On The Horizon

Jim Squire

Conference Match-Up Battles!--HoriZone Roundtable
Week in review; Colonials showcase toughness, grit while also snatching defeat from the jaws of victory--HoriZone Roundtable
NCAA Basketball: Dwayne Cohill, Kris Murray among Players of the Week--Busting Brackets

Mid Major candidates of the week

Marques Warrick

Huge apologies to the Northern Kentucky fan base and the team as I did forget to mention Warrick last week when he ended the week with a huge 45-point game in a double-overtime win. The guard picked up right where he left off last week and started the week with a 30-point game in a huge win over Youngstown State. The guard finished the week with another win for his team and 13 point game against Robert Morris. Warrick is an elite scorer as evidenced by his 88 points over three games. Warrick is not going to provide much else, but he can put the ball in the cylinder, and sometimes that is all you need.

Gerald Liddell

We all know about Antoine Davis at Detroit Mercy but Liddell patrolling the paint and being a great second option for Davis makes the Titans a dangerous team in the Horizon League. Liddell didn’t play in any games at all until this week and when the Texas transfer suited for the Titans his impact was immediate. Liddell makes Detroit Mercy a different team. In a big win over Fort Wayne, the big man had 16 points and 16 rebounds to go along with 2 assists and a block. In a loss to Cleveland State, Liddell had 18 points and 13 rebounds to go along with 2 assists and 1 block. He dominated in his minutes, and he will likely find himself on this list a few more times this season.

Dwayne Cohill

The Youngstown State Penguins are the team to beat in the Horizon League this season and Cohill is one of the main reasons why. He is the best player on the floor most nights for either team. This week he reinforced what we were already learning about the senior guard. Cohill opened the week in a double overtime loss to Northern Kentucky with 21 points and 3 rebounds and 3 assists. Then on the final day of the week, the guard went off. He has the season high for points scored with 43. He was able to couple that with 4 rebounds and 2 assists. The Wright State announcers were getting all over Cohill for not passing the ball, but the Penguins won the game, and I am sure that his teammates were okay with him taking the shots if you are on a heater like he was all day Sunday.

That does it for the nominees for the Mid Major Player of the Week for Busting Brackets. Who was the winner this week?

Under The Radar Game of the Day – Monday, December 5th--Hoops HD
Horizon League Basketball: Power rankings after 1st month of 2022-23 season--Busting Brackets

#HLWBB Power Rankings — Week 4--HoriZone Roundtable WBB

Vikings hot streak continues with 2-0 start in league play--HoriZone Roundtable
Cleveland State Men's Basketball Travels to St. Bonaventure for Road Matchup--csuvikings.com

Third-quarter run propels Vikings to comfortable win in HLWBB opener--HoriZone Roundtable WBB
No Mercy: Cleveland State enjoys record-setting beatdown of Detroit--HoriZone Roundtable WBB
Cleveland State Women’s Basketball Picks Up 86-30 Victory Over Detroit Mercy--csuvikings.com

NCAA Basketball: State of Michigan power rankings (D-I) after 1 month (No. 3 – Detroit Mercy)--Busting Brackets
UConn’s hot start, Virginia’s lethal weapon, Marcus Sasser’s health and more: Hoop Thoughts--The Athletic

Other Hoop Thoughts

• History was made Thursday night when Detroit Mercy guard Antoine Davis became the Horizon League’s all-time leading scorer during a road win over Purdue Fort Wayne. It was another milestone for the 6-1 super senior, with more to come. Earlier this season, Davis set a new NCAA record for most consecutive games scoring in double figures. He is just 58 points away from becoming the 11th player in Division I history with 3,000 career points. He is 748 points away from eclipsing Pete Maravich’s all-time record of 3,667 points, and he is 49 made 3s away from breaking the NCAA record held by Wofford’s Fletcher Magee.

To be fair, Davis is breaking all these marks during the extra year of eligibility the NCAA granted all its athletes because of the COVID-19 pandemic. But he is still pulling all this off under extreme pressure, both from the media and opposing defenses. “He’s always had special defenses on him, but this year they’re face-guarding him like crazy all over the court,” Titans coach Mike Davis, who is Antoine’s father, told me. “Every time he takes a shot, people are talking about another record. He’s doing the deep breath thing now and trying not to think about it, but it’s hard.”

Remarkably, it has been 21 years since the elder Davis, now 62, coached Indiana to the NCAA championship game two years after taking over for the fired Bob Knight. He has since coached at UAB and Texas Southern, and while he says he is “appreciative to have a job,” he feels especially lucky that his son opted to play for him despite interest from big-time schools coming out of high school. “Well, I’ve been feeding him all his life, and his mother’s in love with me, so that’s key,” Davis said. “The thing I’m most proud of is that he has over 500 assists. He shoots 2,000 shots a day, sometimes 3,000. They’re going to retire his jersey on Senior Day. It’s just fun for me to watch all of his hard work pay off.”

Here is how the record breaking calls sounded with the radio call by @ThatDanHasty on @FaithTalkWLQV as well as on the ESPN+ broadcast by @John_G_Nolan #DetroitsCollegeTeam #HLMBB pic.twitter.com/bXBB7n5SLK
— Detroit Mercy MBB (@DetroitMBB) December 2, 2022