Nickel: NCAA games at Fiserv Forum were a blast. Here are some of our favorite moments
That’s a wrap!
Hours ago, Milwaukee’s contribution to the greatest sporting event (besides the Olympics and World Cup) concluded.
This was the ninth time in modern era college hoops that Milwaukee hosted the first and second rounds of the NCAA men's basketball tournament.
Thursday through Sunday at Fiserv Forum, we had six games, eight teams, 36 press conferences, more than 120 players, open practices and locker rooms, visiting families and traveling alumni and best of all, college students playing, covering and attending the games.
It’s my favorite chaotic four-day span on planet earth. I've covered 10 of these now and seven of them here at home.
Indianapolis and Disney Orlando are the gold standards, to me, when it comes to Best Hosts Awards. Indy can manage a lot of extra people for a mega sporting event with plenty of space, enthusiastic support staff workers and volunteers, and room to move. Disney World in Orlando is the best people mover with all the efficient shuttles and organized lines. I don’t know who feeds the fans the best – you tell me.
Milwaukee has to be up there now as Top Host, too. Marquette University efficiently managed all the team buses in and out of the south loading dock, all the extra locker room spaces needed and the practice arrangements really well.
A sincere thanks to everyone who worked this tournament, including Jim Nasiopulos and Dan Pfeifer.
Here are a few of my favorite stories, moments and memories; I also asked colleagues to share the same.
Milan Momcilovic
Pewaukee's own. Good player, hard worker, frank and refreshingly honest with his answers and self-deprecating humor. I asked him if the Wisconsin-born players at Iowa State had formed a nickname; no, but they do call him the Serbian Sniper. Awesome.
He must have been asked "what its like to play at home again" in interviews 15 times, and he answered every time with sincerity.
But really he's someone who could talk basketball all day. Ask him about plays or strategies on defense or other teams or leagues and he’s aware of it all. He has respect for not just his Cyclones but basket-ballers in general. As a fan of former Bucks player Ersan Ilyasova, you know he's special. And he sounds like a future coach with knowledge of the game.
T.J. Otzelberger
Iowa State's head coach from Milwaukee was a must-listen at his pressers.
We need some kind of special club for the GenXers and older Millennials who grew up diehard basketball fans in this football-obsessed state like he did. While the Green Bay Packers were rolling through MVPs and NFC championship appearances in the 1990s, 2000s and 2010s, and the Wisconsin football Badgers were perennial bowl game bidders, Cheesehead hoopers were small in number. But the pride goes all the way back to the prep days.
Otzelberger reminisced about playing ball at Milwaukee's Thomas More under Pat Ross in the 90s.
"Coach Ross was really an important mentor for me at a time that I certainly needed it," Otzelberger said. "His message was always: hard, smart and together. Let's play hard, let's play smart, and let's play together.
"My senior year of high school, it was more of like five guards just flying around defensively. And at times I was like our small forward at whatever height I think I am when I'm walking on my tiptoes. He was a coach that was demanding, yet was somebody that you loved to play for because you knew he cared about you and he always made time.
"We carry this relationship forward now and he comes out to see games. And the ones he's not able to see in person, he's always texting his feedback. I'm really appreciative and grateful for the belief he hadin me."
Jacob Ognacevic
Fiserv Forum regularly hosts NBA stars Tyler Herro of Whitnall High School and Tyrese Haliburton of Oshkosh North as visiting opponents of the Milwaukee Bucks.
It’s great to see players like Jacob Ognacevic from Sheboygan Lutheran also play on that floor as a representative of the talent in the state. His family and his school showed so much support for him; all kids should be so lucky.
His college, Lipscomb, had a smaller roster but still played tough, even though it didn't win. It was also kind of fun to see the Lipscomb players pull out their phones and film us, the media, interview them in a crowded locker room. The Big Dance should always invite the best teams from all the conferences, as it is an honor to make it here, and a memory for a lifetime.
But Ognacevic really also shined a light on Sheboygan Lutheran, just 185 kids. The athletic director said in a school that small, everyone is active in something.
Fiserv Forum
The college players seemed to enjoy one of the newest NBA arenas in the country. Momcilovic even said the rims were friendly for shooters and on-court employees even adjusted one of the baskets before the Iowa State-Mississippi game Sunday.
With nothing but love for the old Bradley Center, with its weird slippery spots because the court was always played over the sheet of ice for the Admirals, Fiserv really shined in this tourney: new, clean and spacious. The pep bands and fans made it loud, too.
The Bradley Center hosted NCAA games in 1992, 1996, 1999, 2004, 2010, 2014, 2017; Fiserv first hosted in 2022, and it was the last major sporting event we covered while wearing pandemic masks. Thank goodness.
Family belongs
Behind the scenes, there's an area at Fiserv designated for press conferences, and there are often students volunteering to work there. Reporters ask questions by raising their hand, and the students bring the microphone over to the reporter. A sweet young woman made sure I got a chance to ask my questions.
To my surprise, Kentucky coach Mark Pope then brought her up to the podium on Saturday; that was his daughter, Shay Pope, helping out.
Here was the exchange:
Reporter: Mark, a lot of your players have described your positivity as a coach.
Pope: Shay would be like, "My dad is not positive. He grounded me last week." Is that true?
Shay: I am grounded.
Pope: You didn't have to answer.
It was cute. There are downsides to working in high-profile sports. Ironically – as these are some of the best athletes in the world – there are aspects of this lifestyle that are so unhealthy. Being away from family is No. 1 on that list.
So to see a coach have his kid with him? And a daughter? Something we would have never seen two decades ago. It was awesome.
Plays and players
Mississippi point guard Sean Pedulla and Carolina's Seth Trimble going at it as competitors... Kentucky's Amari Williams slamming down a big dunk and high five-ing Pope on his way back to play defense ... Lamont Butler from Kentucky being a player in every aspect of the word, from defense to leadership, from being around the ball to looking for teammates...
To all the international players we're now seeing in college hoops who are making the game even better.
And Amari Williams, thanks for introducing us to Weetabix, the English breakfast of champion centers....
To Kentucky's very talented team that has so many fun players to watch from Andrew Carr to Koby Brea...and Dishon Jackson from Iowa State for those post-presence scores.
There were great plays and highlights.
And here are takeaways from Ryan Wood and Todd Rosiak
Packers beat writer Ryan Wood of Green Bay spent three days at the tourney, Friday through Sunday, and this is what he observed.
“Down the stretch in the Maryland-Colorado State game, the video boards inside Fiserv Forum intermittently showed the live action. But only intermittently.
“The big screens also cut to the game between Ole Miss and Iowa State happening on the court in Milwaukee, and fans had no issue showing their disapproval. Each time the video screens cut away from Maryland and Colorado State, they roared a chorus of boos. When they put that game back on, they cheered.
“It felt like a big play was happening in Milwaukee, but Ole Miss was in the midst of taking a 40-29 halftime lead.
“It was the signature moment of the NCAA tournament when Maryland freshman Derick Queen banked home a game-winner at the buzzer, sending the Terrapins to the Sweet 16. Fortunately, the big screens showed it for the fans inside Fiserv Forum, who reacted like they were watching in person.
“Just another reminded that March Madness is a shared experience.”
Brewers beat writer Todd Rosiak also covered two days. Here are just a few of his highlights:
“Prior to this past weekend, the last NCAA tournament action I covered was all the way back in 2011. I was just wrapping up my ninth year on the Marquette Golden Eagles beat.
“As an 11th seed, MU knocked off Xavier and Syracuse in Cleveland to advance to the Sweet 16. That trip to Newark, New Jersey, didn’t go so well, as second-seeded North Carolina rolled to a blowout victory over Jimmy Butler, Jae Crowder & Co.
“While I only covered the first two days (this year), it was more than enough to allow me to relive what I look back on as the most educational and fun time of my career to date.
“The reason?
“The event was being hosted by Marquette University, a tradition that now dates back a few decades in Milwaukee. And many of the same folks who I crossed paths with on a regular basis covering the Golden Eagles are still around and doing great work.
“It was awesome to see everyone and renew acquaintances.
“Right at the top of that list was none other than Tom Crean, who was on site calling the games on the radio for Westwood One.
“He was the coach my first year on the beat, in 2002-03, and remained in that role through the 2007-08 season. We’d crossed paths a few times in subsequent years, but this was the first opportunity to really catch up for both of us in over a decade.
“We spent an hour on press row during the open practices on Thursday afternoon talking about the good old days, Dwyane Wade and his new role as a TV and radio analyst – and he’s very good, in case you haven’t caught him yet.
“Crean did say he’d like to return to the game again after a less-than-successful run of four years at Georgia that ended in 2022.
“Once a coach, always a coach.
“The four games were mostly entertaining..
“Pewaukee’s Milan Momcilovic showed well for Iowa State. Ex-Bucks forward Mark Pope, now Kentucky’s coach, was terrific with the media. And who thought on Friday night that would end up being Sean Miller’s last time coaching Xavier (he’s reportedly the new head man at Texas)?
“Among the other hats I wear at the Journal Sentinel is (part-time) beat writer for the UW-Milwaukee men’s basketball team. Coach Bart Lundy just wrapped up his third 20-win season in as many years on the sideline, but the Panthers have yet to earn an NCAA tournament berth under him.
“The NIL market and transfer portal have made maintaining a successful mid-major program almost impossible, and the recent news that UWM’s two best players, Jamichael Stillwell and Themus Fulks, are on their way out was, sadly, expected.
“But that’s the way of the world these days in college basketball. The hope on the East Side is that the Panthers will make it back to the Big Dance sometime soon.
“But until then, I’m already looking forward to the next time MU hosts the first two rounds in Milwaukee.”
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Favorite moments from the NCAA tournament games in Milwaukee
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