Former Milwaukee Panther basketball player Demetrius Harris is a Kansas City Chief

With the opening Sunday of the NFL schedule upon us, it’s official: the Milwaukee Panthers men’s basketball program has put a player into the NFL before sending one to the NBA. Demetrius Harris, who played basketball for Milwaukee from 2011-13, is a member of the Kansas City Chiefs’ opening day roster. He will be active in order to give the team more pass catchers, with Dwayne Bowe serving a suspension this week against Tennessee.

Harris struggled in the Chiefs’ preseason finale, but made the team’s 53-man roster anyway.

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Harris is the next in a growing list of players to make the switch from the hardwood to the gridiron. He made the cut despite a disappointing performance in the team’s preseason finale against the Green Bay Packers. He had one catch, multiple drops, an offensive pass interference penalty and multiple blown blocking assignments that resulted in sacks.

Still, the news isn’t a particular shock after 26-year old Sean McGrath’s abrupt retirement left Harris third on the Chiefs depth chart at tight end.What does come as a surprise is that a moderately successful mid-major basketball program at a school without a football team put one of its alumni into the NFL before sending a single player to the NBA.

Milwaukee moved to Division I in 1990, and nearly had its first NBA player in its second season at the D-I level. Von McDade, who transferred home to play for Milwaukee after twoseasons at Iowa Lakes Community College and one more at Oklahoma State, finished third in the nation in scoring. He averaged 29.6 points on his way to being selected by the New Jersey Nets with the 53rd pick of the 1991 NBA Draft. McDade was unable to secure a spot on the team’s final roster, and opted for a career overseas.

After several unremarkable seasons, Milwaukee made a pair of coaching hires that dramatically altered the program’s trajectory. First, the Panthers brought in Bo Ryan. During Ryan’s two seasons in Milwaukee, Clay Tucker established himself as a player to watch for in the Horizon League. He finished his freshman season as the team’s second leading scorer and rebounder, and quickly became a mainstay on the All-Horizon League teams. Tucker ended his career as the school’s all-time scoring leader and helped the team reach its first ever NCAA Tournament. Following his graduation, Tucker spent time playing overseas and in American minor leagues. In 2007, he scored a league record 51 points for the Arkansas RimRockers of the National Basketball Development League. Tucker participated in a number of NBA Summer Leagues, but was never able to make it to the NBA.

Bruce Pearl helped turn the Milwaukee Panthers from a sub-.500 team to a program that expects 20+ wins. He led the program to its first two NCAA Tournaments and a Sweet 16 berth.

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After Ryan left Milwaukee for the University of Wisconsin, the Panthers brought in Bruce Pearl from Southern Indiana University. Pearl kept Ryan recruits Adrian Tigert and Chris Hill committed to Milwaukee, and over the course of his tenure brought in players like Ed McCants, Boo Davis and Joah Tucker. With this core of players as well as Ryan holdovers Clay Tucker and Dylan Paige, Pearl made a pair of NCAA Tournaments and advanced to the Sweet Sixteen during his final season in Milwaukee. Pearl left for Tennessee and was replaced by Bo Ryan’s top assistant, Rob Jeter.

Harris spent two seasons as a power forward for the Milwaukee Panthers

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Jeter’s first season at Milwaukee featured a senior-laden roster of players who had shined in the previous NCAA Tournament, and the team made it back to the Big Dance. Milwaukee defeated 6-seed Oklahoma before losing to eventual National Champion Florida. Following the departure of most of its key players, many of whom ended up on NBA Summer League rosters before heading overseas, Milwaukee’s performance dropped off significantly. While the rest of Jeter’s tenure has never matched the heights achieved under Pearl, the team has had some nice talent on campus. Ryan Allen, younger brother of Memphis Grizzlies guard Tony Allen, played with the Chicago Bulls’ summer league squad twice since his graduation in 2012. Finally, Harris became the first Panther to break through in the top American leagues, though he obviously took a less-traveled path by signing with the Chiefs.

The Chiefs are no stranger to tight ends with basketball backgrounds; Tony Gonzalez played football and basketball for three seasons at the University of California before declaring for the NFL draft on his way to becoming one of the most successful tight ends in league history. As a basketball player, Gonzalez averaged over 6 points and 4 rebounds per game in California career. Five years into his NFL career, Gonzalez participated in the NBA Summer League with the Miami Heat. Jimmy Graham and Julius Thomas, two of the best tight ends in the NFL today, followed the same path as Gonzalez by playing both basketball and football during their college careers.

However, as much as it might pain the folks over at Arrowhead Addict to hear, the route Harris took elicits comparisons to longtime division rival Antonio Gates rather than to the Chiefs’ legend. Gates originally committed to play basketball and football for Michigan State, but eventually decided to focus on basketball. He bounced around from Eastern Michigan to a pair of junior colleges before winding up at Kent State University. At Kent State, Gates won two Mid-American Conference Tournaments to secure bids in the NCAA Tournament. During his senior season, Gates was named an honorable mention All-American and led the Golden Flashes to the Elite Eight. He averaged 20.6 points and 7.7 rebounds per game. As an undersized power forward, Gates’ NBA potential was limited. As a result, he opted for a shot in the NFL when the San Diego Chargers approached him. After signing with San Diego as an undrafted free agent, Gates quickly became the team’s starting tight end. He has gone on to play in 8 pro bowls in his NFL career.

Antonio Gates opted to focus on basketball during his college career, emerging as a star power forward for the Kent State Golden Flashes

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Like Gates, Harris opted to spend his time in college focusing on basketball. He turned down an offer to play football at Arkansas State and instead attended Mineral Area Community College for two years prior to going to Milwaukee to finish his college career. As a senior at Milwaukee, Harris started 28 games and averaged 9.1 points while leading the team with 5.3 rebounds per game. He spent his first season after graduating as a member of the Chiefs’ practice squad.

With Bowe suspended, Harris may have an opportunity to redeem himself for his lackluster preseason finale, though he will likely see most of his action on special teams.