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The Milwaukee Bucks announced this week that they will be sporting a new logo, new colors, and new uniforms for the 2006 season. (Brett at BucksTown posted on rumors about a new uniform back in March. Nice work.) The team is keeping everything under wraps until the draft when the logo and color scheme are supposed to be revealed; the new unis will be unveiled in September. However, a merchandise site called FansEdge is selling the Bucks 2006 Draft caps, which, if they are genuine, would indicate that Milwaukee is going back to the red and green Christmas colors of the late 1960s and 70s. Truth or Photoshop fiction? I guess we’ll find out in a couple weeks.

The Bradley Center can work a little magic, but it can’t perform miracles. Milwaukee fell to the Pistons last night 109-99 and now face elimination trailing the Pistons 3-1 in the series. Of course, it’s hard to win games when your bench only scores 29 points and your point guard turns the ball over six times. Michael Redd scored 33 points and TJ Ford, despite the turnovers, added 21 more. That was about the only good news for the Bucks, as Andrew Bogut and Bobby Simmons apparently forgot to show up for the game and Milwaukee police scour the city looking for a missing Moe Williams. Hope still lingers, however slight, as the series moves back to Detroit on Wednesday.

I was both shocked and awed last night flipping channels on the cable to see that the Milwaukee Bucks were leading the Pistons, and I was doubly surprised to find out this morning that they actually hung on to that lead to win their first game of the playoff series. Of course, they had to score triple digits to get the job done, but the 124-104 win closes the gap to one game as they head into Game 4 Monday night. Michael Redd had an outstanding game, shooting four of five from three-point range and scoring 40 points. Moe Williams added 20 points and four other Bucks players reached double-digit scores. Even TJ Ford got into the act with 15 assists. Talk about home court advantage.

Well, the conference tournaments were pretty disappointing but now the NCAA tourney is set to begin. Wisconsin, which got booted in the quarterfinals after losing to Indiana 61-56, made the #9 seed in the Minneapolis bracket. They play on Friday against #8 seed Arizona and would advance to play Villanova, the top seed in that bracket. Wisconsin-Milwaukee, which beat Butler to win the Horizon League title, is the #11 seed and plays Oklahoma on Wednesday. Marquette, meanwhile, earned the #7 seed in the Oakland bracket and plays #10 seed Alabama on Wednesday. A win would probably send the Golden Eagles against UCLA, the #2 seed in that bracket. Sadly, though not unexpectedly, my Cyclones were shut out on the post-season invites, not even the NIT wanted them around. On the bright side, though, they are a pretty young team and should be returning a lot of starters from this year.

Enough fooling around with regular season conference games, it’s time to get serious. The Big 12 and Big 10 tournaments get started this week and I’m looking for good things from both my Cyclones and my Badgers. Okay, neither team was looking real sharp coming down the stretch, but a guy can still have hope. Iowa State comes into their tournament as the #10 seed after losing to Colorado 82-84 this past Saturday to close out their season with a 16-13 overall mark and a 6-10 conference record. They play Oklahoma State (16-14, 6-10 Big 12) in the first round, a team they beat 68-52 just a couple weeks ago, so I’m hopeful the Clones will get into the second round on Friday. If they do advance, the Cyclones will have to play #2 seed Kansas.

Over in the Big 10, Wisconsin gets a pass on the first round as the #4 seed, despite closing out the season with a two game loosing streak. The Badgers (19-10, 9-7 Big 10) play #5 seed Indiana (17-10, 9-7 Big 10), who was ranked #24 when the Badgers beat them 72-54 at the end of January. A win against the Hoosiers will most likely send UW against #1 seed Ohio State.

To be honest, Marquette probably has the best chance to go deep in their tournament, being the #4 seed in the Big East. The Golden Eagles get a bye on first round action and will play the winner of the Georgetown (a ranked team they beat) vs. Notre Dame matchup on Thursday, which will probably send them up against UConn (another ranked team they beat) on Friday.

Marquette had their three-game winning streak broken last night by Louisville, losing to the Cardinals 67-60 in overtime. The Golden Eagles made a furious run in the second half with Steve Novak scoring 20 points and Dominic James hitting a three-pointer at the buzzer to tie the game in regulation. In the extra period, though, Marquette’s guns went silent as Taquan Dean hit two free throws and a three-pointer to put Louisville in charge for good. The Golden Eagles drop to 19-9 on the season and 9-6 in Big East play with their final game of the regular season looming against Providence (12-14, 5-10 Big East) on Saturday.

As with everything else, the Winter Olympics kept me distracted from how the Bucks are doing (well, the All-Star break also helped), but I guess I can’t ignore them any longer now that they’ve lost four of their last six since the break and are now at the .500 mark. Milwaukee dropped a 123-110 decision against Phoenix last night, opting to try and outscore the top scoring team in the NBA rather than attempt any defense. (Oops, this is the Bucks we’re talking about. Sorry.) Andrew Bogut said after the loss, “It’s kind of hard to adjust to their style of play.” Isn’t the mark of good teams the ability to force the opponent out of their normal game? Anyway, Michael Redd scored 37 points, while Bogut added 15 with nine rebounds. TJ Ford scored 13 points and Charlie Bell put in 12 more. The Bucks are now 29-29 and are hanging on to eighth place in the Eastern Conference, trailing Detroit by 18.5 games. They host New York (15-42) on Saturday, so hopefully there’s a win in our future.

Wisconsin bounced back from their loss last week to Northwestern, defeating the Golden Gophers 80-74. Alando Tucker scored 22 points to lead the team, while freshman Kevin Gullikson added 12. Another freshamn, Joe Krabbenhoft, recorded a double-double (his first) and Kam Taylor scored 10 points. The win puts UW back up in fourth place in the Big 10 with a 9-5 record, and advances the team’s overall record to 19-8 with two games remaining. The Badgers take on #18 Michigan State (19-9, 7-7 Big 10) on Thursday.

Wisconsin saw their three-game winning streak come to an end last night as Northwestern beat the Badgers 62-51. Luckily I was in the never ending cycle of Winter Olympics action, so I missed out on the heartbreak of watching this game. UW had a terible night shooting, making just 39% of their shots from the field and going 4-14 from three-point range. Alando Tucker led the Badgers with 14 points and Kam Taylor scored 11, while Wisconsin allowed NU’s Mohamed Hachad to score a career-high 25 points. Seems like several opposing players have been getting career- or season-high performances against the Badgers this year, doesn’t it? The loss drops Wisconsin to 8-5 in conference play and 18-8 overall with three games remaining before the Big 10 tourney. The Badgers square off against Minnesota (14-10, 5-8 Big 10) on Sunday.

Marquette is really making their presence know in the Big East during their debut season. The Golden Eagles beat #9 Pittsburgh yesterday 84-82, their third victory over a ranked conference opponent this year. Marquette took the lead late in the first half and never let up behind an awesome performance by Steve Novak, who scored 27 points to lead his team to the win. Dominic James came up with 16 points and Wesley Matthews added 13 off the bench. The Golden Eagles last month beat both UConn, who were ranked #2 in the nation, and they defeated #17 Georgetown this past Thursday. Looks to me like mighty Marquette should get a nod from the list makers at the AP. With the win, the team advances to 8-5 in Big East action and 18-8 overall. The travel to South Bend to take on Notre Dame (13-10, 4-8 Big East) on Saturday.

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