[media-credit name=’JEFF SCHORFHEIDE/Herald photo’ align=’alignright’ width=’336′][/media-credit]Tonight, the University of Wisconsin men's basketball team is in position to win the unofficial state championship for the second year in a row with a win over UW-Milwaukee. The No. 7 Badgers (9-1, 0-0 Big Ten) have gone 15-2 against the Dairy State's Division I competition during head coach Bo Ryan's tenure.

However, Ryan, his staff and his players aren't placing too much significance on winning the championship.

"It really has absolutely no significance," UW assistant coach Howard Moore said. "I don't want to sound too much like coach Ryan, but it really is just the next game on the schedule."

"It really doesn't mean all that much, when you say winning the state," sophomore forward and Milwaukee native Marcus Landry said. "We just want to win the next game."

Still, with the recent emergence of UWM and UW-Green Bay, the fact that the Badgers have been able to maintain such in-state dominance has been somewhat remarkable.

"Basketball in Wisconsin has really never been stronger," Moore said. "It speaks to the level of focus and execution we have been able to maintain, that Coach Ryan has instilled, that we have a record like that against schools of that caliber."

The Panthers (2-9, 0-1 Horizon) have been a major part of the Badger State's rise in national recognition, having made the NCAA tournament the past two seasons, including a romp to the Sweet 16 last season.

However, Milwaukee's meteoric rise from a year ago has led to the program taking a step back, as the Panthers lost nine seniors, including all five of their starters. In fact, of the 68 points that UWM scored in last season's loss to Wisconsin, players still on the roster scored only 10 points.

"It's a young team," Ryan said. "It's trying to get some things done and mature and blend. But you know, the rest of us are trying to do the same thing, but only we have older players, guys that have had a few more minutes."

Thursday's meeting will be the 24th in a series that UW has completely owned.

The Badgers are 23-1 in their history against the Panthers, with the lone loss coming in the UW Field House Dec. 12, 1992, when Milwaukee pulled out a 77-72 victory.

More important, however, is that this will be the second time Milwaukee head coach and former Badger assistant Rob Jeter returns to Madison to take on his friend and mentor, Ryan.

"You can tell that those two have a very special relationship," Moore said. "It's teacher and student out there."

Ryan isn't the only member of the squad who enjoys the opportunity to see Jeter back on the Kohl Center floor.

"I love seeing coach Jeter back here," said senior guard Kammron Taylor. "I was real glad to see him get a head coaching job. He did a lot of work with me, and I owe him a lot."

"He's like an older brother to me," said UW assistant coach Greg Gard, who also stressed that such feelings are forgotten during the game. "Once the ball goes up, it's just 10 guys who are just going at it on the court.

The Panthers currently have eight players logging 13 or more minutes, but only two averaging double-digit points, as the youthful inexperience has led to some serious growing pains for Jeter's squad.

"He's basically just starting over," Gard said. "You lose nine seniors, seven scholarship players off of a back-to-back NCAA tournament team, it's hard to be able to bounce back.

"You look at his roster, and the majority of his players have never played college basketball."

Milwaukee is led by Avery Smith, who has paced the Panthers with 15.2 points per game, making almost 45 percent of his 3-point attempts.

As Milwaukee looks to make a turn in its season, Jeter will look to rely more on the all-conference candidate.

"As they get settled, I think you'll see [Jeter] start to see his team make some noise in their league," Gard said. "Hopefully he gets it rolling soon, just not Wednesday night."