No postseason once again for UW-Milwaukee Panthers
The 2024-25 season is officially over for the UW-Milwaukee Panthers.
Not that there was much doubt – they lost in the quarterfinals of the Horizon League tournament and coach Bart Lundy said afterward he was fairly certain that for the second straight year the program would turn down invitations to non-NCAA tournament events.
"Do we want that to be the standard?" Lundy said then. "I want to go the NCAA tournament. Nothing against those tournaments."
There was an outside shot UWM could have been chosen to participate in the National Invitation Tournament based on some of the analytical qualifiers it had either reached or come close to reaching, and had other teams passed on their opportunities.
But in the end it proved to be a moot point, with the 32-team field being announced Sunday night and the Panthers not included in the field.
It was probably for the best, considering the Panthers would have had to field a team without its two best players with Jamichael Stillwell and Themus Fulks both indicating their intention to enter the transfer portal.
And so UWM closes with a 21-11 record, and hopes of finally getting a chance to participate in March Madness for the first time since the 2013-2014 season serves as motivation for yet another offseason of major change.