Men's Basketball Weekly Release #11

Jan. 25, 2010

Complete Release in PDF Format

Highlights & Storylines ...

This week's schedule is highlighted by a match-up of the League's top two teams as second-place Green Bay (15-7, 7-3) plays host to League-leading and NR/#18 Butler (16-4, 9-0) Friday in a nationally televised game on ESPNU. Tip-off is 9 p.m. ET. Butler is on an eight-game win streak, while Green Bay has won four of its last five.

Another League game will be on ESPNU Saturday when Cleveland State (9-12, 5-4) hosts northeast Ohio rival Youngstown State (7-12, 2-8) at 4 p.m. ET. The defending champion Vikings have won five of their last seven to move into a tie for third in the League standings.

This week's HLN TV Game of the Week features Loyola at Wright State on Saturday. Game time is 2 p.m. ET. The game will air live on Comcast SportsNet Chicago, MyNDY 23 (Indianapolis), MyYTV (Youngstown), SportsTime Ohio (Cleveland), WBDT-TV Dayton's CW and HorizonLeagueNetwork.tv, and tape-delayed on Time-Warner Cable Sports32 (Wisconsin) on Sunday at 5 p.m. ET.

At the midway point of the League season, Butler holds a 2 1/2 game lead over second-place Green Bay. In turn, the Phoenix is 1 1/2 games ahead of a four-way tie for third that includes Detroit, Wright State, Valparaiso and Cleveland State. Milwaukee is one game behind those four in seventh. The top two teams earn byes to the semifinals of the League championship, while seeds 3-6 host first-round games.

Visiting teams won seven of the nine League games last week, with Cleveland State posting both victories by home teams. Prior to last week, home teams were 29-8 in League play.

Nineteen of the 46 League games to date have been decided by single digits, including 11 of 18 the past two weeks. Nine have had two- or one-point margins, and two have gone to overtime.

After having only one 30-point scoring performance in the League in December (and four total), four players have scored 30 or more in January. UIC's Jeremy Buttell scored 31 points in a loss at Youngstown State, Valparaiso's Cory Johnson had 31 in a loss at Detroit, YSU's DeAndre Mays netted 30 in the Penguins' victory over Loyola and Detroit's Chase Simon had 33 in a win at Milwaukee. All four have come on the road and three of the four in losses.

According to The RPI Report, Butler enters the week ranked 24th in the nation.

For the complete release, click the PDF link at the top of the page.