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.
It’s never too early to start looking ahead to the upcoming season!
Check below for our list of 16 head coaches on the rise entering the 21-22 college basketball season.
In no particular order:
Dennis Gates, Cleveland State: Cleveland
State was in purgatory a few years ago. Last March, it was in the NCAA
Tournament. That’s because of Gates. Much like his mentor Leonard
Hamilton, Gates has an unbelievable ability to bring people together in
an effort to sacrifice for the greater good of the group. He’ll lead a
team in 21-22 that will be projected to win the Horizon League.
49. The Champions Classic doubleheader offers the
only appealing inter-conference game between power-league teams on
opening night. But for the counterculture diehards (who are reading
college hoops content like this in the middle of September; I see you
and I love you), here are five other tasty opening-night games worth
following.
• Cleveland State at BYU:
A pair of 2021 NCAA Tournament teams. BYU should win, but CSU coach
Dennis Gates has done as good of a a job as any man who was hired in
2019.
14. I
love when a lottery pick talent chooses the road less traveled and goes
to an atypical school. That's most definitely the case for Patrick Baldwin Jr., who is playing for his dad at Milwaukee. Frustratingly, Milwaukee only has two games vs. high-major opponents this season: at Florida (Nov. 18), at Colorado (Dec. 10).
Cleveland State: What
can Dennis Gates do for an encore? Repeat as champions of the Horizon
League, but this time it will come as a league favorite. One year
removed from an incredible turnaround that saw Cleveland State go from
11-21 in Gates’ first season to the NCAA Tournament in his second, the
Vikings now enter 21-22 as the team to beat in their conference. It says
here that they’ll be up to the challenge. Torrey Patton (14.7 points,
eight rebounds) — who led Cleveland State in both scoring and rebounding
last season — is returning to use his additional year of eligibility
along with fellow seniors Craig Beaudion and Algevon Eichelberger.
Veterans D’Moi Hodge and Tre Gomillion also return which means that
Gates will have his top five scorers back from a year ago. Florida State
transfer Nathaniel Jack and Pacific transfer Broc Finstuen should add
perimeter depth and shooting. This will be one of the oldest teams in
college basketball.
After a one-year hiatus from our Top-100 player ranks, we welcome back baby Davis to the exclusive club. Refurbished by an upgraded supporting cast (Thanks dad!), Davis went bananas on Horizon defenses last year.
17. Patrick Baldwin Jr., F, Milwaukee
Dropping a green room talent in the middle of a mid-major playground is the mad science experience we’ve all been waiting for. Baldwin’s no match for his soon-to-be Horizon League foes.
