Time to put up or shut up
Will UIC fans show some love to their team, away at University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee?
Mike Zwolinski
Issue date: 2/1/05 Section: Sports
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UIC´s leader Jimmy Collins
It's safe to say the Flames aren't playing their best basketball right now. After a loss to Wright State, UIC finds themselves with a disappointing 9-9 record overall and struggling to hold onto a fourth place spot in the Horizon League. Sure, it's easy to come up with excuses to blame the lackluster season thus far on, whether it be injuries, the inability to win on the road, not having fans in the stands to support the team, having a brutal non-conference schedule, or whatever other excuses anyone can possibly come up with. However, one of the great things about college basketball is that a team can turn their season around in a heartbeat if they can pull off a major victory at a crucial point of the season. And despite all of the bad things that have happened to UIC this season, we are lucky enough to have that opportunity this Saturday as the Flames travel to take on the first place and rival conference foe, the Wisconsin-Milwaukee Panthers.
Wisconsin-Milwaukee is cruising after winning last week at a Big-Ten arena (Purdue) and basically owning the entire Horizon League. The Panthers are 15-4 and have been lights out ever since they lost at home to Detroit on January 3rd. Since the loss, coach Bruce Pearl's bunch has won eight games in a row and look more and more like an NCAA tournament caliber team with each victory. So I know what you're saying now, why are the Panthers even UIC's rival, right? Well let's take a look at the following factors that make this game so intense every time these two teams meet.
The Coaching Rivalry: There's bad blood between UIC's Jimmy Collins and UWM's Bruce Pearl. The rivalry goes way back to 1989 when both were serving as assistant coaches in the Big Ten, Collins was at Illinois and Pearl was at Iowa. Pearl had recorded a phone conversation with prep star and prized Illinois recruit Deon Thomas in which Thomas said the Illini offered him illegal benefits if he were to attend the school. Who was Pearl accusing of doing the bribing? Jimmy Collins. Pearl then sent the information to the NCAA, which resulted in a one-year ban for the Illini from postseason play. Following last years UIC Horizon Tournament win at Wisconsin-Milwaukee to earn the Flames the championship and NCAA birth, Flames coach Jimmy Collins said, "we're never going to be friends. He'll probably never invite me to his house for dinner and I sure ain't going to invite him to mine." Watch closely after the game and see if the two shake hands, or worse...
The Players: The rivalry between these two schools is even more evident with the players on the court. There's no doubt that the two teams play an extremely physical in every game against each other and don't just treat it like "any other game". It also helps that each team arguably has the best player in the Horizon conference playing on their team. Ask any UIC fan who the best player in the league is and you'll hear them say Cedrick Banks. Ask any Wisconsin-Milwaukee fan who the best player in the league is and you'll hear them say Ed McCants. The two gifted athletes put on a show each and every time they square off, and I expect more of that to happen on Saturday.
The Students: Well for those who don't know about this rivalry, believe me, it's out there. UIC and Wisconsin-Milwaukee each have their own online message boards (UIC fan message board is www.uicflames.proboards28.com) which fans can talk about their team and well, say whatever they want. After the Panthers won at UIC earlier in the year, this funny Wisconsin-Milwaukee student did just that, "UWMKrazie" wrote:
"You may think our band (UWM) not being at every game is bad, but the UIC band is absolutely terrible. It's small, and if I were blind I would have never known they were even there. Also, the UIC student section shirts....my god are they lame! I'm One??? Oh and quit wasting our time with the lame tradition ceremonies. The "lighting of the flame" is agonizing to say the least, especially when the torch goes out mid-way through. We will beat you in the Cell (UWM's home court) and also in the Horizon League tournament. Don't think that since you guys won last year at our place gives you any chance to be us here this year."
I happen to think our UIC band is great, but the bottom line is that if we can't get students and alumni to turn out on Saturday, this trash talking is going to keep on happening. How do we shut them up? Let's get the band out there, let's get students cheering and making some noise, because as much as I hate to say it, they really did get the last laugh when UWM beat UIC on December 7 at the Pavilion. They may have even had a better student turnout than us, which is just sad for what was supposed to be our home game.
Well with that background of the UIC and Wisconsin-Milwaukee rivalry being explained, I hope it has convinced some of you to make the trip to support the Flames on Saturday at U.S. Cellular Arena in Milwaukee. It not only would shock the UWM fans and players, but it could also spark our team to an incredible victory if our students showed up in abundance to root on the Flames.
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Wisconsin-Milwaukee is cruising after winning last week at a Big-Ten arena (Purdue) and basically owning the entire Horizon League. The Panthers are 15-4 and have been lights out ever since they lost at home to Detroit on January 3rd. Since the loss, coach Bruce Pearl's bunch has won eight games in a row and look more and more like an NCAA tournament caliber team with each victory. So I know what you're saying now, why are the Panthers even UIC's rival, right? Well let's take a look at the following factors that make this game so intense every time these two teams meet.
The Coaching Rivalry: There's bad blood between UIC's Jimmy Collins and UWM's Bruce Pearl. The rivalry goes way back to 1989 when both were serving as assistant coaches in the Big Ten, Collins was at Illinois and Pearl was at Iowa. Pearl had recorded a phone conversation with prep star and prized Illinois recruit Deon Thomas in which Thomas said the Illini offered him illegal benefits if he were to attend the school. Who was Pearl accusing of doing the bribing? Jimmy Collins. Pearl then sent the information to the NCAA, which resulted in a one-year ban for the Illini from postseason play. Following last years UIC Horizon Tournament win at Wisconsin-Milwaukee to earn the Flames the championship and NCAA birth, Flames coach Jimmy Collins said, "we're never going to be friends. He'll probably never invite me to his house for dinner and I sure ain't going to invite him to mine." Watch closely after the game and see if the two shake hands, or worse...
The Players: The rivalry between these two schools is even more evident with the players on the court. There's no doubt that the two teams play an extremely physical in every game against each other and don't just treat it like "any other game". It also helps that each team arguably has the best player in the Horizon conference playing on their team. Ask any UIC fan who the best player in the league is and you'll hear them say Cedrick Banks. Ask any Wisconsin-Milwaukee fan who the best player in the league is and you'll hear them say Ed McCants. The two gifted athletes put on a show each and every time they square off, and I expect more of that to happen on Saturday.
The Students: Well for those who don't know about this rivalry, believe me, it's out there. UIC and Wisconsin-Milwaukee each have their own online message boards (UIC fan message board is www.uicflames.proboards28.com) which fans can talk about their team and well, say whatever they want. After the Panthers won at UIC earlier in the year, this funny Wisconsin-Milwaukee student did just that, "UWMKrazie" wrote:
"You may think our band (UWM) not being at every game is bad, but the UIC band is absolutely terrible. It's small, and if I were blind I would have never known they were even there. Also, the UIC student section shirts....my god are they lame! I'm One??? Oh and quit wasting our time with the lame tradition ceremonies. The "lighting of the flame" is agonizing to say the least, especially when the torch goes out mid-way through. We will beat you in the Cell (UWM's home court) and also in the Horizon League tournament. Don't think that since you guys won last year at our place gives you any chance to be us here this year."
I happen to think our UIC band is great, but the bottom line is that if we can't get students and alumni to turn out on Saturday, this trash talking is going to keep on happening. How do we shut them up? Let's get the band out there, let's get students cheering and making some noise, because as much as I hate to say it, they really did get the last laugh when UWM beat UIC on December 7 at the Pavilion. They may have even had a better student turnout than us, which is just sad for what was supposed to be our home game.
Well with that background of the UIC and Wisconsin-Milwaukee rivalry being explained, I hope it has convinced some of you to make the trip to support the Flames on Saturday at U.S. Cellular Arena in Milwaukee. It not only would shock the UWM fans and players, but it could also spark our team to an incredible victory if our students showed up in abundance to root on the Flames.