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An Open Letter To UWM Fans

So, your team made the NCAA tournament and Marquette didn't. Congratulations. But perhaps you want to avoid getting over your skis on this one.

By Brewtown Andy
Tim Fuller-USA TODAY Sports

Dear UWM fans,

As I've been keeping an eye on the #mubb hashtag on Twitter over the last week or so, I've noticed a lot of you (well, a lot relative to the none that I usually experience) that seem to be awfully caught up on the notion that it's somehow hilarious that Marquette is missing out on all of the postseason tournament action and that Marquette fans should, I don't know, feel bad about this development.

But let me lay some facts on you.

  • Marquette made the last eight NCAA tournaments. This is the second longest streak in program history.
  • During this streak, Marquette had a player, Jae Crowder, win the third conference player of the year award in program history.
  • During this streak, Marquette won a regular season conference championship for the third time ever.
  • During this streak, Marquette made three consecutive Sweet 16s, something that has not happened since Marquette made four straight from 1971-1974.
  • During this streak, Marquette made the Elite Eight for the seventh time in program history.

I think those are all the high notes. I might be leaving something out, but hey, there were A LOT of high notes around here lately. Here are some facts from other schools, ignoring the freshly announced 2014 field.

  • UCLA was on a streak of one consecutive NCAA tournament.
  • Connecticut was on a streak of zero consecutive NCAA tournaments.
  • Louisville was on a streak of seven consecutive NCAA tournaments.
  • Syracuse was on a streak of five consecutive NCAA tournaments.
  • Kentucky was on a streak of zero consecutive NCAA tournaments.
  • Duke was on a streak of six consecutive NCAA tournaments.
  • North Carolina was on a streak of three consecutive NCAA tournaments.

So yeah. We just had a pretty great run of things over most of the last decade, compared against both Marquette's own history, and the recent history of some of the blue blood programs across the country as well. Let's just say I'm not super worried about Marquette losing their eight year long streak. Things happen, even to the teams that have a long and storied history of success.

Anyway.

So, to you Panthers fans out there, I'll leave you with this: enjoy the fourth NCAA appearance in program history, be sure to write a nice letter to Cal Poly to thank them for helping you avoid a 16 seed, good luck against Villanova (although we'll be cheering for an extra round of NCAA tournament payouts for the Big East), and we'll see you in September in the Valley to take our Milwaukee Cup trophy back.