Forgive me if I’m getting repetitive, but the Bucks had another rough March week. Fortunately the road trip ends Monday, but things get no easier with four tough games this week.

No one can be too surprised that things have gotten away from the Bucks lately, but we can all be a little dismayed. The past two years I’d be getting ready for Tankapalooza the rest of the way but no need to worry about that this year. Professionalism and pride have been restored in Milwaukee and (semi)competitive basketball will continue the rest of the year. I have only one message for Coach Skiles…

Free Joe Alexander!

He looked frisky in his early stint against the Heat. If he’s feeling comfortable with the first and second teams he’ll do even better. He looks hesitant to shoot unless he’s playing garbage time, so maybe this is a chance for him to put aside his hesitancy.

March 30 @ New Jersey (30-43)
In a battle of playoff pretenders Milwaukee and New Jersey reunite. The key for the Bucks will be defending the three tonight. The Nets have killed them from beyond the arc all year hitting 10 and nine threes in their last two battles. Ryan Anderson specifically lit up the Bucks at the BC not missing a shot all night and giving Marquette fans flashbacks to another 6′10 shooter who used to call the Bradley Center home. The Devin Harris Is Amazing bandwagon hasn’t been as loud lately, but he’s averaging almost 10 assists a game in March. Not bad. He’s making my earlier Ramon Sessions comparisons seem silly.

April 1 vs. LA Lakers (58-15)
At least we get to see Kobe. The Bucks will not soon think fondly back on their time in LA earlier this year when they were throttled and embarrassed in a 105-92 loss. The Lakers are an NBA blue blood. I just wanted to say that because I am so tired of hearing analysts call these Final Four teams blue bloods. Anyway, Kobe will likely give Mbah a Moute and Keith Bogans fits in a rough one in Milwaukee. The Bucks have surprised the Celtics once (almost twice!) so maybe they’ll put on a show against the Lakers. I won’t hold my breath. It’ll be nice to see Lamar Odom too, he’s always been one of my favorites and makes for a great passage in FreeDarko’s Macrophenomenal Pro Basketball Almanac.

April 2 @ Philadelphia (37-35)
Of all the teams that fired their coach immediately upon starting this season Philly has come out looking best. It makes sense, they had the most talent and most continuity from last season with regard to their roster. Philly got back to running and ran away from the bottom feeders in the East. I just hope we aren’t subjected to more three-point-shooting from Royal Ivey and Andre Miller. I still haven’t gotten over the shots they hit back in January to beat the Bucks.

April 4 vs. Memphis (18-54)
Hey this one could be a win. I saw Memphis on NBATV at a bar the other night and I remarked to my friends that I hadn’t seen Memphis on TV all year. As a matter of fact I don’t remember seeing them on TV since they last made the playoffs in 2003 or whenever it was. I’m looking forward to this though. Memphis has a lot of young talent and should be fun to watch. If they get Blake Griffin next year watch out. Matter of fact, watch out for whatever team gets Blake Griffin, he’s a phenom and will average a double double next year in the league.

I’ve done another recap over at Brewhoop.

And it was another frustrating Bucks loss.

(If you don’t think this is an attempt to reverse jinx the Bucks then you just don’t know me very well.)

The 2008-09 Milwaukee Bucks were a plucky group that made us remember why we love basketball in Milwaukee. They took the cue from their new defensive minded leader Scott Skiles and scrapped and clawed their way through each game. When the injury bug continuously reared its ugly head they refused to make excuses, they just worked harder.

The Bucks were unable to channel a consistency to their newfound defensive prowess however, which provided us with high highs (wins over the Celtics and Spurs) and low lows (losses at home to the Knicks and T’Wolves).

Unfortunately the hard work would not be enough as the Bucks playoff hopes were laid to rest Saturday March 21st in Milwaukee. The cause of death was believed to be related to a past lack of fiscal responsibility and draft talent deficiency. The combination of the two is commonly known as LarrHarrasia.

Injuries wasted no time with the Bucks this year, claiming Michael Redd for a 14 game stretch in November and Andrew Bogut for three more at the end of the same month.

The Bucks stumbled to a 3-5 record out of the gate, but showed promise in losses to the Raptors and Cavaliers. By game 10 they would crawl up to .500 behind emerging point guard Ramon Sessions. Sessions was a mysterious DNP-CD in the Bucks first two games after a scorching finish to the season before. He wasted no time when reinserted into the rotation averaging over 17 points and eight assists in his first three games.

More surprising than the solid play of Sessions was the quickly blossoming second round pick Luc Richard Mbah a Moute. Coming out of UCLA Mbah a Moute was thought of as a pretty strong defensive player, but no one in their wildest dreams thought he would instantly be the Bucks best defender. Injuries played a role in Mbah a Moute becoming a starter in mid-November, but no matter who was healthy it was clear that he needed to be playing 25 minutes plus already.

The Bucks finished November 6-11 against a very difficult schedule. A healthy Andrew Bogut and Michael Redd tandem provided the fans with some hope in December as they rolled to an 8-6 month. Things turned frustrating beginning on December 23rd as they went through a 14 game stretch where no two games resulted in consecutive wins or losses. It’s likely that this was the result of Bogut being benched again by a bad back for the early part of the new year.

It was around this time that Milwaukee fans realized just how important the Aussie was. Seeing the team struggle so much defensively and on the boards gave us all an appreciation of just how far Andrew Bogut had come as a starting center in the NBA. Either that or it shows us just how bad things can be when your backup big men are Dan Gadzuric and Francisco Elson.

You’ll notice that I have yet to mention key off-season acquisition Richard Jefferson. Well, that is because Jefferson did not do a whole lot to earn that key before off-season acquisition for the first few months of the season. Sure he’d occasionally lead them in scoring, but it seemed like when the Bucks needed a big hoop or stop RJ was nowhere to be found. That changed in February.

With the Bucks season quickly spiraling out of control after a 2-5 stretch near the end of January RJ got it going. He averaged over 23 points a game in February and shot 50 percent from long range. Between he, Charlie Villanueva and Ramon Sessions, it seemed like the Bucks might just pull this thing out after all.

Villanueva saw a minute increase when Michael Redd went down for the season near the end of January and rewarded the Bucks with the most consistent offensive stretch of his career, averaging over 20 points in February. Sessions took the reigns as the starting point guard thanks to an injury to Luke Ridnour (even though we all know he should have been there from day one) and the three of them led the Bucks to over 106 points per game in February.

The Bucks lack of talented depth and difficult March schedule left them for dead as the cold Wisconsin winter began to defrost. After making it through most of the season in the eighth and final playoff spot the Bucks began to lose their footing starting with losses to the Nets and Bulls in the opening week of March and continued that trend through most of the month. A surprising victory over the defending champion Celtics allowed for a brief ray of hope, but subsequent losses to Orlando and Portland left them two games back against a very difficult remaining schedule.

These Bucks have little to apologize for though. They fought through injuries, rumors and inexperience to make for the most successful season in three years. They gave the fans a taste of the playoff race and provided the youngsters an experience of what the chase feels like. For guys like Sessions, Mbah a Moute and Villanueva, this was their first experience with any modicum of success.

A few days back in the Journal Sentinel, columnist Michael Hunt had this to say about these Bucks and their season:

But then came 1999, when the Bucks just squeezed in. Indiana swept them. The next year, they pushed the Pacers to the max in the first round. With all that postseason experience behind them, the Bucks came within 48 minutes of the Finals the following season.

There’s no substitute for going through the process, Skiles said.

There is no better way, then, for the Bucks to expunge these last few miserable seasons than by exposing their long-term players to it right now. That first step gets you that much closer to changing the culture. You do it right now because deferring anything to an uncertain future by means of the lottery or any other rationale is a defeatist approach for a franchise that cannot afford to put off anything approaching progress.

I agree wholeheartedly with his sentiments. I can only hope that some of the lessons learned through the process of the race will be applied next year.

In addition to coach Skiles, the Bucks will be survived by Michael Redd, Andrew Bogut, Dan Gadzuric, Francisco Elson, Luke Ridnour, Charlie Bell, Joe Alexander, Malik Allen, possibly Richard Jefferson (I hear more trade rumors already) and maybe Charlie Villanueva and Ramon Sessions (it’ll be an interesting off-season).

Memorial services will be held at Fourth and State on April 1st, 4th, 8th, 11th, and 13th.

It turns out home was not very sweet for the Bucks. The Bucks end their six game home stand with two wins and four losses. Not exactly a playoff springboard. We knew this wouldn’t be a walk in the park home stand, but I was hoping for at least .500. The loss to the Knicks was a killer. At the time Frank at Brewhoop wrote:

Still, there’s no way to sugarcoat this game–it was a huge, huge loss that we may very look back on as the decisive game of the season.

I’m ready to say it was that decisive game.

Now the Bucks have a difficult three game road stretch as time starts to run out on their playoff hopes and the gap between them and that final spot continues to grow.

March 25th @ Toronto(25-45)
Chris Bosh likely has April 15th circled on his schedule for two reasons.

1. It’s tax day here in America.
2. The Raptors nightmare season will finally come to an end.

No team started the season with more realistically high expectations that went unfulfilled. I mean we were talking about the Raptors as a team that could contend for a playoff spot in the four range. The free fall hasn’t ended even as the team has come together from a health standpoint. The Chris Bosh Watch started before the season and has only intensified as things have spun out of control. There is a better chance that the Bucks will have a title by 2011 than the Raps will have Chris Bosh. Here is the Bucks best shot at picking up a much needed win on this road trip. Good thing it’s first, it could set the tone and maybe spur one last shot.

March 27th @ Orlando (51-18)
Must we do this again? Last game was more reminiscent of bugs hitting a car than actual basketball. Bucks were flying off the mighty Dwight Howard and balls were flying into innocent spectators. I still believe at some point in his career the NBA’s answer to Godzilla will cause the explosion of a basketball with his right hand. Earlier this year I thought the Magic were the likeliest of this year’s top teams to go out early in the playoffs, but now I’m having second thoughts on that. They have surrounded Howard perfectly and play crazy defense. I can’t wait to see them go up against the Cavs or Celtics in round two, that will be fun.

March 28th @ Miami (37-32)
D-Wade is making a historic MVP push right now averaging over 35 points, 8 assists and 6 rebounds in March. What’s crazy is that even with that legendary type run he hasn’t secured pole position on the road to the MVP vote. That is as good a reason as any that Lebron should be MVP. MVP or not Wade will likely be more than enough to put the Bucks away in South Beach which is a phenomenal home court. The fans aren’t great but if I were a millionaire under 30 in South Beach I’d probably be a little preoccupied with my before and after game plans.

I’ll be updating this list on and off for the next few days with how things are going in my NCAA Tournament Fan Experience.

(Updated 9:15 PM 3/22)

Things I Have NOT Enjoyed

• Howie Long. He stands out alone here. I don’t ever want to see another commercial involving Howie Long. Enough. I don’t care what you have to say you smug bastard. If I had a truck I’d make sure it had that man-step just to spite you and your boxy haircut.

Things I’ve Enjoyed

• Greg Gumble. Gumble worked up a sweat on Friday night throwing it back and forth between the Siena and Wisconsin games. Kudos to you Greg on a job well done. Speaking of the games they were terrific. I’ve been notably hard on Wisconsin before but that was a very gutsy and impressive performance. I’ve taken to calling Keaton Nankivil “The Anvil,” I hope it sticks.
• The Early Circle. My friend Chris decided to circle Wake as a winner about 10 minutes before the game even tipped off. Naturally Cleveland State proceeded to run off nine straight points to start the game and never looked back from there. The Basketball Gods do not like those who tell them what to do my friend.
• Mormon Ball. I shouldn’t really say I’ve enjoyed this, but I’d like to note that things did not go as planned for the Mormons these last two days. BYU, Utah State and Utah all fell. Street Toughs-1 Scrappers-0.
• Dominic James. The game hasn’t started but he’s already a winner. He’s like a chameleon, cut his foot off and it just grows right back.
• The State of Wisconsin. Really impressive scrappy efforts from both state teams. Neither of them advanced, but they both put on shows and played their hearts out. They put some Madness into March and that’s all you can ask for in the tournament.

Things I’ve Done Right

• Gonzaga. The Bulldogs look feisty in the second half of their opener. In the opening night Jeremy Pargo may have had the dunk of the tournament over Froto on Akron. I’m feeling them as a Final Four team after round one considering Lawson’s toe issue for UNC.
• Flight Wright. A double double in round one looked nice for the high flier from Dayton. Best put by one Brian Bau, “The Wright Stuff is killing my bracket.” Should have heeded my advice friend.
• Greivis. Any time a player airballs a shot, gets heckled, steals a pass, drives for a lay-up and then puts his finger to his lips to hush the previously jeering crowd, then he’s officially made a hell of an impression on me.

Things I’ve Done Wrong

• North Dakota St. The dream was over before it began. They did give it their all though. It’ll be fun to see Dayton beat Kansas I guess.
• Illinois and Minnesota. Why did I pick Illinois and Minnesota? For years I’ve heard about how the Big 10 gets it done in the tournament. They play tough d, they don’t turn it over, they make their free throws, blah blah blah. I should have known better than to trust a conference where they use medicine balls instead of basketballs.
• Tennessee. Bruce you failed me. I thought for sure the Tennessee fun show would move into at least the weekend.
• Memphis. I know they pulled it out in the end and there is plenty of time to recover, but yikes. A rather inauspicious start for the Tigers. Those free throw woes reared their ugly head again. I’m hoping they’ll be able to beat Missouri in a 107-94 battle, but the structure has been shaken. Don’t let me down Cap.
• Tyrese Rice. Did no one tell him that he is suppose to be a jacker? Where did the 34 point half Tyrese go? 11 shots without a free throw in a tourney game? Really Ty?
• Awfulzona. They are screwing everything up. Every year some team with a whole bunch of talent spends the regular season screwing around and not playing to their potential. Every year that team makes the tournament somehow or another and promptly gets everyone thinking they have a shot to make some noise since they were just underachievers, not under talented. Every year that team loses immediately reminding us all that champions win games, not underachievers. Awfulzona screwed that up by pasting Utah in round one. How will I know what to think from now on?
• UCLA. The veterans did not come through like I thought they would. I still think Darren Collison has a bright future though. He looks like he could be a serviceable backup on the NBA level. Jrue Holiday could be a lot more than that. The Holiday takeover at the end of the VCU game was nice. That guy has arms for days. When he declares for the draft he’ll be one of those guys we hear can open both car doors while sitting in the backseat.