Primarily a collection of news links about all 12 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.
Apparently, a streaming arrangement was made with
Southwest Florida College, which hosts this event, for the Palms
Division. So, while you likely missed yesterday’s semifinals, an 88-85
SUU OT win over Yale and Bowling Green’s 82-68 victory over Milwaukee,
you can tune into today’s doubleheader starting at 11 Eastern.
Tonight’s title game in Estero is a rematch of the first
game the Golden Grizzlies and Fightin’ Blue Hens played in the 2019
Sunshine Slam, a 56-53 victory for Delaware, who went on to go 3-0 in
the event.
-In the Gulf Coast Showcase, Oakland knocked off a Vermont team 63-61
that’s under the radar, but who will also probably win a lot of games
this year. Oakland has a long way to go to land inside the bubble, and
has lost a game or two that they needed to win, but they also have a win
at Oklahoma State, so we are definitely watching them.
Rice (C-USA, 4-1, 142 KP) vs. Oakland (Horizon, 3-2, 149 KP), 5 p.m. Fordham (A 10, 3-2, 242 KP) vs. Delaware (CAA, 3-1, 152 KP), approx. 7:30 p.m.
Consolation
Evansville (MVC, 2-4, 204 KP) vs. Vermont (AE, 3-2, 99 KP), 11 a.m. Akron (MAC, 2-2, 153 KP) vs. Appalachian State (Sun Belt, 2-3, 183 KP) , approx. 1:30 p.m.
Monday’s quarterfinals in Estero set up an unexpected
semifinal doubleheader. Sure, Rice was expected to defeat Evansville,
but Oakland got a boost when Vermont suspended several players for team
rules violations. Still, the Catamounts almost got the win over a Golden Grizzlies squad that’s already won at Oklahoma State. Akron, a one-point loser at Ohio State,
saw its offense go AWOL against Fordham. In the nightcap, Sun Belt
Tournament champ App State dropped a seven-point decision to a Delaware
team that should be a factor in a competitive CAA.
Southern Utah (Big Sky, 1-3, 140 KP) vs. Yale (Ivy, 3-2, 145 KP), 12 p.m. Bowling Green (MAC, 1-3, 173 KP) vs. Milwaukee (Horizon, 1-2, 133 KP), approx. 2:30 p.m.
While the four host teams take today off before
Wednesday’s finals, which will see Seton Hall and Cal play for third
before Florida and Ohio State meet for the championship, the four
visitors take the floor for their semifinals in Fort Myers. However,
neither today’s visitors’ doubleheader nor tomorrow’s will have video
coverage. So, unless you’re a fan or an NBA scout in the arena to watch
Milwaukee’s Patrick Baldwin Jr., you’ll have to listen to one of the
teams’ radio feeds.
-VERMONT VS OAKLAND (Gulf Coast Showcase). These are two really good
UTR teams with an outside shot at landing inside the bubble. Oakland
already has a nice win against Oklahoma State and while Vermont doesn’t
have the big win on their resume yet, they do have what will probably
turn out to be a decent win at Northern Iowa, and their only loss was at
Maryland.
Rice, despite having a high post
maestro in Fiedler, was surprisingly not great in zone offense last
year. Perhaps it was some relatively small sample size variance, but
even if they’re efficient against the Oakland zone, I’m
not sure who can stay with Cain...
Vermont’s
elite ball movement has shredded zones under Becker (89th percentile
last year per Synergy), and Kampe is standing pat with the zone thus far
this year (85% of defensive possessions), and it’s mostly been working
(thanks to teams shooting just 24% from 3 against them)...
NAPLES INVITATIONAL (Naples, FL)
George Washington’s
near upset of Maryland looks like a mirage... They
now have a tough Wright State team to open this
tournament...
-Louisville had to sweat out winless Detroit Mercy. Now, they did
get the win, and they may get things turned around as the season goes
on, but right now Louisville has not looked anything like an NCAA
Tournament caliber team in any of their first four games.
He's played in only one
game thus far for Milwaukee, but Patrick Baldwin Jr. was sure electric
in that appearance as he went for 19 points, 11 rebounds and four
assists in a 77-71 loss to Eastern Kentucky. Baldwin struggled a touch
shooting it consistently -- he was 7 of 20 from the floor and 2 of 9
from 3-point range -- but better days are ahead (and they seem like
they're already pretty, pretty, pretty good).
Rice (C-USA, 3-1, 142 KP) vs. Evansville (MVC, 2-3, 206 KP), 11 a.m. Vermont (AE, 3-1, 94 KP) vs. Oakland (Horizon, 2-2, 156 KP), approx. 1:30 p.m. Akron (MAC, 2-1, 118 KP) vs. Fordham (A 10, 2-2, 269 KP), 5 p.m. Appalachian State (Sun Belt, 2-2, 183 KP) vs. Delaware (CAA, 2-1, 159 KP), approx. 7:30 p.m.
The Gulf Coast Showcase returns to Estero, Fla, (just
outside of Fort Myers) after taking the 2020-21 season off due to the
pandemic. While Vermont and Akron look like the favorites to meet in
Wednesday night’s final, the Catamounts should face a stiff test from
Oakland in today’s second quarterfinal, while Tuesday’s semifinal
against either App State or Delaware should test the Zips.
Green Bay (Horizon, 0-4, 309 KP) vs. Weber State (Big Sky, 4-0, 105 KP), 12 p.m. (Pluto.tv) Ball State (MAC, 1-3, 281 KP) vs. UMass (A 10, 3-2, 112 KP), approx. 2:30 p.m. (CBSSN) UNCG (SoCon, 4-1, 176 KP) vs. FIU (C-USA, 3-1, 295 KP), approx. 5 p.m. (Pluto.tv)
On Friday, UMass handed UNCG its first loss of the season
(after OT), while FIU kept Green Bay winless and Weber State remained
perfect by handling Ball State. The Wildcats will end up winning this
event if they defeat the Phoenix early this afternoon.
Detroit Mercy (0-3, 232 KP) at Louisville (2-1, 49 KP) (Baha Mar Bahamas Championship), 2 p.m. (ACCNX/ESPN+ ($)) Last
night, Maryland struggled to defeat Hofstra in its Baha Mar on-campus
game, so the Cardinals will want to be wary of the Titans.
UIC (2-1, 254 KP) at Loyola Chicago (3-0, 31 KP), 4 p.m. (ESPN+ ($)) My neighbors, the Flames, travel to my old neighborhood for a potential meeting of Missouri Valley ships passing in the night.
-OAKLAND AT ALABAMA. Oakland is probably swinging way over their
heads, but they do have a notable win at Oklahoma State already, and if
they can somehow pull this off then you have to start thinking of them
as a tournament caliber team. Having said that, Alabama has played some
pretty good UTR teams already, so props to them for scheduling them.
They’ve also looked rather impressive against most of them.
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