Milwaukee City League

[GGGG]

Is it just me, or is the Milwaukee City League really going through a rough patch in high school basketball lately?  A team from the conference hasn't won the state championship since 2004, and they really haven't even been a factor the last couple tournaments.  Furthermore, you have to go to #26 on Mark Miller's list to find the highest rated senior, Jon Cathy-Macklin.

A decade ago, this league was dominating everything.  Did they drop off or is everyone else just getting better?

[jficke13]

maybe anyone with talent is begging, borrowing and stealing in a desperate hope to get out of MPS and into a district where they have a chance of qualifying.

[bma725]

Is it just me, or is the Milwaukee City League really going through a rough patch in high school basketball lately?  A team from the conference hasn't won the state championship since 2004, and they really haven't even been a factor the last couple tournaments.  Furthermore, you have to go to #26 on Mark Miller's list to find the highest rated senior, Jon Cathy-Macklin.

A decade ago, this league was dominating everything.  Did they drop off or is everyone else just getting better?

There's a lot of factors.  Part of it is the realignment of MPS, with a whole lot of new high schools replacing all the old ones.  That's spread out the talent base a bit.  Part of it is coaching changes.  Bay View has changed coaches a couple of times, Vincent has a new guy now that Diener is at Hamilton.  Custer has a new coach as well, and that really set their program back. Part of it is talent leaving the conference.  Calvin Godfrey should be a senior at Custer right now, but he left to go to Notre Dame Prep and is now in Minnesota.  Larry Bradley should be a junior at Vincent, but he transferred to Tosa East and is now at Huntington Prep in West Virginia. 

The City Conference that existed a decade ago with a lot of schools having stable programs and a constant influx of talent just isn't there anymore.

For what it's worth, 2010 is a bad year for prospects in the City Conference, but 2011 is much better.  4 of Mark's Top 5 in that class play in the City Conference, and all of them are receiving looks from a lot of high major schools. 

[GOMU1104]

The days of Deonte Tatum, Marcus Conigliaro, Greg Brown, Boo Wade, Ceso Sprewell, Matt Jones, Dupree Fletcher...the Super 8 sectional at the Klotsche Center.

That was some good ball.

[MU83]

The fact that the city conference was strong for as long as it was, is really surprising.  Many of these kids are not getting the education they need to parlay their basketball skills into a scholarship at a top level school.  With the heavy influence that AAU ball (and the handlers) now has, I am sure that more kids are leaving for prep schools or other opportunities to get into better schools.  I attended Washington High School in the late 70's, and it was very difficult to learn with all the distractions.  We had some of the finest high school basketball players that I have seen, but many of them could not qualify for D1.  In fact, many of them probably shouldn't have graduated from high school--sad but true.

It will be interesting to see if the decline in MPS basketball is just a phase, or a more permanent decline that most other larger cities have already experienced.  My guess is that it's the latter.

[artboy8]

MU 83, I went to Washington in the early seventies, and yes you are right, there was a lot of distractions at Washington. I remember my English class, by semester end, there was  three of us still attending class.  At least the basketball team was very good when you were there. I remember we had two guys that were around six seven and muscular. Both players had talent, but neither one was  motivated enough to stick with the team. It wasn't until Dean Marquart (I am thinking, in 1975) that the fortunes of the basketball team turned around.

[MU83]

artboy8,

My memory is a little fuzzy relative to high school, but I think you're correct about Marquardt.  He graduated one year ahead of me which would have made him a freshman in 1975.  Dean's senior year we fielded a starting lineup that went 6'-10", 6'-7", 6'-5", 6'-4", and 6'-3".  How we didn't win state I'll never know as all of those guys could play.  It was a few years later when Gordon took over as coach that Washington started putting up the banners.

From an academic perspective, my senior physics class had a handful of kids and many of the advanced high school courses just didn't exist.  My most vivid memories were of seeing the assistant principal in a headlock (by a girl no less), and of the daily brawls that used to occur.  I guess I am better for it, but I'm not sure everyone is as fortunate as I am.

[artboy8]

MU 83

Washington in the 70's was a crazy time, it was the working laboratory for some of the social changes brought upon by the sixties civil rights moment. Unfortunately, it was up to the students to find a way to make a flawed system work.   Most of the black students were bused to school, so that created a lot of problems for school unity. While I was going there, I am sad to say, there was an unwritten rule that certain entrances were segregated. For instance, the doorway on the northeast side of campus was off limits to whites. It was the nearest entrance from the bus stop from where most of the black students were dropped off.  For all the bad aspects of Washington, I did get an education but not in the traditional sense. I went on to college but it took quite a while before I could catch up with other students.