Marquette renewed its cross-town series with UWM after an eight-year hiatus and soundly handed the Panthers a 100-65 loss Friday night at the Bradley Center. While the contest has been long-awaited, the series is too one-sided to be called a genuine rivalry.
Rivalries take years to develop. Even though the two schools played against each other for the first time in 1917, they've taken to the hardwood just 33 other times before Friday night and now own a 35-0 record against the Panthers.
The raw ingredients are in place for something to develop. There is a deep-seated animosity towards Marquette from fans on the Panthers' side of the Milwaukee River who see their private-school brethren as spoiled snobs from the Chicago suburbs. The budding hatred is a good foundation for this series to grow, but it's a long way from becoming the next Cincinnati-Xavier or Duke-North Carolina.
In the Marquette camp, there is a sort of general malaise towards UWM's recent success, similar to the way that many Wisconsin fans feel about the rivalry with Marquette. Many see the Panthers as a bunch of Johnny-come-latelys playing in a mid-major conference against inferior competition, while the Golden Eagles have become a Big East Conference contender. They point to Marquette's academic reputation as another separator between the two programs.
It's going to take some time and it's going to take some much better performances from the Panthers if they expect Marquette to consider this a rivalry, as well.
Head coach Tom Crean and his No. 13 Golden Eagles had nothing to gain in the contest. A victory was expected in this game by just about everybody. But lose to the Panthers, and falling out of the top 15 is a given, the RPI takes a hit and Crean has to listen to the boasting for a year.
A victory for UWM makes the Panthers' season. Let's face it, third-year head coach Rob Jeter is doing an admirable job on the Upper East Side, but this Milwaukee team is a far cry from the frantic style of his predecessor, Bruce Pearl, which took the team to the Sweet Sixteen in 2004.
Sure, there were moments that felt like an NCAA Tournament game. While there was pretty much nothing of substance hinging on the game's outcome, there was that mentality of the underdog trying to knock off the big dogs.
UWM went on a run midway through the first half and eventually cut Marquette's lead to just one. But it didn't take long for the Golden Eagles to take the wind out of the Panthers' sails and take an 11-point lead with 7:45 left in the half.
That's the way it goes. The Panthers and their fans may have preferred to play this game three years ago, simply have to get better if they want to turn this into a rivalry. Losing by 35 points doesn't make you look like an attractive opponent or a team to take seriously.
"Rivalries are formed by the players on the floor and over periods of time with close wins," Crean said. "You can't create anything because you talk about it and you want it to happen. You create it with what the players do on the floor."
Both programs have come a long, long way. When the Golden Eagles beat Milwaukee, 77-56, on Dec. 8, 1998, Marquette was in the final season of the Mike Deane era. The Final Four run of 2003, Dwyane Wade and the Big East weren't even glimmers in the Eagles' eyes. There were great crowds for the Cincinnati games back then, but to say the least, ESPN GameDay wasn't rolling into town.
Things were worse across the river, where the Ric Cobb era made a mockery of Division I basketball. There were more ushers in the Bradley Center Friday night than fans in the stands at the U.S. Cellular Arena to watch the Panthers back then.
Milwaukee (the city, itself ... not the school) wanted to see this game when it would have been a real game. What's done is done and there's no changing the past. For the next four years, these two teams are going to battle it out at least once a year, no matter who is on the rosters.
That also means, no more complaining about the match-ups that could have been. What's done is done, the teams you see are the teams you get.
"We're both right here. We play right next door to each other," Jeter said. "That's all it's ever been about. Nothing other than that. ... There shouldn't be any other talk about what hasn't happened, because it's happening now ... Everybody needs to move on."
If UWM can return to its form of a few years ago and Marquette continues to evolve as a national power, not only could this series become interesting, it could become a bona fide rivalry. For now, it's just fun to watch ... and to bicker.
