HL Previews USA Today

[wh]

To make matters worse (from a league standpoint), they've put together a terrible OOC schedule.  Obviously, Jeter is desperate to put some W's on the credit side of the ledger.  Just another reason why LeCrone should take action to force our resident self-serving programs to improve their OOC scheduling to a minimum acceptable level.  Everyone knows that at the end of the day coaches are judged on W's and L's - period.  For those who are desperate to hang on like Jeter or opportunists like Donlon looking to move up, the temptation is simply too great to "schedule down" rather than do their part to enhance the standing of the league.     

[Kyle321n]

To make matters worse (from a league standpoint), they've put together a terrible OOC schedule.  Obviously, Jeter is desperate to put some W's on the credit side of the ledger.  Just another reason why LeCrone should take action to force our resident self-serving programs to improve their OOC scheduling to a minimum acceptable level.  Everyone knows that at the end of the day coaches are judged on W's and L's - period.  For those who are desperate to hang on like Jeter or opportunists like Donlon looking to move up, the temptation is simply too great to "schedule down" rather than do their part to enhance the standing of the league.     

Milwaukee, while having an average OOC RPI of 198 this season, actually doesn't look to bad in terms of the A10 rating for OOC schedule. Wisconsin, Davidson, Northern Iowa, and DePaul are all worth more than 2 points and they have 3 more teams that are actually worth points.

Green Bay on the other hand has only 4 teams worth points (Wisconsin and Virginia worth 4 and 3 respectively) and only have 10 games against D1 opponents. Wardle hasn't had a "bad" team since taking over the team, but they've put together an absolutely putrid schedule.

Wright State has put together a really bad schedule.They weren't expected to be good last year, but you would think they would see the fact that they had a full returning roster and schedule in advanced for a senior laden team.  An average RPI of 232.0... What is that? The teams they had "Home and Homes" with aren't even schools that you could say have historical success.

If Milwaukee had the worst schedule in the Horizon then I think we could pick them out and say "Why aren't they trying to improve?" but they have a similar schedule to UIC and our top 2 teams in preseason rankings are dragging the conference down in terms of out of conference schedules.

[wh]

Again, thank goodness Loyola moved on.  It's a relief knowing the "nation's worst" OOC schedule will be pissing all over the MVC this year rather than the Horizon.

[Kyle321n]

Again, thank goodness Loyola moved on.  It's a relief knowing the "nation's worst" OOC schedule will be pissing all over the MVC this year rather than the Horizon.

Wright State isn't too far off from Loyola's mess. You take Georgetown out of the mix and you've got basically the same SOS from WSU.

[LaPorteAveApostle]

I no longer have the time to waste on number-crunching, gentlemen, but remember when assessing schedules at this point in time, I'd have two quotes for you.

One is Solon (in Herodotus):  "Count no man happy before he dies".

The other is Small Print (in everything):  "Past performance is no guarantee of future results."

Thus, a team with Wright on its schedule at this point last year would have been pre-kicking themselves, while a team with Milwaukee feeling pretty good about their non-con.

Obviously at the end of the year things have changed considerably.  It would be interesting to note the end-of-year RPI ratings and see how they compare.

[a3uge]

While you can't say the Klotsche is the only reason for UWM being awful, you could probably say their gym was a large contributing factor to the poor recruiting in the last two years. UWM shouldn't have been that bad last year. In 2010 Kyle Kelm and Kaylon Williams were both 3-star recruits (Rivals), the former being an 80 grade by ESPN. Neither of them really amounted to anything. So on paper, I think they shouldn't have been that lousy. But there's a ton of room on their roster and it isn't getting replaced by young talent. Their last two recruiting classes are basically non existent. That's what's really alarming. While Valpo had a bad year in 2009, it was sort of an anomaly and you could point to a strong recruiting class coming up through the ranks (especially a top notch JUCO transfer named Brandon Wood). UWM just imploded. The players weren't playing hard and everything seemed like a lost cause last year. This all started when Geiger took over and moved the team to the Klotschke.

Also worthy of note: JaRob McCallum and Shaquille Boga both transferred out in the last couple of years. Boga probably wasn't that good anyways, however.

[wh]

While you can't say the Klotsche is the only reason for UWM being awful, you could probably say their gym was a large contributing factor to the poor recruiting in the last two years. UWM shouldn't have been that bad last year. In 2010 Kyle Kelm and Kaylon Williams were both 3-star recruits (Rivals), the former being an 80 grade by ESPN. Neither of them really amounted to anything. So on paper, I think they shouldn't have been that lousy. But there's a ton of room on their roster and it isn't getting replaced by young talent. Their last two recruiting classes are basically non existent. That's what's really alarming. While Valpo had a bad year in 2009, it was sort of an anomaly and you could point to a strong recruiting class coming up through the ranks (especially a top notch JUCO transfer named Brandon Wood). UWM just imploded. The players weren't playing hard and everything seemed like a lost cause last year. This all started when Geiger took over and moved the team to the Klotschke.

Also worthy of note: JaRob McCallum and Shaquille Boga both transferred out in the last couple of years. Boga probably wasn't that good anyways, however.

UWM played at the Klotsche Center last season only.  It wasn't even announced that they were moving to the Klotsche until last June.  Even last year's freshmen would have already signed NLI's by then.  The point is every player on last year's roster was recruited thinking they would be playing at the Cell, not the Klotsche.  Therefore, I repeat - last year's horrendous record had nothing to do with the negative recruiting effect of moving to the Klotsche.     

[a3uge]

As for Wright State's bad OOC: this will end up to hurt them if they end up making the tourney. They will have to either beat Georgetown, or if not, win literally every other OOC game to build a reasonable RPI/resume for the selection committee. Dropping a game to a team like NC A&T would be devastating. It's my opinion that the winner of the HL will not be above a 14 seed this year due to the closeness/mediocrity of all of the teams. Wright State would likely have to only drop a couple of conference games to gain a reasonable RPI. Since the whole Horizon will be hovering over a 125 RPI this year, they're not going to get any big wins in conference. Like when Valpo beat Detroit each of the past two years, they could point to a top 100 RPI win. Wright State may only have one opportunity to do this when they play their first D1 game against Georgetown (CBS Sports predicts them to finish 3rdish in New Big East). Of course, this could change if enough bad teams win their conference tournament (last year there weren't too many upsets).

I would say the same thing about Green Bay as well. It helps they don't have any difficult OOC road games this year, but they'll need to win AT LEAST ONE of those games this year.

----

Edit: I could've sworn UWM played at the Klotschke in 2011, but after looking, yeah, they didn't move until last year. Dumb mistake... it's not like I live in Milwaukee or anything...

[Big D]

It's gonna be real tough for UWM to recover... They went from a reputable team that could beat you any day and always finish in the top-half of the HL to the laughing stock of the HL all in the span of one season. They've dug themselves a whole that is gonna take years to dig out of. Sad for a team that was among the HL elite just a few short seasons ago.

UWM will have no problem bouncing back once they get rid of their coach.  They are back to playing at the cell and they are getting ready to announce in the near future the construction of an on campus basketball practice facility.  UWM also pays very well.  They won't have a problem bringing in a good coach.

[EddieCabot]

As for Wright State's bad OOC: this will end up to hurt them if they end up making the tourney. They will have to either beat Georgetown, or if not, win literally every other OOC game to build a reasonable RPI/resume for the selection committee. Dropping a game to a team like NC A&T would be devastating. It's my opinion that the winner of the HL will not be above a 14 seed this year due to the closeness/mediocrity of all of the teams. Wright State would likely have to only drop a couple of conference games to gain a reasonable RPI. Since the whole Horizon will be hovering over a 125 RPI this year, they're not going to get any big wins in conference. Like when Valpo beat Detroit each of the past two years, they could point to a top 100 RPI win. Wright State may only have one opportunity to do this when they play their first D1 game against Georgetown (CBS Sports predicts them to finish 3rdish in New Big East). Of course, this could change if enough bad teams win their conference tournament (last year there weren't too many upsets).

I would say the same thing about Green Bay as well. It helps they don't have any difficult OOC road games this year, but they'll need to win AT LEAST ONE of those games this year.

----

Edit: I could've sworn UWM played at the Klotschke in 2011, but after looking, yeah, they didn't move until last year. Dumb mistake... it's not like I live in Milwaukee or anything...

The Horizon had a good run of getting decent NCAA tourney seeds and winning games in the tourney.  The last two years have been a 15 seed and 14 seed that were near impossible wins.  I don't have the answers, but I assume non-conference scheduling (or lack thereof) is to blame.  I agree that LeCrone should be asked on Media Day about instituting scheduling mandates.

[bbtds]

I no longer have the time to waste on number-crunching, gentlemen, but remember when assessing schedules at this point in time, I'd have two quotes for you.

One is Solon (in Herodotus):  "Count no man happy before he dies".

The other is Small Print (in everything):  "Past performance is no guarantee of future results."

What!!!!!!!? ? ? ? ?

The great number cruncher has no time for number crunching!!!!  What is this world coming to?

[LaPorteAveApostle]

What is this world coming to?

she'll turn one tomorrow. some things are a better use of the time

but thanks for noticing/caring.  I'll probably still keep up the look at the records charts, if only because there won't be much to do for a couple years

and maybe a couple funny looks at the HL, like http://www.valpofanzone.com/2012/12/31/horizon-league-the-non-con-2012/, because it's going to be a funny year...

[vu72]

What is this world coming to?

she'll turn one tomorrow. some things are a better use of the time

but thanks for noticing/caring.  I'll probably still keep up the look at the records charts, if only because there won't be much to do for a couple years

and maybe a couple funny looks at the HL, like http://www.valpofanzone.com/2012/12/31/horizon-league-the-non-con-2012/, because it's going to be a funny year...

Happy birthday to your daughter!!   

[bbtds]

What is this world coming to?

she'll turn one tomorrow. some things are a better use of the time

but thanks for noticing/caring.  I'll probably still keep up the look at the records charts, if only because there won't be much to do for a couple years

and maybe a couple funny looks at the HL, like http://www.valpofanzone.com/2012/12/31/horizon-league-the-non-con-2012/, because it's going to be a funny year...

She is extremely cute!

You really ought to find her a better child seat, though. 

Well, kind of like what the Valpo football team says to their opponents each week (except Campbell), our loss is your gain.

[LaPorteAveApostle]

thanks, brothers!  the party was a tremendous success...too bad she won't remember a thing!

[wh]

Horizon Preview: UIC
by Commissioner » Sat Oct 12, 2013 8:16 pm

Analysis #7:

UIC

2013: Horizon 7-9 (5th T); Overall 18-16, CIT

Coming off an eight win season in 2011-12, UIC was the toast of the Horizon during the early going in 2012-13. The Flames started the season 9-1, including a home victory over eventual NCAA selection Colorado State, neutral court wins over NCAA selection Iona and NIT selection and 24 game winner Mercer, and a road win over the Big 10's Northwestern. Their sole loss was a close game against 29 game winner New Mexico. They were playing a lock-down defense, holding 6 of those opponents to fewer than 50 points, but also capable of run-and-gun, defeating high scoring Iona in an 86-81 shootout.

It's not quite clear what happened after that successful start, but the Flames didn't hold another team below the 50 point level all season, and staggered through with a 9-15 record the rest of the year, including a 4-8 finish. Their 17-15 regular season was enough for a CIT bid, where they managed a first round win thanks to drawing 11-21 Chicago State, which got an automatic bid as the Great West tournament champion.

Now UIC faces the 2013 season having lost more scoring and rebounding to graduation than any team in the league except for Valpo and Detroit, which as the league's top two teams in recent years have quite a bit more margin for decline. In Gary Talton, Daniel Barnes, and Josh Crittle the Flames lost their top 3 scorers, 3 of their top 4 rebounders, and their top two in assists. Also gone is Anthony Kelly, a valuable bench player.

Despite these losses, the new-look Flames seem confident heading into the 2014 season. A major reason for that confidence is transfer Kelsey Barlow, a starter at Purdue before being kicked off the team in 2012 after an altercation in a bar. This followed his suspension for "conduct detrimental to the team" immediately before the 2011 NCAA tournament (there are rumors, but I caution only rumors, that he failed a drug test. The University has never specified the reason for that suspension). His teammates were unfazed – senior captain Ryne Smith immediately called Barlow's dismissal "addition by subtraction." At the time of his dismissal, Barlow was playing some of the best ball of his career, including a 14 point effort against Ohio State and a 10 point, 8 rebound performance against Northwestern.

The Flames' hopes to contend in the Horizon now rest substantially on the talented but troubled 6-5 senior guard. He is potentially a dominant talent in the Horizon – if he's got his act together and isn't too rusty from nearly a year and a half of inaction (sitting out his transfer year and missing the end of the 2012 season after his dismissal).

The other key player for the Flames is 6-8 senior power forward Hayden Humes. Humes is a solid all-around player who can score inside, drain the three, hit the boards, and pass well. Humes was a part-time starter at Toledo as a freshman in 2011, and due to Toledo's APR problems was able to transfer to UIC, where he has been a starter for two seasons, without sitting out a year. He hasn't gotten a lot of attention in his two seasons at UIC but don't be surprised if Humes is an all-conference player at year-end.

The other returning starter is 6-4 junior wing Mark Brown. Look for Barlow, Humes and Brown to be joined in the starting lineup by Jordan Harks, a 6-8 graduate transfer from Central Arkansas, and Joey Miller, a 6-3 guard who was something of a disappointment after transferring from Eastern Illinois, averaging just 3.9 ppg and shooting just 31% both from the trey and overall, after averaging 10.4 at EIU in 2012. 6-10, 235 lb. junior Will Simonton and 6-8, 230 lb. soph Jake Wiegand provide some major size and depth up front and give coach Porter Moser the option to go big or small in the lineup, with Brown as the swing man. Indeed, Moser may take this route from the start, bringing Brown off the bench, just to give him some added depth at guard.

Junior Jay Parker started twice last season while playing 32 games. Parker is not an offensive threat but can provide minutes at the point. Expect 6-5 freshman wing Pat Birt, a 3-star recruit who got a lot of high major interest but mainly mid-major offers, to get some opportunities. 6-5 junior forward Ahman Fells and 6-4 sophomore guard Gabe Snider are deep on the bench but will see action.

UIC's big weakness on offense is a lack of 3 point shooting other than Humes. They were a not a good rebounding team last year (-1.3 per game) and will be worse this year unless Simonton and Wiegand step up their games. And they're a bit slow. But you can be sure that Moser's team will play tough defense, and won't turn the ball over much.

UIC needs to win this year – Barlow, Humes and Harks, probably their 3 best players, are all seniors. Unless you're Kentucky, it's tough to lose the bulk of your scoring and rebounding in consecutive years. The Flames have an attractive non-conference schedule including a game against hated big brother Illinois on a neutral floor in Chicago and a home game against cross-town Northwestern. After last season's Dr. Jeckyl opening but Mr. Hyde finish, and with so much rides on how Barlow performs, UIC is one of the toughest teams in the league to predict. They are not doing well with pre-season prognostcators, generally being predicted for 7th or 8th, but if you wanted to put some money on a long shot, you could do a lot worse than bet on UIC.

Probable Starters:
G: 6-5 Sr. Kelsey Barlow (Purdue 2012), 8.3 ppg, 3.7 rpg, 1.7 apg
G: 6-3 Jr. Joey Miller, 3.9 ppg,
SF: 6-4 Jr. Mark Brown, 5.7 ppg, 3.0 rpg.
PF: 6-8 Sr. Hayden Humes, 10.3 ppg, 5.2 rpg, 40% 3P%.
F: 6-8 Sr. Jordan Harks, (Central Arkansas) 7.9 ppg, 4.2 rpg, .587 FG%.

Other Key Players:
PG: 5-10 Jr. Jay Parker, 1.3 ppg, 1.0 apg.
SF: 6-5 Fr. Pat Birt
PF: 6-8 Soph. Jake Weigand, 2.3 ppg, 1.3 rpg.
C: 6-10 Sr. Will Simonton, 2.4 ppg, 2.2 rpg.

[wh]

Horizon Analysis - Detroit
by Commissioner » Sat Oct 19, 2013 11:46 pm

So, here is the final Horizon preseason analysis, for our Titans.

2013 Conference: 12-4 (2nd); Overall 20-13 (NIT)

So the Ray McCallum (the player) era at Detroit is over. It was good, but to me it largely feels like a missed opportunity. Unusual circumstances enabled the Titans to nab a top 30 high school recruit, but beyond that, the Titans surrounded McCallum with some very good talent. Nick Minnerath was a classic mid-major story, a fine player - I think at some point he'll get at least a few games in the NBA - found in a most unusual place due to a most unusual story. Most mid-majors are lucky to see a big man like Eli Holman once every 20 years. Jason Calliste was a very good mid-major 2-guard. Doug Anderson had holes in his game, but his raw athletic ability and the excitement he could bring to a game are rare, indeed, in the mid-major ranks.

The 2012 season got off to a rocky start due to injuries and off-court turmoil. Eventually the time the Titans got it going and won the Horizon tournament, but their early season losses doomed them to a #15 seed and a super tough draw against Kansas. Last year was even more of a missed opportunity. Let me suggest just a few possibilities:
The Titans don't play a terribly flat game at Bowling Green, and get the win;
The Titans close out the game against St. John's.
The Titans don't (literally) throw it away late, and win at Temple.
The Titans hang on to beat Valpo by 1 at Calihan, instead of losing by 1.

That would have given the Titans a 24-7 regular season mark, with road wins over 2 BCS top-50 teams in St. John's and Temple. That's not giving the Titans every break – I'm not saying they complete the rally to beat Syracuse, hold on to their big early leads at Pitt and Miami, don't lose to a mediocre Cleveland State team. That 24-7 mark, with the victory over Valpo, makes the Titans regular season champs, and thus hosts of the Horizon tournament. Playing at Calihan, would they have beaten Wright State by 2 instead of losing by 2? That would make the Titans 25-7. If they then beat Valpo at home again in the final, they're Horizon champs at 26-7; even losing, their 25-8 might well have merited an at-large bid. But at 26-7, with their schedule, they probably would have been seeded in the 10-12 range, an excellent place from which to make a Sweet 16 run.

Well, enough with the woulda/coulda/shoulda. The Ray years, if perhaps a bit disappointing, were nonetheless good years, and marked the return of the program to competitiveness.

This year, of course, the Titans lose a ton. Since readers here pretty well know the Titans, rather than break down the team, let me do a different approach. Let's compare UD to Valpo. Valpo and Detroit have been the league's two best teams the last two years, but only Valpo lost a higher percentage of last year's scoring and rebounding than the Titans. Although the composite preseason predictions have Valpo 6th and the Titans 7th, the distance between the two is considerable. Moreover, of 11 predictions I've recorded, only ESPN predicted the Titans to finish ahead of the Crusaders.

So let's compare the two teams.

Key Returning Players:
Bobby "the Thug" Capobianco v. Evan Bruinsma (by the way, does "Bruinsma" mean "Momma Bear?"):
I think most everyone around the league thinks of Capobianco as a superior to Bruinsma, but it's not obvious that that's the case - at least not from results. Capo's perceived advantage, I think, stems mainly from his impressive physique and his Indiana Hoosier pedigree. But last year in Horizon League play, Capobianco averaged 6.1 points and 4.6 rebounds; Bruinsma averaged 6.3 points and 4.5 rebounds. Capo shot .578 from the floor; Bruinsma .565, but Bruinsma outshot Capo from two-point range, .651 to .586. His lower overall percentage came because he took 3 times as many 3-pointers, hitting a very respectable 36.8% of them (in other words, Evan is a 3 point threat – Capo is not). Bruinsma hit 72% of his free throws, to Capobianco's .656. True, Bruinsma played about 6 and a half minutes more per game than Capobianco, but I'm not sure that counts in Capo's favor. Is Capo really better than Bruinsma? Hardly clear.

Lavonte Dority v. Juwan Howard:
This is a more difficult comparison, because the two play different positions, but they're not all that dissimilar, and they are the each team's other returning rotation player, so I've paired them up. Between them, I think a reasonable person could go either way. I'd choose Howard, though. He's a better defensive player, and a better pure shooter.

Other Returning Players
Jordan Coleman v. Anton Wilson :
6-5 senior Jordan Coleman averaged 4.4 ppg in 15 minutes per game. 6-5 soph Anton Wilson played half as much PT and averaged 1.8 ppg. Here, I can see an observer giving the edge to Coleman, but my guess is that Wilson, the soph, has a much higher upside than Coleman, the senior. Wilson was a much more highly rated recruit and I expect that will show with more PT this year. Coleman is a decent role player, but Wilson a double figure scoring threat.

Vashil Fernandez v. Ugochkwu Njoku:
In my Valpo preview, I suggested that Fernandez would be the likely starter ahead of Moussa Gueye. I figure Drew will give him the chance to earn the job, because he has a higher upside than Gueye. But I was probably wrong in thinking Fernandez, even given the chance, would earn the job over the Alabama transfer. The 6-11 Fernandez last year averaged 7.3 minutes, 1.1 points, and 1.4 rebounds, with 14 blocks. The 6-10 Njoku averaged 6.3 minutes, 0.8 points, and 1.6 rebounds, with 20 blocks. Njoku fouls more, but both foul too much. Njoku seems to have much better hands, with one-third as many turnovers. You tell me: does Valpo have an edge here?

Newcomers:
Keith Carter v. Carlton Brundidge
Each team will have new, touted sophomore transfer point guard. Brundidge never fit into the Michigan system and immediately got stuck behind Trey Burke. Carter played in just 3 games for St. Louis last year, but he did average 13 minutes a game in those appearances. Brundidge was more highly recruited, a top 100 player in some rankings, but Rick Majerus called Carter his best ever recruit at St. Louis. My guess is that both will be good, but that Brundidge is more likely to be a dominant player. Flip a coin on who you'd pick.

Moussa Gueye v. Patrick Onwenu
The 7 footer Gueye transfers into Valpo for 1 season. Gueye started 27 games for Alabama last year, but averaged just 15 minutes, 1.4 points, 3.9 rebounds, and 1.4 blocks per game. Despite his size, he shot just 37% from the floor, and 42% from the stripe. Valpo fans are very excited by Gueye, but I think they are due for a big disappointment. Sure, he started 27 games for 'Bama, but how impressive is that? It's not like 'Bama won the national championship- they didn't even make the tournament. And Gueye was arguably the worst starting player last year in the SEC, and he actually logged the minutes of a so-so bench player. So what's it mean to be the worst starter in the SEC? How many Horizon players are better than the worst starter in the SEC?

Are Gueye's numbers more impressive than those of Onwenu? Onwenu averaged 17.5 points, 6.4 rebounds, and shot 47% at Highland CC. Sure, it's a whole different level of play, but of course, guys come up from those type of JC numbers to become BCS starters all the time. (Remember Patrick was being recruited by Georgia when he chose UD). In his 1 year of JC ball, Gueye averaged 10.3 points and 8.7 rebounds. We can say pretty confidently that Onwenu, a JC All-American, was a better JC player than Gueye. Or we can compare 2012 seasons: Onwenu was a freshman at Texas Southern, averaging 8.8 minutes, 3.1 points, and 1.3 rebounds. Gueye was a redshirt soph at Alabama, averaging 8 minutes, 1.5 points, and 1.8 rebounds. Now again, SEC competition is a heck of a lot better than the SWAC, but I'm not sure I give any big edge to Gueye there. I will be surprised if Gueye scores more than Onwenu this year – Gueye is an offensive sinkhole. He'll be a big presence on defense. As with almost every pairing on this list, I think you could reasonably pick either player, but I'd pick Onwenu.

Alec Peters v. Paris Bass. The 6-8 Peters is a very good recruit who will play a key role for Valpo. The 6-8 Bass is a very good recruit who will play a key role for Detroit. Peters is an inside player who can go outside. Bass is a outside player who can go inside. I'd guess that Peters is more game ready this year if only because Paris is still so thin, but that's really a guess. Peters had lots of mid-major offers, plus BC, Butler, Saint Louis, and signed early or he might have gotten more. Bass was a late bloomer – hardly recruited at all until midway through his spectacular senior year at Seaholm, followed by his triumphant AAU season this summer. By late summer, he was sitting on a dozen good mid-major offers while the likes of Iowa, UConn, and Memphis were urging him to go to prep school and join their class of 2014. Peters was predicted for newcomer of the year in the Horizon pre-season poll. I suppose we should respect that and give Valpo the edge, but again, it's not something that is obviously the case.

Clay Yeo v. Matt Grant. Yeo is a solid recruit and probably, objectively, deserves the edge over Grant. I still think Grant is going to be surprisingly good, but we'll see.

Lexis Williams v. Jarod Williams. The quick freshman point guard vs. the tall freshman point guard.

Mix and Match
David Chadwick v. Jermaine Lippert
Newcomer Chadwick, a 6-9, 220 lb graduate senior transfer, averaged 7 minutes, 1.5 points, and 0.9 rebounds for Rice. Lippert, a 6-8 senior forward, average 4.6 minutes, 1.1 points, and 1.1 rebounds for Detroit.

Jubril Adekoya v. Olumide Solanke:
The 6-7 freshman Adekoya and the 6-11 senior Solanke both figure to spend a lot of time on the bench. I'd give the edge to Adekoya, but I'm not sure it matters.

Leftovers
Nick Davidson v. . The Titans have only an 11 man roster, whereas Valpo's freshman guard will play. Edge Valpo, I suppose.

So is Valpo really better, as most the "experts" seems to think? I suppose I'd join the crowd and be prepared to give them a slight edge, but when you match the two teams up this way, it's not exactly a landslide. And perhaps it shows how many questions there are this year in the Horizon.

Miscellania:
The Titans have had 4 straight winning seasons for the first time since they ended a string of 9 straight winning seasons in 2003-04. The Titans longest streaks of winning seasons:
10 (1971-1980)
9 (1996-2004)
9 (1936-1944)
7 (1960-1966)
4 (2010-2013)
4 (1949-1952)
4 (1911-1914)

The Titans will also be trying to win 20 games in 3 consecutive seasons for the first time since winning 20 or more in 4 consecutive seasons from 1998-2001. The Titans also had 3 consecutive 20 win seasons from 1977-1979.

The Titans' all-time leaders in coaching wins:
1. Bob Calihan 306
2. Perry Watson 261
3. Lloyd Brazil 185
4. Ray McCallum 86
5. Dick Vitale 78

Dick Vitale's first game as Titan coach was 40 years ago, on December 1, 1973. The Titans beat Hillsdale, 96-63.

This year also marks the 40th anniversary of the first match-up between Detroit and Oakland. The Titans beat Oakland 100-75 in December, 1973.

The 1973-74 squad is also the only Titan team to beat Michigan and Michigan State in the same season.

This is the 15th anniversary of the 1999 team, the last Titan squad to win an NCAA tournament game, beating UCLA.

It's the 35th anniversary of the 1979 team, the last Titan squad to be nationally ranked.

It's the 45th anniversary of Spencer Haywood's 1 season in Detroit. Haywood set the Titans' single season records for points and rebounds per game (32.1 and 21.5), and is the Titan's last "teamed" All-American.

This is the 50th anniversary of the 1964 team, which lead the nation in scoring. The Titans averaged 96.1 ppg, but gave up 86 ppg and finished just 14-11. Dick Dzik led the team with 21.7 ppg and 20.8 rpg. Sophomore Dorie Murrey added 16.9 ppg, Al Cech 15.8, and Terry Page 10.9.

It's the 75th anniversary of the 1938-39 team, which featured Detroit's first All-American, Bob Calihan. Other members of the All-America team that year included Irving Torgoff (Long Island), Urgel Wintermute (Oregon), Chet Jaworski (Rhode Island), and Bernie Opper (Kentucky). The 1939 Titans went 15-5, with Calihan averaging 13.3 ppg.

[mvandersee]

I'm seeing a lot of "ifs" and "but let's disregard the numbers" type projections here, so I'm not seeing much value in their analysis.

[LaPorteAveApostle]

Bobby "the Thug" Capobianco

THERE's the feelings I knew were simmering

Evan Bruinsma (by the way, does "Bruinsma" mean "Momma Bear?"):

I KNEW i made this joke a year ago; I just had to find it.  They're a little slow up there.  If he had signed with us I'd've made that joke in his "hello" post.
http://www.valpofanzone.com/forum/index.php?topic=1079.msg20446#msg20446
(this is worth clicking through because of all the other jokes made below.  a real team effort.)

Actually, it's kind of interesting to see how similar in a lot of ways our two teams are; although, I'm willing to bet on ANY given roster you could always find tall people to compare to other tall people.

Also, let's not forget Bruinsma's own Thugg Lyfe:
http://www.valpofanzone.com/forum/index.php?topic=1160.msg23156#msg23156
(also the two posts right after it are hilarious too)

OK, that's 3 old posts dug up for posterity today.  I'm going to bed.

[valpotx]

That play was still mostly on Doug Anderson, so I refuse to call Bobby a thug, even if he wasn't on our team.  Detroit will be a good bit worse than Valpo, as we will finish in the top 4, and they will be playing for the bottom 3.

[classof2014]

Capo a thug? Hardly

If Capo was truly a thug he would've chosen to go to school in the thug capital of the world.... DETROIT

[VULB#62]

Missing from the Commish's comparison are the intangibles:  team cohesiveness, coaching, us before me. Heavy weighting to VU on those.

[wh]

Detroit fans will always see what Capo did as unjustifiably mugging their human highlight film, and that's ok.  I will always remember it as a great hustle play by Capo that changed the momentum of a crucial game, and may well have been the single biggest play in deciding which team would host the tournament. 

[valporun]

I see it as Bobby brought some momentum to Valpo with that mugging, so you could say that on that one play, Bobby did his job to stop Anderson from making the Sportscenter Top 10. If Bobby was a real thug, a la some of the UW-Milwaukee guys of a few seasons ago, he would have targeted particular scorers or players from each team every game. Whatever Detroit wants to say, they'll say, but we know what Bobby's mugging did to help our season.

[vu72]

 video:

http://youtu.be/O8Ln87UScR4

I think its pretty clear that Bobby was targeting the spot where Anderson was going when Anderson turned back for the showboat slam which resulted in the collision.