Air Times: Krause Show With Haidet

Dennis Krause just sent me a list of air times for his show on Time Warner Sports (TWC Channel 32) featuring Bud Haidet.

Mon. Nov. 3 - 5 pm, 9 pm and 11 pm

Tues. Nov. 4 - Midnight, 7 am, 3 pm, 6:30 pm and 10 pm

Wed. Nov. 5 - Midnight, 6:30 am, 12:30 pm, 6:30 pm and 11 pm

Thurs. Nov. 6 - Midnight, 6:30 am,6:30 pm and 11 pm

Fri. Nov. 7 - 5:30 am, 9 am and 5 pm

Sat. Nov. 8 - 5:30 am, 9:30 am, 1:30 pm and 10 pm

Sun. Nov. 9 - 10:30 am and 10:30 pm

Dennis did note it will run for two weeks, so there should be some air dates for between the 10th and 16th at some point, as well.

Do We Get A Commission?

After working out the kinks in his college basketball broadcast abilities traveling the Midwest and beyond with the Panthers, Daron Sutton has inked a deal to do TV for Arizona State basketball.

As many of you know, Daron - previously the TV voice of the Brewers and now the TV voice of the Diamondbacks - has worked on UWM broadcasts over the past few seasons. He is back for all of the UWM TV games again this year. But, in his spare time, he'll be on Fox Sports Arizona calling Sun Devil action. He did two games on FSAZ last season.

You can read the Arizona Republic's account of this TV news here.

Arizona State's official release is here.

Then there is the coverage from the East Valley Tribune here, with Daron getting billing above the Great Pumpkin Race and Festival.

And, it could be down at any time, but if you go to the men's basketball page of Arizona State's website, you are greeted by a remarkably large photo of Daron looking right back at you.

By the way, while a few details are still being sorted out on the full list of UWM games on Time Warner Sports this year, the first one Daron will be a part of is Dec. 11 at Miami (Ohio). Can't wait to see you in Oxford, Ohio, Daron!

Some Things Slip Through The Cracks

I posted last Thursday on the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's article on Sarah Hagen. But, I did not notice that the NCAA News ran its story that it was working on, also on Thursday. Here is a link to the article. It's also on the women's soccer front page of NCAA.com, in the bottom left and complete with a picture of Nicole Sperl.

But, while I got your attention, Hagen scored three more goals last weekend and now has 20 for the season. That tied the Horizon League's freshman record and is one back of its single-season record. I was doing some research on freshmen in NCAA history. If I find anything, it'll be in our weekly release on Tuesday.

In other news, the Panthers jumped to No. 19 in the Soccer America national poll. SA gets a jump on everyone else with a Monday morning release. I don't want to try and forecast, but the NSCAA poll, where UWM is 18th, should see very little movement. There was only one loss by the entire top 25 that was not to a team ranked at least six spots ahead of the losing team (#14 Texas A&M over #15 Colorado, 2-1 in overtime). But, we'll see...

More Ink On Hagen

The Sarah Hagen publicity machine kept on rolling today as the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel published a story on her in this morning's paper. Here is a link to the story.

More Background On Tonight’s “Milwaukee Cup” Match-up…

The annual battle for the “Milwaukee Cup” between UWM and Marquette has been going on since 1973 – the first season in Milwaukee soccer program history. The Panthers hold a commanding 25-7-3 all-time record in the series and have had possession of the cup since a 3-1 victory in October of 2004. Over the past three years, the team has defended the cup with a 4-0 win in 2005, a 3-2 win in 2006 and a 1-1 tie a year ago.

The last time the game was held at Engelmann Field, the fans jammed the stands to the tune of 3,256 people – breaking the former school attendance record by over 1,000.

That begs the question: Will you be there to see what tonight will bring?

Also, there are plenty of connections between the two current teams:

-The most obvious: MU head coach Louis Bennett coached at UWM from 1996 to 2005
-MU associate head coach Stan Anderson was on Bennett’s staff at UWM for 10 years
-MU assistant coach Steve Bode was a three-time captain and all-conference selection in a very distinguished career as a Panther from 2003-07
-MU starting goalkeeper Matt Pyzdrowski and forward Josh Curry were both redshirt freshmen on the Milwaukee roster during the 2005 season before transferring to Marquette following Bennett’s departure
-Current MU freshman Calum Mallace is the younger brother of UWM alum Craig Mallace, a four-year starter (2003-06) and two-time all-league selection for the Panthers
-Current MU junior Tim Jallow is the younger brother of UWM alum Antou Jallow, one of the most recognized players to ever take to the pitch at UWM from 2001-04, recording 133 points (second all-time) on the strength of a school-record 60 career goals
-UWM assistant coach Jesse Rosen spent the previous two seasons as an assistant coach at Marquette before joining Milwaukee this year

Jeter On The D-List

In case you missed it on the air earlier today, here is a link to the audio of Rob Jeter's appearance on the "D List" today on 540 ESPN. The full audio file is about 27 minutes.

Women's Soccer Continues To Make Noise Nationally

The Milwaukee women's soccer team has made some big waves this week in the national rankings. First, the NCAA released its second installment of the RPI and the Panthers jumped from #34 to 26. That can be seen here.

Milwaukee also has program-high rankings across the board, showing up at No. 18 in the NSCAA Poll, as well as at Soccer Buzz. The team is also No. 22 at Soccer America, which is a high for the publication. Sorry there is no link, you need a subscription, so you just may want to take my word on it.

In the region, UWM is second in the NSCAA and Soccer Buzz polls, trailing only No. 1 in the nation Notre Dame.

Freshman Sarah Hagen continues to make a name for herself. She set a school record with her 17th goal of the season Friday and is tied for first in the nation in goals scored.

UPDATE (12:23 p.m.): ESPN.com just posted a story on Hagen on its ESPNU page. Here is a link to the story by Graham Hays.

Media Appearance Notes

Just a couple of quick media appearance notes ...

Rob Jeter is scheduled to appear on the "D-List" Tuesday morning at 11 on 540 ESPN. Rob's appearance will actually come during a new regular segment for the show called the A-List. The first two guests were John Hammond and Mike Gousha.

Also, Rob's regular weekly appear on 540 ESPN is going to shift to the evenings this year, following Bill Johnson to "The Game," which airs weeknights from 6-8 p.m. It looks like Wednesday night will be the usual day, though that will vary some based on game schedules.

Meanwhile, Bud Haidet will be taping an edition of The Dennis Krause Show, which airs on Time Warner Sports. The taping is Tuesday and this edition of the show will air in early November. Dennis said he'd get me more specific air times soon, and I'll pass those along once I have them.

The League Game Of The Week Release

Here is the full text of the release from the Horizon League on its new game of the week package with ESPNU. As was noted on the main site here, UWM is in the debut game with Green Bay Jan. 9.

The Horizon League’s first national basketball game-of-the-week package highlights the League’s 2008-09 broadcast schedule on ESPN networks, Commissioner Jonathan B. LeCrone announced Monday (Oct. 20).

Seven Horizon League match-ups featuring all 10 men’s teams and two women’s on Fridays in January and February on ESPNU are part of 17 games involving League teams scheduled to be shown on ESPN networks during the coming season.

“We are excited to expand our ESPN partnership with our first national basketball game-of-the-week,” said LeCrone. “More fans will now be able to follow our teams on a regular basis during the regular season. This is another important step in the growth of the League.”

The Friday night game-of-the-week schedule will tip-off Jan. 9 with an intrastate battle when the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee plays host to the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay at 9 p.m. ET.

“Showcasing the Horizon League in a consistent Friday primetime window is a great addition to ESPN’s college basketball schedule,” said Rosalyn Durant, vice president and general manager, ESPNU. “This agreement also allows us to enhance the number of live events we offer on ESPNU with quality intra-conference competition.”

The following Fridays in January will feature Wright State University at the University of Detroit Mercy on Jan. 16 (9 p.m.), preseason League favorite Cleveland State University at Youngstown State University on Jan. 23 (9 p.m.) and Valparaiso University at defending champion Butler University on Jan. 30 (7 p.m.).

February’s Horizon League game-of-the-week schedule on ESPNU starts with a women’s match-up when Wright State plays at Butler on Feb. 6 (9 p.m.). Men’s action resumes with Butler playing host to the University of Illinois at Chicago on Feb. 13 (7 p.m.), followed by UIC at cross-town rival Loyola University Chicago on Feb. 27 (9 p.m.). There will be no scheduled League game on Feb. 20 due to all 10 teams participating in the annual ESPNU BracketBusters that weekend.

ESPN2 will televise two regular-season men’s games, including Butler at UIC on Saturday, Jan. 17 (2 p.m.). Again this season, the final Saturday of the regular season (Feb. 28, 12 p.m.) will feature a men’s wildcard game that will be selected in early February. Games scheduled that day are Green Bay at Wright State, Milwaukee at Detroit, Cleveland State at Butler and Youngstown State at Valparaiso. Both ESPN2 games also will be streamed live on ESPN360.com.

Two non-conference Horizon League games also will be broadcast on ESPNU this season. Valparaiso will host the University of North Carolina on Dec. 20 (2 p.m.) at the United Center in Chicago, and Butler will play at Xavier University on Dec. 23 (7 p.m.). A third game will be streamed live on ESPN360.com when Detroit opens the season at Purdue University on Nov. 14 (9 p.m.).

ESPNU will air the Horizon League Men’s Basketball Championship semi-finals on March 7 at 7 and 9 p.m. and the Women’s Basketball Championship on March 15 at 1 p.m. The Men’s Basketball Championship remains in its usual spot on Tuesday (March 10) at 9 p.m. on ESPN as part of “Championship Week.” That game also will be available on ESPN360.com.

Basketball Season Is Here

College basketball practice officially kicks off across the country this weekend.

The Panther men will have some 2 1/2 weeks of practice before opening the exhibition season Nov. 5 against MSOE.

To note the start of practice, we'll have a full preview of the men's season on the main site tomorrow. But, a few points of emphasis, if you will, that came out of my conversation with Rob Jeter.

First, there is the lesson of "team" learned a season ago. “When all of the dust settled last year, we had a team” ... that is perhaps my favorite dead-on quote from Rob that came out of our discussion.

Next, there is the hope of a better start. Last season, a 3-7 start overall and an 0-2 start in the league made for a huge early hole. While you can often point to a lot of ifs and buts during a season, just think of what a win over Northern Iowa or Sam Houston and a league win over Loyola - all in the first four weeks - might have meant in the long run. To be sure, the fact nearly every Horizon League team will play two league games on the first weekend of December means teams must find their way to a high level early on.

Rob also made mention of a stronger finish. Certainly, the injury to Marcus Skinner, a general lack of depth by the end and a very, very busy finish to the schedule were all extreme factors a season ago. But, the Panthers want to see the arrow pointing up during February.

Finally, I think everyone knows the Panthers have to shoot the ball better. As Rob notes, they have been able to go out and recruit players specifically to fill needs like shooting, and the hope is that will pay off. While you never really know how a new player will perform in a game, it would be fairly surprising if the Panthers didn't improve their field goal percentage - perhaps even substantially.

Again, the full preview will be on the main site tomorrow. Charles Gardner will also have an early look at the Panthers in Saturday's Journal Sentinel. And, the first public look at the Panthers comes Oct. 28 at the Full Court Club Intrasquad Scrimmage.

More On The GSR

The NCAA made public the latest set of Graduation Success Rate figures earlier this week, and there was plenty in it UWM can be proud of.

First, if you want more of an overview on the GSR, check out an NCAA News article about it here.

Meanwhile, if you missed the summary of local numbers, you can read the article in the Journal Sentinel here.

But at UWM, the overall athletics graduation success rate over the latest period included sits at 81 percent. If you actually go back and include nearly 10 years of athletics - with student-athletes entering from 1992-93 through 2001-02 - UWM's graduation rate for student-athletes is 93 percent.

Much of the focus of these academic numbers nationally tends to shift toward football and men's basketball. Well, the trend line for UWM's men's basketball graduation rate continues to point up. In fact, the GSR for men's basketball is 82 percent. But, when you look only at the most recent class in the stats - those entering in 2001-02 - the men's basketball GSR at UWM is 100. And, knowing a large number of men's basketball student-athletes that entered after 2001-02 have already gone on to graduate, it is safe to say that UWM's men's basketball GSR should remain at a solid level.

Megna's Memoirs - Cleveland and Youngstown

Oct. 10th – Racking up the goals

We had another long road trip this weekend, heading to Cleveland State and then to Youngstown State. We had a nice eight-hour bus ride on Thursday, which can take a toll on the body. When movies, homework, reading and any other activity become boring we attempt to sleep on our two seats that, put together, are about four feet long and two feet wide. Maybe this is comfortable for the shorties, Kreuser and Canada, but not so much for those around average height on the team and taller.

Anyways, we played CSU the next evening. You would think we would be slow to start after the long bus trip but 20 minutes into the game we were up 4-0. It started 13 minutes in, when Kayla Dejardin played a ball from the corner of their left 18 yard box, tipped the bottom of the cross bar and into the goal over the goalie’s head, 1-0. Next was a goal was scored by Canada (Keara Thompson), a ball came across the top of the box, Canada ran onto it finishing it lower left corner, 2-0. Read More.

Kate Megna is a junior on the women’s soccer team and writes a weekly blog post recapping the previous week’s women’s soccer action. To read previous blog posts visit Megna’s Memoirs.

Updating The National Numbers

The NCAA released its new set of national stats for volleyball on Monday afternoon and the Panthers are again near the top of the list for defense.

In fact, UWM is now up to sixth nationally in digs, averaging 17.45 per set. This is after the Panthers finished fifth in the nation last season. Meanwhile, Lauren Felsing is up to 10th nationally in digs, averaging 5.31 digs per set. Felsing remains on course to smash the UWM records for total digs in a season and digs per set.

On the offensive side, Becky Peters is still in the top 50 in kills per set, standing 47th.

The NCAA also released the latest volleyball RPI. UWM is 72nd, one of two Horizon League schools in the top 100 (Valpo is 89). The highest-ranked opponents from the Panthers' non-league schedule are Oregon State (23), Iowa State (35), Michigan State (48), Illinois State (78) and Ole Miss (95). UWM's one remaining non-league opponent - Marquette - ranks 116th.

Pink Out Gets Assist From Qdoba, Noodles

This week's Pink Out involving the UWM women's soccer and volleyball teams is getting a fundraising assist from Qdoba and Noodles.

The two restaurants on Oakland near the UWM campus will both be donating a portion of their profits from sales this week to the Pink Out. From 4-9 on Wednesday, Noodles will donate 25 percent of its profits, while all day on Thursday, Qdoba will donate 10 percent of its profits.

Money raised through the Pink Out goes to UWM's Norris Health Center, which will dedicate the funds to women's health issues.

The Pink Out includes the women's soccer match Friday with Butler and the volleyball match Saturday with Wright State.

Pink Out Gets TV Time

UWM Associate Athletics Director Kathy Litzau and volleyball coach Susie Johnson will be on WTMJ-TV's "Morning Blend" Friday to talk about the upcoming Pink Out involving the women's soccer and volleyball teams (women's soccer coach Mike Moynihan will be on the road in Ohio during the interview).

The show airs beginning at 9 a.m.

The Pink Out includes the women's soccer match with Butler Friday, Oct. 17 at 7 p.m. and the volleyball match with Wright State Saturday, Oct. 18 at 4 p.m.

The Pink Out is a joint venture between the UWM community and the athletics department to promote breast cancer awareness, celebrate the survivors and support progress toward a cure.

Each day there will be a pregame youth clinic. Friday's clinic at Engelmann Field runs from 5:30-6:15, while Saturday's clinic at the Klotsche Center goes from 2-3. Free admission is available for those attending the pregame clinics. Participants must register for clinics by Oct. 16 by e-mailing David Nikolic at cosmo@uwm.edu for the soccer clinic and Lindsey Vanden Berg at laspoden@uwm.edu for the volleyball clinic.

For more information on the event, or to buy tickets, call the Panther Ticket Office at 414-229-5886.

Women's Soccer Notes

• Fox 6 in Milwaukee ran a feature story on Sarah Hagen of women's soccer last night. For those of you from out of town, or that just missed it, here is a link to the story on the Fox 6 website.

UPDATE (11:50 a.m.): I just heard from Jen Lada who did the story and it will re-air on Fox 6 tonight during the 5 p.m. newscast.

• The first women's soccer RPI of the season was released this morning and the Panthers are #34. Seven of their 11 non-league opponents also show up in the top-100.

The team has a 4-1-2 record against the top-100 and a 1-0 mark against the top-50.

To see the full RPI, click here.

• The newest post of Megna's Memoirs is up and can be viewed here.

UPDATE (11:50 a.m., Part 2): The NSCAA National Poll was released a short while ago and, while the Panthers did drop after a 1-0 loss to Loyola Friday, they held on in the poll and is #24.

Volleyball RPI

The NCAA has released the women's volleyball RPI for the first time this season, and it confirms just how difficult UWM's early-season schedule has been.

The Panthers have already played seven teams in the top 100 of the RPI, including three teams in the top 30. With a 10-4 mark, and wins over #26 Iowa State, #81 Butler and #91 Valpo, Milwaukee sits 66th entering this week.

Oregon State (24th) is the highest-ranked opponent UWM has faced this season, followed by Iowa State, Michigan State (29th) and Illinois State (61st).

UWM is the top RPI team in the Horizon League, followed by Butler and Valpo. But, no other league school is currently in the top 150 -- Loyola is the next highest-ranked at #151.

The NCAA will update the rankings throughout the rest of the season. As in many sports, it is one of the factors used in determining at-large bids and seedings for the NCAA Tournament.

Hagen Story in Appleton Paper

If you're like me and receive Google Alerts for every variation of "Wisconsin-Milwaukee", "UWM", "UW-Milwaukee", etc., then you undoubtedly saw a story on Sarah Hagen in today's Appleton Post-Crescent.

Ummm... I guess that also applies to those that live in the Appleton area... But, anyway, back to the point...

For those of you that haven't, here is a link to it.