coaches picked George Mason to finish sixth in the A-10 this season, which would be their third straight season in the upper half of that league.
2. Wisconsin at Marquette on December 7
On paper, this is the best chance Marquette has had in a while to make a major statement against one of their historic rivals. The Badgers have won four of the last five in the series, including the last meeting in Milwaukee in 2022. Wisconsin is still a tournament contending team (The Athletic’s Bracket Watch opened the season with them as one of the first teams out of their projected field), but they’re replacing a lot this season with guards AJ Storr, Chucky Hepburn, and Connor Essegian all moving on to other major programs over the winter and seemingly 27th-year senior Tyler Wahl graduated. The preseason Big Ten Media poll has the Badgers tied for 12th in the now-18 member Big Ten. They’re likely to need a lot from senior big man Steven Crowl, and they’re likely to be in trouble if foul trouble takes him off the floor.
1. Purdue at Marquette on November 19
Like Wisconsin, the biggest story line for Purdue this season is someone who isn’t there. Two-time National Player of the Year and game-changing big man Zach Edey graduated following last season. The fact that Purdue is without him and is still a nearly-unanimous favorite to win the Big Ten, however, says a lot about the depth of talent they’ve accumulated in West Lafayette.
Purdue guard Braden Smith is the Big Ten’s preseason Player of the Year, coming off a sophomore season where he shot 43% from three point range (a value of about .3 points per attempt above the average shooter) and led the conference with 7.5 assists per game. Obviously everything changes for him without Edey, but the consensus opinion seems to be that he’s ready for that challenge. And somehow, Purdue’s next great big man might already be on this roster: 6’10” senior Caleb Furst will likely get most of the minutes to open the season, but 7’3” freshman Daniel Jacobsen, a top 100 recruit this year, will almost certainly draw some attention behind him.