Horizon League Appears on ESPN Family Four Times Over Weekend

INDIANAPOLIS -- The Horizon League will be prominently featured on the ESPN family of networks over the weekend, popping up on screen four times on Saturday and Sunday.  Three of those matchups will come in the 2011 Sears BracketBusters, while the Horizon League Game of the Week will once again be carried on ESPN3.

All 10 Horizon League teams will be in action on Saturday, with the lone conference tilt coming at 2 p.m. when Butler (19-9, 11-5 Horizon) looks to collect its sixth straight victory when it heads to the Pavilion to meet UIC (7-21, 2-14 Horizon).  The teams met just 12 days earlier at Hinkle Fieldhouse, with the Bulldogs picking up a hard-fought 72-65 win over the Flames.

All-League candidates will be featured on both benches, as Matt Howard leads Butler with 17.0 points and 7.9 rebounds per game.  Preseason Player of the Year Shelvin Mack slots in seventh in the League in scoring (15.4 ppg) and is fifth in assists (3.6).  For the Flames, senior Robo Kreps just saw a five-game streak of 20 or more points come to an end, but is avergaing 16.0 ppg, just ahead of Mack.  Fellow senior Paul Carter has collected a League-high 11 double-doubles on the year.

Seven of the Horizon League's eight Sears BracketBusters matchups will take place on Saturday, beginning with an 11 a.m. contest between Wright State (17-10, 10-7 Horizon) and Hofstra (18-9, 12-4 Colonial).  The pitting of Horizon League and Colonial Atletic Association members is the first of two nationally televised meetings between the conferences over the weekend and features two of the top backcourts at the mid-major level.

Seniors Vaughn Duggins and N'Gai Evans have carried the Raiders througout the season, combining for nearly 32 points per game while steadying a Wright State lineup that was wracked by injuries in the middle of the conference stretch.  Duggins enters Saturday's game 16 points from taking over fourth place in the Raiders career scoring list.

With a "Whiteout" called for at the WSU Nutter Center, the backcourt will also be charged with stopping one of the nation's premier players in Charles Jenkins.  Jenkins is currently fifth in the nation in scoring at a 23.5 ppg clip and is the only player in the top 15 in scoring who is also shooting over 50 percent (currently 53.1 percent).

A few hours later, Valparaiso (19-8, 11-4 Horizon) will take its second swing at its 20th win of the season when Missouri State (21-6, 13-3 Missouri Valley) comes to the ARC.  Dave O'Brien and Dick Vitale will have the call of the game on ESPN2, beginning at 5 p.m. ET.

Old conference foes from the AMCU-8, Valpo and Missouri State are meeting for the 18th time overall, but for just the first time in 21 years.  Having dropped a tight League clash at Milwaukee on Wednesday, the Crusaders will have to bounc back quickly and lock down defensively on Kyle Weems, the four-time MVC Player of the Week this season who leads the Bears with 16.7 points and 7.0 rebounds per game.

Brandon Wood and Ryan Broekhoff had the hot hands for the Crusaders at Milwaukee, with Wood scoring 23 and Broekhoff collected 16 of his 21 in the first half.  Wood is fourth in the League in scoring at 16.4 ppg, while Broekhoff is among the top marksmen in the conference, drilling 48.6 percent of his attempts from beyond the three-point arc.

The final League contest on the ESPN family comes on Sunday afternoon, when Cleveland State (23-5, 12-4 Horizon) heads to the Ted Constant Center to meet Old Dominion (21-6, 12-4 CAA), with ESPN2 carrying the game at 1 p.m. ET.  Both teams enter the game with NCAA Tournament aspirations and a provides a top-50 RPI win to the victor.  Each squad has tallied a NCAA Tournament win in the last two years, with the Vikings advancing to the second round in 2009, while the Monarchs collected a victory in last year's tournament.

After a week of national accolades following his 41-point, 20-rebound, 9-assist outburst, Norris Cole leads the Vikings into a Whiteout, where ODU's swarming defense will try and limit Cole's impact on the game.  With Wright State employing similar tactics on Wednesday, the entire CSU starting lineup put together a highly balanced effort to take over first place in the Horizon League.  Aaron Pogue recorded a team-high 18 points, while Cole chipped in 16.  Trevon Harmon and Jeremy Montgomery each hit big shots down the stretch to lead the Vikings to the two-point, road win.

In the non-TV portion of the Sears BracketBusters, the Horizon League Network fills the void, bringing fans the St. Peter's (16-11, 11-5 MAAC)-Loyola (15-12, 6-10 Horizon) matchup at 3 p.m. ET, and the Bowling Green (12-14, 7-5 MAC)-Youngstown State (8-18, 2-14 Horizon) tilt at 7:05 p.m. ET.  In BracketBusters road contests, Green Bay  (12-15, 6-9 Horizon) heads to Carbondale, Ill., for a meeting with Southern Illinois (11-15, 5-11 MVC) at 3:05 p.m. ET, while Milwaukee (16-11, 11-5 Horizon) takes its seven-game winning streak to Alumni Arena against Buffalo (15-9, 7-5 MAC).  Detroit (15-14, 9-8 Horizon) closes to Saturday slate of League BracketBusters when it ventures to Des Moines, Iowa, to take on Drake (11-16, 6-10 MVC) at 8:05 p.m. ET.