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.
Out: Will Ryan | In: Sundance Wicks
Wicks, an assistant coach for Wyoming the past three
seasons, replaces Ryan, who was fired after he went 2-19 this season.
Green Bay is one of the toughest jobs in the Horizon League.
San Jose State’s Omari Moore, Princeton’s Tosan Evbuomwan, Utah State’s Taylor Funk and Detroit Mercy’s Antoine Davis headline a long list of mid-major players who did not hear their name called on draft night this year.
While
his overall record at Youngstown State doesn’t stand out, Calhoun has
arguably the worst job in the Horizon League on a clear upward
trajectory, winning 24 games this past season. He also worked at West
Virginia under Huggins and had a highly successful run in the state at
Division-II Fairmont State. Calhoun’s offenses are fun to watch, and
he’s well-connected both at this program and in the state. There
wouldn’t be much flash involved in this hire, but Calhoun has been in
the mix for multiple jobs this spring and would have a chance to be very
successful at a position with the resources WVU possesses.
Jerrod
Calhoun worked under Bob Huggins before taking over at Youngstown
State, where he led the Penguins to their first-ever Horizon League
regular season conference championship last season.
Firstly, Borzello looked to a couple of names who have previously worked under Huggins: UAB coach Andy Kennedy and Youngstown State coach Jerrod Calhoun. Kennedy was previously an assistant on Huggins’ staff at Cincinnati from 2001-05 before leaving to become the head coach at Ole Miss in 2006. He resigned in the middle of the 2017-18 season, leaving as the school’s all-time wins leader with a 245-156 record.
Calhoun was a student assistant under Huggins at Cincinnati during
the 2003-04 season. He later joined the staff at West Virginia in 2007
and remained until 2012. He took over as the coach at Youngstown State
in the 2017-18 season and led them to a regular season Horizon League
title and 24-10 record this past season.
The Desert Division will feature South Dakota, VMI, Northern Arizona, and Purdue Fort Wayne. These four programs will play in bracketed Semifinal games on November 17th, followed by a 3rd Place and Championship Game on November 18th.
ON-CAMPUS MATCHUPS
November 22nd: Purdue Fort Wayne at San Francisco
DESERT DIVISION PREVIEW
The quartet of South Dakota, VMI, Northern Arizona, and Purdue Fort Wayne will play a four-team bracketed tournament to be played on November 17th and 18th.
PURDUE FORT WAYNE – The most knowledgeable underground scouts that I am fortunate to know are all raving about Rasheed Bello. He was named Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (D2) Player of the Year after averaging 17.9 points, 5.1 rebounds, 4.5 assists, and 2.5 steals per game at Wisconsin-Parkside. Rumblings are saying a ceiling of becoming an all-Horizon League performer is well within reach. A more decorated D1 transfer is Jalen Jackson (via Illinois-Chicago). Jackson is a Fort Wayne native and really began to peak for UIC last February. HC Jon Coffman has had this Mastadon program close a few times to really break through, this would be as good a year as ever to make that NCAAT appearance happen. The question will once again be on the defensive side of the ball where in the nine seasons under Coffman, the Mastadons have yet to have an Adjusted defensive efficiency rank in the Top 200 in the nation. Regardless, this is an entertaining bucket-getting team, that the masses will enjoy watching in the Arizona Tip-Off.
Robert Morris, Duquesne men's basketball add non-conference games
According to other outlets this week, Robert Morris and Duquesne
men's basketball will participate in multi-team events this upcoming
season. Robert Morris is set to host an MTE from Nov. 24-26, featuring
the Colonials, Jacksonville and Farleigh Dickinson. Duquesne will travel
to Lincoln, Neb., for a Nebraska-hosted MTE, at least for one game.
Duquesne, Nebraska, Rider and Stony Brook are set to be a part of that
event from Nov. 13-20. Dates, times and locations of the games have not
been released.
