Horizon League Tournament

[Raider Country]

Horizon League Announces Pairings, Times for 2006 Men's Basketball Championship
Feb. 25, 2006

INDIANAPOLIS -- Defending champion University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee holds the top seed for the 2006 Horizon League Men's Basketball Championship, which begins Tuesday (Feb. 28) with first-round games at campus sites. From there, action moves to the U.S. Cellular Arena in downtown Milwaukee, Wis., for second-round games on Friday (Mar. 3) and semifinals on Saturday (Mar. 4), with Saturday's doubleheader slated for a national audience via ESPNU.

Tuesday's three-game schedule begins at 7 p.m. (Eastern time) when (#7 seed) Wright State University (13-14 overall / 8-8 Horizon League) visits (#6 seed) University of Illinois at Chicago (15-14 / 8-8) and (#8 seed) Cleveland State University (10-17 / 5-11) plays at (#5 seed) University of Detroit Mercy (8-8 / 15-15). The third game has (#9 seed) Youngstown State University (7-20 / 4-12) at (#4 seed) Loyola University Chicago (17-10 / 8-8), with the tip-off time of that contest still to be determined. Loyola's women's team hosts Cleveland State in the first round of the Horizon League Women's Basketball Championship on Tuesday evening, with the Loyola-YSU men's game as the nightcap of a doubleheader.

Regular-season champion UW-Milwaukee hosts the next two rounds as the top seed, and also has a bye into the semifinals along with #2 seed Butler University. UWM won its third consecutive regular-season crown with a 12-4 League ledger as part of a 19-8 overall mark, while Butler finished 11-5 in the circuit and 18-11 overall following a 73-71 loss at Detroit on Saturday (Feb. 25).

UW-Milwaukee looks to repeat its 2005 performance when the Panthers defeated Detroit 59-58 in the final and eventually advanced to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament. First-year UWM coach Rob Jeter relies on the senior trio of forwards Joah Tucker and Adrian Tigert plus guard Boo Davis, while Butler coach Todd Lickliter's roster features senior forward Brandon Polk and guard Bruce Horan.

UW-Green Bay carries the #3 seed into the tournament, based on an 8-8 League record as part of a 14-15 season mark after a 76-72 victory at Cleveland State on Saturday. The Phoenix will face the winner of the UIC-WSU game at 5:30 p.m. (Eastern time / 4:30 p.m. Central) on Friday, with a berth in the semifinals on the line. The winner meets Butler at 4:30 p.m. (Eastern time / 3:30 p.m. Central).

The other semifinal features host UW-Milwaukee against the winner of that 8 p.m. game, with tip-off time scheduled for 7 p.m. (Eastern / 6 p.m. Central). Both semifinals will air nationally on ESPNU.

The higher-remaining seed earns the right to host the championship game, scheduled for 9 p.m. (ET) on Tuesday night (Mar. 7). The Horizon League's automatic entry into the NCAA Tournament is on the line in that contest, which airs live on ESPN.

UW-Green Bay claims the third seed at the top of an unprecedented five-way tie for third place in the final League standings. In its 27-year history, the Horizon League had never finished with more than three teams tied for any position, but UWGB's 5-3 mark against the other four 8-8 teams (Loyola, Detroit, UIC, and Wright State) gives the Phoenix that first-round bye. Wright State had stood third until Saturday but fell to seventh with a 69-66 overtime loss at UIC, putting the Raiders 3-5 in that quintet of 8-8 teams.

Loyola, Detroit and UIC each posted a 4-4 record in the five-team group, but Loyola went 3-1 in the smaller group featuring LU, UDM and the Flames---sweeping UIC and splitting with the Titans---to capture the #4 seed. Detroit's 2-2 mark (splitting with both teams) puts the Titans fifth and UIC (1-3) sixth.

Six of the bottom seven seeds all remained uncertain until the Ramblers' 87-84 overtime victory at Youngstown State on Saturday night closed the 72-game Horizon League regular-season schedule. That result capped a thrilling final day in which two games went to overtime and a third was decided with 1.3 seconds remaining in regulation.

Tuesday's line-up features a pair of re-matches as Loyola and Youngstown State switch venues for their second meeting in four days, while Wright State comes to the UIC Pavilion for the second time in 76 hours.

The top seed has won 12 of the first 26 League Championships, but only one of the last four. UWM achieved that feat in 2005 after the second seed won the previous two (UIC in 2004, UW-Milwaukee in 2003) and UIC claimed the 2002 crown after entering the tournament as the #6 seed.

Streaming video with audio of all first- and second-round tournament games is available free, live on the Internet via Horizon League All-Access. For more information on this service, log on to the official Horizon League web site at www.horizonleague.org.

2006 Horizon League Men's Basketball Championship Schedule

First Round -- Tuesday, February 28 (games played at home of higher-seeded teams)
Game 1: (#9 seed) Youngstown State (4-12 / 7-20) at (#4 seed) Loyola (8-8 / 17-10) Time TBA www.horizonleague.org
Game 2: (#8 seed) Cleveland State (5-11 / 10-17) at (#5 seed) Detroit (8-8 / 15-15) 7 p.m. local www.horizonleague.org
Game 3: (#7 seed) Wright State (8-8 / 13-14) at (#6 seed) UIC (8-8 / 15-14) 7 p.m. local www.horizonleague.org
Second Round -- Friday, March 3 (at Milwaukee, Wis. / U.S. Cellular Arena)
Game 4: Game 3 winner vs. (#3 seed) UW-Green Bay (8-8 / 14-15) 5:30 p.m. ET www.horizonleague.org
Game 5: Game 1 winner vs. Game 2 winner 8 p.m. ET www.horizonleague.org

Semifinals -- Saturday, March 4 (at Milwaukee, Wis. / U.S. Cellular Arena)
Game 6: Game 4 winner vs. (#2 seed) Butler (11-5 / 18-11) 4:30 p.m. ET ESPNU
Game 7: Game 5 winner vs. (#1 seed) UW-Milwaukee (12-4 / 19-8) 7 p.m. ET ESPNU

Championship -- Tuesday, March 7 (at home of higher remaining seed)
Game 8: Game 6 winner vs. Game 7 winner 9 p.m. ET ESPN

horizonleague.collegesports.com/sports/m-baskbl/spec-rel/022506aag.html

[Raider Country]

TRACK - A - BRACKET

graphics.fansonly.com/photos/schools/hori/sports/m-baskbl/auto_pdf/trackabracket.pdf

[wsu97]

RAIDER CONNECTION

Parity rules the day in Horizon League
By Marc Katz

Dayton Daily News

CHICAGO | There are no great teams in the Horizon League. There are no great players. Only one intrigues me as an NBA possibility, and that's Loyola's 6-foot-7 guard Blake Schilb, a junior, and he's certainly not a great player.

That's the way it's going to be in the HL for awhile as the NBA continues to pick off high school players and those in college who have only one or two years experience. That means the best in college are going to be inexperienced undergrads.

NBA teams are inexperienced, too. That's a problem they could rectify, but won't.

Anyway, what it leaves are mid-major conferences such as the Horizon League, which has substituted top-quality play for top-competitive play.

You think top-to-bottom the Horizon League didn't put on a terrific show this season? On the last day of the regular schedule, not one of the teams had solidified a spot in the tournament. The final four games determined everything, and there were 16 different scenarios.

For Wright State, the worst scenario prevailed — the only one of the 16 that moved them to a first-round road game — and only 12 points total determined the four winners and four losers.

You might think the biggest loser was Wright State when Illinois-Chicago beat the Raiders 69-66 in overtime. That not only cost WSU a No. 3 seed in the tournament as well as a first-round bye, but as the other scores came in, it cost the Raiders a first round home game.

Even worse than that, Wright State learned on its bus trip home Saturday night it would have to play its first-round game right back here, at the UIC Pavilion against the only HL team to beat the Raiders twice this season. The game is Tuesday, which means the Raiders have to bus back Monday afternoon, play Tuesday, and bus back to Fairborn after the game.

Butler must be feeling poorly, too. The Bulldogs had a chance to host the second and third rounds and probably the final round in Indianapolis, but lost 73-71 at Detroit, just a .500 team. Now Milwaukee gets to host the tournament, a boost for a team trying to qualify for the NCAA field a second straight season.

You can say WSU underachieved this season on the way to a 13-14 regular-season record, and there is no question the team had much higher aspirations.

But who in this league didn't? On the final day of the season, two basically .500 teams — WSU and UIC — slugged it out to a three-point overtime game. Detroit, a .500 team, beat championship contender Butler by two. Green Bay, an almost .500 team rebuilding, beat Cleveland State, one of the worst teams in the league, by four. Loyola, now 17-10 thanks to an easier non-conference schedule, survived lowly Youngstown State by three in overtime.

An unprecedented five teams tied for third place in the league at 8-8, and their records against each other moved WSU to a No. 7 seed.

Now WSU plays UIC a third time, with the winner having to play Friday night in Milwaukee.

The suggestion here is, don't bet on the Raiders or against them. Just expect a close game and play the Lotto.

www.daytondailynews.com/sports/content/sports/wsu/daily/0227raiderconnection.html?cxntnid=rc-022706

[wsu97]

Because of a relatively complicated staggered-bracket system necessitated by the Horizon League's nine-school membership, defending league titleholder and No. 1-seed Wisconsin-Milwaukee has a bye into Saturday's semifinals, where the Panthers will face the survivor of a four-way tussle between the Nos. 4, 5, 8 and 9 seeds. No. 2-seed Butler also has a free pass into the semis, where the Bulldogs will play No. 3, 6 or 7 on Milwaukee's home floor.

While erstwhile leader Bruce Pearl is off working miracles at Tennessee, Rob Jeter has stepped in and led the Panthers to a 19-8 (12-4) record -- good, but not quite at-large worthy. If any squad is positioned to topple the champs -- the only mid-major to make the NCAA Sweet 16 last year -- it's Todd Lickliter's Bulldogs (18-11, 11-5). Butler is ninth nationally in offensive efficiency (110.5 points per 100 possessions) and its 60.3 points allowed per HL game was by far the best mark in the conference.

Also worth watching: In order to fill out the bracket, the conference had to unravel a thick clump of 8-8 teams. At least it didn't come to a shoe-size tie breaker or anything; Wisconsin-Green Bay had a 5-3 record against the other four, so UWGB gets a pass to the second round with the No. 3 seed. The unlucky team out was No. 7 Wright State, which posted a 3-5 record against the .500 bunch and has to drive up to No. 6 Illinois-Chicago on Tuesday to play a team that swept it in the regular season. Sorry, Raiders, them's the breaks.

Kyle Whelliston is the founder of midmajority.com and is a daily contributor to ESPN.com.

sports.espn.go.com/ncb/columns/story?id=2346341

[wsu97]

WSU hopes for reversal of fortune
By Marc Katz

Dayton Daily News

CHICAGO | Wright State is back in the Windy City to play a first-round Horizon League tournament game tonight against Illinois-Chicago. Theresa Biancardi, wife of Raiders coach Paul Biancardi, isn't here. Paul says it shouldn't matter, and hopefully for WSU's sake, it won't.

He says his wife blames herself for an NCAA tournament loss she missed while her husband was an assistant at Boston College.

It was 1994 and Paul and Theresa were engaged to be married after the basketball season ended. Despite a first-round loss to Georgetown in the Big East tournament, the BC Eagles were a No. 9 seed playing No. 8 Washington State in a first-round NCAA game. Theresa went to the game and Boston College won.

Then the Eagles had to play top-seeded North Carolina and won that game, too, with Theresa in attendance in Landover, Md. The next game, against No. 5 seed Indiana, also went to the Eagles. Next, they had to play a No. 3 seed, Florida, in Miami.

And Theresa couldn't stay.

"My family was throwing a surprise wedding shower for her," Paul said. "I told her she had to go back to Boston for that. There were 50 people coming to the party. She didn't want to go. We were playing Florida to go to the Final Four."

Theresa went to the shower, watched the game on television and Boston College lost.

"She has blamed herself ever since," Paul Biancardi said with a laugh.

He is serious about WSU's chances without her now — or any team's chances in the bunched-up Horizon League.

"Everybody says their league has parity," Biancardi said. "Our league really does. I wouldn't be surprised who wins this tournament."

Contact Marc Katz at 225-2157.

www.daytondailynews.com/sports/content/sports/wsu/daily/0228wsubb.html

[Raider Country]

Meija's picks:
Illinois-Chicago 78 Wright State 72

[wsu97]

WSU game notes:

www.wright.edu/athletics/stats/notes/1141062134.pdf

[wsu97]

UIC game notes:

uicflames.collegesports.com/sports/m-baskbl/spec-rel/022506aab.html

[wsu97]

Whoosh UIC preview:

uicflamesbasketball.com/news.htm

[Wolf]

Cleveland St. 58
Detroit 92 Final

[Halo]

Have a nice summer.......see u next year!!!!!


GO PHOENIX!!!!!

[Wolf]

Wright St. 64
Ill. Chicago 77 Final

Wright State only showed up to play 1/2 tonight. Very typical for a disappointing season.

[Class of '83]

You can't win close games when you can't make your free throws and you can't make clutch shots.

Box Score:
sports.yahoo.com/ncaab/boxscore?gid=200602280268

[wsu97]

If Coach Biancardi is back next year, he is going to have to change his coaching philosophy to match his team make-up. You can't run a 3 guard lineup without good 3 point shooting guards and depth at the guard position.

We haven't been a good shooting team all year. We should have pressed more and tried to push the ball up the court every chance we could get. Anytime you can create easy shots it helps a poor shooting team.

What a disappointing year!

[Raider Country]

I think we have already proven many times this year that you won't win games when you only show up for 1/2 the contest. We had a nice comeback in the second half but we never should have gone down by 20 in the first place. It should be another interesting summer for WSU. Will our coach be fired? Who will transfer if he stays and who will transfer if he goes?