Great college basketball towns to visit

[Gwaki]

http://www.cnn.com/2009/TRAVEL/03/31/great.basketball.towns/index.html

Milwaukee is number 4 because of Marquette.

4. Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin

There is no football team at Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. That means students and alumni are even more dedicated to the men's basketball team, they say.

Marquette may be a Jesuit university with just over 11,000 students, but it boasts one of the highest attendance rates at basketball games in the country. Students at Marquette don't pitch tents like at Duke, but the games are so popular, some will bring their sleeping bags 10 hours before the game to get the best seat in the house

"It's such a great feeling to know you can walk anywhere in the city when you have a Marquette shirt on a basketball day and people will talk to you about basketball," said Sarah Dembkowski, a sophomore at the university. "It gives this city a bonding feeling."

Although the West region No. 6-seeded Golden Eagles lost to the University of Missouri in the tournament last week, a trip to the Bradley Center, where the Marquette men's basketball team plays (and where the NBA's Milwaukee Bucks play) is well worth the visit.

Marquette students, called the Superfans, are famous for their peculiar behavior, dressing up in costumes to support their team and distracting opponents with oversized cutouts of celebrities' heads.

On campus are several bars, including the Union Annex, that tout cheap beer pitchers and food specials for fans. Just several blocks from the university is downtown Milwaukee. On Water Street, where most of the fans crowd on game day, visitors can hang with the locals and enjoy a hub of sports bars, taverns and restaurants.

[LON]

The UW fans on the JS Online blog are already out in full force...

It's hilarious

[MUfan12]

The UW fans on the JS Online blog are already out in full force...

It's hilarious

Oh it's great. I love the righteous indignation they show whenever something about college atmospheres comes out and does not mention Madison.

[Kramerica]

I also really enjoy the assumption that we're all rich kids from Chicago.  Its especially funny to someone with $25K in student loans to pay back. 

[MUEng92]

So after reading this along with IWB's article on Sportsbubbler.com, I would say it is not so much a great college basketball town as it is a great college basketball campus.  With all of the people in Milwaukee that hate MU, you can't give the whole town credit.

[Chicago_inferiority_complexes]

I also really enjoy the assumption that we're all rich kids from Chicago.  Its especially funny to someone with $25K in student loans to pay back. 

Or three times that in loans ...

[ChicosBailBonds]

Having attended three of the top 5 on the list, I love the fact MU is in there.  And for the record, it's better than IU's student situation (not quite as good as KU, but close).

Great stuff.  Love that general admission seating policy!!   

[GGGG]

The UW fans on the JS Online blog are already out in full force...

It's hilarious

With the predictable arguments and snarky comments by either side.  Jesus...who the hell cares?

[texaswarrior74]

I was shocked when I opened this expecting to see the usual suspects and saw MU and Milwaukee on the very short list of places to visit which included only Durham/Duke, UNC/Chapel Hill, IU/Bloomington, KU/ Lawrence and Gonzaga.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/TRAVEL/03/31/great.basketball.towns/index.html

Hey, maybe we are FINALLY getting some respect out there....great comments about the superfans.

[Daniel]

NIce piece - thanks for posting the link - nice to see MU get some attention!