Milwaukee was voted league champion for the first time since 2006

Milwaukee men’s basketball was picked to win the Horizon League for the first time since 2006 in the official preseason poll released Tuesday.

In the survey, which included head coaches, sports information directors (SIDs) and members of the media, both Milwaukee and Purdue-Fort Wayne received a total of 421 points. However, Milwaukee received one additional first place vote.

“This is where we want to be – in the conversation,” said head coach Bart Lundy. “But we haven’t proven anything. Until this program breaks through and puts up more banners, all we talk about is what ifs. But I like where we are in the preseason rankings and high-level recruiting.”

The Panthers preceded their loss in the 2024 Horizon League championship with six straight wins to close their season, their second under Lundy.

Milwaukee was tied 70-70 with about two minutes left in that championship game before ultimately losing 83-76. Oakland defeated Kentucky in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament after defeating the Panthers.

“All summer we talked about not falling short by two minutes,” Lundy said. “We will not allow our work to take us two minutes short. It was a motivating factor for us.”

Lundy, now in his third year, led the team to more than 20 wins a season in his first two years on Milwaukee’s Eastside. The last Panther teams to reach that mark in consecutive years were 2004-05 and 2005-06, prior to this first-place finish.

Additionally, senior guard Erik Pratt and grad transfer guard AJ McKee were named to the preseason all-league second team.

Pratt, a transfer from Texas A&M, averaged 12.5 points per game in his first season with the Panthers and also ranked in the top 10 in three points per game at 2.1.

McKee led Queens University in scoring last year with 18.8 points per game, which ranked third in the Atlantic Sun Conference. The senior guard was on Lundy’s roster at Queens for three seasons.

“I gained a lot with Coach Lundy,” McKee said. “I just really wanted to keep doing it.”

Joining McKee in the transfer department are Themus Fulks, Danilo Jovanovich, John Lovelace Jr., JaMichael Stillwell and Esyah Pippah-White.

Fulks, a redshirt senior, averaged 10.6 points per game and 4.4 assists per game last season at Louisiana. The North Carolina native led the Sun Belt in total assists and assists per game two seasons ago for the Ragin’ Cajuns, helping them to the NCAA Tournament.

Jovanovich and Lovelace both return to their hometowns, the former from Louisville and the latter from conference rival Youngstown State. Jovanovich was the 2022 Wisconsin Mr. Basketball runner-up at Whitnall. Lovelace shot 37% from three-point range and scored 6.6 points per game for the Penguins last year.

Stillwell and Pippah-White come from the junior college ranks. Stillwell, a transfer from Butler CC in El Dorado, Kansas, was named to the All-Southern Conference First Team and JUCOrecruiting.com’s Fab 50 Juco Freshman List in 2022-23 at Miami-Dade CC.

Pippah-White was named Western Junior College Athletic Conference Freshman of the Year last season at Odessa (TX) College.

The Panthers open their season at home against Lakeland on Monday, November 4th at the Klotsche Center.