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According to Matt Norlander of CBS Sports the Wisconsin Badgers are combining forces with the Marquette Golden Eagles for a multi-team event in Wisconsin at the end of November. The Badgers haven’t released any of their non-conference matchups yet this year, although it was assumed that the Battle of I-94 would continue regardless of new COVID schedule.
Wisconsin and Marquette are planning to host an MTE with Eastern Illinois and Arkansas Pine-Bluff, according to sources. The plan is to hold it as a two-game MTE with scheduling flexibility at the start of the season. Here’s how it would work …
— Matt Norlander (@MattNorlander) October 21, 2020
The other two teams joining UW and MU are the Eastern Illinois Panthers and the Arkansas Pine-Bluff Golden Lions. Per Norlander, this all sounds kind of convoluted but that is par for the course in 2020.
If UW and Marquette can host a pair of games against Pine Bluff and EIU as planned, Wisconsin-Marquette game will be played/counted as a standalone. (And if EIU or Pine Bluff bail late, MU and UW would work on getting their own last-minute games against schools in the region.)
— Matt Norlander (@MattNorlander) October 21, 2020
The Panthers are projected to be a middle of the road team in the Ohio Valley Conference while the Golden Lions are one supposed to be one of the worst teams in the SWAC, and the country.
Of course, on the same day this was announced Marquette sent out a release saying that the program was shutting down for two weeks due to two positive COVID-19 tests. The programs will be quarantining until Nov. 4.
.@MarquetteU #mubb and #muwbb pause team activities for 14 days after 2-of-45 COVID-19 tests come back positive, Student-athletes & Tier 1 staff will quarantine and may return to practice Nov. 4. RELEASE: https://t.co/XLBuaQj8et pic.twitter.com/sn82vYbXYO
— Marquette Basketball (@MarquetteMBB) October 21, 2020
Norlander reported earlier this month that the Badgers were pulling out of the Fort Myers Tip-Off but were planning on hosting their own MTE. We then tried to put together a dream MTE in Madison, but clearly no one in the athletic department was listening. As more scheduling news comes out, we’ll keep you posted. The season starts in about a month so eventually some games will have to be scheduled!