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.
Losing Bryn Forbes hurts the Vikings a ton, but no Horizon League team has a better top-three players than Trey Lewis, Charlie Lee and Anton Grady.
14. Green Bay
Keifer Sykes is one of the best guards in college basketball, but the Phoenix have to replace big man Alec Brown. Seniors Greg Mays and Alfonzo McKinnie, who spent a lot of last season injured, will need to produce in the frontcourt.
Norris Cole started at point guard in place of Mario Chalmers for the sixth consecutive game, Luol Deng is taking the place of LeBron James at small forward and the Heat’s power-forward position is a work in progress. Williams started at the four against Houston, and he could get the call for the regular-season opener, but the position will ultimately be filled by another new face, Josh McRoberts.
Las Vegas, NV (SportsNetwork.com) - Ray McCallum beat the final buzzer with a tip-in to lift the Sacramento Kings a 93-92 win over the Los Angeles Lakers in the preseason finale for both teams.
After Jeremy Lin sank 1-of-2 from the free throw line to put the Lakers in front, McCallum isolated on the right wing and put up an 18-footer that was off the mark with just under three seconds left. Reggie Evans fought for the offensive rebound and put up an air ball. McCallum followed his shot and was right there to meet the ball at the rim and guide it in.
Oakland was picked to finish seventh in the 2014-15 Horizon League Preseason Poll. The league's nine head coaches, staff and media voted on the preseason poll. Corey Petros and Kahlil Felder were preseason all-league selections, with Petros named to the first team and Felder to the second.
Women's Basketball
Elena Popkey has been named to the Madness 2014-2015 Preseason All-Horizon League Women's Basketball Second Team. Popkey averaged 13.8 points and 6.2 rebounds last season, posting six games of over 20 points along the way.
Howard Moore has a talented group of newcomers that could pull UIC out of the Horizon League’s cellar. Point guard D’Juan Miller is very athletic, graduate student Jay Harris is a veteran with outside shooting ability and freshman Tai Odiase is a defensive stalwart.
6. Keifer Sykes, Green Bay: Sykes is the smallest player on this list, but he may actually be the best leaper. How many players do you know that can throw an alley-oop to themselves?:
45. Alec Peters, Valparaiso, F: Peter's busted out his freshman year for Bryce Drew's Crusaders averaging 12.7 points and 4.8 rebounds. Now it's time for the 6'8 big man to refine his game in year two as he recently noted to Mid-Major Madness at Horizon League Media Day, "As you play you don't’ get away with as much as you do when you are a new player. You got to find different ways to get yourself open and find different ways to score. My coaches have talked with me a lot. People know who you are now, everyone is going to do their scouting report.". It'll be interesting to see how Peters matures this season.
Against that backdrop, Spoelstra opened with a lineup that featured Shawne Williams Udonis Haslem, Danny Granger, Mario Chalmers and Norris Cole, while moving quickly to the likes of Johnson, Birch and Shawn Jones before the end of a first quarter.
It will have to be the same formula for Michigan State, which will need contributions outside of the big three.
Will it be sophomores Alvin Ellis or Gavin Schilling? Could it be junior transfer Bryn Forbes? Or could it be the freshmen class of Lourawls Nairn, Javon Bess or Marvin Clark?
"We are really talented," Trice said. "You cannot replace any of those three guys, but the guys we gained can really help us."
7. Green Bay, 24-7, 14-2 Horizon (1st): The Phoenix lose center Alec Brown, but they return four of their top five scorers — including star point guard Keifer Sykes — from a team that beat ACC champion Virginia last season.
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OTHERS RECEIVING VOTES: Belmont, Chattanooga, Cleveland State, Hofstra, Louisiana-Lafayette, Manhattan, Sam Houston State, Siena, Stony Brook, UC Santa Barbara, Western Michigan
Even with the game played not far from the campus he delivered an NCAA championship, Chalmers again played off the bench for the Heat, with Norris Cole starting at point guard.
Detroit native Carlos “Dizzy” English played parts of three seasons in the NBA Development League after averaging 8.3 points per game in his career at Cleveland State University. The 5-9 dribbling dynamo played the two years prior to his time at Cleveland State at Mott Community College (Mich.), where he helped lead the team to a 61-10 record over that span.
49. Kahlil Felder, Oakland, G: Kahlil Felder bust on to the scene a year ago and finished the season as a Freshman All-American and the Horizon Leauge's top freshman. The 5'9 guard created a talented combo with senior Duke Mondy and ended up averaging 9.5 points, 6.4 assists, and 3.9 rebounds per game. His assists numbers were enough to lead the Horizon League and finish tied for seventh nationally. Felder's top performance came against rival Detroit in front of a national TV audience where he finished the 83-82 Golden Grizzlies win with a triple-double of 15 points, 11 assists, and 10 rebounds. Greg Kampe might have lost some household names but Felder gives Oakland a bright future.
Keifer Sykes, Green Bay, Sr. (20.3 ppg, 4.4 rpg, 4.9 apg): High-flying, high-scoring point guards aren’t that easy to find. Sykes is the reason that the Phoenix have a shot at winning a game-or-two in the NCAA tournament.
Between Cleveland State and Green Bay, the Horizon League title race should be an exciting one. Green Bay won the league last year, and although it returns outstanding senior guard Keifer Sykes, it also lost talented and versatile big man Alec Brown.
Cleveland State also lost a couple of key pieces, but the Vikings have two very good guards in junior Trey Lewis and senior Charlie Lee and one of the league’s best big men in junior Anton Grady.
Illinois State transfer Kaza Keane gives the Vikings another solid option in its backcourt.
Why would Chalmers be depressed? Well, being demoted to second-string point guard is enough to put anyone from Miami in a bad mood. (Of course, so is being in stuck in traffic on Biscayne Boulevard waiting on that damn bridge, or getting busted for smash porn, or, you know, getting plucked from your bubble by the Coast Guard.) Anyway, Heat coach Erik Spoelstra has said several times during training camp that competition is wide open at point guard. Norris Cole has made it clear that he is pushing to be the team's starter, and, of course, Chalmers didn't exactly have the best possible finish to the 2014 playoffs.
He was benched for Game 5 of the NBA Finals, and there was probably a time after The Finals when he thought he wasn't returning to the Heat.
Anyway, Chalmers went 0 of 2 for two points in the Heat's preseason opener. He played just 21 minutes and recorded two assists and two turnovers. Meanwhile, Cole played more than 23 minutes and went 4 of 8 from the field for 10 points and had four steals, two assists and didn't commit a turnover.
"It feels great to start," Cole said "My confidence is always pretty high. It's great to be moved in there, but this is early and it's still preseason. We're still trying to get better and do whatever we have to do to get better. If that means me starting, then that's what that means."
Last Season: 26-11, 10-6 Atlantic 10 (t-5th), lost in the Elite 8
Key Losses: Devin Oliver, Vee Sanford, Khari Price
Key Returnees: Dyshawn Pierre (11.2 ppg, 5.5 rpg, 40.9% 3PT), Jordan Sibert (12.2 ppg, 42.6% 3PT)
Key Newcomers: Ryan Bass (transfer), Darrell Davis, Detwon Rogers
Outlook: Dayton was as good as any team in the country in February and March of last season, going 9-1 to close out the Atlantic 10 season before making a run to the Elite 8. Losing Devin Oliver will hurt, putting pressure on Jordan Sibert and Dyshawn Pierre to take on a bigger role offensively. The combination of Oakland transfer Ryan Bass and sophomore Scoochie Smith will be counted on to take over ballhandling duties. Dayton should compete for top four in the A-10.
16. Kentucky vs. UCLA - (CBS Sports Classic in Chicago) - Dec. 20: Two blue-bloods square off in the United Center.
17. Texas vs. UConn - Nov. 30: Ryan Boatright vs. Isaiah Taylor will be fun.
18. Arizona vs. Michigan - Dec. 13: Sean Miller’s defensive mastery vs. John Beilein’s offensive ingenuity.
19. Arizona vs. UNLV - Dec. 23: The Runnin’ Rebels have a ton of young talent on their roster.
20. Syracuse vs. Michigan (ACC/Big Ten Challenge) – Dec. 2: Syracuse have PG questions while Michigan has an unproven front line.
21. Ohio State vs. North Carolina (CBS Sports Classic in Chicago) - Dec. 20: Are the Buckeyes truly a top 15-caliber team?
22. Minnesota vs. Louisville (U.S. Air Station in Puerto Rico) - Nov. 14: Big Pitino vs. Little Pitino.
23. Green Bay vs. Georgia State - Dec. 4/27: Arguably the nation’s two-best mid-majors. Keifer Sykes vs. Ryan Harrow and R.J. Hunter. And yeah, these two teams meet twice.
—Wade called Norris Cole "a monster" defensively, and said the next step in his career would be learning "how to be effective as a point guard and as a scoring guard."
"He's got to figure out the perfect way to do that, and it's not always easy for guys," Wade said. "But if he can figure it out, he can be very dangerous for us. But I'm very confident. He's a kid who loves to work, and he wants to be as great as he wants to be. So, I think he'll figure it out."
There are plenty of young players in camp this week and they'll each get their chances to make solid impressions tonight. Norris Cole first showed signs of his potential during the team's preseason training camp scrimmage. Small forward James Ennis starred in Australia last year and Heat coaches and executives are hoping for big things. Rookie point guard Shabazz Napier improved throughout summer league, so he'll be expected to build off of that momentum.
Chalmers entered camp in good shape, which is important because his backup is a fitness nut and a workaholic and gunning for starting point-guard role. Chalmers had some good moments during the scrimmage, but his attempted alley-oop off the glass to Tyler Johnson was a poor decision.
—Norris Cole
Always improving, Cole's development as a point guard could give the Heat some options this season on the depth chart. If Cole can start at point guard, then Chalmers might come off the bench to spell Dwyane Wade. Chalmers could be a solid Sixth Man if put in the right situation, at least that's what the Heat might be thinking.
—Shabazz Napier
The Heat is hoping he can develop fast enough to be a viable option as a backup. That would free up Chalmers to be the Sixth Man, and allow Cole to be the starter. The most important thing Napier can provide at this point is solid defense, and he did that during the scrimmage.
