Horizon League Basketball Luncheon

[Big D]

October 17, 2005 (News Release/Men's Basketball)

Horizon League Basketball Luncheon Set for November 7
The Annual Pre-Season Basketball luncheon hosted by the Horizon League will take place Monday, November 7 in the Berry Room of Wright State's Ervin J. Nutter Center. Doors will open at 11:30 am with the program starting at Noon. Cost for the event, including lunch, is $10.00.

Speakers set for the day include WSU's Athletics Director Mike Cusack, Horizon League Commissioner Jon LeCrone, WSU men's basketball coach Paul Biancardi and WSU women's basketball coach Bridgett Williams.

For more information and requited reservations, call 937-775-2771. RSVP deadline is Nov. 1.

www.wsuraiders.com/cgi-bin/athletics/news.cgi?action=features&id=2439

[Mouth]

Whoopee zip, reserve a ticket to hear the usual platitudes from Cusack, LeCrony, et al. :-p

[Big D]

The turnout might challege the attendance we are going to get for the Kenyon game.

[Wolf]

Coach Biancardi announced that DaShaun and Drew are going to be this year's team captains at the luncheon.

[Wolf]

Horizon commish pumps up league
Wright State's Setzer Pavilion among upgrades
By Kyle Nagel

Dayton Daily News

FAIRBORN | — When you talk to Jon LeCrone about the Horizon League, he points from the Nutter Center's Berry Room on an imaginary line through the parking lot.

"Let's take this program, for instance," said LeCrone, the Horizon League commissioner, motioning toward Wright State's new Setzer Pavilion. "What they're building here is something pretty special. Turn the clock back five years, and there was no training facility, for instance. Now that's a state-of-the-art facility. I would tell you that's not only going on here, but around the league."

He then named almost every other league school and mentioned upgrades being made to facilities.

"I don't think here's any AD in our league who does not believe that they can be successful on a national platform in men's basketball," LeCrone said. "Butler's done it, and Milwaukee's done it, and UIC has done it, and Green Bay has done it. They can visualize that future, so they're making appropriate investments."

LeCrone spent Monday afternoon at the Nutter Center speaking at a luncheon previewing the men's and women's basketball seasons at Wright State. The school will begin its 12th season as a member of the conference (formerly called the Midwestern Collegiate Conference), and the league has rarely been more on an upswing, LeCrone said.

He pointed to last season's league standings in men's basketball. Six of the nine schools finished .500 or better, and only two schools had fewer than 10 wins overall.

"On paper, Milwaukee, Detroit and Loyola are at the top of the pack, but the gap between those three and everybody else is not very great," LeCrone said. "Everybody's better. Look down through the whole league."

The same goes for the women's side, he said. Wright State lost in the conference tournament championship game last season after surprising the entire league with its 19-11 (11-5) finish. And the league coaches picked the WSU women to finish second this season, the first time in the team's history it has been voted above sixth in the preseason poll.

"I think if people branded our women's basketball, they would say it's Green Bay and everyone else," LeCrone said. "But I would say that gap is really getting close. You really have to congratulate Green Bay, they created such a gap that everyone else had to stop and say, 'Hey, we're tired of getting beat up by Green Bay. If Green Bay can do it, we can do it.'

"And, to me, that's what makes this league so competitive. Everyone really can do it."

Contact Kyle Nagel at 225-7389

www.daytondailynews.com/sports/content/sports/wsu/daily/1108wsubb.html

[Wolf]

HL DID YOU KNOW...?
By Kyle Nagel

Dayton Daily News

• Wright State point guard DaShaun Wood is a preseason first-team all-league pick.

• Brittney Whiteside, a WSU junior guard, is also a preseason first-team all-league pick.

• The Horizon League began as the Midwestern City Conference on June 16, 1979, with members Butler, Evansville, Loyola, Oklahoma City, Oral Roberts and Xavier.

• Xavier still holds the most MCC/Horizon League men's basketball tournament titles, with six from 1979-95.

• Wisconsin-Green Bay has won or shared the past eight women's basketball regular-season conference titles.

• Only Butler and Wisconsin-Milwaukee have won men's basketball regular-season titles in the past six seasons.

www.daytondailynews.com/sports/content/sports/wsu/daily/1108wsubbbox.html