Are the Panthers ready to pounce?
When Bart Lundy was named Milwaukee’s new head coach, it had been six years since the Panthers had posted a winning record. Lundy is heading into his third season in charge at MKE this fall, and the Panthers will be seeking their third straight 20-win campaign.
To say that things have changed for the better in Cream City is an understatement. The positive changes haven’t come particularly easily, either. There were injuries aplenty last fall, and Milwaukee got off to a tough start to Lundy’s second year. The coach dismissed one of his top players in December, and playing without do-everything star BJ Freeman for a month sent the Panthers stumbling out of the gates. That was all largely forgotten by mid-February, as Freeman returned en fuego, leading Milwaukee to wins in eight of their final 10 games, including a run to the Horizon League tournament title game.
Freeman has gone to test his talents in the toughest conference there is with Arizona State, but Lundy’s cupboard is still stocked. He and his staff brought in a pair of immediate impact transfers this spring, and the Panthers are bringing back three of their top four scorers from last winter, as well. Improbably, even without Freeman, Milwaukee’s roster looks like as good a roster as any in their league, and the Panthers are eyeing another run at a Horizon title.
Two years ago, at Texas A&M, Erik Pratt played in nine games and only saw the floor for 33 minutes. Lundy had been recruiting the rangy former junior college guard for years, and last spring brought Pratt to Milwaukee. It took him a bit to get settled as a Panther, but Pratt poured in 29 points to help MKE outlast Chattanooga in an 85-83 overtime win which helped to get things turned around before the new year. He followed that up with 27 against Robert Morris, and never looked back. These days, Pratt is a headliner for a team that looks like it could make an NCAA Tournament run.
With great size and playmaking vision to go with it, Pratt can play a variety of roles offensively. Beginning with his back-to-back big games in December, Pratt averaged 14.0 points, 3.8 rebounds, and 2.9 assists on 36.9% shooting from downtown over Milwaukee’s final 24 games. He ended up ranking seventh in the Horizon League with 70 made triples on the year, and Pratt’s 76-to-43 assist to turnover ratio was the best on the team. The Panthers play fast, which suits Pratt just fine, yet his comparatively selective approach and composure are valuable assets when games are tight late. As an experienced, floor-spacing facilitator, Pratt has quickly become one of Milwaukee’s most reliable players, and he will be an integral part of a strong backcourt.
Many of those things can be said about Kentrell Pullian, who has become a rock-solid presence in Lundy’s lineup. Once a division II standout at Eastern New Mexico, Pullian has started 59 games since coming to Milwaukee and posted very consistent numbers all the way. Though his outside jumper wandered quite a bit throughout last season, Pullian plays an efficient game. He stays focused on getting to the rim for good looks or trips to the free throw line and doesn’t force jumpers that aren’t there. Like Pratt, Pullian doesn’t need to dominate the ball to make plays for his buddies, and his crafty passing is a great lubricant for the offense. If Pullian can rediscover his stroke from distance, he will bring a complete offensive repertoire back for the Panthers to lean upon.
There is real excitement surrounding the arrival of two new guards, as well. One of them is already as familiar to Lundy as an old friend, because, well, he is. Former Queens (NC) guard AJ McKee spent the first three years (one being a redshirt) of his collegiate career with Lundy, who coached the Royals for a decade before taking the Milwaukee job. Coming off of a career season, McKee has reunited with Lundy for his final season of eligibility and will feature prominently into the Panthers’ plans.
“He’s like family to me,” Lundy told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel after signing McKee. “There was not only a comfort level with him, but there was a comfort level with me knowing that he really fits our system. He’s a team-first guy who really wants to win. He’s done everything we do; he absorbs scouting reports, he’s played in big games.” A volume scorer who plays a well-rounded and responsible game, McKee’s fit with Milwaukee is clear to see. He’s adept at getting to the goal and finishing contested shots, and McKee has averaged more than five free throw attempts per season each of the past two years. Last year, McKee grew significantly as a mid-range threat, knocking down a potent 46.7% of his 105 in-between tries, per Bart Torvik. He makes outside jumpers as well, and McKee has rattled home 120 triples combined the past two years. A defensive playmaker who snagged the second-most steals in the Atlantic Sun last year, McKee will spark things in transition for his new friends and find them in the halfcourt.
With so many experienced ball movers, the Panthers were already looking dangerous in May, but Lundy couldn’t pass up the chance to add a genuine point guard to the mix. Louisiana-Lafayette transfer Themus Fulks nearly signed with MKE three years ago. A junior college teammate of Freeman’s, this spring Fulks circled back to the place where his friend enjoyed such wild success, and now he will have the keys to Lundy’s offense.
“We are so excited about the signing of Themus Fulks,” Lundy enthused upon adding Fulks. “We get to bring in a high-character point guard who has led his team to the NCAA Tournament. He will be a fan favorite and has seen where our program wants to go.” Fulks loves to attack off the bounce. He gets to the basket effectively if not always efficiently and will hope to convert there more regularly this winter. He departs ULL ranked tenth all-time in the Sun Belt in assist rate, and Fulks will create all sorts of easy opportunities inside for the Panther bigs. He occasionally gets wild, but part of what makes Fulks so effective is that he does everything at 100 miles an hour, and Lundy will live with a reasonable number of mistakes. As the main creator among four standout guards who will lead Lundy’s offense, Fulks will bring undeniable zest to Milwaukee’s attack.
Up front, Faizon Fields found his stride last season after coming over from Old Dominion. He was a bit inconsistent to start out, but after the new year Fields became the physical, productive rebounder that Milwaukee vitally needed. It all began in earnest with a 21-point, 16-board performance against Oakland in late January, and Fields stayed hot for the rest of the season. Over the Panthers’ final 15 contests, Fields averaged 12.5 points and 9.2 rebounds on 62.5% shooting from the floor, and with the new distributors that Lundy has added, he may just keep it up.
For the season, Fields grabbed 101 offensive rebounds and blocked 39 shots. Those tallies placed him second and fourth in the Horizon League, respectively, and Fields returns as one of the league’s best big guys. He translated those reloads into 34 putback tries, which Fields converted at a 74.2% clip near the rim, per Hoop-Math. He seemed to be all over the paint late in the year, and regularly brought the people out of their seats with powerful dunks. If Fields can be that same guy for his full senior season, Milwaukee will have the play-finisher needed inside to maximize the talents of his star guards.
Another guy who knows how to stuff a good pass or cram a shot attempt back into somebody’s face is Darius Duffy, and he’s also back. In fact, Duffy began the year as a starter and was a more proficient rim protector than Fields, albeit in a smaller role. A fractured finger cost Duffy the entire month of February, and though he came back for Milwaukee’s stretch run, he didn’t get to finish the year like he’d have wanted. In the 17 games Duffy started last winter, he averaged 4.4 points, 4.1 rebounds, and 1.6 blocks on 73.3% shooting. Unfortunately, he only made 11 of 35 (31.4%) foul shots on the year. There’s not a great deal of range to Duffy’s game; he defends with intensity, blocks a lot of shots, and only really tries to score from within arm’s reach of the rim. By doing those things, though, Duffy brings enough value that he will be an important piece again.
Like Duffy, Aaron Franklin started some games to start the year, and like his new teammate, Franklin broke something in his hand and missed a month late in the year. A powerful wing who shot the lights out in junior college a couple of years ago, Franklin scored very efficiently when he got his chances last season and had been settling in nicely prior to the injury. In the five games before his exit from the lineup, Franklin averaged 8.6 points and 5.6 boards on 59.4% shooting from the floor, but upon returning in late February, he couldn’t establish the same rhythm. With a full, healthy year ahead to show off his strength and rebounding prowess, Franklin should find an effective orbit once again.
Further perimeter depth will come from John Lovelace, Jr, Learic Davis, and Esyah Pippa-White. Davis made his Panthers debut last winter, averaging almost 11 minutes over 33 games played. He brings useful length and quickness, and Davis can cover both wings and guards. So can Lovelace, who proved to be a disruptive defender the past two seasons at conference foe Youngstown State. A Horizon League All-Freshman pick two years ago, Lundy was a bit ambivalent about poaching within the conference, but increasingly, that’s how business is done in college sports.
“I’ve always been a little averse to in-league transfers, but it’s so common now,” Lundy explained this summer. “But he comes in with some corporate knowledge about the league, obviously, and even about our system, because not only has he seen us play but he’s played against us.” Lovelace has three-point range and should slot in helpfully in a few different lineups with the Panthers. Everybody wants a 3-and-D guy these days, and Lovelace can fill that role. At junior college last year, Pippa-White showed off quickness that will translate to the higher level, and he can play on or off the ball. There are guys ahead of them, but anyone who brings great defense and energy to the Panther rotation will earn some run.
There is depth up front, too. One of the headlines of Milwaukee’s offseason was the return of Danilo Jovanovich to Cream City. A local kid who became a star for Whitnall High School just outside of town, Jovanovich spent a year each at Miami (FL) and Louisville. He didn’t play much at either stop; in fact, he played just a single game for the Canes, but Miami went to the Final Four that year. Jovanovich brings high major size and skill back home and will look to put it all together for MKE. JuCo big man Jamichael Stillwell us looking to make a Duffy-like impact in his first year with the Panthers, while Simeon Murchison showed off some toughness last year in a small role.
Things have gotten better in Cream City, and the Panthers aren’t done rising. They may have lost a rare player in Freeman, but there are some talented guys on this roster and the Milwaukee coaches are excited to see what they can do as a unit.
The country at large is taking note, too. Multiple publications have chosen the Panthers as their preseason pick for Horizon League champion, and outside accolades will only ratchet up local expectations. The team will also be part of hosting a rather noteworthy multi-team event this year, as the inaugural MKE Tip-Off in mid-December. There will be matchups between Georgia Tech and Northwestern, San Francisco and Loyola Chicago, and the Panthers themselves will host Akron, who represented the Mid-American Conference in last year’s NCAA Tournament.
The Panthers are no longer worried about whether they’ll be competitive. This is now a program which expects to win, and the guys who are coming back have been tested in postseason play. The talent that’s been added will give rise to new hopes, and this winter, all eyes in Cream City will be on a possible Horizon League crown. That’s a lot to deal with, but Milwaukee is developing the type of confidence that can only be born from contending for titles.
