Primarily a collection of news links about all 11 Horizon League teams on a daily basis, culled from online newspapers, school athletic websites, the conference website, and school newspapers, plus some other content from time to time.
UW-Green Bay: Picked to finish third in the Horizon, the Phoenix return four starters, including 6-9 Mike Schachtner, a first team all-league pick from Somerset. The 6-9 junior averaged 14.9 points and 4.0 rebounds per game a season ago, and was the only player to rank in the top five in the Horizon in free-throw percentage (91.2%), three-point percentage (45.6%) and field-goal percentage (49.3%).
Green Bay also welcomes five freshmen, featuring Vincent graduate Bryquis Perine, as well as Milwaukee Pius graduate D'Angalo Jackson, who transferred in halfway through last season from Creighton.
Mark Stewart and Dan Manoyan of the Journal Sentinel staff contributed to this report.
UW-Milwaukee: With four of five starters, seven of their top eight scorers and 80% of their scoring returning from last season, the Panthers have high hopes of improving on their disappointing 9-22 record of last season. The Panthers were among the youngest teams in the nation, entering last season with just nine college starts on the roster.
The team showed notable improvement after starting the season with a 2-11 record. The Panthers' best month last season was January, when they went 5-4 and knocked off Wright State and Illinois-Chicago, both in first place in the Horizon League when they lost to UWM.
Still, the Panthers finished seventh in the Horizon League at 6-10.
The Panthers, who in a recent poll of Horizon League coaches and writers were picked to finish fourth this season, are buoyed by the return of seniors Avery Smith, who led the team in scoring last season with 15.5 points per game, and Paige Paulsen (11.3 ppg.). Smith was just named to the preseason Horizon League first team and Paulsen garnered second-team honors.
Other returning starters are Allan Hanson (7.7 ppg.) and Ricky Franklin (7.2 ppg.). Also returning is Charlie Swiggett (5.2 ppg.), who started 12 games before being sidelined with a leg injury.
Although they are a veteran team, there will be plenty of new faces for the Panthers. Eight new players - including three transfers and five incoming freshmen - will compete for playing time.
Torre Johnson figures to make the largest impact among the transfers. The Milwaukee Juneau graduate averaged more than 10 points per game at Oklahoma State.
Mark Stewart and Dan Manoyan of the Journal Sentinel staff contributed to this report.
Butler The only team from Indiana to make it to the second week of the NCAA Tournament last season will sneak up on no one this time. A.J. Graves, the preseason Horizon League Player of the Year, and backcourt mate Mike Green are back after leading the Bulldogs to a 29-7 record. They beat Notre Dame, Indiana, Tennessee and Gonzaga on the way to winning the preseason NIT and becoming the first Horizon League team to achieve a Top 10 ranking. Graves and Green combined for 30.8 points per game. Senior Julian Betko is the third starter back, and Pete Campbell, who set a league record for 3-point shooting at 51.9 percent, is an overlooked weapon. Todd Lickliter became the third coach to leave Butler this decade for a high-paying job, handing the reins to 31-year-old Brad Stevens. Matt Howard, the first national top-100 recruit to sign with Butler since such rankings became common, is the best of the freshmen and could start immediately.
Call Star reporter Jeff Rabjohns at (317) 444-6183.
Even though UIC lost top scorer and rebounder Othyus Jeffers, and No. 3 scorer T. J. Gray, when they transferred to Robert Morris and Southern Illinois, respectively, coach Jimmy Collins is counting his blessings.
''I'm happy to be alive because I almost lost my life,'' said Collins, who missed 19 games last season after suffering a near-fatal abdominal aortic aneurysm that required surgery. ''We lose players every year, and we find able replacements. We've got a mixture of talented, experienced players returning and some promising new players coming in.''
Assistant coach Mark Coomes took over for Collins and guided the Flames to a 14-18 finish while weathering key injuries and internal turmoil stemming from a player filing a $1 million lawsuit against the school, alleging that another assistant coach sexually propositioned him.
Collins returns 5-11 point guard Josh Mayo, the team's No. 2 scorer (12.2), and 7-foot center Scott VanderMeer, who averaged 5.1 points, 5.6 rebounds and 3.5 blocked shots. He said 6-4 Spencer Stewart, 6-4 Robert Bush and 6-7 Jeremy Buttell would join them in the starting lineup if the season began today. Buttell is a transfer from Texas Tech.
Guard Karl White and forwards Jermaine Dailey and Ebenezer Noonoo also return, and newcomers Robert Kreps, Billy Baptist and Tori Boyd are expected to help.
Loyola is coming off its best season in more than 20 years, but 21-11 still wasn't good enough for a postseason tournament. That goal might seem more difficult to reach with do-it-all star Blake Schilb and defensive specialist Majak Kou gone, but coach Jim Whitesell has confidence in a younger but experienced corps of contributors.
Junior guard J.R.Blount, junior forward Leon Young, sophomore forward Andy Polka and senior forward Tom Levin are the key returners.
''We've invested a lot of minutes in those guys,'' Whitesell said. ''Hopefully they make that next jump.''
Whitesell is counting on the rest of his squad -- including freshmen Kyle Thomas, a 6-8 forward from Folsom, Calif., and Ryan Sterling, a 6-4 guard from Fishers, Ind. -- to fill the roles that graduated seniors Brandon Woods and Kye Pattrick played coming off the bench.
''We talk about getting better as a group,'' Whitesell said.''We need other guys to become good role players. That will be the true test for us to see what kind of season we'll have.''
The Ramblers were the preseason favorite to win the Horizon League a year ago but are picked for the middle of the pack this season as the league adds Valparaiso as its 10th member.
Valparaiso The Crusaders jump from the former Mid-Con (now the Summit League) to the Horizon. Youngstown State joined the Horizon in 2001 and promptly went 2-14. Of course, Valpo, with seven NCAA Tournament appearances, isn't a weakling. Coach Homer Drew is in his 19th season at Valpo. Valpo continues to mine its international pipeline as sophomore Samuel Haanpaa and junior Urule Igbavboa led the team in scoring last year, slightly ahead of Lawrence North product Brandon McPherson.
Call Star reporter Jeff Rabjohns at (317) 444-6183.
