Sunday, February 28, 2010

Men's seed race 2/28/2010

Scores from 2/27/2009:


Milwaukee 78 UIC 74
Cleveland State 68 Wright State 63
Detroit 62 Youngstown State 54
Green Bay 87 Loyola 71

Seed Team Conf 1st round matchup
---- ---------- ---- -----------------
#1 Butler 18-0 Has clinched #1 seed and double-bye
#2 Wright State 12-6 Has clinched #2 seed and double-bye
#3 Green Bay 11-7 Clinched: will host #10 Youngstown State
#4 Milwaukee 10-8 Would host #9 UIC
#5 Cleveland State 10-8 Would host #8 Loyola
#6 Valparaiso 10-8 Would host #7 Detroit
#7 Detroit 9-9 clinched
#8 Loyola 5-13 clinched
#9 UIC 3-15 clinched
#10 Youngstown State 2-16 clinched

Milwaukee, CSU, and Valpo tie at 10-8. Their head-to-head records: Milwaukee 2-2, CSU 2-2, and Valpo 2-2. Against common opponents, they each are 0-2 against #1 Butler. Milwaukee and CSU are 1-1 against #2 WSU, but Valpo is 0-2, so Valpo slides to the 6 seed. Since both teams split with Valpo, the remaining head-to-head remains tied, and we have to look at their records against #7 Detroit. Milwaukee is 1-1 while CSU is 0-2, so Milwaukee gets the 4 seed, and CSU gets the 5 seed.

So, on Tuesday:

#3 Green Bay hosts #10 YSU
#4 Milwaukee hosts #9 UIC
#5 CSU hosts #8 Loyola
#6 Valpo hosts #7 Detroit

News On The Horizon 2/28/2010


Butler's horizons remain unlimited--The Post-Tribune
Green Bay Rallies Past Butler, 61-54--The Indy Star

Foul-plagued Montgomery makes the big plays late as Cleveland State holds off Wright State, 68-63--Cleveland Plain Dealer
Video Highlights: Vikings Clinch #5th Seed With Win Over Wright State--Let's Go Vikes!
2009 Horizon League Basketball Tournament Pairings Announced--Let's Go Vikes!
Montgomery Leads Vikings Past Wright State, 68-63--csuvikings.com

Vikings Top Wright State, 63-52, on Senior Day--csuvikings.com

Titans dominate Youngstown State, 80-62--The Detroit Free Press
Titans Turn Aside Penguins, 80-62--detroittitans.com

CMU tops WMU; UDM, EMU win--The Detroit Free Press

Detroit 62, Youngstown Sate 54

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio — Thomas Kennedy scored 15 points and Detroit defeated Youngstown State, 62-54, today in the final regular season game for both teams.

Xavier Keeling added 14 points, and Eli Holman had nine points and 11 rebounds for the Titans (18-13, 9-9 Horizon League), who won their third straight game.

The two teams open the conference tournament on March 2.

The Titans held a 38-29 rebounding edge and outscored Youngstown on second-chance points, 19-6.

Leading, 41-37, with 15:49 to play, the Titans went on a 14-2 run to grab their largest lead of the game at 55-39. Simon Chase capped the run with a free throw with 6:42 remaining.

DeAndre Mays scored 13 points, Kelvin Bright added 11 and Vytas Sulskis had 10 for the Penguins (8-21, 2-10), who lost their ninth in a row and 13th of their final 14 games.

Titans win, play Valparaiso in Horizon tournament--The Detroit News
Titans Ice Penguins For Third Straight Win, Earn Seventh Seed In HL Tournament--detroittitans.com

UIC loses at Milwaukee, Flames to play Panthers in Horizon League Tournament--ChicagoNow.com
UIC falls 78-74 to Wisconsin-Milwaukee--The Chicago Tribune
Wisconsin-Milwaukee tops Illinois-Chicago 78-74--Daily Herald
Men's Basketball Downed By Milwaukee, 78-74, In Regular Season Finale--uicflames.com
Men's Basketball Draws Milwaukee In Horizon League First Round--uicflames.com

Loyola loses 87-71 to Wisconsin-Green Bay--The Chicago Tribune
UIC, Loyola look to league tourney for redemption--The Chicago Tribune
Loyola heads to Horizon tournament on losing note--The Chicago Sun-Times
Wisconsin-Green Bay defeats Loyola, Ill., 87-71--Daily Herald
Green Bay Spoils Loyola's Senior Day, Wins 87-71--LoyolaRamblers.com
Post-Game Quotes Loyola vs. Green Bay--LoyolaRamblers.com
Loyola Draws Cleveland State In First Round Of 2010 Speedway Horizon League Men's Basketball Championship--LoyolaRamblers.com

Sizzling Second Half Pushes Loyola Past UIC, 67-64--LoyolaRamblers.com

Women's basketball: UWGB edges Butler for Horizon lead--Green Bay Press Gazette
UWGB vs. Butler (Final)--UWGB Basketball
Green Bay Stands Alone in First Place with Win at Butler--uwgbathletics.com

Men's basketball: UWGB gains momentum in regular-season finale--Green Bay Press Gazette
Game #31: UWGB 87, Loyola 71 FINAL--UWGB Basketball
Green Bay Wins No. 20, 87-71, at Loyola--uwgbathletics.com

Panthers earn No. 4 seed in tournament--Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Panthers End Regular Season With Win At UIC--uwmpanthers.com

Panthers Fall At Valparaiso, 70-58--uwmpanthers.com

Valparaiso falls to sixth seed, draws Detroit--The Post-Tribune
Seedings are set: It's Detroit at Valparaiso--Off The Mark
Valparaiso will host Detroit--Region Sports Extra
Valpo to Face Detroit to Open Horizon League Championship--valpoathletics.com

Bench players lead Valparaiso past Milwaukee--The Post-Tribune
VU women win on Senior Day--The NWI Times
Valpo Celebrates Senior Day Victory over Milwaukee--valpoathletics.com

WSU falls short at Cleveland St.--Dayton Daily News
Evans scores career-high 22 points--Dayton Daily News
Raiders fail to finish a winner--Mark Katz's Blog
Finish not so good for Raiders--Mark Katz's Blog
They’re not all good teams--Mark Katz's Blog
Men Drop Regular-Season Finale at Cleveland State 68-63--wsuraiders.com

Women Drop 63-52 Decision at Cleveland State--wsuraiders.com

March’s last home game memorable--Youngstown Vindicator
Kaitlyn March Ties School 3-Point Mark on Senior Day--ysusports.com

YSU loses to Detroit in home finale--Youngstown Vindicator
Penguins Fall to Detroit, 62-54, On Senior Day--ysusports.com

Horizon League announces pairings, times for 2010 Speedway Men's Basketball Championship--The Horizon League
Men's Tournament Schedule--Horizon League Network

Women's Basketball Scoreboard -- Feb. 27--The Horizon League

Saturday, February 27, 2010

News On The Horizon 2/27/2010


The Hoops National: February 27, 2010--The Mid-Majority

Horizon League: Butler 74, at Valparaiso 69
BUTL - 26-4 (18-0) [RPI: 16, State: 11] VALP - 15-16 (10-8) [RPI: 169, State: 181]
Star of the Game: Shelvin Mack 16 Pts (6-11 FG, 1-2 FT), 3 Stl

Butler Completes Unbeaten League Season - Senior Willie Veasley scored a career-high 20 points and Butler pulled away in the second half to hand host Valparaiso a 74-69 setback and become the first team in Horizon League history to finish with an 18-0 record. The win lifted the #15/10 Bulldogs to 26-4 on the season. (via Butler)

Butler finishes unbeaten conference campaign with 18th straight win--The Indy Star
BUTLER 74, VALPARAISO 69--THE unOFFICIAL BUTLER BULLDOGS MEN'S BASKETBALL PAGE
Butler Completes Unbeaten League Season--ButlerSports.com

First Place On The Line Saturday At Hinkle--ButlerSports.com

Local Men's Basketball Insider--Cleveland Plain Dealer

The end game: Cleveland State wanted to go into the Horizon League Tournament on a roll.

Now the Vikings (14-16, 9-8) are looking to show a spark of life in conference play at the end of the season. After Thursday's setback to Detroit, CSU has been on the south side of four straight Horizon games, scoring 59, 59, 54 and 54 points in those defeats.

The Vikings will need to pull an upset against Wright State (19-10, 12-5 Horizon) at the Wolstein Center to control their destiny for a Tuesday home-court game in the league tournament. The Raiders defeated CSU, 73-64, in the first league game of the season Dec. 3.

Vikings Close Regular Season By Hosting Wright State--csuvikings.com

Today's games for local men's and women's college basketball teams--Cleveland Plain Dealer

Vikings Host Wright State on Senior Day--csuvikings.com

Titans Visit Youngstown State In Regular-Season Finale--detroittitans.com

Titans to Close Out Weekend at Youngstown State--detroittitans.com

Big Thursday: Northwestern, UIC, Chicago State all win--ChicagoNow.com
Photos from UIC vs. Milwaukee--ChicagoNow.com
Matchup: Wisconsin-Milwaukee at Illinois-Chicago--The Chicago Tribune
Scouting: Milwaukee @ UIC--Daily Herald
Men's Basketball Meets Milwaukee In Regular Season Finale--uicflames.com

Women's Basketball Looks To Sweep Loyola--uicflames.com

Scouting: Green Bay @ Loyola--Daily Herald
Ramblers Wrap Up Regular-Season Action, Host Green Bay Saturday--LoyolaRamblers.com

Loyola Travels To UIC For Key Horizon League Game--LoyolaRamblers.com

Women's basketball: UWGB stays calm entering key stretch--Green Bay Press Gazette
Phoenix get revenge, stay tied for first in Horizon--UWGB Fourth Estate
Flames Turn to Ash as Phoenix Rise--UWGB Fourth Estate
Green Bay Faces Butler in Key Game for Sole Possession of First Place--uwgbathletics.com

Men's basketball: Phoenix's Horizon seed set at No. 3--Green Bay Press Gazette
Phoenix edge Sycamores in late seconds--UWGB Fourth Estate
Second half surge lifts Phoenix--UWGB Fourth Estate
UWGB men will be either #3 or #4 seed; tickets available for 1st round game--UWGB Basketball
Green Bay Basketball to Host Fan Appreciation Game Tuesday--uwgbathletics.com

Tournament Seeding Scenarios--Panther Blog Zone
Updated Scenarios--Panther Blog Zone
UWM Wraps Up Regular Season At UIC Saturday--uwmpanthers.com

Panthers Play At Valparaiso Saturday--uwmpanthers.com

Letdown from downtown--The Post-Tribune
Butler at Valparaiso, Feb. 26, Live Blog--Off The Mark
Long-range struggles cripple Valparaiso in loss--The NWI Times
Trying to make sense of it all--Region Sports Extra
Live from the ARC: Butler vs. Valparaiso (MBB)--Region Sports Extra
Crusader Upset Bid Falls Short Friday Versus #15/10 Butler--valpoathletics.com

Scouting today's VU women's basketball game--The NWI Times
Valpo Women Host Milwaukee on Senior Day Saturday--valpoathletics.com

Game preview: Wright State at Cleveland State--Dayton Daily News
Flamboyance not part of Raiders’ winning style--Dayton Daily News

Penguins Host UDM in Regular Season Finale on Senior Day--ysusports.com

March, Manuel to Play Final Home Game vs. Detroit--ysusports.com

Men's Basketball Scoreboard - Feb. 25--The Horizon League
Men's Basketball Scoreboard - Feb. 26--The Horizon League

Men's seed race 2/27/2010

Scores from 2/26/2009:


Butler 74 Valparaiso 69

Seed Team Conf 1st round matchup
---- ---------- ---- -----------------
#1 Butler 18-0 Has clinched #1 seed and double-bye
#2 Wright State 12-5 Has clinched #2 seed and double-bye
#3 Green Bay 10-7 Clinched: will host #10 Youngstown State
#4 Valparaiso 10-8 Would host #9 UIC
#5 Cleveland State 9-8 Would host #8 Loyola
#6 Milwaukee 9-8 Would host #7 Detroit
#7 Detroit 8-9
#8 Loyola 5-12 clinched
#9 UIC 3-14 clinched
#10 Youngstown State 2-15 clinched

Valpo's loss to Butler clinches the 3 seed for Green Bay (their sweep of Detroit breaks all ties with Milwaukee and CSU in their favor, after Valpo is eliminated because of WSU), who will host Youngstown State on Tuesday (YSU has the 10 seed because even if they tie with UIC, UIC's win over Green Bay eliminates the Penguins.

Meanwhile, Valpo needs help to get anything other than the 6 seed. If Wright State beats Cleveland State and UIC beats Milwaukee, Valpo gets the 4 seed as the only team left with 10 wins. If either CSU or Milwaukee wins and the other loses, Valpo falls to the 5 seed because of the dreaded WSU tiebreaker, and for the same reason if both CSU and Milwaukee win, Valpo ends up with the 6 seed.

Cleveland State can clinch the 4 seed by beating WSU if UIC also beats Milwaukee (this win breaks the tie with Valpo in their favor). If Milwaukee wins, CSU can still clinch the 5 seed with a win (since Valpo is the first tiebreak loser because of WSU). If they lose, they need help from Youngstown State to get the 6 seed. If they lose and Detroit beats YSU, Cleveland State falls to the 7 seed.

Milwaukee can clinch the 4 seed by beating UIC. They win the remaining tiebreaker with CSU because they split with Detroit while CSU was swept by them. If they lose, they need help from WSU and YSU to get the 5 seed. If Detroit beats YSU or CSU beats WSU, Milwaukee ends up with the 6 seed.

Detroit still can obtain the 5 seed by beating YSU if WSU also beats CSU and UIC also beats Milwaukee (they win the 3-way head-to-head tiebreaker -- 2-0 vs. CSU, 1-1 vs. Milwaukee while Milwaukee is also 1-1 against CSU). If they win and WSU and Milwaukee win, Detroit gets the 6 seed because they win the tiebreaker from CSU having swept them. If CSU wins, or if Detroit loses to YSU, Detroit gets the 7 seed.

To put it another way, there are 6 scenarios left (the Green Bay-Loyola game means nothing, and the YSU-Detroit game means nothing if CSU wins)

1. CSU beats WSU, UIC beats UWM: Valpo is eliminated because of WSU. CSU is then eliminated by Green Bay, if necessary, because of Detroit. CSU gets the 4 seed, Valpo the 5 seed. Even if Detroit wins, they lose the tiebreaker with Milwaukee because of WSU. UWM gets the 6 seed, Detroit the 7 seed.

2. CSU beats WSU, UWM beats UIC: Valpo is eliminated first because of WSU, so they fall to the 6 seed. CSU is eliminated next because of Detroit, so they fall to the 5 seed. Milwaukee wins the tiebreaker and gets the 4 seed. Detroit ends up with the 7 seed because everyone else involved has 10 wins.

3. WSU beats CSU, UIC beats UWM, UDM beats YSU: Valpo is the only team left of the 4 with 10 wins, so they get the 4 seed. Detroit wins the 3-way tiebreaker via head-to-head competition (Detroit 3-1, Milwaukee 2-2, CSU 1-3), therefore, Detroit gets the 5 seed, Milwaukwee the 6 seed, and CSU the 7 seed.

4. WSU beats CSU, UIC beats UWM, YSU beats UDM: Valpo is the only team left of the 4 with 10 wins, so they get the 4 seed. Milwaukee wins the tiebreaker with CSU because of Detroit, so Milwaukee gets the 5 seed, and CSU the 6 seed. With 8 wins, Detroit gets the 7 seed.

5. WSU beats CSU, UWM beats UIC, UDM beats YSU: Milwaukee wins the tiebreaker with Valpo because of WSU, so Milwaukee gets the 4 seed, Valpo the 5 seed. Detroit wins the tiebreaker with CSU because of their sweep of CSU, so Detroit gets the 6 seed, CSU the 7 seed.

6. WSU beats CSU, UWM beats UIC, YSU beats UDM: Milwaukee wins the tiebreaker with Valpo because of WSU, so Milwaukee gets the 4 seed, Valpo the 5 seed. CSU gets the 6 seed and Detroit the 7 seed because Detroit only has 8 wins.

Friday, February 26, 2010

Men's seed race 2/26/2010

Scores from 2/25/2009:


Wright State 76 Youngstown State 73
UIC 78 Green Bay 71
Milwaukee 63 Loyola 61
Detroit 65 Cleveland State 54

Seed Team Conf 1st round matchup
---- ---------- ---- -----------------
#1 Butler 17-0 Has clinched #1 seed and double-bye
#2 Wright State 12-5 Has clinched #2 seed and double-bye
#3 Green Bay 10-7 Would host #10 Youngstown State
#4 Valparaiso 10-7 Would host #9 UIC
#5 Milwaukee 9-8 Would host #8 Loyola
#6 Cleveland State 9-8 Would host #7 Detroit
#7 Detroit 8-9
#8 Loyola 5-12
#9 UIC 3-14
#10 Youngstown State 2-15

With a win tonight, Wright State clinched the #2 seed. They don't even need a tiebreaker because Green Bay inexplicably lost at UIC.

Loyola had already clinched the 8 seed, but now they can't even tie Detroit, so there's no longer any scenarios where Detroit/Loyola is looked at as a common opponent.

UIC clinched the 9 seed because even if they lose to Milwaukee and YSU beats Detroit, UIC's victory over Green Bay breaks the tie (YSU was swept by the Phoenix).

There remains now 5 teams jockeying for seeds 3 through 7. Again, they aren't all fighting for all 5 spots of course.

All scenarios needing the RPI tiebreaker have now been eliminated. As a matter of fact, this analysis as usual gets a lot simpler. We just reduced the number of scenarios from 512 to 32.

Green Bay: can clinch 3 seed with a win and a VU loss. Otherwise they will get the 4 seed. They have clinched a first round home game.

Valparaiso: can clinch the 3 seed with a win over Butler, because they split with Green Bay (the only other team that can reach 11-7), and Butler swept Green Bay. With a 10-8 record, they can still get the 4 seed if both CSU and Milwaukee lose on Saturday. If either CSU or Milwaukee wins and the other loses, Valpo gets the 5 seed. If they both win, Valpo slips all the way to the 6 seed. Again, Valpo loses each of these tiebreakers because they were swept by WSU while the others split with them. They have clinched a home game in the first round.

Cleveland State: can clinch the 4 seed with a win if Milwaukee and VU both lose. They can clinch the 5 seed with a win and either a Milwaukee loss or a VU loss. If both Milwaukee and VU win, CSU clinches the 6 seed with a win. If CSU loses to finish 9-9, they need Detroit to lose and either a Milwaukee loss or a VU loss as well to clinch the 6 seed. If Detroit wins, CSU gets the 7 seed because they lose the tiebreaker, having been swept by Detroit.

Milwaukee: can clinch the 4 seed if they win and Valpo loses (Green Bay keeps them from the 3 seed because they swept Detroit, but they trump Valpo by splitting with WSU) and CSU (by splitting with Detroit) in a tie for 4th. They can still clinch the 5 seed with a win if Valpo wins. If they lose, they can still get the 5 seed if both CSU and Detroit lose. Otherwise, Milwaukee ends up with the 6 seed. They have clinched a home game in the first round.

Detroit: can clinch the 5 seed if they win, CSU loses, and Milwaukee loses. In a 3-way tie with CSU and Milwaukee, Detroit's sweep of CSU paired with Milwaukee's splitting with each team immediately establishes the heirarchy Detroit, Milwaukee, CSU. They can still clinch the 6 seed if they win, CSU loses, and Milwaukee wins. They win the tiebreaker with CSU by sweeping them, but they lose a tiebreaker with Milwaukee because they were swept by WSU. So, CSU wins, even at 9-9, Detroit is the 7 seed. Of course, if they lose, they have the 7 seed outright.

News On The Horizon 2/26/2010


Bulldogs 1 win from perfection in Horizon--The Indy Star
LIVE BLOG: Men's Basketball at Valparaiso--ButlerSports.com

League-Leading Butler Downs Milwaukee, 59-41--ButlerSports.com
Butler Hosting Green Bay For First Place Saturday--ButlerSports.com

Cleveland State women's basketball team defeats Detroit in overtime--Cleveland Plain Dealer
Long-Range Shooting Dooms Vikings, CSU Falls To Detroit, 65-54--csuvikings.com

Detroit deals Cleveland State men's basketball team a Horizon League setback--Cleveland PLain Dealer
Vikings Work Overtime to Knock Off League Leading Detroit, 70-60--Cleveland Plain Dealer

Xavier Keeling leads UDM with 21 in 65-54 win over Cleveland St.--The Detroit Free Press
Detroit moves past Cleveland State--The Detroit News
Titans Sink Vikings, Clinch Winning Season--detroittitans.com

Women's Hoops Drops 70-60 Overtime Decision at Cleveland State--detroittitans.com

Illinois-Chicago rallies from 14 points behind in 2nd half, beats Wisconsin-Green Bay 78-71--The Chicago Tribune
Illinois-Chicago stuns Wisconsin-Green Bay 78-71--Daily Herald
Flames ride 2nd-half crest--Whoosh!Net
Big Second Half Keys Men's Basketball's 78-71 Win Over Green Bay--uicflames.com

Loyola loses down the stretch to Wisconsin-Milwaukee--The Chicago Tribune
Ramblers continue second-half blues--The Chicago Sun-Times
Loyola falls to UW-Milwaukee 63-61--Daily Herald
Loyola Drops 63-61 Heartbreaker To Milwaukee--LoyolaRamblers.com
Post-Game Quotes vs. Milwaukee--LoyolaRamblers.com

Women's basketball: UWGB moves into first-place tie--Green Bay Press Gazette
UWGB vs Valpo (Final)--UWGB Basketball
Green Bay Wins Fifth Straight and Moves into First Place Tie in League Play--uwgbathletics.com

Men’s basketball: Phoenix falters against Flames--Green Bay Press Gazette
Game #30: UIC 78, UWGB 71FINAL--UWGB Basketball
Green Bay Stumbles in Second Half at UIC--uwgbathletics.com

Panthers claw their way back to edge Loyola--Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Panthers Pull Out Key Win At Loyola--uwmpanthers.com

Bulldogs Prove Too Much For Milwaukee, 59-41--uwmpanthers.com

Valpo braces for Butler--The Post-Tribune
McPherson's memories--The Post-Tribune
VU's McPherson will set record in tonight's game against Butler--The NWI Times

Phoenix put mistake-prone VU away early--The Post-TribunePhoenix put mistake-prone VU away early--The Post-Tribune
Crusaders lose for Green Bay--The NWI Times
Live from the ARC: Valparaiso vs. Green Bay (WBB)--Region Sports Extra
First Place Green Bay Tops Valpo--valpoathletics.com

This time, WSU hits 54% of its shots — wins--Dayton Daily News
WSU clinches second place in Horizon League--Dayton Daily News
Raiders have improved record on close games--Dayton Daily News
Cover your eyes when Raiders start shooting--Mark Katz's Blog
Tabler’s shot saves Raiders--Mark Katz's Blog
Raiders know exactly where they are--Mark Katz's Blog
Tabler 3-pointer lifts Wright State past Youngstown State--Fairborn Daily Herald
Tabler's Three gives Men 76-73 win over YSU--RaiderRoundball.com
Tabler Three Lifts Men Past Youngstown State 76-73--wsuraiders.com

Women Can't Hold On and Lose in OT--RaiderRoundball.com
Women Win at Youngstown State--wsuraiders.com

Wright State’s prayer is answered on 3-pointer--Youngstown Vindicator
Final-Second Basket By Raiders Sinks Penguins, 76-73--ysusports.com

Shooting woes hamper women--Youngstown Vindicator
Guins Struggle Shooting in 57-38 Loss to Wright State--ysusports.com

Women's Basketball Scoreboard -- Feb. 25--The Horizon League

Women's seed race 2/26/2010

Scores from 2/25/2009:


Green Bay 69 Valparaiso 44
Cleveland State 70 Detroit 60 OT
Wright State 57 Youngstown State 38
Butler 59 Milwaukee 41

Seed Team Conf 1st round matchup
---- ---------- ---- -----------------
#1 Butler 12-3 Would host winner of #8-#9 game
#2 Green Bay 12-3 Would host winner of #7-#10 game
#3 Detroit 12-4 Would host #6 Loyola
#4 Cleveland State 9-6 Would host #5 UIC
#5 UIC 9-6
#6 Loyola 7-8
#7 Milwaukee 5-10 Would host #10 Youngstown State
#8 Wright State 6-10 Would host #9 Valparaiso
#9 Valparaiso 4-11
#10 Youngstown State 0-15

Green Bay is 1-0 against Butler, but that tiebreaker could change when the rematch occurs.

CSU swept UIC.

Thursday, February 25, 2010

News On The Horizon 2/25/2010


Hayward among finalists--The Indy Star
4 state players honored--The Indy Star
Bulldogs Close Regular Season At Valparaiso--ButlerSports.com

Butler Hosts Milwaukee Thursday Night--ButlerSports.com

Vikings' Waters hoping for a strong finish to challenging campaign--Cleveland Plain Dealer
Detroit and Wright State Previews--Let's Go Vikes!

Matchup: UW-Green Bay at Illinois-Chicago--The Chicago Tribune
Men's Basketball Hosts Green Bay This Thursday Night--uicflames.com
Jimmy Collins Receives African-American Coaches Of Excellence Award--uicflames.com

Matchup: UW-Milwaukee at Loyola--The Chicago Tribune
Scouting: Northwestern, Loyola, UIC basketball--Daily Herald

Men's basketball: Phoenix eyes rare Chicago sweep--Green Bay Press Gazette
Talking UWGB hoops and dancing (but not the basketball kind)--UWGB Basketball

UWM looks to Horizon tourney--Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Video: Rob Jeter interview--UWM Post
Campus arena?--UWM Post Sports Blog
Impressive Win, Impressive Loss... What next?--Milwaukee Panther Tracks

Panthers Hit The Road For Final Trip--uwmpanthers.com

VU still seeking a foothold in NWI--The Post-Tribune
Brandon McPherson looks back, looks ahead--Off The Mark
Tickets Still Available for Butler Game; On Sale Now for First Round of Horizon Championship--valpoathletics.com

Freshman has Moore to offer--The Post-Tribune
Scouting today's Valparaiso University women's basketball game--The NWI Times

Preview: Wright State at Youngstown State--Dayton Daily News
Raiders can seal No. 2 seed--Dayton Daily News

Basketball Doubleheader--The Jambar
Guins Begin Final Home Week on Thursday vs. Wright State--ysusports.com

Penguins coaches remain upbeat as losses mount--Youngstown Vindicator

Penguins look to finish strong--The Jambar
Men's Basketball Entertains Second-Place Wright State Thursday--ysusports.com

Women's Basketball Weekly Release #15--The Horizon League
Introducing: Green Bay's Winter Olympians--Horizon League Network
Stretch Run on the Women's Side--Horizon League Network

Men's seed race 2/25/2010

Scores from 2/16/2009:

Green Bay 74 Cleveland State 57

Scores from 2/17/2009:


Wright State 70 Detroit 53
Butler 73 UIC 55
Valparaiso 84 Loyola 73

Scores from 2/18/2009:

Milwaukee 69 Cleveland State 59

Seed Team Conf 1st round matchup
---- ---------- ---- -----------------
#1 Butler 17-0 Has clinched #1 seed and double-bye
#2 Wright State 11-5 Would receive double-bye
#3 Green Bay 10-6 Would host #10 UIC
#4 Valparaiso 10-7 Would host #9 Youngstown State
#5 Cleveland State 9-7 Would host #8 Loyola
#6 Milwaukee 8-8 Would host #7 Detroit
#7 Detroit 7-9
#8 Loyola 5-11
#9 Youngstown State 2-14
#10 UIC 2-14

The #1 seed is all Butler's. No one can come close to taking it away from them.

The 9 and 10 seeds belong to YSU and UIC collectively. No one can else can match their 14 losses. They split their season series. They each have the same number of losses against Butler, CSU, Detroit, and Valpo. UIC plays Green Bay and Milwaukee next week. YSU plays Detroit next week. YSU has one tiebreaker in their pocket already: they split with Loyola while UIC was swept by them.

Loyola has clinched the 8 seed. They can tie with Detroit, but Detroit swept Loyola so Loyola loses the tiebreaker. NOTE: We're not allowed to break this tie until all higher ranking ties are broken.

That leaves 6 teams fighting for 6 spots: WSU, Green Bay, Valparaiso, Cleveland State, Milwaukee, and Detroit. They aren't all fighting for all 6 spots of course, but they represent the muddled middle in this race.

WSU can finish from anywhere 11-7 to 13-5. Green Bay, Valpo, and CSU are the only other teams that can finish 11-7. The only game left involving two of those four teams is WSU vs. CSU and CSU would win that game if WSU finishes 11-7.

Key tiebreaker situations:

WSU and Green Bay are the only teams to sweep Detroit. Valpo and Milwaukee have split with Detroit, and CSU needs to beat them this week to split with them (or else be swept by them).

Green Bay and Milwaukee are the only teams to split with WSU. Valpo and Detroit have been swept by them, and CSU will join them unless they beat WSU this week.

If Detroit loses to both CSU and YSU and Loyola beats both Milwaukee and Green Bay, they tie at 7-11. Against Detroit/Loyola, WSU is 3-1 (2-0, 1-1), Green Bay would be 3-1 (2-0, 1-1), Valpo is 3-1 (1-1, 2-0), Milwaukee is 2-2 (1-1, 1-1), and CSU would be 3-1 (1-1, 2-0).

WSU is the only team to sweep Valpo. Everyone else split with them. Since Valpo must finish no worse than 6th, they break all ties involving WSU in WSU's favor (A tie involving Green Bay would still differentiate via Valpo even if Valpo is also tied with Milwaukee since everyone else split with each other. If CSU is involved and they beat WSU that would still be true. If CSU is involved and they lost to WSU, that would favor WSU even more. If WSU is tied with CSU and Milwaukee at 11-7, then even if Green Bay is tied with Valpo at 10-8, Valpo still breaks the tie in favor of WSU because everyone else has split with each other).

Wright State: can clinch 2 seed with 1 win or 1 Green Bay loss.

Green Bay: can clinch 3 seed with 2 wins (gets 2 seed if WSU also loses 2). They can clinch 4 seed (with an exception described later) with 1 win. If they lose 2, they can still get the 3 seed if VU loses and CSU splits. If VU wins and CSU wins 2, they end up with the 5 seed (worst case). If either VU or CSU ends up with 11 wins and the other with 10, they get the 4 seed.

Valparaiso: can clinch the 5 seed with a win. If WSU also wins at least 1 and Green Bay also loses at least 1, they get the 3 seed because the tiebreaker moves to common opponents and nobody else has beaten Butler. If WSU loses 2, the win over Butler would be useless because WSU kills Valpo in head-to-head. As long as CSU loses at least 1, Valpo clinches at least a 4 seed, otherwise they end up with the 5 seed. With a 10-8 record, they can still get the 4 seed if CSU loses 2 and Milwaukee loses at least 1. If CSU wins at least 1 and Milwaukee wins 2, Valpo slips all the way to the 6 seed. Otherwise they get the 5 seed.

Cleveland State: can clinch the 3 seed with 2 wins plus 2 Green Bay loses, and either a VU loss or 2 WSU loses. At 11-7, if WSU and Green Bay each split, and VU wins, they get the 5 seed (with an exception described later), otherwise they get the 4 seed. They can also get the 4 seed at 10-8 with at least 1 Milwaukee loss and a VU loss (with an exception described later). If VU wins, and Milwaukee wins 2, they fall to the 6 seed. If they lose 2 to finish 9-9, then they need both Milwaukee and Detroit to finish 8-10 (Detroit beats CSU in this scenario) to get the 5 seed. If one of those two events occurs, they get the 6 seed. If neither occurs, they get the 7 seed (if they tie with Detroit at 9-9, Detroit wins the tiebreaker due to sweeping CSU; if they tie with Detroit and Milwaukee at 9-9, Detroit's head-to-head is 3-1, Milwaukee's 2-2, CSU's 1-3).

Milwaukee: can clinch the 4 seed if they win 2, Valpo loses, and CSU loses at least once. Green Bay keeps them from the 3 seed because they swept Detroit, but they trump Valpo (by splitting with WSU) and CSU (by splitting with CSU or by sweeping Detroit, depending on which team CSU beats this week) in a tie for 4th. If Valpo loses or CSU loses at least once, 10-8 gets them the 5 seed. If both Valpo and CSU finish 11-7, they get the 6 seed. They can clinch the 5 seed by winning 1 game if CSU loses 2 and Detroit loses 1 (which means Detroit beats CSU and loses to YSU). If CSU wins at least 1 game and Detroit wins 2 (meaning Detroit beats CSU and CSU beats WSU), then 9-9 gets them the 6 seed. 8-10 clinches the 6 seed unless Detroit wins 2, in which case Milwaukee gets the 7 seed.

Detroit: can clinch the 5 seed if they win 2, CSU loses 2, and Milwaukee loses at least 1 game. In a two way tie with CSU, Detroit sweeps them, and in a 3-way tie with CSU and Milwaukee, Detroit's sweep of CSU paired with Milwaukee's splitting with each team immediately establishes the heirarchy Detroit, Milwaukee, CSU. They can still clinch the 6 seed if they win 2 and either CSU loses 2 AND Milwaukee wins 2 OR CSU wins 1 and Milwaukee loses 2. They win the tiebreaker with CSU by sweeping them, but they lose a tiebreaker with Milwaukee because they were swept by WSU. Otherwise, Detroit is the 7 seed (resorting to their sweep of Loyola if necessary).

EXCEPTIONS: if Valpo and CSU tie at 10-8 (with or without Green Bay and/or Milwaukee) and WSU sweeps CSU, there is no common opponent that breaks the tie, so it will fall to RPI. At the moment, CSU is 160, Valpo 167, so anything can happen. In fact, with VU playing 16 Butler while CSU plays 91 WSU and 198 Detroit, those rankings are liable to flip-flop. This could be for the 4 seed or for the 5 seed.

If Green Bay and CSU tie at 11-7 (with Valpo already grabbing the 3 seed at 11-7), and Loyola and Detroit are both 7-11, there is no "common opponent" (where Loyola is not a common opponent and Detroit is not a common opponent, but in their place, "Loyola/Detroit" is the common opponent) that breaks the tie (Green Bay swept Detroit but would split with Loyola while CSU swept Loyola but would split with Detroit, and Green Bay would sweep UIC), so it would fall to RPI. At the moment, Green Bay is 97, CSU 160, and that ranking is not likely to flip-flop.

Again, Loyola has clinched the 8 seed, and UIC and YSU are fighting it out for the 9 seed between them.

Got it in just under the wire. Wouldn't bet my life savings that it is 100% accurate, of course ;)