Loading ...Horizon League Conference Tournament Preview
This preview was written February 25, 2010, before conference play was complete in the Horizon. It had to be written early due to the large number of conference tournaments that we have to cover. Brackets for each conference tourney aren’t usually finalized until a day or two before each tournament. At this point of the year, we can accurately predict where teams will be seeded.
Gordon Hayward leads Butler, who is undefeated in conference play, into the Horizon League Tournament.
The Favorite: Butler. How many years in a row are we going to see this script? The Bulldogs are in a position (once again) where they’ve dominated the conference in regular season play and do not need to win the league tournament to get into the NCAA Tournament. The last few season’s Butler has seemed to sleep through the conference tourney, losing in the final and allowing another Horizon league team to get into the field. If you think this is going to be a Butler run-away, think again. Since 2001, seven regular season Horizon championships have not led to success in the conference tournament for the Bulldogs. In that time span, Butler has only been able to win two Horizon conference tournaments.
The Darkhorse: Green Bay. The Horizon is a pretty strange league to be honest. Butler is obviously the dominant team, followed closely by Wright State and Green Bay. Butler has had some close games, but none of them have come against the other top teams in the league. Instead Detroit (lost to Butler in two games by combined seven points) and Loyola (lost to Butler by one), have played the Bulldogs tough. The Phoenix aren’t consistent, but they have knocked off Wisconsin this year.
Player to Watch: Gordon Hayward (BUT). As much as I hate to hand out credit to “known” players/teams, I have to mention Hayward here. He’s Butler’s leading scorer (15.8 PPG), and leading rebounder (8.5 RPG), but it’s not his stats that impress me. Hayward moves well without the ball and makes a lot of little plays that help make Butler one of the nation’s best teams.
Prediction: If Butler loses, I won’t be surprised, but I can’t pick against a team that hasn’t lost a conference game all year long. I don’t expect it to be easy and I’d actually consider it a coin flip pick between Butler and the rest of the Horizon field. The Bulldogs will be lucky to make it out alive, but if they do they will be rewarded with a high NCAA Tournament seed.
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If that merger was to happen the Horizon/MAC combination would create a conference that could compare to the current Mountain West. I think it would be in the running to be a two bid league every year.
“How many years are we going to see this script?” I think Butler just needs to join a better conference if they actually want regular season competition in conference play (although I’m not sure why they would). Maybe they can join the MAC and see what happens against other Midwest powerhouses like Akron and Kent State? (and yes I realize the football discrepancy keeps Horizon teams from ever entering the Mid American Conference). Or if something like the top five from the Horizon could Join the top five from the Mid American that would be insanely competitive and fun to watch.