Once again, there's no clear favorite in Horizon
Jan 12, 2007 10:43:06 GMT -5
Post by Admin on Jan 12, 2007 10:43:06 GMT -5
www.daytondailynews.com/s/content/oh/story/sports/college/wsu/2007/01/11/ddn011207raiderconnection.html
RAIDER CONNECTION
Once again, there's no clear favorite in Horizon League
By Marc Katz
Dayton Daily News
Thursday, January 11, 2007
FAIRBORN — Apparently, it's going to be another one of those "on any given night" years in the Horizon League.
Get this: Wright State beat UIC, then lost to Butler, which lost to UIC.
Youngstown State, which beat Loyola, lost to Detroit.
Milwaukee, which nearly upset Butler (losing by five) and beat Detroit by only one in overtime, lost easily at Loyola and at home against Youngstown State.
"I have no idea of what the record is of the team we're playing," said WSU senior forward Drew Burleson after the Raiders beat Loyola 81-55 on Wednesday. "I knew they were good. We came out with a little chip on our shoulder. We wanted to get back to playing that way."
A week before, the Raiders played that way in a 76-62 romp over UIC. Then they played at Butler and were hardly in it, losing 72-43. They reversed field again to clobber Loyola.
"We had energy tonight," Burleson said after the Loyola game. We played the way we want to play."
So who's the Horizon League favorite now? We're not even to mid-January, and every team has at least one league loss. All but three of the nine teams have at least two losses.
Remember a year ago, five of the nine teams finished 8-8 in league play, including Wright State. On the last day of the regular season, it was tough to tell the teams apart.
League champion Wisconsin-Milwaukee was already done and four games among the other eight teams remained Feb. 25. There were 16 different scenarios for the league tournament, and brackets could not be created until the end of the very last game, which went into overtime.
Here's how the day unfolded. Beginning at 4 p.m. in Chicago, Wright State went into overtime before losing at UIC 69-66. Beginning at 4:05 p.m. in Detroit, Butler beat the Titans 73-71. At 5:30, Green Bay tipped at Cleveland State and held off the Vikings 76-72. At 7:05 p.m. in Youngstown, Loyola went against Youngstown State and went on to beat the Penguins 87-84 in overtime.
Four games, two overtimes, total margin of victory 12 points. You can't get much closer than that.
And for all the hand-wringing about how small the Raiders are, and how undermanned with a 10-player roster reduced for a few games with Will Graham nursing a sore knee, this team is in the race again this season.
"This is a good team," Loyola coach Jim Whitesell said of WSU. "I've been in the league three years, and those three kids — (Drew) Burleson, (DaShaun) Wood and (Jordan) Pleiman — I'm not surprised they're doing well."
Neither should anyone else be.
RAIDER CONNECTION
Once again, there's no clear favorite in Horizon League
By Marc Katz
Dayton Daily News
Thursday, January 11, 2007
FAIRBORN — Apparently, it's going to be another one of those "on any given night" years in the Horizon League.
Get this: Wright State beat UIC, then lost to Butler, which lost to UIC.
Youngstown State, which beat Loyola, lost to Detroit.
Milwaukee, which nearly upset Butler (losing by five) and beat Detroit by only one in overtime, lost easily at Loyola and at home against Youngstown State.
"I have no idea of what the record is of the team we're playing," said WSU senior forward Drew Burleson after the Raiders beat Loyola 81-55 on Wednesday. "I knew they were good. We came out with a little chip on our shoulder. We wanted to get back to playing that way."
A week before, the Raiders played that way in a 76-62 romp over UIC. Then they played at Butler and were hardly in it, losing 72-43. They reversed field again to clobber Loyola.
"We had energy tonight," Burleson said after the Loyola game. We played the way we want to play."
So who's the Horizon League favorite now? We're not even to mid-January, and every team has at least one league loss. All but three of the nine teams have at least two losses.
Remember a year ago, five of the nine teams finished 8-8 in league play, including Wright State. On the last day of the regular season, it was tough to tell the teams apart.
League champion Wisconsin-Milwaukee was already done and four games among the other eight teams remained Feb. 25. There were 16 different scenarios for the league tournament, and brackets could not be created until the end of the very last game, which went into overtime.
Here's how the day unfolded. Beginning at 4 p.m. in Chicago, Wright State went into overtime before losing at UIC 69-66. Beginning at 4:05 p.m. in Detroit, Butler beat the Titans 73-71. At 5:30, Green Bay tipped at Cleveland State and held off the Vikings 76-72. At 7:05 p.m. in Youngstown, Loyola went against Youngstown State and went on to beat the Penguins 87-84 in overtime.
Four games, two overtimes, total margin of victory 12 points. You can't get much closer than that.
And for all the hand-wringing about how small the Raiders are, and how undermanned with a 10-player roster reduced for a few games with Will Graham nursing a sore knee, this team is in the race again this season.
"This is a good team," Loyola coach Jim Whitesell said of WSU. "I've been in the league three years, and those three kids — (Drew) Burleson, (DaShaun) Wood and (Jordan) Pleiman — I'm not surprised they're doing well."
Neither should anyone else be.
