On The Horizon

Jim Squire

Previews – January 1st – 5th--HoriZone Roundtable
Under the Radar – Week 9--Hoops HD

This week’s featured conference is the Horizon League, which saw a surprise yesterday as ~~Morehead~~ Wright State beat Oakland rather handily. Northern Kentucky is also showing signs of life, Green Bay is improving, Robert Morris looked strong out of conference but has also suffered and early loss, and we appear to have a lot more parity in this league than what we expected. (Note from Stalica – Wrong, Morehead had a big win against….Alice Lloyd?)

The 2025-26 Conference Play Primer for All 31 Leagues--Basket Under Review

The Precise Median of the Mid-Majors
Horizon League
REGIONAL
Favorites (50% or above): none!
Contenders (25-50%): Oakland, Youngstown State, Wright State
Darkhorses (10% or above): Robert Morris
Wildcards (5% or above): Milwaukee
True to form, at the time I'm writing this (December 30), the Horizon League already has ten of its 11 teams with a conference loss and the one that hasn't (Milwaukee) is 3-0. No one in this league can ever distance themselves for the rest, which makes for a very exciting conference title race but a pretty terrible handicapping experience as a writer.
Still, basically every game should have some amount of meaning. From 1st through 9th, the projected conference records only go from 14-6 to 8-12. It is a terrible, obnoxiously poor defensive league...and also a league stuffed with offenses that can pour it on these awful defenses. Even Doug Gottlieb has promised to actually care about Green Bay basketball this year in his second season as head coach. The Horizon League truly has it all.
CHAMPION: This year's simulator loves ties. Oakland and Youngstown State split the regular season title at 15-5.
TOURNAMENT: A relatively normal run of play for once: Youngstown State over Robert Morris in the title game. Not too bad!
SUPER DARKHORSE: I'm never, ever quitting Northern Kentucky, because every single year the Norse find themselves in Horizon League talks. Every year! I can't stop! I also still think IU Indy could finish ninth instead of 11th.
MOST IMPACTFUL GAME: Oakland at Youngstown State, January 1. No game actually stands out much from the crowd, but this is a good first look to see if Oakland can take an early lead.