For a couple schools without football programs, Marquette and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee are pretty adept when it comes to playing rough.

The soap opera that has gripped area basketball fans for months took another bizarre turn today when UWM called a press conference to announce that it had signed the original contract -- the one that wasn't good enough last week -- and agreed to play a 4-for-1 series in men's basketball beginning next year. No representatives from Marquette attended the press conference, which wasn't surprising because UWM officials said they hadn't informed anyone from MU about their decision.

Late Monday night, Marquette appeared ready to sign the deal.

The on-again, off-again series is back on ... apparently for keeps.

Under terms of the deal, UWM will receive $180,000 for three "guarantee" games at the Bradley Center over the next three seaons. The schools would then play a "home and home" series in 2010-'11. Though UWM originally balked at the deal because they felt the price was too low, athletic director Bud Haidet said that a couple of donors had agreed to make up the difference, which made playing the games financially palatable for the Panthers.

When negotiations between the sides broke down last week, Marquette went public with details of the contract, which was termed a "final offer." There was a bit of a backlash against UWM at the time, because many Panthers fans -- who have been clamoring to see their team play Marquette for several seasons -- couldn't stomach the idea that their school was walking away from the matchup over a relatively small amount of money.

Last week, when everyone had declared the series dead, Panthers coach Rob Jeter went on the "The D-List" on Milwaukee's ESPN Radio and said that he still was hopeful that an accord be reached.

It turns out that he was right.

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