Men's Basketball Notebook (Nov. 12)

Horizon League Men's Basketball Weekly Release (Nov. 12, 2012)

On the Horizon
· Are You Experienced?:In March, the Horizon League’s media, coaches and sports information directors voted the youngest First Team All-Horizon League in the conference’s history.

This fall, that entire First Team returns in the Horizon League, making the League the only Division I conference bringing back its full first team.

Two-time Preseason Player of the Year Ray McCallum (Detroit) leads the team, while 2012 Player of the Year Ryan Broekhoff (Valparaiso) will likely challenge McCallum for postseason honors.

Kevin Van Wijk (Valparaiso) joins his teammate on the team, while Kendrick Perry (Youngstown State) and Alec Brown (Green Bay) are both primed for breakout seasons in their junior years.

· Favorites: The defending regular season champions, Valparaiso was tabbed the preseason favorite in the Horizon League, earning 40 of 44 first-place votes among the conference’s coaches, media and sports information directors.

The Crusaders bring back their entire starting five, along with transfers Bobby Capobianco (Indiana), Jordan Coleman (Hawai’i) and LaVonte Dority (South Florida). Big man Vashil Fernandez is eligible after sitting out his first season with the program.

Valparaiso earned three points in the AP Top 25 poll, marking the sixth consecutive season at least one Horizon League team appeared in the preseason poll or received votes.

· On The Tube: Horizon League teams will be on national TV on at least five occasions this week, beginning with Youngstown State’s trip to Georgia on Monday on ESPNU.

Valparaiso and Detroit will both appear on ESPN’s 24 Hours of Hoops marathon on Tuesday, and the Crusaders will take on Nebraska on the Big Ten Network on Thursday.

UIC’s game versus New Mexico to open the Paradise Jam will be carried on the CBS Sports Network on Friday afternoon.

Upcoming Games
· Horizon League teams will be in action throughout the week, with Wednesday marking the lone day this week in which teams will not be playing. Cleveland State, Valparaiso, UIC, Loyola and Green Bay will all participate in MTEs this week -- the Vikings will open the NIT Season Tip-Off on Monday; the Crusaders will be at Nebraska for the Joe Cipriani Nebraska Classic; the Flames are in the Paradise Jam; the Ramblers in the USF Invitational; and the Phoenix in the World Vision Classic.
· Horizon League teams will be on national television at least five times this week, beginning with Youngstown State’s trip to Georgia on Monday (7 p.m. ET, ESPNU). Valparaiso (8 a.m. ET) and Detroit (2 p.m. ET) will both appear on ESPN’s 24 Hours of Hoops marathon on Tuesday, and the Crusaders will take on Nebraska on the Big Ten Network on Thursday (9 p.m. ET). UIC’s game versus New Mexico to open the Paradise Jam will be carried on the CBS Sports Network on Friday afternoon (4 p.m. ET).
·  Horizon League teams will meet Power 6 conference members on at least four occasions this week, starting with YSU at Georgia. Valparaiso will take on Nebraska, while Loyola-South Florida and Detroit-St. John’s round out the slate. Should Cleveland State and Michigan win NIT first round games, they would meet on Tuesday.

The Week That Was
· Horizon League teams went a combined 9-1 in the first weekend of the regular season. The victories jumped the conference’s rating three spots in the KenPom.com rankings, moving the Horizon League to 12th.
· With just one loss in the first weekend, the Horizon League is one of five conferences with 0 or 1 loss to open the year, joining the Big 12, Pac 12 (both 0 losses), SEC and Ivy League (both 1 loss). The League was an overtime period away from a perfect opening, but Milwaukee fell in overtime at South Carolina on Sunday.

League Notes
· For the first time since joining the Horizon League, Valparaiso was tabbed the preseason favorite in the Horizon League. The Crusaders return all five starters while adding Bobby Capobianco, Vashil Fernandez, Alex Rossi and others to its rotation.
· The defending regular-season champions, Valparaiso earned three points in the Associated Press preseason poll.
· The Horizon League is the lone conference in the country returning its entire All-League First Team from a year ago.

Cleveland State Vikings (1-0)
· CSU’s win over Grambling on Friday was the Vikings 500th home win in program history. CSU is now 500-391 all-time at home since beginning play in 1929-30 as Fenn College.
· CSU had six players in double figures in the season opening win over Grambling. Last year, the Vikings had just one game with six players in double figures, that coming in the 21st contest. Charlie Lee set career-highs for points (20) and assists (7) in the win over Grambling on Friday.
· Senior Tim Kamczyc played in his 103^rd straight game on Friday, the 11^th longest streak in program history. He has also made 75 consecutive starts, the eighth longest streak in CSU history.
· Sophomore Anton Grady was pegged as a breakout candidate by SI.com’s Luke Winn in the offseason, as part of Winn’s annual “Breakout Sophomore Formula” projections. Listed as Winn’s Sixth Man on the team, Winn wrote of Grady:
     “Grady was a monster in short spurts as a freshman, leading CSU in offensive and defensive rebounding percentage, block percentage, and posting a usage/efficiency ratio that suggests he can assume a go-to-guy role if called upon.”
· Regardless of personnel, Gary Waters’ team will hang its hat on defense. Last year, the Vikings ranked fifth nationally in turnover percentage, forcing them on 25.3-percent of opponents’ possessions. In the last four years, the Vikings have ranked no worse than 63rd nationally, per KenPom.com.

Detroit Titans (1-0)
· A year after blowing out his knee five games into the year, Nick Minnerath returns to the Detroit lineup. In his season debut, Minnerath had 4 points and 5 rebounds in 24 minutes as Detroit cruised past Northern Michigan, 88-53. Ray McCallum and Doug Anderson combined for 47 of the Titans’ points.
· McCallum was named to the John R. Wooden Award Preseason Top 50 list, the Los Angeles Athletic Club announced on Thursday.  The list recognizes the top-returning players in all of college basketball. The 2012 list marks the second consecutive year McCallum has opened the season on the Wooden Award Preseason Top 50. The Los Angeles Athletic Club compiles the list, which is chosen by a preseason poll of national college basketball media members. Each year these 50 student-athletes who, based on last year’s individual performance and team records, are the early frontrunners for college basketball’s most prestigious honor.
· Once again, McCallum toured the country’s premier summer camps in the offseason. McCallum participated in both the CP3 Elite Guard Camp and the Deron Williams Skills Academy. In the 2011 offseason, McCallum took part in the Deron Williams Skills Academy, LeBron James Skills Academy and was a member of USA Basketball’s World University Game Team. Of McCallum’s performance at the Chris Paul Camp, Slam Magazine wrote:
      “The most athletic point guard in the camp was Detroit’s Ray McCallum, the best point guard that the Horizon League has to offer. The McDonald’s All-American held offers from just about every program in the country but opted to stay at home and play for his Pops. At CP3, he used his elite strength and athleticism to quickly establish himself as the top rebounder of the group. He used the aforementioned explosiveness offensively to explode to the rim and finish with contact. If McCallum is able to improve on his shot from beyond the arc (he shot 24% from 3 last year), look for him to follow Norris Cole and Shelvin Mack’s footsteps as the next Horizon League guard in the NBA.”

Green Bay Phoenix (1-0)
· Alec Brown ended his sophomore year with a Green Bay single-season record 89 blocks, including at least one block in 27 of 30 games. With two in his first game of the year,  Brown is 68 shy of matching the Horizon League’s all-time record of 228.
· Brown is the only returning player in the country to have averaged 13+ points, 8+ rebounds and 3+ blocks per game last year.
· Sophomore Keifer Sykes’ Keifer Sykes’ 31 points eclipsed his previous career high of 27, set in GB’s last regular. Sykes was first Phoenix player to score 30 points in a game and first since Troy Cotton had 36 at Akron on March 17, 2010. The outburst was the first 30-plus point game in Green Bay since Ryan Tillema had 32 on Feb. 23, 2008, versus UIC.
· Green Bay broke the program record for free throws made in a game (41), breaking 31-year old record of 37 set against Northland on Feb. 23, 1980. Sykes’ 17-for-19 effort at the line set a new individual Phoenix record for made free throws.
· Kam Cerroni failed to make a three-pointer, breaking streak of 19-straight games with a triple. The junior ranked eighth nationally with a 66.7-percent true shooting percentage, per KenPom.com, in 2011-12. The Phoenix will add another shooter, Cole Stefan, at the semester. Stefan was ranked as the 54th ranked shooting guard nationally before attending LaSalle in his freshman season. As a freshman, Stefan played 25 games, including one start, making three or more shots from long range in five different games.

Loyola Ramblers (1-0)
· Loyola held Toledo to 50 points in a 62-50 victory Nov. 9, the fewest points allowed in a season opener since 1961 when it surrendered just 44 points to Assumption.
· Senior forward Ben Averkamp became the 39^th player in Loyola history to score 1,000 points. Averkamp is the 141^st player in Horizon League history to achieve the feat.
· Averkamp has been named as one of 30 candidates for the Senior CLASS Award, given annually to the NCAA Division I senior with notable achievements in four areas of excellence – community, classroom, character and competition. The Germantown, Wis.-native was voted Second Team All-League after his junior season, becoming Loyola’s first all-league pick since 2006-07.
· This season, Loyola is celebrating the 50^th anniversary of its 1963 NCAA Championship. To this day, Loyola is the only school from the state of Illinois ever to have won the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball title.
· Loyola and Mississippi State will meet on Dec. 15 to mark the “Game of Change” that occurred 50 years ago between the teams. In the 1963 NCAA Tournament. Mississippi State, an all-white team, was prohibited from playing integrated teams and had to sneak out of state to face Loyola, which included four black starters. The game was considered a step forward in the civil rights movement. Loyola defeated Mississippi State 61-51 and went on to win the NCAA championship.
· With 16 years of experience spread among 16 players, Loyola ranks as the seventh-youngest team in the nation. Averkamp and Jordan Hicks provide the bulk of experience with seven total years entering the 2012-13 season.
· Loyola spent two weeks in Italy over the summer, taking part in classes, service projects, sightseeing and playing four games throughout the country. In those four games, the Ramblers went 3-1.
· Since the start of the 2009-10 season, the Ramblers have racked up a 13-5 (.722) record in November.

Milwaukee Panthers (1-1)
· Milwaukee’s 82-75 loss at South Carolina was the Panthers’ first overtime loss since January 9, 2009. UWM had gone 6-0 in the time since.
· UWM made 14 three-pointers against South Carolina and now has knocked in 27 in the first two games of the season.
· The Panthers have allowed opponents to make just 3-of-32 from three-point range, including the 0-of-11 effort from South Carolina Sunday. Part of Milwaukee’s success last season came in locking down the three-point line. Opponents shot just 29.1 percent from beyond the arc, the eight-best defensive mark in the nation last season. Overall, the Panthers’ effective defensive field-goal percentage of 46.1 percent ranked 44^th in the country.
· Senior James Haarsma tallied 14 points and 10 rebounds for his first UWM double-double. It also marked the third time in his Panther career he reached double figures in rebounds.
· Jordan Aaron’s 28 points at South Carolina marked the most by a Panther since Anthony Hill scored 32 at UIC near the end of the 2010-11 campaign
· The Panthers will play all of their home games at the on-campus Klotsche Center, which now seats approximately 3,400 fans. A number of improvements to the facility are underway, including the addition of video boards and digital signage.
· Senior Demetrius Harris was an All-State selection in both football and basketball while at Jacksonville High School in Arkansas. At 6-foot-7, 230 pounds, Harris had signed to play football at Arkansas State before choosing basketball.

UIC Flames (1-0)
· A year after bringing in nine newcomers to the roster, UIC adds eight newcomers to its ranks. Overall, UIC returns 65 percent of its scoring from the 2011-12 campaign.
· Senior point guard Gary Talton went scoreless in the first half of UIC’s 59-52 season-opening win over UC Riverside, but filled the stat sheet in plenty of other categories until his shot started falling in the second half.  The Dallas native dished out seven assists against zero turnovers, swiped a career-high four steals and pulled down six rebounds in 35 minutes of action.  Talton eventually finished with 10 points, tallying his 22^nd career double-digit scoring output.
· It didn’t take long for Division I transfers Josh Crittle and Joey Miller to get acclimated to the Pavilion.  In their first-ever games at UIC, the duo combined to score 29 points, representing the Flames’ top two scorers in a 59-52 victory over UC Riverside.  Crittle (15 points) was 5-for-11 from the field, while Miller (14) was 4-of-6, all from three-point land.  The tandem also combined to shoot 7-for-8 from the free throw line.
· UIC may have found the recipe that will help the Flames turn the corner this season in Sunday’s 59-52 win over UC Riverside: offensive balance.  The Flames had four players in double figures (Crittle with 15 points, Miller with 14, Hayden Humes and Gary Talton with 10 points apiece), and senior guard Daniel Barnes finished with eight points bolstered by a pair of three-pointers.

Valparaiso Crusaders (1-0)
· Valparaiso’s 85-54 win over Georgia Southern was the program’s eighth straight double-digit win in a home opener. The victory was Valpo’s largest win in a season opener against a D-I school since joining Division I.
· The Crusaders’ 8 a.m. ET tip versus Northern Illinois in the 24 Hours of Hoops Marathon is the third in the last 12 yrs at the ARC which tips before noon. Valpo has won both -- March 1, 2008 vs. Wright State, and Jan. 27, 2001 vs. Oakland.
· 2012 Horizon League Player of the Year Ryan Broekhoff spent part of the summer playing with the Australia Boomers, participating in national team camp ahead of the Olympics and becoming one of the team’s last cuts ahead of the 30th Olympiad.
· Shortly before its season opener, Valparaiso announced that Bobby Capobianco (hernia) will miss the first 4-6 weeks of the year due to surgery. Capobianco sat out last season after transferring from Indiana, where he played in 57 games over two year, averaging 1.7 points and 2.0 rebounds per game.
· Valparaiso’s front line will be bolstered by the additions of Vashil Fernandez and Capobianco this year. Fernandez sat out last season after not being cleared, but played this summer for the Jamaican National Team.
· The Crusaders will play an ambitious non-conference schedule, traveling to Nebraska, Murray State, Saint Louis, New Mexico and Missouri State among other trips.
· Valparaiso will add three transfers to its roster, with Alex Rossi (California) receiving a waiver to play immediately and Jordan Coleman joining the program after stints at Hawai’i and Southwestern (Ill.) College. LaVonte Dority will be eligible at the semester after transferring from South Florida. Dority was ranked as a top-50 point guard coming out of Foreman High School in Chicago. Rossi was ranked as the 36th-best shooting guard nationally in the Class of 2010.

Wright State Raiders (1-0)
· Wright State’s 80-70 win at Idaho marked the first time the Raiders won its road opener under head coach Billy Donlon. The Raiders have opened each of the last three seasons on the road.
· After playing at a more deliberate pace last year (Wright State’s adjusted tempo was 292^nd nationally last year, per KenPom.com), head coach Billy Donlon has vowed to play quicker, but critically, the Raiders had only six turnovers against the Vandals. The turnover percentage of 9.2 ranked as the third-best of any team in the country.
· A season after opening the year as the sixth-youngest team in the country, the Raiders are once again the sixth-youngest team in the nation. Wright State has 15 players with a total of 14 years of collegiate experience. The Raiders are one of a handful of teams to open the year without a senior on their roster.
· Wright State returns just 36.9 percent of its scoring from a year ago; the Raiders return six letterwinners from last year, led by point guard Reggie Arceneaux.
· In his two years as Wright State’s head coach, Donlon has hung his hat on defense. Last year, the Raiders were fourth in the country at defensive turnover rate, turning opponents over 25.6-percent of the time. In 2010-11, the team ranked 12th at 24.3-percent, per KenPom.com. Wright State has not been outside the top 20 in the category in each of the last four seasons.

Youngstown State Penguins (1-0)
· Against George Washington, YSU placed five players scoring in double figures, with senior Blake Allen and freshman Bobby Hain each posting 19. DJ Cole had 12, while Damian Eargle added 11 and Shawn Amiker 10.
· Allen connected on 4-of-8 3-point attempts and  now has 142 career 3-pointers. Allen needs just 57 more to break the record of 198 set by Craig Haese from 1997-2001. Allen is two shy of moving into sixth all-time.
· Last year, Youngstown State was among the nation’s most reliant teams on the three-pointer. 38.1 percent of YSU’s total points came via the three, the eighth-highest mark in the nation. 40.8 percent of the Penguins’ attempts were three-pointers, ranking 28th nationally. On Saturday, the Penguins went 6-for-15 from beyond the three-point arc.
· The YSU bench accounted for 31 of the Penguins’ 80 points in the win over George Washington. Last year, a reserve scored 10 or more points just once; Hain (19) and Cole (12) already bested that mark.
· Monday night’s game at Georgia marks just the fourth time Youngstown State is taking on a member of the SEC. 0-3 all-time against the SEC, the Penguins will be playing their first SEC opponent since 1988.
· At 6-foot-7, Youngstown State center Damian Eargle isn’t the most intimidating post defender. But his wingspan presents problems down low, with the center recording 209 blocks in his YSU career.