Let the Chips Fall Where They May--HoriZone Roundtable
NCAA Basketball: Predicting all 32 autobids for 2022 NCAA Tournament--Busting Brackets
Horizon League
Winner: Cleveland State Vikings
The Vikings have an experienced team that returned 91% of their overall minutes and scoring from last season’s NCAA tournament team. This year Cleveland State is picking up where they left off in the Horizon and is the best team in the league again. They are going to make the tournament again, and this year is a little different from last year because head coach Dennis Gates has an extremely efficient offense to go along with his awesome defense.
The Vikings get to the line a ton, and they are very adept at getting downhill and getting to the rim for easy baskets. They are going to have the Horizon player of the year in D’Moi Hodge and guard Tre Gomillion is going to win back-to-back Defensive Player of the Year awards. It would be a huge upset if Cleveland State didn’t win the tournament.
Sleeper: UIC Flames
What a month it has been for the Flames. Initially, they were told they would not be allowed to participate in the conference tournament because of their intentions to join the MVC in July. After consideration, the Horizon league powers that be decided it was wrong to punish the athletes and are allowing Illinois Chicago to participate in the conference tournament for one last chance to make the NCAA tournament as a member of the Horizon League.
What more motivation do the Flames need? The administration at Illinois Chicago is unreasonably mad at the rule that they helped implement regarding conference tournament bans in the Horizon League, and they are going to look at anything to stick it to their former conference. The Flames are going to be motivated, have an elite scorer in Damaria Franklin, shoot a ton of threes and play extremely fast. They are a team who is a stereotypical team to get hot and make a run.
Conference Tournaments 2022: Basic Info and What’s New--Blogging The Bracket
Who’s Still Playing (And Eligible)?
Even though the Division I ranks have swelled to 358 teams for 2021-22 (and more are on the way!), with just 302 conference tournament games scheduled, several teams have to sit this year’s postseason out. And there are still others who will participate without being eligible for the NCAA or NIT.
- The America East (field of 8 out of 10 teams), Big 12 (9 of 10), Colonial Athletic (9 of 10) have each excluded one member due to some flavor of sanctions. While Oklahoma State will not play in Kansas City due to an NCAA postseason ban, both Stony Brook (America East) and James Madison (CAA) are de facto eliminated from the NCAA Tournament because they’ve been barred for competing for conference postseason honors due to pending realignment moves. The Horizon League was set to do the same to Missouri Valley-bound UIC, but reversed its decision. However, the eighth-seeded Flames must travel to ninth-seeded Milwaukee for their first-round game, as they gave up their rights to host conference championship events for the remainder of UIC’s Horizon League tenure.
Handing out the Hardware: All-conference awards of the year (Part 1 of
2)--Hoops HD
Horizon
G: Antoine Davis (Detroit Mercy)
G: Damaria Franklin (Illinois-Chicago)
G: Tanner Holden (Wright State)
F: Jamal Cain (Oakland)
F: Grant Basile (Wright State)
POY: Antoine Davis (Detroit Mercy)
ROY: Sam Vinson (Northern Kentucky)
DPOY: D’Moi Hodge (Cleveland State)
6TH: Deonte Billups (Purdue Fort Wayne)
COY: Jon Coffman (Purdue Fort Wayne)
Conference tournament projections, best bets: Analytical model predicts the
West Coast Conference, other mid-major tourneys--The Athletic
Horizon
Dates: March 1, 3, 7, 8
Cleveland St.
N. Kentucky
IPFW
Oakland
UIC
Robert Morris
Which teams have never been in March Madness? Tracking first-time NCAA
Tournament hopefuls--Heat Check CBB
Teams that never been in March Madness
Team Conference Conference Tournament Result First Season Purdue Fort Wayne Horizon 2003 Youngstown State Horizon 1948
Horizon League Tournament bracket, preview and schedule--Mid-Major Madness
Horizon League Basketball: 2022 conference tournament preview and predictions--Busting Brackets
Detroit Mercy's Antoine Davis, Oakland's Jamal Cain: Horizon League co-Players of the Year--Detroit Free Press
Rivals Antoine Davis (Detroit), Jamal Cain (Oakland) share top league honor--Detroit News
Talent alone hasn't been enough for Oakland, Detroit Mercy entering Horizon tournament--Detroit News
Illinois State basketball: Breaking down 10 potential head coach candidates--Chicago Sun-Times
Scott Nagy, Wright State
All the veteran coach has done in his career is win. He would be someone Illinois State has never hired before — a highly-successful sitting head coach.
Between his years at South Dakota State and Wright State, Nagy has won six conference championships and taken four teams to the NCAA Tournament since 2012. Since that 2012 season Nagy has averaged 23 wins a season.
Nagy is familiar with the state. In addition to always recruiting Illinois throughout his career, he grew up in Champaign, graduated from Centennial and is the son of Dick Nagy, a former assistant for Illinois coach Lou Henson.
The 55-year-old Nagy would bring a ton of experience, a lot of substance and a winning history to the program. The Missouri Valley Conference would be a step up from the Horizon League as Nagy finishes up his sixth season at Wright State following 21 years at South Dakota State.
Dennis Gates, Cleveland State
This might be unrealistic and may not make a whole lot of sense — for both sides — considering Cleveland State is atop the Horizon League and a return trip to the NCAA Tournament would likely mean Gates would be a hot commodity among high-major programs.
Gates has already been looked at and interviewed at that level in the last coaching hiring cycle a year ago. His success as a head coach, coupled with an extensive history as a high-major assistant coach, makes him a prime high-major head coaching candidate.
But there are local ties and he’s a name to at least explore no matter how big of a reach it would be to nab Gates.
Gates was born and raised in Chicago and played at Young where he won a state championship in 1998. He was an assistant coach briefly at Northern Illinois. So there are plenty of natural connections to the state.
After taking Cleveland State to the NCAA Tournament last season in what was a pretty remarkable turnaround of a program, Gates has been a hot name since in the coaching rumor mill and will continue to be.
The HoriZone Roundtable #HLWBB postseason awards--HoriZone Roundtable
Five things to watch as the Vikings begin postseason play--HoriZone Roundtable
March Madness Begins On Tuesday As Titans Host Green Bay In Keeps #HLMBB Championship First Round--detroittitans.com
Game 30: No. 12 Detroit Mercy Opens Keeps #HLWBB Championship with First Round Game at No. 5 Northern Kentucky--detroittitans.com
Green Bay Travels to Detroit Mercy for First Round of the KEEPS Horizon League Championships--greenbayphoenix.com
Doyel: IUPUI heads to Horizon League tourney with five players but hope for a better tomorrow--Indy Star
A Rough End to the Season for IUPUI Men’s Basketball--Campus Citizen
NO. 12 JAGUARS TO FACE NO. 5 OAKLAND ON TUESDAY NIGHT--iupuijags.com
MACEE WILLIAMS NAMED #HLWBB PLAYER OF THE YEAR--iupuijags.com
Rematch With UIC Opens Postseason Tuesday Night--mkepanthers.com
Walstad Earns All-League Recognition--mkepanthers.com
Milwaukee Meets UIC at Home to Open Postseason--mkepanthers.com
Northern Kentucky's Sam Vinson named Horizon League Freshman of the Year--Cincinnati Enquirer
NKU men’s basketball closes out regular season with win over Penguins--Link NKY
Vinson and Warrick take home Horizon League awards--The Northerner
#HLMBB All-League: Sam Vinson named Freshman of the Year, Marques Warrick on second team--nkunorse.com
NKU women’s basketball collects Horizon League awards--The Northerner
@NKUNorseWBB's Thompson Named Nike #HLWBB Freshman of the Week--nkunorse.com
#HLWBB All-League Awards Announced, Rose Tabbed as Defensive Player of the Year--nkunorse.com
@NKUNorseWBB begins HL Tournament hosting No. 12 seed Detroit--nkunorse.com
Oakland men to open Horizon League Tournament at home--Oakland Press
Oakland well represented on All-Horizon League men’s team--Oakland Press
Men’s basketball ends regular season on high note--Oakland Post
OAKLAND BEGINS KEEPS 2022 #HLMBB TOURNAMENT TUESDAY--goldengrizzlies.com
Mastodon WBB Heads to Moon Township for Horizon League Championship First Round--gomastodons.com
Robert Morris men look to secure 1st victory in Horizon League Tournament--Trib Live
Kahliel Spear named to All-Horizon League Third Team--Colonial Sports Network
Colonials Open #HLMBB Tourney at Youngstown State--rmucolonials.com
Esther Castedo named to All-Horizon League Third Team--Colonial Sports Network
Around The Rim: regular season ends, conference tournament begins--Colonial Sports Network
RMU Set to Host Purdue Fort Wayne in #HLWBB Opening Round--rmucolonials.com
@UIC_MBB to Face Milwaukee to Open Conference Tournament--uicflames.com
Flames Begin Horizon League Championship Quest Tuesday--uicflames.com
@UIC_WBB Face Milwaukee For League Championship Opener--uicflames.com
Wright State’s Holden on all-league first team, Basile makes second team--Dayton Daily News
Wright State women’s team toughing it out through difficult season--Dayton Daily News
Women’s Basketball opens Horizon League Championship at No. 7 Oakland--wsuraiders.com
Nike #HLMBB Players of the Week (February 28)--The Horizon League
Horizon League Reveals 2021-22 #HLMBB All-League Awards--The Horizon League
Nike #HLWBB Players of the Week (February 28)--The Horizon League
Horizon League Unveils 2021-22 #HLWBB All-League Honors--The Horizon League
#HLWBB Weekly Notebook – February 28--The Horizon League
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