Horizon League Power Rankings (Week 2)

Following the second full week of the season, the Horizon League is 34-21 against Division I opponents.

Plenty of movement in the rankings this week as will continue to be the case in the early part of the season.

In descending order…

10. UIC (3-3, 190)

Recent Results: Lost to Central Michigan 62-52, Beat Toledo 63-62

I know they have a .500 record so far, but I simply can’t be impressed by the Flames’ two victories over Toledo so far.  Toledo is in the bottom 10 teams in the entire country.  This is a team the Flames are supposed to beat, and with the help of a game-winning Robo Kreps three, fortunately they did.  To be fair, this isn’t the same lowly UIC team from a year ago.

Up Next: Thursday at Valparaiso

9. Milwaukee (Record: 3-4, RPI: 246)

Recent Results: Lost to Western Michigan 67-55, Lost to Marquette 75-72

The Panthers drop to 9th despite performing admirably against cross-town rival Marquette on Saturday.  Losing two home games in a week is never a good thing, especially when one of them comes to the hands of Western Michigan in the form of a blowout.  Even though it still counts in the loss column, their game against Marquette revealed that Ja’Rob McCallum (19 points) is ready to step up.

Up Next: Thursday vs. Youngstown State

8. Wright State (2-3, 201)

Recent Results: Beat Oakland 82-79, Lost to Richmond 71-61, Lost to Southern Illinois 56-50

I’m not yet sure what to make of the Raiders.  Obviously, they’re going to get destroyed in the post all season.  They’re ranked 323rd in the nation in rebounds per game!  The problem with that is they’re only making 40.1% of their shots…  This will become a severe problem this week against Cincinnati and Detroit.  Don’t be surprised to see them fall farther down this list.

Up Next: Wednesday at Cincinnati

7. Green Bay (2-3, 175)

Recent Results: Lost to IUPUI 63-46, Beat North Dakota State 71-69

Yikes!  The Phoenix have had quite the up and down week.  After being destroyed by a pretty pathetic IUPUI team, the Phoenix come back with a nail biter at home against North Dakota State.  This team is going to take its lumps this year if Bryquis Perine can’t find a more consistent shooting stroke (38.2% from the field).

Up Next: Thursday vs. Cleveland State

5. Valparaiso (2-2, 61)

Stud sophomore Ryan Broekhoff has been a key cog for Valpo early

 

Recent Results: Lost to Ohio 78-75, Beat Northern Colorado 76-61, Beat Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 68-62

Sophomore G Ryan Broekhoff has been a breakout star for the Crusaders early in the season.  In their loss against Ohio, the Australian sharpshooter tallied 24 points on 9-13 shooting and 7 rebounds.  One point of concern however, has been Brandon Wood‘s dismal shooting.  He had been making up for it with brilliant point guard work until Saturday when he laid an egg against Texas A&M-CC (4 points, 2 rebounds and 1 assist).  Once he snaps out of it, the Crusaders will be a well oiled offensive machine.

Up Next: Thursday at UIC

5. Youngstown State (4-1, 149)

Recent Results: Beat Toledo 73-67, Beat St. Francis (PA) 91-63

Break up the Penguins!  Led by senior G Vytas Sulskis, the Penguins have a whole new attitude this year and have been the surprise of the Horizon League early.  Damian Eargle has been a shot-blocking force and is a strong presence down low, while Devonte Maymon has added the scoring punch necessary to see his team in the top 100 of Division I teams in scoring so far this season.  The schedule gets a tad more difficult in the coming weeks.  We’ll see if the Penguins are for real.

SPOILER ALERT: they’re not

Up Next: Thursday at Milwaukee

4. Detroit (3-3, 150)

Recent Results: Beat Albany 84-82, Beat Bowling Green 71-62, Beat Niagara 96-77

It took them a little while, but it looks like the Titans are starting to get it together.  Despite needing 2 overtimes to dispatch of the mediocre Great Danes of Albany, Detroit has been on fire offensively.  Eli Holman has looked like an all conference player, and as a team, the Titans have the 18th most rebounds per game in the country.

Up Next: Wednesday vs. Akron

3. Butler (2-2, 76)

Recent Results: Beat Siena 70-57, Lost to Evansville 71-68

Without Ronald Nored, who could miss up to another week with a concussion, the Bulldogs look a bit lost on offense. Shelvin Mack struggled to get open and was forcing shots (3-13 from the field) that just couldn’t find the bottom of the net.  At this point, Butler looks like it could lose by 30 to defending champion Duke, who they will face in a rematch this week.  This is not the cinderella story of yesteryear.

Up Next: Wednesday at Loyola

2. Loyola (7-0, 69)

Recent Results: Beat Alabama State 74-46, Beat San Francisco 63-62

The Ramblers have taken a similar path to last season in non-conference play.  The question again is, can they continue their dominant play to the conference portion of the schedule?  Last week I mentioned Jordan Hicks’ true shooting percentage.  This week I need to point out G Terrance Hill‘s.  The man has a 70.2% true shooting percentage, which highlights just how efficient he has been from the field.  Eventually, some of these numbers will come back to earth.  Rambler fans are hoping it doesn’t happen until AFTER their upcoming tussle with Butler.

Up Next: Wednesday vs. Butler

Norris Cole has done it all early for CSU. Will he get help from his teammates in their quest for the Big Dance?

 

1. Cleveland State (8-0, 25)

Recent Results: Beat Akron 64-51, Beat St. Bonaventure 69-51, Beat Robert Morris 58-53

Here you have it.  The Horizon League’s top team after this week.  Norris Cole has officially put this team on his back.  In the last 7 days, Cole has averaged 21.3 points, 4.3 rebounds, 4.3 assists, and 2 steals per game.  Two key road league games this week will be a true test for the Vikings, but they could legitimately win both if they can get consistent play from Aaron Pogue, and dominating guard play from their trio of sharpshooters Cole, Jeremy Montgomery and Tre Harmon.

Up Next: Thursday at Green Bay

Catch-and-Shoot Monday

Jay Harris is preparing for D-I at Valpo.

- Mark Lazerus of the NWI Times has word on Jay Harris’ preparation for the Valpo trip to Cancun.

- Andy Katz of ESPN.com discusses the fallout from Matt Brady and James Madison University’s failed lawsuit against Marist.

- The NCAA is banning schools from hiring search firms that hook them up with coaches if those firms also handle recruits. The Pump brothers look like a couple of the biggest names hit here.  But let’s be honest, the Chump brothers were part of the ticket-scalping scandals at the Final Four in the early 2000′s as well as with the Kansas Jayhawks earlier this year.

- Colorado State AD Paul Kowalczyk had surgery to remove his cancerous prostate.  Best wishes to the Captain of the Rams.

- Billy Donlon and Brian Gregory, the head coaches of the two D-I programs in Dayton, give their take on developing post players in the mid-major world to the Dayton Daily News.

- Tom Enlund continues his awesome work for the Journal-Sentinel, highlighting Milwaukee’s trip to Italy.

Catch-and-Shoot

This is the first PantherU Catch-and-Shoot, which will come out every two days and is a gathering of links, on which we in the information age love to click, about the programs in the Horizon League.

- Potential Milwaukee recruit Shaq Boga continues to shine on the AAU circuit, dishing out enough dimes for 3rd place in assists at the prestigious Peach Jam Tournament.

- Lindsey Willhite from the Chicago Daily-Herald had more information and commentary on Jimmy Collins’ departure.

- Shannon Ryan from the Chicago Tribune says that Collins plans on “relaxing for awhile”.

- Wright State picked up its second commitment for the 2011 class, 6’5” shooting guard Kendall Griffin from Avon, Indiana.  Julius Mays, the N.C. State transfer, was the first.  Griffin cited close proximity to home and WSU’s Setzer Pavilion as reasons he picked the Raiders.  Aside from coach Donlon, of course.

- RaiderFanatic from the WSU Proboard found this video of Griffin canning a three. Don’t get your hopes up to really break down his shooting stroke, the footage is shorter than William Henry Harrison’s presidential term.

- As you can probably tell, Paul Jesperson did not commit to the Panthers last night.  The Merrill star will ply his trade at UVA.

- Paul Oren of the NWI Times was there as Valpo resumed practice. They’ll be headed to Cancun for their international trip. No word on whether or not coach Drew will appear in the new Girls Gone Wild video.

- Butler has added Mississippi Valley State to its non-conference home slate. MVSU, like the other non-conference home games, will be a Saturday afternoon game.  Like days at Wrigley, I think the Saturday afternoon game at Butler is becoming a staple of the Horizon League.  I’ve gone to several of those games myself, and there’s nothing quite like it.

- Speaking of Butler, they offered Georgian Malcolm Brogdon following the Peach Jam.  Dave Woods at the Indy Star thinks he “sounds like a Ronald Nored who is a scorer.” All right, Dave, let’s not get ahead of ourselves.

I don’t believe that C&S will be a daily thing, because frankly, other media tend to not come out with info daily on Horizon League schools.  For instance, the Green Bay Press-Gazette has nothing on the Phoenix since July 2nd, although that could be because Rob Demovsky is on vacation.

Welcome to the new PantherU!

It is my pleasure to announce the official re-launch of PantherU.com!  Founded in May 2009, PantherU is the unofficial fan website for the Milwaukee Panthers.  However, we plan to include much more in the future of the site to bring in fans from all Horizon League schools.  Take a look around, enjoy yourself.  Here are some of the features we will have:

- Recruiting.  Panther basketball recruits are featured in their own section, and we will follow their recruitment closely over the process to see where they’re at.

- Podcasts. This is a feature that will be coming later, but the fact of the matter is that Panther Athletics are very underrepresented in local sports talk radio.  Expect the first podcast to be up by the end of next week.

- Comprehensive coverage. Using student beat writers, PantherU will aim to bring you the news and commentary that the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel and UWMPanthers.com cannot or will not provide.  Our goal is to have new and fresh material multiple times a day, so every time you log on is a new experience!

- Information. Students, fans, alumni, and the UWM community at large are not as familiar with Panther Athletics, traditions, and other things around the program as we’d like them to be.  This website will allow students to get knowledgeable on all things Milwaukee Panthers.  Slowly, this section of the site will be expanded even more than its current state.

- Forums. Panther fans are welcome to join the UWMFreak forum that PantherU members frequent.  However, recently, we noticed the need for all team’s fans to have one forum to share their thoughts.  Often, I find myself posting the same things or talking about the same subjects on multiple forums.  Since PantherU will attempt to provide at least some coverage for other schools, we’ve decided to also launch a forum specifically for Horizon League sports fans to congregate and discuss college sports with each other.  While it is not 100% finished, fans are more than welcome to register and begin discussion at the HoriZone, brought to you by PantherU!

Thank you, and we hope you become a loyal follower!

Best Backcourt Ever?

I do not mean just the Panthers.

Dylanrocks and I have had this discussion several times since the end of the April signing period, which netted us Kaylon Williams and Detroit brought in Ray McCallum Jr.

The question is this: has the Horizon League, in its 30-year history, EVER had a collective backcourt as good as this one?

If you take a look at the backcourts around the league, I feel that pretty much every school can say they’ve had a better backcourt.  Wright State had Duggins/Wood, Milwaukee had Hill/McCants, Butler had Graves/Green, etc.  But all of those have come at different times.  As a collective 10 schools, has the Horizon League ever been as strong in the backcourt?

Kaylon Williams led the Missouri Valley in assists as a freshman. He moves to Milwaukee as the starting point guard in 2010-11.

Take a look at the teams’ projected starters:

Butler: Ronald Nored, Shelvin Mack

Milwaukee: Kaylon Williams, Tone Boyle

UIC: Zavion Neely, Robo Kreps

Green Bay: Rahmon Fletcher, Bryquis Perine

Detroit: Chase Simon, Ray McCallum Jr.

Valparaiso: Brandon Wood, Jay Harris

Wright State: Vaughan Duggins, N’Gai Evans

Cleveland State: Jeremy Montgomery, Norris Cole

Loyola: Terrance Hill, Geoff McCammon, Courtney Stanley

*Youngstown State: Devonte Maymon, Fred Ford

* – as if anyone, even Jerry Slocum, knows.

The fact of the matter is that we have a ton of talent in the conference.  What do you think?