It’s the beginning of March, so the energy and atmosphere inside basketball gyms will be turned up to 1,000 in anticipation of some of the most exciting games of the year.
At 23-8, the Wisconsin Badgers are a shoe-in, fresh off two Final Fours and a Sweet 16 appearance in the last three seasons.
For the first time since 2013, Marquette appears to be dancing next week. At 19-10 and with a winning record in the Big East, one win in this week’s conference tournament should lock up a bid.
And believe it or not, little University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, which hasn’t made the tournament since 2014.
UWM pulled off a few upsets before falling Tuesday night in the title game to Northern Kentucky.
So the Panthers won’t dance, but it’s nice to see them relevant again.
Underdog kings
In another Cinderella story, I can’t help but be impressed with the one going on about 20 minutes south in Wilmot.
Wilmot, a No. 10 seed with only five regular season wins, completed three upsets in five days last week, knocking off both second-seeded McFarland and third-seeded Burlington.
I attended the Burlington game Saturday, and it really could’ve gone either way, but Latrell Glass’ 26 points and the team’s 11 3-pointers were too much as the Demons suffered a few too many empty possessions late in the fourth quarter.
Burlington coach Steve Berezowitz and the players said they were disappointed after the game, and players weren’t really in a talkative mood.
A bright spot was Burlington junior Nick Klug, who surpassed the 1,000-point career milestone last weekend in a playoff win against Delavan-Darien.
Klug finished the season as the area’s leading scorer with 19.2 points per game, and he is already drawing college interest from Division 1 and 2 programs.
Glass is a flat-out stud whose jump shot is smooth, and he was the best athlete on the court Saturday night. Burlington has nothing to be ashamed of, as he’s caused many teams fits this year.
The Demons simply picked the wrong time to have a bad game.
Amazing school spirit
The emotional roller coaster against Wilmot was intense, as both student sections screamed a little louder and shouted a few more unpleasant chants – all in the name of school spirit and March Madness.
Burlington, decked out in white, concocted an ESPN TV show desk, equipped with four reporters in fancy suits. Kids conducted halftime and post-game “interviews,” and the detail was impeccable.
But Wilmot’s students, or #PantherFam, were on another level of savagery.
“Fundamentals” cheers, along with the classic “We can’t hear you” culminated with a frenzied rushing of the court, as roughly 60 students bombarded the jumping Panthers players in a scene of youthful exuberance.
On the Demons’ home court. Oh, the disrespect, all in the name of Madness. I’ll allow it.
A fan on the opposite side of the bleachers from the student section even started a Wilmot “D-fense” chant. The Panthers’ crowd support was no joke.
The Panthers pulled off the unthinkable, and they deserved it.
Wilmot now battles top-seeded Westosha Central, a team loaded with outside shooting and raw athleticism that beat Wilmot by an average of 25.5 points per game this season in two contests.
The game, originally scheduled for Clinton High School Thursday night, has been moved to Burlington High School at 7 p.m.
Area basketball fans will have a chance to witness two of the best student sections in the Southern Lakes Conference, along with two of the best players in Wilmot’s Glass and Westosha’s Tre Williams.
The winner may be thumped by Division 2’s top-ranked team, Waunakee, in the sectional final, but it will mark the first time an SLC boys hoops squad has made a sectional final since 2009, when the 6-foot-9 Skyler O’Laughlin-led Elkhorn Elks lost in double overtime, 66-62, to Beloit Memorial.
Thank you!
Whereas 2016 sent the Burlington Catholic Central boys to state, Burlington boys to sectionals and Union Grove girls to a sectional final, all eight area basketball teams are done at the regional level.
Congrats on strong seasons in general, as it is a grind with rigorous practices and sacrifices over a four-month period.
The madness was off the charts these past couple weeks, as players amped up the intensity and became stars. The emotions ran high, as uncontrollable sobbing wasn’t an uncommon sight.
Thank you, athletes, parents and coaches, for displaying grace during interviews and conversations, even in the toughest of times.
Head on over to the girls basketball state tournament in Green Bay and the boys tourney in Madison and watch some March Madness on the tube.
Marquette opens the Big East Tournament Thursday at 1:30 p.m., and the Badgers take on the Iowa-Indiana winner at 5:30 p.m. Friday evening.
The sheer emotion is enough to force indoor shouting and screaming, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.
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