The Milwaukee Panthers are the athletic teams representing the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee . They compete as a member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level, competing in the Horizon League for all sports since the 1994–95 season. A total of 13 Panthers athletic teams compete in NCAA Division I . The Panthers have won the James J. McCafferty Trophy as the Horizon League's all-sports champions seven times since 2000.
27-701: Milwaukee's athletic teams are nicknamed the Panthers, having previously been the Green Gulls (1927–1956) and Cardinals (1956–1964), adopting the Panthers nickname in 1964. Before 1990, the university's athletics program spent the majority of its history at the NCAA Division III and II levels, as well as several years at the NAIA level. All non-Division I sports moved to the NCAA Division I level for
54-572: A complete-game five-hitter to win game three. In Houston after the championship series, the Owls were honored in a parade by the City of Houston. The University commissioned a painting of the championship to sell to fans and alumni that is still available in print form. The team also visited the White House , where then-President George W. Bush recalled watching Rice games in his youth and commended
81-535: A step away from being the capital city of the capital state of the baseball world. This is going to be the greatest baseball city in the country and the world... I want Rice University to be Houston's team. Rice entered the 2003 postseason having won 30 consecutive games early in the season and having won the WAC regular-season championship. The team had a 3–0 record in the regional round, defeating McNeese State once and Wichita State twice at Reckling Park to advance to
108-593: A throwing error in the bottom of the 10th to win 4-3. Stanford rallied in the second game the next night to win 8-3, but the Owls defeated the Cardinal in the final game 14–2 to win Rice's first national championship in a team sport. Each member of the Owls pitching rotation pitched in the championship series; Niemann recovered from three early runs to pitch seven scoreless innings in game one, Townsend pitched well in game two despite two seventh inning errors, and Humber threw
135-488: The 2001 , 2002 , and 2010 tournaments. The only Panther to appear in a Major League Baseball game is outfielder Daulton Varsho , who debuted for the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2020. The Panthers men's basketball team has had several high-profile head coaches, including Bo Ryan (1999–2001), who was a national runner-up in 2014 as the head coach at Wisconsin , and Bruce Pearl (2001–2005), who made
162-442: The 2003 College World Series with a starting rotation made up of three sophomore pitchers: Jeff Niemann , Wade Townsend , and Philip Humber . Rice won its first three games in the tournament– a 4–2 win over Southwest Missouri State (now Missouri State University), a 12–2 defeat of defending champion Texas , and a second victory over Texas to advance to the championship round. Texas had already lost to Rice 2–1 earlier in
189-715: The College Basketball Invitational . The Panthers have had five players selected in the NBA draft . The highest selection is Patrick Baldwin Jr. , who was selected with the 28th pick in the first round by the Golden State Warriors in 2022. The Milwaukee women's basketball team began as a founding member of the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women in 1972 before moving with
216-525: The NCAA tournament since the tenure of head coach Wayne Graham began in 1992. The program participated in every tournament from 1995 until 2017, and won the national championship in 2003 , the first national championship for Rice athletics in any team sport. Rice is a member of the NCAA Division I American Athletic Conference . Previously, it has played in the now-defunct Southwest Conference ,
243-568: The Western Athletic Conference and Conference USA . From 1997–2008, Rice won 12 consecutive regular season titles in its conference or division. Nine of the championships came in the Western Athletic Conference , while the final three came in Conference USA . The streak ended in 2009 when East Carolina won the regular-season conference title; however, Rice won the post-season tournament. Rice subsequently won
270-487: The 1990–91 academic year. A member of the Horizon League, Milwaukee sponsors teams in six men's and seven women's NCAA-sanctioned sports. The Panthers are the only Division I college baseball team in the state of Wisconsin. They have also qualified for four NCAA tournaments since 1999, most notably recording an 8–4 win over regional host Rice in the first round of the 1999 NCAA tournament . They also appeared in
297-1050: The 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013 regular-season C-USA titles. Rice plays its home games at Reckling Park on the Rice campus in Houston. Rice is also a yearly participant in the Houston College Classic, held since 2001 at the Houston Astros ' Minute Maid Park . In 83 years of Southwest Conference play, Rice finished in the bottom half of the conference in 72 times. Rice finished in last place for 24 of those seasons. The highest Rice rankings in SWC regular season play were second-place finishes in 1984 and 1994. The modern era of Rice baseball began in 1992, when Wayne Graham , who had previously led San Jacinto College to five junior college championships, became head coach. Graham has coached 27 different players to All-America honors. In 1995, Rice finally broke through to make
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#1732772949527324-602: The 2019 Final Four as head coach at Auburn . Milwaukee made one appearance in the NCAA Division III men's basketball tournament in 1982 and two in the NCAA Division II men's basketball tournament : one in 1960, and one where they reached the Elite Eight in 1989. As a Division I program, Milwaukee has made four NCAA tournaments since 2003, most notably, the 2005 tournament . As the twelfth seed in
351-611: The Horizon League tournament and 12 times since 1997 and has made the NCAA tournament 16 times since then, including six straight from 2008 to 2013. The Panthers have also made every NCAA tournament since 2018, winning two tournament matches in that span. Milwaukee's highest end-of-season ranking is 23, which they achieved in 2011 following a Horizon League Championship and a win in the NCAA tournament at home against Illinois State . The women's volleyball team at Milwaukee has also enjoyed national success in recent years, qualifying for six of
378-488: The Longhorns for 12 years. Rice finally won two consecutive season series in 1955 and '56, and again in 1972 and '73. The only other Rice season series win before Wayne Graham came to Rice was 1978. One notable win came in 1977, as Texas began the season with 34 consecutive wins, which was snapped by a 4–3 loss to the Owls in extra innings. This Texas record still stands today. Since Graham arrived on South Main in 1994,
405-624: The Midwest regional, the Panthers upset fifth-seeded Alabama in the first round and fourth-seeded Boston College in the second round to reach the Sweet Sixteen. The Panthers would go on to lose in that round to the top-seeded eventual tournament runner-up Illinois . The Panthers have made four postseason appearances outside of the NCAA tournament, including two in the National Invitation Tournament and two in
432-405: The best baseball program in a nine-year survey of all 293 Division I programs since 1999. Data cited in the survey included Rice's five College World Series appearances and 2003 championship, its 35 major-league draft picks, and its 15 All-America selections over that span. Graham whose 953 victories over 21 seasons make him both the winningest and longest-tenured coach in Rice history. We're only
459-405: The first NCAA tournament appearance in school history—the first of 20 consecutive tournament appearances, including seven College World Series. A year later, Rice won the 1996 Southwest Conference baseball tournament , the final SWC tournament . It would be the first of 19 consecutive regular-season or tournament titles in three different conferences. Recently, Baseball America ranked Rice as
486-660: The last nine NCAA Tournaments and compiling an all-time record of 867–477–7 through the end of the 2006 season. Milwaukee's now-defunct football program competed at the NCAA College Division (now NCAA Division II ) level; due to lack of funds and a long string of losing seasons, they dropped the sport after the 1974 season. Rice Owls baseball The Rice Owls baseball team is the interscholastic baseball team representing Rice University in Houston, Texas , United States. The Owls have appeared often in
513-645: The major leagues. Most notable among these are All-Star pitcher Norm Charlton , Gold Glover José Cruz Jr. , Perfect game pitcher Philip Humber of the Houston Astros , and five-time All-Star and Astros outfielder Lance Berkman . In 2004, Rice became the first school ever to have three players selected in the first round of the MLB draft when Philip Humber , Jeff Niemann , and Wade Townsend were selected third, fourth, and eighth, respectively. Active players in bold. Marquette Golden Eagles men%27s soccer Too Many Requests If you report this error to
540-563: The most tense rivalries in college baseball. In the run up to the 2004 Minute Maid College Classic , The Daily Texan likened the Rice-Texas rivalry to the college basketball matchup between North Carolina and Duke , one of college sport's most famed rivalries. Factors contributing to the continued rivalry between the two schools include their proximity to one another, as well as the fact that many of their players compete together in summer leagues. Rice has sent more than 20 players on to
567-577: The past 37 seasons. Since 1998, the season-long series between these two teams has been known as the Silver Glove series . Through the 2021 season, Rice leads the all-time series against their cross-town rivals by a record of 108–83. Rice first played Texas in 1915, the first year of the Southwest Conference . Rice went 0–4 that first year, starting a trend of lopsided season series that lasted for 40 years, including no wins against
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#1732772949527594-453: The rest of the university sports to NAIA in 1982. The Panthers made their first NCAA tournament appearance at any level with the 2001 NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament , appearing again in 2006 . They have also appeared in three Women's National Invitation Tournaments and one Women's Basketball Invitational . The Milwaukee men's soccer team has made six NCAA tournaments since 2002, including four straight where they advanced to
621-518: The season. The Owls defeated Texas on catcher Justin Ruchti's one-run RBI single in the bottom of the 9th off of Texas closer Huston Street . The Owls' two wins against Texas was a change of outcome from the previous CWS, where Texas had beaten Rice in their opening game. In the best-of-three championship series, Rice played against Stanford . Rice won the first game with its second consecutive walk-off victory, as Chris Kolkhorst scored from second on
648-450: The second round. In the 2004 and 2005 tournaments, the Panthers lost to the top team in the country in the second round: 2004 against UC Santa Barbara in double-overtime and 2005 against New Mexico on penalty kicks. Panthers men's soccer holds the attendance record for Engelmann Stadium , which was set during a match against cross-town rival Marquette on September 3, 2015, with a crowd of 4,030. Milwaukee's women's soccer team has won
675-478: The super regionals. In the super regionals, Rice faced off against cross-town rival Houston . In the regular season, Rice had beaten the Cougars in four of five games. After losing the first game 5-2, Rice rallied to win the second game 10–2 behind four home runs, including a three-run homer by Vincent Sinisi. Rice advanced to their second consecutive College World Series by winning 5–2 in game 3. Rice entered
702-472: The team for their accomplishments. Reckling Park is the baseball stadium at Rice University in Houston, Texas, USA. It has a capacity of 5,368 and serves as the home field of the Rice Owls baseball team. The stadium was built on the site of Cameron Field, Rice's home from 1978–99, in time for the 2000 season. Since their first meeting in 1948, Rice has played Houston 191 times. They have met for each of
729-484: The two teams have played more evenly, going 15–17 in that span. During Rice's resurgence, Rice and Texas have met twice in the College World Series. In 2002, Texas handed Rice a first-round loss. In 2003, however, Rice turned the tables, defeating the Longhorns twice en route to their eventual championship. Since their end-of-the-season meetings in 2002 and 2003, the rivalry has been acknowledged as one of
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