The MISL All Star Game, Horizon League conference basketball tourney and a huge Marquette game all hit downtown this weekend.

Major Indoor Soccer League fans will see the best play on Sunday at 1:30 p.m. at the Bradley Center, but the festivities for All Star weekend actually start on Friday.

A dinner for "Keith's Kids" -- with the Keith being Wave coach Keith Tozer -- will be held at the Hyatt. Proceeds from the event will go to the CAP (Child Abuse Prevention) Funda, Cystic Fibrosis Fund, MACC (Midwest Athletes Against Childhood Cancer), Make-A-Wish Foundation and the March of Dimes.

On Saturday, an All Star skills competition and youth skills competition will be held. At 11:30 on Sunday, a Legends Game, featuring some former indoor soccer greats, will be played at the BC.

Then the current greats of MISL will take the floor. Wave goalie Victor Noqueira will lead seven representatives of the local team. Noqueira has been selected an All Star 10 times and has played in nine games, missing one due to injury.

Other Wave players in the game will include Joe Reiniger, Greg Howes, Lovelace Ackah, Brian Loftin and Troy and Todd Dusosky. Reiniger ranks third in MISL in scoring and fifth in goals. Howes is fourth in goals and fifth in scoring.

Dino Develski, the leading scorer in the league from Kansas City, will join the Wave players on the Western Conference All Star team. They will try to score against the East's goalie, Peter Pappas of Philadelphia. Pappas ranks second to Noqueira in goals against average with 9.26. Noqueira is at 7.58.

Tozer will coach the Western Conference team. He also will play in the Legends Game. "The only bad thing is it's 16 guys' last time to give me a shot," Tozer said. "So I've got to make sure I'm fitter than the rest of them, so I can run away from them. They're all going to be after me."

The Wave already has established Milwaukee has a hot bed for indoor soccer. The All Star Game will only further establish that reputation.

Premium seats for Sunday's games were sold out as of this writing, but there were seats at lesser prices available.

Action in the Horizon League tourney will start Friday at the U.S. Cellular Arena. Loyola (15-15 overall, 9-7 in the conference) will meet Detroit (17-11, 9-7) in a 5 p.m. game. Youngstown State (9-19, 4-12) will play the University of Illinois-Chicago (20-7, 12-4) at 7:30 p.m.

The winners of those games will meet Butler at 5 p.m. and UWM at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday. Winners of those games will meet for the tournament championship at 6 p.m. Tuesday.

Most believe that the winner of the tournament will be the sole Horizon League representative in the NCAA tournament. UWM split the regular seasons matchups with Butler. The Panthers have never gone to a NCAA tourney.

"To be honest, I think we have to win the tournament to get in," UWM coach Bruce Pearl said this week. "I do know that we are a bubble team at this point, but when you are a bubble team you aren't in control of your destiny.

"For us to get off the bubble, it would take a handful of upsets in the major conferences, so I would say it's a must-win situation for us."

The Panthers should go into the conference tourney on a high note. Pearl was named Horizon Coach of the Year this week. Forwards Clay Tucker and Dylan Page made the first team All Conference squad.

Marquette can make a real statement Saturday by wrapping up its season with a win over Cincinnati at the Bradley Center. Tipoff is at 12:30 p.m. ABC will carry the game.

The Golden Eagles have climbed to No. 8 in the country — their highest ranking since 1978 — and could solidly establish themselves as the best team in Conference USA with a win over the Bearcats.

Marquette is virtually assured of a NCAA bid and could make a strong argument for a very favorable seed. The Golden Eagles still must play in the conference tourney, but will get a bid regardless of how they fare there.

Congrats to the Wisconsin Badgers for their Big Ten championship. After waiting more than 50 years for a title, they now have at least a share of the crown the last two years under coach Bo Ryan. And, this year, they won it outright.

Kirk Penney, who I first saw play in the 2000 Olympics for his native New Zealand, turned out to be a great team leader. Devin Harris, who made the winning free throw in the thrilling 60-59 win over Illinois, has been a poised money player for the Badgers since his first game as a freshman.

The Badgers are off until they play in the Big Ten tournament March 13-16. They are assured of a NCAA berth.

The Brewers are well into their exhibition season in Arizona, which means spring is coming despite the snow and cold this past week.

This writer heads to Arizona in a week and will send back daily Brew Crew Review columns, starting on March 17.

The hottest tix have already been mentioned in this column, but be aware that the Bucks do host Golden State at the BC on Saturday night.

BC personnel will be busy converting the surface, since the Admirals host the Cincinnati Mighty Ducks on Friday and Sunday nights. The Sunday game will be played only a couple hours after the conclusion of the MISL All Star Game. Between the two home games, the Admirals will sandwich a quick trip to Chicago on Saturday night to take on the Wolves.