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.
Horizon League Play-in: #312 IU Indy at #321 Cleveland State (-3), 7 PM
ET, ESPN+. This is the first conference tournament game of 2026, and therefore, it
will be mentioned here. Is it any good? No, but it is here and it exists.
The Colonials are HOT right now. They closed out the season winning seven
games in a row, including taking down the conference champions twice in
Wright State. This week, they took care of business against Detroit Mercy
73-62 and Cleveland State 83-64.
While their offense has been a tremendous driver of their success this
season, their defense has been the true turning stone that helped them
finish at 21-10 and 13-7 in the Horizon League. During this seven game
winning streak, the Colonials did not let a single team score more than 69
points while scoring 72+ and 80+ in four games. They rank 136th in offensive
adjusted efficiency and 182nd in defensive adjusted efficiency.
The combination of Ryan Prather Jr. and Desean Goode
is going to be lethal in the conference tournament and whichever
postseason tournament they land in. Prather Jr. is averaging 15.6 points,
3.7 rebounds, and 3.7 assists on the season while shooting 43.8% overall
and 36.9% from three-point. During this winning streak, he’s averaging
17.4 points, 5.4 assists, and 3.7 rebounds. Goode is averaging 15.4
points, 8.6 rebounds, and 1.4 assists on the season while shooting 63.3%
overall and 59.3% from three-point on 59 attempts. During the winning
streak he has two double-doubles and he’s averaging 16.9 points, 7.4
rebounds, and 1.3 steals.
The Colonials secured the two-seed in the Horizon League Tournament which
kicks off this week. They’ll take on Youngstown State in the first round on
Wednesday. During the regular season they swept the Penguins with an 80-77
home win in overtime and a 72-66 road win.
On Fire
Conference Roundup
Wright State
bounced back this week, taking down Purdue Fort Wayne 74-70 and
Northern Kentucky on an incredible late comeback 92-71 on the road.
The Raiders finished the season 20-11 and 15-5 in the Horizon League
as they clinched the regular season title. They’ll play the winner of
Cleveland State and IU Indy on Wednesday.
Ball knowers know—this is the good stuff. The two weeks before Selection
Sunday are as much fun as the real thing, with more than 300 teams still
alive and hoping to go as far as they can. As always, The Minutes is here
for a sprint through the conference tournaments—half of them this week, and
the other half next week.
Horizon (21)
When: March 2–10.
KenPom conference rating: 19th out of 31.
Inspiration: Butler’s back-to-back runs to the final game in 2010 and
’11. Among the current membership: Cleveland State 1986 made the Sweet 16,
shocking Indiana in the first round.
Best player: Purdue Fort Wayne guard Corey Hadnot II is the league’s
only 20-point scorer (20.6 points per game) while also contributing 4.0
rebounds and 3.5 assists per game.
Best March coach: Oakland’s Greg Kampe has won four single-bid
tournaments with the Grizzlies, most recently in 2024 with a team that went
on to stun Kentucky in the first round of the Big Dance.
Top seed: Wright State (20–11, 15–5). The Raiders finished two games
clear of second-place Robert Morris.
Dark horse: Oakland. Never underestimate the fourth-seeded Grizzlies,
who usually win games in this tourney.
Minutes pick:Robert Morris (22). The No. 2 seed is on a
seven-game winning streak, including a 13-point win at Wright State. This is
an odd tournament played in five stages over eight days, so buckle up.
With how wild the Horizon League has been this season, Robert Morris has
emerged as a model of consistency in the conference. After sitting with a
losing record in league play at the end of January, the Colonials closed the
regular season on a seven-game winning streak to secure the No. 2 seed in
the
Horizon League Tournament. During that stretch, RMU defeated the three other of the top four teams
in the conference, including two wins over top-seeded Wright State. After
losing nearly all of their production from last year’s Horizon champion team
to the transfer portal, what head coach Andy Toole has done this season, and
especially down the stretch, is extremely impressive.
Gregory had a monster game in the Penguins’ win at Purdue Fort Wayne as
she scored 37 points on 16-of-19 shooting and pulled down 19 rebounds.
That’s the first 37-point, 19-rebound game in Division I since 2017. She
scored 14 points in the final five and a half minutes to help lead YSU to
a 76-71 win as it locked up the two seed in the Horizon League. She also
had three assists, three steals, and two blocks. The sophomore forward
opened the week with six points and 17 boards in a win at Northern
Kentucky. She averaged 21.5 points and 18 rebounds a game for the week.
