Horizon League Power Poll

blackpantheruwm · November 06, 2012, 03:45:35 AM

For the first time in history, some of the greatest fans of the Horizon League have come together to vote in a weekly poll on the "power rankings" of Horizon League basketball. The poll, run through my own PantherU.com, will be published every Monday morning throughout the season until the conference tournament. We have representatives from every school in the Horizon League, knowledgable fans who come from the world of media, blogs, and message boards.

From Valpo, the representative is Hank Curry of the Section EE blog.

Link: Horizon League Power Poll 11.5.12

Link: Forum discussion with comments from the panel

HC · November 06, 2012, 06:47:19 PM

Honor to be chosen. Here is how I voted:
Valpo
Detroit
Green Bay
YSU
Milwaukee
CSU
Loyola
UIC
WSU

HC · November 11, 2012, 11:01:46 AM

Here is the rankings I submitted to PantherU this morning.

1) Valpo - despite losing big man transfer Bobby Capobianco to a hernia surgery (eta: Saint Louis game) the Crusaders looked every bit like a team on a mission. Capo will be missed the next couple weeks as the Crusaders visit both Nebraska and Kent State. Catch the Crusaders on ESPN Tuesday morning at 7am Central as they host Northern Illinois.

2) Detroit - Their best traits, speed and athleticism, led to an easy victory over North Michigan. Get a look for yourself on Tuesday afternoon as the Titans will be on ESPN.

3) YSU - Disposing of an A10 team on the road? Well done Penguins, well done. Thats enough to move up a spot in my early power rankings.

4) Green Bay - Drops a spot after narrowly defeating Chicago State.

5) Milwaukee

6) Cleveland State

7) Loyola

8) Wright State - Moved up a spot after winning on the road and scoring 80 points. I didn't think this WSU team could accomplish either of these feats.

9) UIC

valporun · November 11, 2012, 03:14:24 PM

Milwaukee is looking real good against South Carolina, so they could stand to move up above either YSU or Green Bay, but that's just my opinion. The Panthers had a 38-23 lead at the half. Besides that, I agree with the rest of your list.

Did you have to turn in your power poll today? Just wondering if you could have waited until after UWM played.

HC · November 11, 2012, 04:39:38 PM

I didn't think I'd have time this evening so I sent it in early.

valporun · November 11, 2012, 05:22:19 PM

Makes sense. I missed most of the OT session for the UWM game, but I would still say they are probably better than YSU and Green Bay after the weekend.

HC · November 12, 2012, 09:28:21 AM

Here is how the panel voted.
Gentlemen, the poll for today:

1. Valparaiso (8)
2. Detroit (1)
3. Green Bay
4. Youngstown State
5. Cleveland State
6. Milwaukee
7. Wright State
8. Loyola
9. UIC

Voting panel: Tom Mieskoski (CSU), Reggie Hall (Detroit), Brian Dickmann (Green Bay), Chris Burrows (Loyola), Josh Griesbach (Milwaukee), Lee Kolodziej (UIC), Hank Curry (Valpo), Charles Grove (WSU), Mitchell Friedman (YSU)

valporun · November 12, 2012, 12:23:06 PM

I'm still not sure I would have ranked Milwaukee that low. Sure, South Carolina is nothing to write home about in college basketball, but Milwaukee played them well, getting to overtime on the road in the SEC. Might have to go back and check out that game on ESPN 3.

HC · November 12, 2012, 12:54:06 PM

I'm guessing votes don't change much until we get into league play. We will see, teams should start playing better opponents this week.

HC · November 18, 2012, 07:29:49 PM

Here is the poll I sent Jimmy this evening. Not a bad week for the HL. Not much going on this week as far as big games goes. UIC has Iona, Detroit visits Miami and Milwaukee goes to Rider.

1) YSU - Undefeated and playing as well if not better then everyone else in the league right now
2) Valpo - A close loss at Nebraska followed up with an OT thriller at Kent State has Valpo down a spot in my poll. Crusaders are treading water waiting out injury to Capobianco and the semester eligibility of Dority.
3) Detroit - A close loss to St. John and narrowly beating Drake at home, combined with me not really liking them drops Detroit to 3rd for now.
4) Milwaukee - Had the win of the week in the league by beating Davidson at home. Having them 4th currently shows how deep this league can be.
5) Green Bay - Back to back road losses after narrowly beating Chicago State (Valpo's opponent on Friday) has my preseason darkhorse down several spots to 5th.
6) CSU - It is tough to move up the ranks in this league.
7) WSU - Surprisingly to me they are undefeated. It is going to take 3 more wins this week for me to start changing my mind on the Raiders.
8) UIC
9) Loyola

vuweathernerd · November 19, 2012, 09:03:49 AM

love your reasoning for number three.

HC · November 19, 2012, 04:28:18 PM

YSU is trying their darnedest to drop out of 1st, losing by 7 at the half to NDSU.

StlVUFan · November 19, 2012, 04:57:34 PM

Quote from: HC on November 19, 2012, 04:28:18 PM
YSU is trying their darnedest to drop out of 1st, losing by 7 at the half to NDSU.

Just floating something here, since I'm unable to watch: if either of the coaches can out-coach the other one, my money's on Saul Phillips.

HC · November 25, 2012, 08:36:15 PM

Here is the poll I sent PantherU this evening. With all the losses this week it was tough ranking the teams.

1. Valpo
2. Detroit
3. Green Bay
4. UIC
5. Wright State
6.YSU
7. Milwaukee
8. Loyola
9. Cleveland State

wh · November 26, 2012, 09:44:12 PM

From the Detroit board:

Your fourth Horizon League Power Poll for the 2012-13 season, ladies and gentlemen:

1. Valparaiso (9)
2. Detroit
3. Cleveland State
4. UIC
5. Green Bay
6. Youngstown State
7. Wright State
8. Milwaukee
9. Loyola

Voting panel: Tom Mieskoski (CSU), Reggie Hall (Detroit), Brian Dickmann (Green Bay), Chris Burrows (Loyola), Josh Griesbach (Milwaukee), Lee Kolodziej (UIC), Hank Curry (Valpo), Charles Grove (WSU), Mitchell Friedman (YSU)

Fun facts:

- Valparaiso has not left the top spot, but for the first time they were the unanimous #1.

- YSU's drop from 2nd to 6th and Milwaukee's drop from 4th to 8th were the biggest drops this week; UIC's jump from 8 to 4 was the biggest jump.

- Loyola, the ninth-place team, was only voted ninth three times.

- Milwaukee had votes as high as 3rd and low as 9th.

- The difference between 3rd and 6th was only four points.

- Detroit was a solid 23 points ahead of Cleveland State.

Milwaukee is 2-4, 1-4 against D-1 opponents, and are on a 3-game losing streak, and yet someone voted them 3rd?

HC · November 27, 2012, 07:09:24 PM

Obviously others thought much higher of CsU then I did.

HC · December 02, 2012, 06:23:39 PM

My ranks this week. I can't wait for conference play and for all this to start sorting itself out.

1) UIC
2) Valpo
3) CSU
4) YSU
5) WSU
6) Detroit
7) Loyola
8) Green Bay
9) Milwaukee

wh · December 02, 2012, 10:56:52 PM

Just a couple of thoughts about HC's picks:

1) UIC (6-1)
2) Valpo (5-2)
3) CSU (5-2)
4) YSU (4-4) Lost 4 of their last 5 games. I would have them below WSU at 5-2.
5) WSU (5-2) Biggest surprise so far.
6) Detroit (1-4)
7) Loyola (5-2) Probably about right despite their record. Their 5 wins are against opponents with combined record of 4-25.
8) Green Bay (3-4)
9) Milwaukee (1-6)

Note: Records for D-1 games only

LaPorteAveApostle · December 03, 2012, 11:07:16 AM

The only good thing about being next to last in this conference is that you look so much cooler than everyone else 8)

HC · December 10, 2012, 04:44:31 PM

Here is how I voted this week:
UIC
Valpo
Detroit
YSU
WSU
Loyola
CSU
Green bay
Milwaukee

Here are the final results:
1. UIC (7)
2. Valparaiso (2)
3. Detroit
4. Cleveland State
5. Wright State
6. Youngstown State
7. Loyola
8. Green Bay
9. Milwaukee

Voting panel: Tom Mieskoski (CSU), Reggie Hall (Detroit), Brian Dickmann (Green Bay), Chris Burrows (Loyola), Josh Griesbach (Milwaukee), Lee Kolodziej (UIC), Hank Curry (Valpo), Charles Grove (WSU), Mitchell Friedman (YSU)

Read more here: http://www.brewcityball.com/forums/content.php?488-Horizon-League-Power-Poll-12-10-1

covufan · December 11, 2012, 01:03:23 PM

In one month (November 12th to December 10th) UIC has gone from last to first. With no league games to boot!

What up wit dem cheeseheads? Somehow, I wouldn't take lightly going into either arena.

valporun · December 11, 2012, 04:27:08 PM

Part of me thinks that we're all not giving the kids at UIC credit for believing in Howard Moore's system? It is working, and I haven't looked at what their roster looks like, but it sounds like good things are happening at UIC these days.

milanmiracle · December 11, 2012, 09:11:27 PM

Quote from: valporun on December 11, 2012, 04:27:08 PM
Part of me thinks that we're all not giving the kids at UIC credit for believing in Howard Moore's system? It is working, and I haven't looked at what their roster looks like, but it sounds like good things are happening at UIC these days.

I think you're probably right, and there's a good chance that UIC goes into HL play with their only loss being to New Mexico.

LaPorteAveApostle · December 11, 2012, 09:55:49 PM

Quote from: milanmiracle on December 11, 2012, 09:11:27 PM
I think you're probably right, and there's a good chance that UIC goes into HL play with their only loss being to New Mexico.

...if you think less than a one-in-six chance is "good", then yes. cf.:

http://www.valpofanzone.com/forum/index.php?topic=1090.msg21466#msg21466

I mean, hey, it'd be nice for us as well as them, but it won't be easy.

(for perspective's sake, our chances of going 4-0 are just 13.2%)

HC · December 16, 2012, 11:01:09 PM

Here is what I sent in to PantherU tonight.
UIC
Valpo
Detroit
YSU
Loyola
WSU
GreenBay
CSU
Milwaukee

I dropped CSU below GB mainly because of their injuries to key players. Milwaukee continues to stink up the joint. I'm starting to wonder if they will figure it out at all, hopefully not until after January 12. According to the stat page on the HL website, Detroit is jacking up over 25 3s a game. Does that sound like an outrageously large number to anyone else?