The final stretch in the Horizon League

[rock70]

Here are the remaining games for the top 6 teams in the Horizon League. Pay close attention to Butler because they have a serious chance to finish with a 13-5 record which would probably give them at 1 or 2 seed.


Butler (7-5): HOME GAMES - UIC, Wright State, Detroit, & Loyola AWAY GAMES - UIC

- The way I see it we are the only real last chance that Butler has for losing in the league and we'll probably be the underdog in the rematch at Hinkle. It is very probable that Butler finishes with a 13-5 league record which set up nice for them getting a first round bye. Butler by far has the easiest finishing schedule in the Horizon League.

Projection: 13 - 5 ( 12-6 if we can beat them at Hinkle )

Cleveland State (10-3): HOME GAMES- YSU, UWM, & Green Bay AWAY GAMES - Detroit & Wright State

- At this point the Vikings are still the favorite in my eyes because we are the only real threat to beat them at home and even if we do beat them that only leaves them with 4 loses which will probably be enough to win the league or at worst get them one of the top 2 spots. Their game at Detroit is the real wild card and could mess things up big time for the Vikings.

Projection: 14-4

Detroit (7-6): HOME GAMES - CSU & YSU AWAY GAMES - Valpo, Butler, & Wright State

- Up hill battle for the Titians to finish in the top 4 in the league. Brutal road games and CSU at home.

Projection: 8-10

Valpo ( 9-3 ): HOME GAMES - Detroit, Wright State, Loyola, & UIC AWAY GAMES - UWM & Green Bay

- I can see Valpo losing two more games between the Wisconsin trip and our game with them so I'm going to predict two more loses for the Crusaders.

Projection: 13-5

UWM (8-5): HOME GAMES - Valpo AWAY GAMES - Loyola, UIC, Cleveland State, & YSU

- Finishing with 4 out of final league games on the road is not good for the Panthers and their lone home game is with Valpo so it will be a tough row to hoe for Milwaukee. I see them winning 2 road games and the Valpo game is a toss up in my mind.

Projection: 11-7 ( I have them beating Valpo at home )

Wright State ( 9-4): HOME GAMES - YSU, Detroit, & Cleveland State AWAY GAMES - Butler & Valpo

- Unfortunately are two road games are going to be brutal plus our home game with CSU will be a challenge. Since I'm a Raider fan ( and bias ) I'm going to say that we win out at home and split on the road.

Projection: 13-5

So if my predictions/projects are close you're looking at dog fight for that coveted number 2 seed with Valpo and Butler. Our two game road swing through Indiana next week will probably make or break us as far as capturing the number 2 seed.

Final projections: *in alphabetical order in case of ties

CSU 14-4
Butler 13-5
Valpo 13-5
Wright State 13-5
UWM 11-7
Detroit 8-10

[wolf41]

I do this type of analysis every year when we hit the mid-point of the schedule. At that point I felt that we might finish 9-9. Every unexpected win would put us +1 in the win column, every unexpected loss would be +1 in the loss column. Our win at GB moved us to 10-8 as a final record. I just have to see how we do the rest of the way. A win on the road is possible. Two wins at home are possible as well.

[raiderryan]

Thanks for the breakdown Rock. I'll be dissapointed with anything less than 13-5 and be absolutely thrilled if we can pull out an amazing 14-4 finish. I'm not putting anything past this group right now. We need to defend our home court the rest of the way out, and if we do, it sets up some interesting stories for our road games. I think we'll come out really angry at Valpo after what happened here. As far as the BU game goes... well...its the BU game and ya never know which Raider bunch (or Bulldog bunch for that matter) will show up.

[wolf41]

phelps, you must have a better memory than me as to who says what on the website. I can recall saying we need to give more minutes to the new players and recently the coach has done that because we have two starters sitting due to injuries, which I had alluded to as the reason to give more minutes to the new players. Those are the only "predictions" that I can recall. I usually refrain from making predictions about outcomes of games because I truly believe that these teams can beat any other HL team on a given night.

[Fastbreak]

Tough season-ending stretch awaits WSU, and players feeling the urgency

www.daytondailynews.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/dayton/wrightstatesports/entries/2011/02/06/tough_seasonending_stretch_awa.html

[Tipp City Raider]

Nice breakdown Rock