Around the Horizon League: Weeks 2 and 3

Butler Bulldogs (4-3): Butler’s 3-3 start to the season is a bit deceiving, as two of their losses have been to teams from major conferences. The Bulldogs lost to the Louisville Cardinals by a score of 69-53 in a game in which the Bulldogs actually led in the second half. Unfortunately for the Bulldogs, a very poor shooting night led to their downfall. The Bulldogs rebounded with a 57-42 victory over Savannah State and a 68-66 victory over Gardner-Webb. On Sunday, the Bulldogs dropped a 75-59 decision to the Indiana Hoosiers in which bad shooting yet again led to their downfall. The Bulldogs continued their up-and-down season with a 98-53 victory over Oakland City at home. On Saturday, the Bulldogs will take the court in their first Horizon League conference matchup at home against Valparaiso.

Cleveland State Vikings (6-1): The Vikings used a last-second shot by senior guard Trevon Harmon to defeat the St. Bonaventure Bonnies by a score of 67-64 in a very physical and hard-fought game. After this game, the Vikings headed off on a long series of road match ups. The Vikings began with a contest against the Kent State Golden Flashes, an in-state foe. The Vikings defeated the Golden Flashes, one of the best teams in the MAC, by a score of 57-53. The Vikings then headed east to Rhode Island to play three games in the Ticket City Legends Classic. Cleveland State began by defeating Boston University by a score of 63-62 in a game in which the Vikings came back from a 10-point deficit in the second half. The next day, the Vikings lost their first game of the season against the Hofstra Pride by a score of 63-53. On Sunday, the Vikings rebounded to defeat the Rhode Island Rams by a score of 67-45. The Vikings will have three days off before their first Horizon League match up on the road against the Wright State Raiders on Thursday.

Detroit Titans (3-4): This season is quickly becoming a nightmare season for the Titans, who began the season with hopes of knocking the Butler Bulldogs from their perch atop the Horizon League. At this point, the Titans do not have enough active scholarship players to conduct a 5-on-5 scrimmage during practice. Eli Holman remains on a leave of absence as he deals with an assault charge incurred at a fraternity house, and no updates have been given on his status. Senior forward Nick Minnerath recently suffered a season-ending ACL injury. John Hoskins left the team and guards Chris Blake and Brandon Romain are academically ineligible for the fall semester. Although the Titans were able to wallop Concordia (Mich.) by a score of 113-68, the Titans proceeded to lose two of their next three games in the CBE Classic in Bowling Green, Ohio. The Titans lost to the George Washington Colonials in the first game. In the second game, the Titans lost 67-61 to the Bowling Green Falcons. The Titans eked out a narrow overtime victory against Austin Peay in the final game by a score of 94-93. Playing their fourth straight game in Ohio this past Friday, the Titans lost 81-63 to a talented Akron Zips team. The Titans will return to action Thursday night in their first Horizon League match up against the Youngstown State Penguins.

Green Bay Phoenix (2-4): The Phoenix won a home game against Wyoming by the score of 52-44. The Phoenix then took their talents to Indiana to play Indiana State. Despite the offensive struggles of standout center Alec Brown, the bench helped the Phoenix stay in the game. However, the Phoenix eventually lost in the final seconds to the Sycamores by the score of 57-56 on a late 3-pointer. The Phoenix suffered another loss two days later on the road to the Virginia Cavaliers by a score of 68-42. On Thursday, the Phoenix will begin Horizon League play with a match up at home against the UIC Flames.

Loyola Ramblers (1-4): Despite having three players score in double figures, the Ramblers lost 63-51 on the road at Furman. Rookie head coach Porter Moser finally secured his first win as Loyola’s head coach with a 64-50 victory over Fordham in the Ramblers’ first game in renovated Gentile Arena. The Ramblers begin Horizon League play on Thursday with a road match up against the Milwaukee Panthers.

Milwaukee Panthers (5-1): The Panthers continued their strong start to the reason, which is impressive in light of the fact that star player Tony Meier has not played at all this season as a result of a lingering calf injury. After two impressive home victories over IUPUI and Texas Southern, the Panthers traveled to Michigan State for a road match up against the Spartans. Although the game was close at halftime, the Spartans pulled away in the second half for a 68-55 victory. The Panthers rebounded by defeating Arkansas-Little Rock by a score of 59-54. Kaylon Williams currently leads the Horizon League with an average of 6.0 assists per game. On Thursday, the Panthers will begin Horizon League play with a home match up against the Loyola Ramblers.

UIC Flames (2-3): The Flames dropped a 65-61 decision to Division II Quincy University but followed up with a 79-75 victory over Evansville. The Flames then lost to the Toledo Rockets by a score of 82-67 in a game in which a furious second-half comeback attempt could not overcome a large first-half deficit. The Flames will return to action on Thursday in their Horizon League opener on the road against the Green Bay Phoenix.

Valparaiso Crusaders (5-2): The Crusaders continued their impressive start to the season with three wins in the 2K Sports Classic. Their first victory was a 62-59 triumph over the talented Akron Zips. The next day, the Crusaders pounded IU Kokomo by a score of 79-48. Playing their third game in three days, the Crusaders defeated the Duquesne Dukes by a score of 84-68. After a four-day layoff, the Crusaders traveled to Columbus to play the nationally ranked Ohio State Buckeyes. Although the Crusaders were only down by four points at halftime, the Buckeyes’ impressive shooting and the Crusaders’ abysmal shooting combined to produce a lopsided second half that resulted in an 80-47 victory for the Buckeyes. Ryan Broekhoff is currently tied for the Horizon League lead in rebounding with 9.3 points per game. The Crusaders will open Horizon League play with a match up against Butler on Saturday.

Wright State Raiders (2-4): The Raiders’ inexperience caught up to them during the second week of the season, as the Raiders dropped three straight games. The Raiders dropped a 78-65 decision to the Florida Gators. Two days later, the Raiders lost to North Florida by a score of 69-52. The friendly confines of the Nutter Center did not help the Raiders as they lost a close game to the Charlotte 49ers by a score of 70-66. The Raiders’ schedule will not get any easier as they begin Horizon League play on Thursday with a tough home matchup against the Cleveland State Vikings.

Youngstown State Penguins (4-1): The Penguins have continued their turnaround from last season’s disappointing campaign. Sophomore Kendrick Perry currently leads the Horizon League in scoring with 18.2 points per game and the team as a whole is dramatically improved. After a hard-fought defensive struggle against UC Riverside that ended in a 53-49 overtime victory, the Penguins headed to State College to face the Penn State Nittany Lions. Despite once again making a school-record 14 3-pointers, the Penguins fell behind early and lost to the Nittany Lions by a score of 82-71. The Penguins battled yet another Pennsylvania foe three days later when they battled the St. Francis Red Storm on the road. This time, the Penguins came away victorious by a score of 60-59 when senior DuShawn Brooks blocked a potential game-winning shot at the buzzer. The Penguins will travel to Detroit in their Horizon League opener to battle the Titans on Thursday.

Around the Horizon League: Week 1

Butler Bulldogs (1-1): The Bulldogs lost their regular-season opener in overtime against Evansville by a score of 80-77. Andrew Smith missed two free throws that could have won the game at the end of regulation. Butler rebounded Tuesday night to defeat Chattanooga by a score of 57-46. This Saturday, the Bulldogs will battle the Louisville Cardinals at home in a highly anticipated nonconference matchup.

Cleveland State Vikings (2-0): The Vikings shocked the nationally ranked Vanderbilt Commodores on Sunday by a score of 71-58. On Tuesday, the Vikings knocked off the Rio Grande Red Storm, an NAIA school, by a score of 86-57. Cleveland State will face another test on Friday evening at home when they square off against the St. Bonaventure Bonnies. Senior center Aaron Pogue missed Tuesday night’s match up with an undisclosed illness, and his availability for this important game is unknown. … Continue Reading

Valparaiso Crusaders 2011-12 Preview

Valparaiso Crusaders (23-13, 12-6)

Projected starting five:

Jr. G/F Ryan Broekhoff
Jr. G Erik Buggs
Jr. G Matt Kenney
Jr. F Richie Edwards
Jr. F Kevin Van Wijk

Important departures:

Brandon Wood: 16.7 ppg, 4.3 rpg, 3.1 apg
Cory Johnson: 14.1 ppg, 4.5 rpg
Howard Little: 9.5 ppg, 4.9 rpg
Michael Rogers: 5.0 ppg, 3.1 rpg

The Crusaders lost several key players, including several starters. Cory Johnson, Howard Little and Michael Rogers all graduated. In addition, Brandon Wood, who was an All-Horizon League First Team honoree graduated following his junior season of eligibility and transferred to Michigan State.

% returning scoring and rebounding:

Scoring: 39 percent
Rebounding: 49 percent

Two starters return for the Crusaders: Ryan Broekhoff and Erik Buggs.

Additions:

Will Bogan is a transfer from Ole Miss who is eligible to play immediately for the Crusaders. Bogan will play guard. Ben Boggs is a transfer from Virginia Tech who will join the team in the second half of the season and play guard. Bobby Capobianco is a transfer from Indiana, but he will not play this season because of NCAA transfer regulations. One-star recruit Richie Edwards is a Juco transfer who will play forward for the Crusaders. Vashil Fernandez is a freshman forward from Jamaica who will strengthen the Crusaders’ inside game. The eligibility of Dino Jakolis, a one-star recruit from Croatia, is still uncertain.

Schedule highlights:

Valparaiso’s biggest nonconference matchup is a matchup against Ohio State. In Horizon League play, Valparaiso faces a tough three-game stretch during which they will face Green Bay, Milwaukee and Detroit.

Prediction: The Crusaders will finish sixth. Replacing the amount of talent that departed in the offseason will be difficult, especially if Jakolis is declared ineligible.

Next: Wisconsin-Milwaukee Panthers

Back to Horizon League preview

Updating the NBA Entry List and Honoring a Maryland Legend

BASELINE TO BASELINE

Go coast to coast with a roundup of news from across the nation.

Here’s a quick recap of all the major NBA decisions from the past week. The NCAA’s deadline for early entrants to remain eligible required players to decide by May 8 if they wanted to remain in the NBA Draft or return to school.

Remaining in the draft:

• Boston College’s Reggie Jackson
• Butler’s Shelvin Mack
• Georgia Tech’s Iman Shumpert
• Kentucky’s Brandon Knight
• Kentucky’s DeAndre Liggins
• Louisville’s Terrence Jennings
• Maryland’s Jordan Williams
• Michigan’s Darius Morris
• Stanford’s Jeremy Green
• Tennessee’s Tobias Harris
• Tennessee’s Scotty Hopson
• Texas’ Cory Joseph
• Texas’ Tristan Thompson

Returning to school:

• Kentucky’s Terrence Jones
• Miami’s Reggie Johnson
• Missouri’s Laurence Bowers
• Missouri’s Kim English
• Northwestern’s John Shurna
• Pittsburgh’s Ashton Gibbs
• West Virginia’s Kevin Jones
• Xavier’s Tu Holloway

1. The biggest news of the past few days is Gary Williams’ retirement at Maryland. The Terrapins’ coach unexpectedly decided to call it a career at age 66 after working at his alma mater since 1989. Maryland moved quickly to court Arizona’s Sean Miller, who passed on the the offer by signing an extension with the Wildcats, according to John Marshall of the Associated Press. That makes Notre Dame’s Mike Brey one of the top choices right now, according to the Washington Post.
2. In other Washington, D.C., area coaching news, George Washington picked Mike Lonergan to be the Colonials’ next coach, according to the Associated Press. Lonergan comes back to D.C. after working at Vermont for five seasons, compiling a 126-68 record. Lonergan coached Catholic University to a Division III title in 2001 and worked with Gary Williams as an assistant at Maryland for a few years.
3. Gonzaga needs to find a new starting point guard after Demetri Goodson announced that he’s leaving the team to play football, according to the Associated Press. Goodson averaged 5.2 points and 2.6 assists per game for the Bulldogs this past season.
4. Michigan State Tom Izzo returned the favor for Spartan fans last week. To help boost student morale during final exams week, Izzo joined other Spartan coaches in serving food at the university’s dining hall, according to Diamond Leung of ESPN.com’s ìCollege Basketball Nation.î That’s a nice way to thank the Izzone fans who help give Michigan State one of the toughest home court advantages in the nation.
5. Speaking of Izzo, the Spartans’ coach might be getting some much-needed backcourt help in Valparaiso transfer Brandon Wood, according to the Associated Press.. The Horizon League’s No. 3 scorer is transferring to Michigan State after completing his undergraduate degree. Because of NCAA rules for graduate transfers, Wood might be eligible to play immediately for a team losing Kalin Lucas to graduation.
6. Jeff Capel has returned to a familiar sideline. The former Oklahoma coach, who was fired after this past season, accepted an offer to become an assistant coach on coach Mike Krzyzewski’s staff at Duke, according to the Associated Press. Capel played four years in Durham and put up more than 1,600 points.
7. The Pac-10 can’t complain about an East Coast bias for much longer. The conference soon to be known as the Pac-12 signed an agreement with ESPN and Fox Sports worth $250 million per season, tops in men’s basketball, according to Josh Dubow of the Associated Press.
8. Wyoming coach Larry Shyatt has recruited his first big name as the Cowboys’ new coach. Larry Nance Jr., son of longtime NBA player Larry Nance, will arrive in Laramie this fall after averaging about a double double as a senior in Ohio this past season.
9. Looking ahead to 2012, Louisville might not have the services of Rodney Purvis, a top-rated shooting guard in the class of rising high school seniors who reopened his recruitment, according to Eamonn Brennan of ESPN.com’s ìCollege Basketball Nation.î Louisville had received a verbal commitment from Purvis, partially thanks to the hard work of assistant Tom Fuller, who left Pitino’s staff recently to work for Frank Haith at Missouri.
10. Former Cyclone John Lamb, a walk-on who left Iowa State mid-season, was arrested last week and charged with possession of marijuana with intent to sell and a violation of Drug Tax Stamp Act, according to the Associated Press.

HOME COURT ADVANTAGE

This section is aptly titled for a Washington, D.C., area writer looking to write a column honoring the importance of recently retired Maryland coach Gary Williams.

In his 22 years at Maryland, Williams helped craft the Terrapins into a perennial ACC contender. His continued success eased the path to the construction of the Comcast Center, which is one of the largest arenas in the conference and has one of the best home court advantages. The 20,000-plus fans who fill the Comcast Center haven’t always approved of the quality of the home team, but they consistently fill the arena with rowdy fans, giving Maryland one of the best home court advantages in the country.

After the turmoil of the late 1980s, it’s amazing that Williams was able to get this program back to the top of the ACC so quickly. Trouble started in 1986 with the death of Terrapin hero Len Bias, who seemed destined to become a national hero as a possible heir apparent to Larry Bird in Boston. However, his cocaine-induced death and the subsequent brouhaha in College Park derailed the program, leading to the ouster of coach Lefty Driesell.

Without Driesell, the team fell into mediocrity — and NCAA violations — during the tenure of Bob Wade. With the program on probation and lackluster performance on the court, Williams returned to his alma mater with a tough task at hand.

It took Williams five seasons, but once he got the Terrapins into the NCAA Tournament, they remained fixtures of March Madness until 2005. That includes a Final Four run in 2001 that ended mercilessly with the team’s fourth loss of the season to eventual national champion Duke. But Williams and Maryland vanquished those demons the next season when the Terrapins won the 2002 title.

The championship title was a turning point for Williams’ tenure at Maryland. Until then, the critics liked to talk about Williams as one of the greatest coaches to have never won a title — a fraternity no coach enjoys being part of. With that monkey off his back, Williams then had to deal with detractors who bemoaned that Williams failed to use the program’s success to attract the top recruits to College Park.

Recruiting is a touchy subject for Maryland fans. On the plus side, no one has even sniffed an NCAA violation during Williams’ years. But on the other hand, Williams drew the ire of many fans because he couldn’t keep a lot of the talented kids in Prince George’s County, Md., and Baltimore in-state. Highly touted recruits like Kevin Durant, Michael Beasley, Ty Lawson, Rudy Gay, Nolan Smith and seemingly half of Georgetown’s starting lineup each season are all locals. That would be acceptable if Williams had a slew of talented recruits on a conveyor belt to College Park from across the country.

But after three NIT appearances in four seasons, the natives became restless. Williams had the misfortune of dealing with a few disastrous recruits, including the much-maligned post-championship class of Chris McCray, John Gilchrist, Travis Garrison and Nik Caner-Medley. That core failed to meet lofty expectations, and the fans nearly revolted at the perceived inability of Williams to coach a great class. But the players just didn’t work out. It happens.

Williams got Maryland back on track with Greivis Vasquez and Eric Hayes. He helped Vasquez mature from a sloppy point guard and nearly out of control hothead to a dominant ACC player who was a threat to post a triple double nearly any night. The Terrapins returned to the NCAA Tournament three out of four seasons but never advanced further than the second round.

Heading into this off-seaosn, Maryland was at a cross-roads as another disappointing recruiting class — Adrian Bowie, Cliff Tucker and Dino Gregory — finished their collegiate careers. Jordan Williams, one of the top recruits in recent years to come to Maryland, figured to be the linchpin of next season’s team, but he is heading to the NBA instead.

At age 66, Williams was staring at a complete rebuilding project in an era that makes it increasingly difficult to run a clean and successful program. Williams refused to sacrifice one for the other. That makes now a great time for Williams to step down. To rebuild the Terrapins, Williams would need at least a couple of years to get the right guys around solid building blocks like Pe’Shon Howard and Terrell Stoglin. Williams might be pushing 70 before the Terrapins have another legitimate shot at a deep run.

When I’m pushing 70, I hope have the energy to work more than 60 hours a week recruiting, strategizing and representing a major college program. After such a remarkable, program-defining coaching career, Williams has earned this respite.

Horizon Notebook – Looking Towards the End Game

Everybody’s doing it.  Everybody denies it, but everybody’s doing it.  No, not THAT… and not THAT.  Reviewing the schedule, deciding what games we’re sure to win, what games we have little hope to win, and what games can go either way.  At this time of the year, every coaching staff in America is scrutinizing its remaining schedule.  Can we win our conference?  Can we get a conference tournament bye?  Can we get an at-large bid to one tournament to another?  Can we be .500 in conference?  Can we get to 20 wins?  Can we beat anybody?  On the three staffs I was on we told our players to focus on the next opponent, the kid each of our kids was about to guard, how to win tonight.  But we couldn’t help ourselves, so we scrutinized and scrutinized.  And by this point in the season, ESPN commercials notwithstanding, most of the games are in the first and second category (games we really should win, games we really can’t win), and relatively few are in that all-important third group (games that can truly go either way).

In the Horizon, it is more apparent with each passing week that Butler is even better than it was last year, by far the best.  Absent major injury or major miracle, the Bulldogs should not be beaten in conference.  And while the late Al McGuire hated relying on freshmen, Gordon Hayward and Shelvin Mack simply are not like any other freshmen to come on the mid-major scene in recent memory, perhaps not like any pair of freshmen at this level, ever.  (Two nights ago ESPN2′s wonderful studio analyst Hubert Davis called Duke’s 6-8 sophomore forward Kyle Singler the best player-or the most valuable-in the ACC, and this writer has previously called Gordon Hayward “a freshman version of Singler, except that Hayward rebounds better”).

At the other end of the spectrum, I have thought all along that Ray McCallum’s Detroit Titans would win a game in conference, probably at home, though they missed the opportunity I’d circled on New Year’s Day hosting Youngstown State.  Back in the “first division,” Green Bay, Milwaukee, Wright State and Cleveland State should win the rest of their games against everyone else except Butler (what WSU gives up in personnel to the other three, it makes up with superb half-court defense and coaching), but the remaining games among those four should all be competitive.

That said, this writer was shocked by not one but two monstrous upsets this past weekend in the Horizon, upsets with huge impacts on the standings (on what I’ve called the “race for second”).  First on Thursday night, while this writer was in Indianapolis watching Butler dispatch Wisconsin-Green Bay, the other one-loss Wisconsin team, that hailing from Milwaukee, was visiting Homer Drew’s 2-6 Valparaiso team.  Still  playing without sophomore forward Benjamin Fumey (who had arthroscopic knee surgery the previous day), but with Erik Buggs and D’Andre Haskins back from the injury list, the Crusaders played their best defensive game of the year, upsetting the Panthers 63-51.  Valpo forced 20 Milwaukee turnovers, held the Panthers to 29% shooting (24% in the second half), and held three Milwaukee starters-Ricky Franklin, Avery Smith and Anthony Hill-scoreless for the game.  Senior Jake Diebler dominated the game offensively, scoring 19 on 7-13 shooting, including 5-9 from the arc.  No longer concussed but still diminutive freshman Erik Buggs contributed 14 (on 6-10 shooting) and seven huge rebounds.  And not a moment too soon, senior Urule Igbavboa finally went to the boards, grabbing 9 caroms.  The thrashing by Valpo may have had a lingering effect, as Milwaukee was never in the game two days later, falling at Butler 78-48.  The true impact of Valpo’s beating on Milwaukee’s collective psyche will be revealed on Wednesday, when the now three-loss Panthers return home to face eminently beatable Loyola.

Perhaps less surprising to readers of this space, but more so to a national television audience on ESPNU, was the result on Friday night when Cleveland State visited Youngstown State.  Having witnessed YSU’s hard-nosed eight point home loss to Butler on December 6th, and having called sophomore swingman Vytas Sulskis-recently ensconced in Coach Slocum’s doghouse-and junior second guard Kelvin Bright, respectively, “a poor man’s Gordon Hayward” and “a poor man’s Shelvin Mack,” this writer expected a spirited effort by the Penguins in defense of their home court.  What I didn’t expect was yet another subpar defensive effort by Cleveland State, witnessing no Viking except Norris Coles (guarding Bright) defend hard or well.  In the first half, YSU junior forward Sirlester Martin dominated a game played at the Penguins’ preferred pace-slow–scoring 10 of YSU’s 29 points (on 5-9 shooting) and grabbing 5 rebounds.  Martin having shown the way, Penguin senior center Jack Liles joined the first half party, contributing 8 points (on 4-7) and 6 boards, and YSU led by 4 at the break, 29-25.

CSU’s defense was no better in the second half, and while J’Nathan Bullock’s effort kept them close (Bullock finished with 19 points and 14 rebounds), the Vikings could never pull even on the scoreboard.  Remarkably, the Vikes showed little interest in increasing the pace YSU controlled.  And oddly, instead of pressing for much of the game, CSU employed a passive “triangle and two” for a stretch (one of the “two” was Kelvin Bright, second leading scorer in conference play coming into the game-but no Michael Jordan-and at least at one point, the other one of the “two” was low-scoring Tom Parks).  Finally, at the 17:54 mark of the second half, down by 6, the Vikings went to full-court pressure, and while they forced two turnovers the rest of the way and were able to pull within 2, the change-of-pace proved too little too late, and the Vikings fell 64-60.  While the differences on the stat page were Penguin forwards Martin and Liles (15 on 7-13 for Martin with 9 boards, and 18 on 7-11 for Liles with 6 boards), the game was controlled and won by Penguin Coach Jerry Slocum, who got everything he could have hoped for from a roster not nearly as strong as his opponent’s.

The loss was devastating to Cleveland State, as even coming off an oh-for-Wisconsin trip the previous weekend, the 4-4 Vikings still had second place and the coveted double-bye squarely in their sites coming into the game.  Green Bay and Milwaukee had each lost for the second time the night before, and Milwaukee still had Butler to play twice (they then lost in Indianapolis on Saturday);  the Vikings had both Wisconsin schools and Wright State all coming to Wolstein Arena in the second half of the conference season (and only Butler among first division opponents away);  and defender/rebounder/all-around hustler D’Aundray Brown on the mend, soon to return from injury.  Only a visit to the lowly Penguins was asked of them before returning home to the friendly confines.  But those pesky Penguins had other ideas, and instead of being 5-4 and just two games behind with a favorable schedule, the Vikings are 4-5 at the turn, with no reasonable chance for that coveted second spot.   Oh, what might have been.

Horizon News and Notes:

• Separated by just 70 miles, at least from the Youngstown State perspective Cleveland State could be their biggest rival, and 6,249 screaming Penguin fans contributed to Friday’s upset, the fourth largest crowd ever in Beeghly Center.
• If you’ll indulge me, having seen my share of Big Five games in Philly’s Palestra, and having watched the discontinuation of the “Basketball Beanpot” in Boston some years ago, wouldn’t it be wonderful if Northeast Ohio’s four D-Is-two in the MAC and two in the Horizon-were to institute some kind of regional competition for bragging rights.  That would require each team to play both of the schools in the other conference once (presumably one at home and one away), in addition to the home-and-home games within the respective conferences;  the best record among the four would win some kind of cup or trophy.  The fans of the four schools would love it, and I suspect help fill one another’s gyms.
• Continuing on that theme, in the wake of its upset of CSU, YSU played an unusual late January non-conference game Monday night, hosting Akron in Beeghly.  In front of barely ¼ of the audience three nights earlier, the Pens were unable to sustain their terrific play, falling to the improving Akron Zips 67-63.  For three quarters of the game YSU got little from its forwards, and Akron got little from its guards.  But Akron’s guards began contributing something-barely something–midway in the second half, and YSU’s forwards never did.  Senior Nate Linhart led the Zips with 15, on 6-11 shooting, and 9 rebounds;  Chris McKnight added 13, mainly on late game free throws, and also had 9 boards.  Junior YSU guard DeAndre Mays led all scorers in a losing cause with 18, on 7-14 including 2-5 from the arc, and had 8 boards, and Martin pulled down 11 rebounds for the Pens.
• With each pair of conference teams yet to play each other a second time (and Cleveland State and Akron not currently playing one another at all), here are the current standings for Northeast Ohio’s unofficial “Lake Erie Cup”:
  • Akron:  2-0
  • Cleveland State:  1-1
  • Kent State:  1-2
  • Youngstown State:  1-2
  • Of course, in addition to remaining games in which Akron visits Kent State and Youngstown State visits Cleveland State, it is possible that conference foes will meet in their respective conference tourneys (or even that one of these four will meet another-some day-in the NCAA Tourney, the NIT or the CBI).  Yes, the “Lake Erie Cup.”  (Of course, a regional sponsor will quickly gobble this up, making it the “Key Bank Cup,” or the “NCB Cup.”  On the other hand, the way things have been going lately, maybe I shouldn’t wait by the phone for any bank or brokerage to be calling…).

Horizon Notebook: Greatest Week Ever (Ha!), Plus Four Ideas

CLEVELAND -  Let it be first said in this space, loudly and clearly:  the eight days stretching from Friday December 19th, 2008 through Friday December 26th, 2008  likely were the greatest single week in the history of the Horizon League.  And that would make last night—Tuesday December 23, 2008—the greatest single night.  A quick weeklong review, then greater focus on last night’s two big games, and then four suggestions.

Just one game on Friday December  19:  a three-point win for Youngstown State at High Point University of the Big South Conference, 64-61.  Nothing like beating North Carolina except the geography, but any YSU win, and especially any YSU road win, is a good thing.  (And conference teams better not take Coach Slocum’s Penguins too lightly).

Then on Saturday, CSU beat Division III La Roche College;  not much more noteworthy, Butler beat new Division I Florida Gulf Coast, both games at home.  Valpo hung tough into the second half against North Carolina at the United Center, eventually succumbing 85-63;  Detroit also hung in for most of the first half in Champagne, losing to Illinois 82-51.  Wisconsin-Green Bay beat North Dakota at home, Wisconsin-Milwaukee beat Bradley at home, Loyola won at Northern Illinois, and Wright State won its first of three straight in San Juan, over Oral Roberts.  The only negative of the day was Jimmy Collins’ Illinois-Chicago team, which was upended at Illinois State, 67-60.

On Sunday, Youngstown State was beaten at UNC-Charlotte, and Wright State won its second in Puerto Rico, beating the Big East’s South Florida 60-43 behind Todd Brown’s 15 (on 7-11).

On Monday, Loyola beat Southern Illinois-Edwardsville at home (not a monumental win), Green Bay won at Houston-Baptist, and Wright State completed its three-game sweep in San Juan, besting Murray State.  Only Valpo fell short this day, losing at Central Florida.

Then there was last night, Tuesday December 23rd.  Most of the damage was against the MAC Conference.  UIC got back on the winning track by winning at rebuilding Toledo;  not a monster win.  Better, Detroit built on its strong first half at Illinois, winning at Central Michigan, 67-55.

In the battle of preseason MAC and Horizon League favorites in Cleveland, CSU demolished Kent State in a game that wasn’t nearly as close as its 67-41 final.  Led by Norris Cole, CSU’s guards stymied Kent’s vaunted backcourt combination of MAC Player of the Year Al Fisher and newly eligible Tyree Evans, holding them to a combined 14 points.  Viking star forward J’Nathan Bullock scored 24 on 9-16 shooting and grabbed 10 boards;  rebounding machine George Tandy grabbed 13 boards in just 24 minutes, and must surely be in the top five in the country in rebounds per minute played.

And then Butler played Xavier.  In a matchup featuring the Horizon’s best team against formerly 8th-ranked and current no. 12 Xavier from the Atlantic 10, a game played at Xavier, Butler led most of the way, and held on for a monster win, 74-65.  Matt Howard and emerging star Gordon Hayward each had 19 points, and those two grabbed 14 and 10 rebounds, respectively.  Look for Butler to improve on its current No. 5 ranking in CollegeInsider.com’s Mid-Major Top 25, and to break into the Top 25 of the national rankings come Monday.  The entire conference is now off for Christmas, resuming play on Saturday.

So on the heels of this monster week for the Horizon, this might be the best time to address the schools, in some combination the league’s head coaches, athletic directors and presidents, on four points.  Here goes;

1. Recognizing the difficulties inherent in mid-major scheduling, as well as the fact that some of the early season tournaments include Division II teams (forcing you to play them if you want to be included in the field), please stop scheduling sub-Division I opponents.  I spent the last couple of years with the Colonial Athletic Association, and those schools don’t schedule sub-Division I’s.  Now that the Horizon is ahead of the CAA in conference ranking (at least for last year, and likely for this year as well), please stop playing games that can’t help at season’s end;
2. Schedule a Media Day each October at a central location, probably best in Indianapolis where the conference office is located.  The CAA does it at DC’s ESPN Zone, the MAC does it at Quicken Loans Arena (site of their conference tournament), and both are big hits.  Invite the coaches (men’s and women’s), AD’s, SID’s, local and national media, and go to town!
3. Begin playing the conference tournament at one venue, be it the same venue each year like the Big East, the MAC and the CAA, or a different venue each year like the Big Ten, the ACC and the SEC.  That’ll make season’s end like a big convention of teams, administrators and fans, and help promote the league.  I don’t care if we use civic arenas or our larger on-campus arenas (Hinkle has obvious appeal, at least for years in which the Big Ten Tournament isn’t in Indy);  and
4. Stop protecting the first seed (or the first two seeds) through the double-bye format, and initiate the same format most other conferences use for their tournament:  a first round or play-in day, in which seeds 6-10 play a doubleheader, leaving 8 schools going forward.  Then play day and evening quarterfinal doubleheaders on the next day, followed by a semi-final doubleheader and a final game.  More action for our two best teams, and fairer for everyone else.

The reason for these suggestions:  as long as we’re playing like a top-10 conference, include universities in major urban markets, and boast sizable and beautiful arenas, let’s use all of these things to our advantage.  As someone once said about a former corn field in Iowa:  “Build it and they will come!”

Horizon League Notebook – Scheduling Issues and Cupcakes

When college basketball begins each November (soon to be October?), scheduling disparities make it difficult to evaluate teams early, even harder to compare them. Mid-majors like the teams in our league often have incredibly uneven schedules; for example, Detroit played NAIA Division II Aquinas College on Wednesday night, managing a 58-48 win at home, but is now en route to Champaign-Urbana for a game tomorrow night at Illinois.

This happens for reasons many of you are familiar with: first, there just aren’t always enough regional mid-majors – particularly outside of the northeast – to fill up one another’s schedules. Second, while major programs generally won’t play at mid-majors, the financial “guarantees” they pay to mid-major programs to play in their gyms provide resources many universities depend on to fund their basketball programs. Third, recognizing that casual and less knowledgeable fans (including some in the ranks of university administrators and boosters) just count wins and losses each season, irrespective of the opponents, mid-major coaches who like their jobs often lobby to play schools from lesser Division I conferences, Division II and Division III opponents, and NAIA schools. Fourth, many coaches believe that at least some wins during the season – no matter against whom – are essential to help maintain the enthusiasm and commitment of their players.

Doubtless some of you remember that in the days John Thompson, Jr. coached at Georgetown, most years they opened their season with a lopsided win over Division III St. Leo’s College. And while St. Leo’s and other D-III’s no longer appear on the Hoyas’ schedule, Coach John Thompson III was following in his father’s footsteps last week when Georgetown hosted one of the weakest teams in Division I, managing to keep the score differential against Savannah State under 100.

If you’re inferring some annoyance on the part of this writer with schools scheduling “cupcakes,” well, you’re inferring correctly. In addition to Detroit’s game this past week with Aquinas, Jimmy Collins’ vaunted UIC team played D-II Lewis College (a school I’d never heard of), and on its upcoming three-game home stand, Cleveland State will play both D-III La Roche College and D-III Notre Dame College (that’s not the Notre Dame we all know and love – the one CSU should be playing). If any of these schools find themselves on the wrong side of the bubble for an at-large NCAA bid (or for an NIT bid), they need look no further than their own schedules to learn why.

Last on this, I just took a peak at the schedule for recent D-I admit New Jersey Institute of Technology. As many of you know, since moving to Division I, the most widely known fact in the history of NJIT undoubtedly is that its basketball team failed to win a single game last year; they have maintained “perfection” to date this season, losing their first 8 games. That said, I recognized every single school listed on NJIT’s 2008-09 schedule, and every one is an NCAA Division I member. So while that program obviously has hurdles to overcome, kudos to Coach Jim Engles and Athletic Director Lenny Kaplan for jumping into the deep end, and not manufacturing wins by playing the local junior high in their own gym!

With that lengthy introduction, now that Horizon teams have as many as eleven games under their belts, in some cases against common opponents (including two conference games for everyone except UIC and Loyola), the league appears to have separated itself into two “divisions.” Butler and Illinois-Chicago have been by far the most impressive, with preseason favorite CSU, Wisconsin-Green Bay and Wisconsin-Milwaukee rounding out this writer’s “first division.”

Over the last 10 days, UIC backed up its earlier monster win at the SEC’s Vanderbilt with a home conference win over its biggest rival, Loyola. Then they went to Atlanta, besting the ACC’s Georgia Tech last Sunday, 66-60. Both of Collins’ senior stars came up big in the win over the Yellow Jackets, preseason Player of Year point guard Josh Mayo with 17 points on 6-14, 7 assists and 6 rebounds, and center Scott VanderMeer with 19 points on 8-15 shooting and seven rebounds. Coach, even with your two stars graduating this June, please don’t schedule Lewis College again next year!

If a loss can make a previously undefeated team look even better, that’s just what happened to Butler this week. Coming into December 5-0 with wins at Drake and over Northwestern, Butler began the month with Zach Hahn’s buzzer-beating trey at CSU, 50-48, won a workmanlike second conference road game in snowy Youngstown two nights later, 79-71, and then beat Bradley in Peoria, 87-75. Then they lost a titanic defensive struggle at OSU, 54-51. But what a game it was.

First, that game showed that Butler’s guards can really guard, holding vaunted Buckeye Evan Turner to 14 points (making him take 10 shots to get them), and holding Turner’s athletic running mate David Lighty to 10. And behind Matt Howard’s 10 boards – now a sophomore and a burgeoning star, Howard seems to play better against better opponents – Butler was able to win the battle of the boards by one, 34-33. Above all, that game was the coming out party for freshman sensation Gordon Hayward, who’s fast becoming the star of this space, as well as of the Horizon, and of college basketball in the state of Indiana. With OSU in man-to-man all afternoon, and assigning forwards rather than guards to defend him, Hayward rewarded those of us who love his stroke by hitting 7 treys in the game (in 11 tries) for a total of 25 points. He also asserted himself on the boards (as he had at CSU with Howard in foul trouble), pulling down 7 rebounds. And he had a trey in the air at the final buzzer that would have tied the game.

The only questions I have left is how good Hayward will get this year (in the conference, in the conference tourney and beyond), how he’ll fair against UIC (now that he’s no longer a surprise), and whether Butler Coach Brad Stevens no longer has reason to expect that he’ll have Hayward around for a full four seasons.

For Cleveland State it was a mixed week, shooting just 33 percent in a ten-point loss in West Virginia (27 percent in the second half, and 25 percent from the arc), then improving in that category against rebuilding Marist (56 percent for the game), and then saving December with a win at then-11th ranked Syracuse on Monday night. Put aside that Syracuse isn’t anything close to the 11th-best team in America (that darned schedule-maker again, bringing a parade of Ivy and Patriot teams into the Carrier Dome so far this season), that Syracuse’s heralded 2-3 zone is the least mobile, least aggressive, and most permeable defense this writer has ever seen (just the opposite of the 1-1-3 match-up Coach Greg Kampe of Oakland used to nearly beat CSU in Cleveland), and that the Orange played this game with less intensity and emotion than any of us could imagine. Still, CSU was the better team on Monday night, and star forward J’Nathan Bullock rebounded from an 0-9 first half to shoot 8-12 in the second to keep CSU in the game and even get the Vikings a 5-point lead in the final minute.

After a trey and a put-back tied the score for Syracuse, CSU had the ball with 3 seconds left on its own baseline. The ball was inbounded to underperforming senior guard Cedric Jackson (who’d previously played in the Carrier Dome with St. John’s), and Jackson launched a 70-foot heave at the buzzer, which banked in (I thought you had to call “bank”) to give Coach Gary Waters a much needed win, 72-69.

In fairness, CSU could be viewed as “entitled” to those D-III’s coming into Wolstein, having already played Washington, Kansas State, Butler and West Virginia. Moreover, with Jackson severely disappointing over the first third of the season – he came in to the dome averaging just 9.4 and shooting 30 percent, 14 percent from the arc – perhaps that 70-foot heave will turn Jackson’s season around. Certainly, it put a smile on Ced’s face that hadn’t been there in weeks.

Elsewhere in the “first division,” Green Bay won its second home conference game, 66-59 over Wright State, beat Idaho State at home, lost at Wisconsin, and then lost a heartbreaker at home to Oakland, 79-76. (How good must Kampe be with 7 wins already, including road wins at Oregon and Green Bay, all without star senior forward Derick Nelson? Oh, if Nelson could somehow be ready for tomorrow afternoon’s “home” game against Michigan at the Palace…) And after beating Wright State at home for its second conference win, Milwaukee lost to Charlie Coles’ Miami team in Ohio, 69-45.

In the “second division,” Valpo lost at home to IPFW, and played Miami in Oxford tougher than Milwaukee did, losing 62-50. After losing at conference rival UIC, Loyola beat UMKC at home. And after losing its second conference game in Wisconsin (at Green Bay), Detroit also lost at Bowling Green before besting Aquinas.

After also losing its second conference game in Wisconsin (at Milwaukee), Wright State finally figured out how to win without injured all-conference selection Vaughn Duggins, beating Toledo at home, winning at Arkansas-Little Rock, playing tough and well in falling 66-53 at Wake Forest, and then making it 3 out of 4 by besting Norfolk State at home. And while for now residing in this writer’s “second division,” that recent “mini-run” of success combined with Duggins’ expected January return might combine to move the Raiders up into the “first division,” perhaps displacing one or the other of the Wisconsin schools.

Remember, while most pre-season publications predicted CSU atop the Horizon, expecting a healthy Vaughn USA Today preferred Wright State. Could this be one of those December injuries that helps a team succeed later on in conference play?

Lastly, after playing hard and shooting well in an 8-point home loss to Butler, YSU was competitive at Kent, losing 82-74. While sophomore wing Vytas Sulskis may be a “poor man’s Gordon Hayward,” junior guard Kelvin Bright may be a “poor man’s Shelvin Mack,” and senior center Jack Liles probably doesn’t quite qualify as a “poor man’s Matt Howard,” it appears Coach Jerry Slocum will get a lot out of this roster, and be competitive in conference play, at least at home.

Horizon News and Notes

• With exam breaks coming to an end around the league, there will some great games Christmas week. Valpo will host North Carolina at the United Center tomorrow (2 p.m. on ESPNU), Detroit will play at Illinois tomorrow evening, and Wright State begins three straight days of play in the San Juan Shootout, facing Oral Roberts tomorrow, and South Florida and Murray State Sunday and Monday. On Sunday YSU will play at Charlotte. On Tuesday night, the night before Christmas Eve, Butler will play at Xavier, a game also on ESPNU. And in a battle of preseason favorites in the Horizon and the MAC, and of Gary Waters’ old and new schools, also on Tuesday CSU will host Kent State.
• Merry Christmas, Horizon fans. And may Santa leave a wonderful season of conference games under all of our trees!

Horizon League Notebook – Conference Games in December

CLEVELAND – Coaches (present and former) come out differently about conference games in December. “Purists” are vehemently against, claiming this time of year is for learning and teaching, often claiming they’re not ready to begin conference play. A former (and still often) purist, I love league games in December, jumping right into games with real meaning and intensity.

Perhaps Homer Drew said it best the other night after Valparaiso lost its earliest conference opener ever to Cleveland State: “These early games are great when you’re playing mostly experienced juniors and seniors; they’re really brutal when you’re relying on freshmen.” Interestingly, Drew’s Crusaders must have gained some experience at CSU on Tuesday night, as they continued their road trip and won an all-important conference road game at Youngstown State last night.

So with the “Drew theory” on early conference games in mind, we focus on last night’s big game in Cleveland between Butler and Cleveland State.

Those of you who’ve read this space before know that at first this writer was skeptical about Butler: another non-athletic Princeton that says it defends, but really just holds the ball for 34 seconds. Then, I ventured out to Indy for an exhibition game, and after just thirty seconds, that skepticism was gone. The freshmen guards are far more athletic than last year’s group, Shelvin Mack can also shoot from the perimeter, and big, strong, tough center Matt Howard is now a sophomore. And then there is 6-8 freshman guard (that’s right, guard) Gordon Hayward, who led Brownsburg to an Indiana state championship last winter, and about whom former Indiana coach Kelvin Sampson should be more ashamed than he is about text messaging. In fact, only a former assistant coach and never a head coach, it was probably arrogant of me to say in an earlier piece that with the release and purity of his shot, his size, and his athleticism, Hayward is going to be a pro (a pro in this country, not overseas). Well, Butler came to Cleveland last night to open its conference schedule at 1-0 Cleveland State, and nothing happened in last night’s game to change my mind.

As high as this writer has been on Butler from the beginning, even with their undefeated non-conference November, last night’s game looked like an awfully tough spot. It was the first conference game for coach Brad Stevens’ freshmen, on the road, at preseason Horizon favorite CSU with its two preseason all-league seniors. In fact, I thought (and perhaps wrote somewhere) that while CSU will improve with next week’s eligibility of freshman guard Trevon Harmon, they were fortunate to get Butler in their gym in early December, before Stevens’ three starting freshmen could be ready. To this writer, last night was the night CSU had to win, given its advantage; by the time these two teams meat in Hinkle the last day of February, well by then Butler’s frosh will be much more formidable opponents.

So having expected Butler to be competitive but CSU to prevail, it now occurs to me that in losing 50-48 last night, CSU may have squandered the best chance it will have had to beat Butler for some time to come.

And Coach Gary Waters couldn’t have written a better script to start last night’s game, with Butler center Matt Howard forced to the bench for 15 first half minutes after two quick fouls. CSU built a seven-point halftime lead, which was then an eight-point lead fourteen minutes into the second stanza.

But just as scripture more than once foretold that “A child shall lead them,” eighteen-year-old Hayward stepped up in every phase of the game, and led a spirited Butler comeback, one ultimately resulting in Zach Hahn’s game-winning three-pointer in the final second. Butler didn’t hold a lead in the game from its 8-6 advantage at the five-minute mark, when Howard took a seat, until 47-46 after a Shawn Vanzant trey at 19:40 of the second. And then, after J’Nathan Bullock scored from the block against Howard at 19:55 to restore CSU’s lead, that trey by Hahn gave the Bulldogs a win in Wolstein at the final buzzer, 50-48. A win in a game as intense, physical and exciting as it was low scoring.

Not only did Howard pick up two fouls in the first five minutes, but he picked up his third as Bullock bulled toward the goal barely two minutes into the second half. Having played just seven minutes at that point and hardly contributed (no points and two rebounds at that juncture), Stevens took a calculated gamble and left Howard in the game with three fouls. And while he would play the rest of the game and not be whistled for his fourth, Howard never regained the ferociousness he’s known for, never regained the aggressiveness robbed by fouls. That tentativeness caused Howard to touch but fail to capture ten more than the seven rebounds he was credited for in the game, and lose the handle on dribbles and passes far more often than his two turnovers indicated. Howard finished with just two field goals, a total of seven points, and even two crucial missed free throws down the stretch.

But on this night of Howard’s worst game in memory, Hayward took a giant step in his development as a basketball player. Blanketed all night long by D’Aundray Brown, CSU’s best defender, this would not be a night Hayward would take over from the arc, finishing with just eight points on 2-7 shooting, just 1-2 from deep. But in an effort to relieve the defensive pressure applied to his smaller guards by CSU’s Cedric Jackson and Norris Cole, for much of the second half Stevens had Hayward handling the ball as his point guard.

And at the defensive end, when it again became clear that the greater threat posed by Cedric Jackson was at the goal rather than on the perimeter, Hayward defended Jackson for much of the second half, taking away most of Jackson’s half court penetration. In one crucial late second half sequence, on three trips down Hayward guarded Jackson outside, Bullock in the post, and then Jackson again outside, all three successfully. And with Howard first seated and then uncharacteristically docile, Hayward took over the boards, finishing with a game-high 12.

Then there were the last four minutes, when Hayward wouldn’t let his team lose. At the 16-minute mark he rebounded Shelvin Mack’s missed trey, was fouled on the follow, and made two free throws, cutting CSU’s lead to five. After CSU failed to convert on a minute-long possession, at the 17:30 mark Hayward hit a trey from the corner. Then a defensive board at 17:50, fouled at 18:20, hitting 1-of-2 from the line. Then great play in the final thirty seconds.

Down two, Hayward dribbled to his right across half court against pressure, saw Bullock’s failure to switch leave open guard Shawn Vanzant (playing 16 minutes for Ronald Nored this night), and made a long, quick accurate pass to his left to assist on Vanzant’s trey that put Butler in front.

Then, after Bullock responded with under 6 seconds remaining, Butler turned to Hayward to play the Tyus Edney role in this night’s drama. Again dribbling to his right across mid-court, Hayward found Hahn to his left behind the arc with a pass good enough for Hahn to catch in rhythm, shot fake Cole, and launch a trey with under a second on the clock. When the lefty’s shot went through, Hayward had assisted on his second trey in the final twenty seconds, and Butler had a most unlikely two-point win.

Stevens was proud that his team “never conceded defeat,” and particularly proud of “Gordon’s big play after big play” in the final minutes. While he was talking about the pass to Hahn when he said “that was a great pass by Hayward,” he just as easily could have been talking about the pass seconds earlier to Vanzant.

On the other end of the drama, Waters focused on opportunities lost playing much of the first half with Howard on the bench (“J’Nathan missed four layups in the first half”), five consecutive poor defensive possessions down the stretch, and late missed free throws (most of CSU’s twelve misses were in the last 8 minutes).

“We’re gonna have to steal one down the road we shouldn’t win, to make up for losing tonight,” Coach said. Well, it’s not a conference game, but tomorrow afternoon at West Virginia is as good a place as any for that.

Horizon News and Notes

• In the first big night of Horizon action, Valpo rebounded from its loss Tuesday in Cleveland and came back from a 9-point first half deficit, winning at Youngstown State 68-57. Home teams prevailed in Wisconsin, as Milwaukee bested Detroit 71-62, and Green Bay defeated Wright State 57-46. Now 0-5, Wright State will have go at least another month without junior point guard Vaughn Duggins, whose Thanksgiving Day practice broken finger was surgically repaired Wednesday.
• While the Cleveland and Indianapolis Horizon contingents (and ESPNU) properly focused on Butler-CSU as the big game this week, one perhaps even bigger – and more startling – was played down in Nashville. On Wednesday, Illinois-Chicago visited Vanderbilt and in a win Coach Jimmy Collins called “great for the Horizon League,” UIC not only upset the SEC’s Commodores, but did so handily, 74-55. Preseason Player-of-the-Year selection Josh Mayo hit 8-of -10 treys to score 30 (overall 11-20), backcourt running mate Robo Kreps scored 23 on an even more efficient 10-15 shooting, and Scott VenderMeer grabbed 11 rebounds.

Horizon Notebook: Wide-Open Race with CSU’s Defeat

SEATTLE – Every publication except the USA Today seems to have picked Cleveland State as the class of the Horizon (though invariably preseason predictions fail to take into sufficient account the impacts of freshmen and transfers).  That said, with Butler’s opening win over Drake, Loyola’s first weekend win over Georgia, Milwaukee’s comeback against UC-Davis and near-comeback at Iowa State (the latter without freshman Tony Meier), and Wright State and Valpo looming, perhaps the pundits handed this conference to CSU a tiny bit prematurely.  And now with CSU through two games, a 3-point comeback home win against an Oakland team without its best player on Saturday, and a thrashing tonight by the Washington Huskies in Seattle, well, the regular season winner of this improving conference is anything but assured.

Now in two straight games, CSU has shot brutally from the perimeter, 35% against Oakland (16% from deep) and 31% at Washington, and been outrebounded (by 4 against Oakland, and by a monstrous 60-34 margin against Washington).  That raises questions in two key areas, and suggests that unless they rebound better CSU may not be able to do nearly as much business in transition as one might have guessed.

Already playing the opposite style from a number of league stalwarts (offense generated from their defense, pressure, speed and transition), CSU’s rivals may now have a road map for containing that transition/penetration game, one that includes packing in their halfcourt defense to make CSU beat them from deep.  So unless CSU can obtain something from the outside from stars Cedric Jackson (a combined 8-30, and 0-9 from three, in two games) and J’Nathan Bullock (7-27 and 1-4), or can get scoring from the perimeter from other sources, and at least protect their defensive board, they may not be able to run away and hide from many of their conference foes.  That eventuality will make this season in the Horizon all the more competitive, and all the more exciting.

Looking a bit more closely at CSU, while Bullock and Jackson achieved some success from outside last season (32% and 39%, respectively, from the arc), both their two-game stats behind this year’s deeper arc and a look at both players’ shooting form suggest that a prediction of 30% in threes for either this year would be optimistic.  Though hardly a pure shooter, the best shooter in Coach Waters’ starting lineup is sophomore guard Norris Cole, who one could call either streaky or a “volume shooter”;  in the first two contests Cole is shooting a combined 14-33, and 3-11 from the arc.  And while athletic third guard D’Aundray Brown, never before viewed as a perimeter threat, appears to be developing a bit of a mid-range game (9-13 in the first two games, and both more and better shooting in practice), D’Aundray is hardly ready to step back behind the arc.

The purest shooter on the team is sophomore Eric Schiele from suburban Akron, whose 40 point average led America’s prep players two years ago, and who shot 34% from the arc that season.  Schiele’s two treys late in the first half in Seattle kept Washington’s halftime lead below 30, and his 2-6 in two games from behind the arc should improve when the sample grows.  The only problem:  at 5-9 Schiele is way too small to play second guard, doesn’t have point guard skills, and isn’t athletic enough to play defense the way Waters wants it played.  That leaves CSU’s best shooter a part-time performer.

The second best shooter on the current roster is true freshman Josh McCoy, a 6-4 guard from suburban St. Louis.  McCoy averaged 19 points his senior year at Fort Zumwalt South High, and shot 41% from the arc.  And while less athletic than CSU’s three starting guards, McCoy could make up for that with size, smarts and toughness, and Coach used him for 14 and then 8 minutes in the first two games.  As is the case for Schiele, McCoy will likely better his current 1-5 from the arc when the sample grows, and for McCoy, that sample could grow quickly.

And then there is 6-0 freshman guard Trevon Harmon from Pasadena, who won’t be eligible until the tenth game of the season, December 13th at Marist.  With the skills to back up both Cedric Jackson at the point and Norris Cole at second guard, when he becomes eligible Trey could be the one Cleveland State player who combines the athleticism necessary play defense for Coach Waters with the ability to shoot from the perimeter.
Already Harmon has shown in practice a high platform, consistently good form and release, lots of range, and a desire to shoot as the clock winds down.  While Trey will miss early December home conference games against Valparaiso and Butler, he will have five games under his belt before the conference season resumes with a game at Wright State on December 30.  An infusion of shooting (as well as Harmon’s ball-handling skills and athleticism) could be just the shot in the arm CSU needs in the suddenly wide open battle for the top spot in the Horizon League.

Horizon News and Notes:

• After an opening win against sub-Division I Marian, youthful Valparaiso is now 2-0, easily defeating Central Florida tonight at home 69-52.  Power forward and strong rebounder Urule Igbavboa-who started this night along with four guards-led the way with 15 points (on 5-12 shooting) and 14 rebounds, Michael Rogers had 10 points (4-13) and 11 rebounds, and diminutive freshman point guard Erik Buggs contributed 11 points (3-7) and 4 assists.
• Horizon teams’ major conference opponents this coming weekend will be Kansas State (playing at Cleveland State in a game honoring legendary coach John McClendon), DePaul (at Illinois-Chicago), and Marquette (hosting Milwaukee).  And if Valpo can beat San Diego on Friday afternoon in St. Thomas, they will likely face Wisconsin on Saturday.